Drew Estate Harvest on Hudson

Having had this tin open for a couple of weeks I can truly say the flavor has come into its own. This is yet another quality offering from DE that when properly sipped will lend a flavorful smoke. Even when the tin was new it burned wonderfully; down to a nice grey ash. The thing I find funny about reviews are people talking about a lack of whatever taste the tin says it has or tries to evoke through its name. Remember, most aromatics are meant to be hints of subtle flavor not the actual tastes themselves. If you expect that much apple taste you might want to just eat apples, not smoke heavily flavored, chemical tasting tobaccos. Appreciate the quality of a good tobacco blend and let it balance with that subtle wafting of flavor that peeks through without being overpowering. All in all I think this is yet another fine offering from DE if you accept it for what it is meant to be; a quality tobacco , clean burning, smooth tasting, and really mild applely goodness.

I am new to pipe smoking, so this review is written with little experience. The tobacco smells wondeful in the tin, and has a very pleasant room note. Nice looking stuff, and quality packaging. Mine took quite of lot of drying before it was smokable though - this, and my lack of experience led to some frustration, a wet pipe, and some mild tongue bite during the first few bowls. A few weeks of sitting in the humidor, and this tobacco burns much better, and smokes much smoother.

The burley is nutty, toasty sweet, and I tend to notice it more than I do the grassy, citrusy Virginia. The black cavendish is unsweetened, though I'd swear here and there I get a very minor hint of vanilla. The richly deep sweet green apple topping sublimates the tobaccos to a fair extent, and has an occasional sour note as green apples tend to have. There may be a drop of caramel in the topping, too, but that's a little hard to tell most of the time. Has a mild nic-hit. Has no harsh spots, and won't bite. Burns cool at a moderate pace with a very smooth, mildly creamy consistent flavor that never weakens. It needs a few relights as it's a little moist out of the tin. Leaves very little dampness in the bowl. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste and a very sweet room note. Could be an all day smoke depending upon your preference for a full flavored aromatic.

-JimInks

Overall, I have been pretty impressed with the Drew Estates Aromatic tobaccos. I find them to have a pretty good burley/Virginia base and the topping to be applied just right so that it lasts throughout the bowl and never gives one the feeling of hot air.

Having established that the aro is of higher quality, it all comes down to how the topping is to me as to its rating on TR. I was not a fan of this topping. It was not horrible, but just wasn't as good to my tastes as, say, Grand Central was. It is supposedly apple and I have yet to enjoy an apple aromatic. I have only had a few and this is likely the best of them, but it still is not my thing.

I offer this to point out from an objective view this is a three star tobacco or a four is you really like the topping as I do in Grand Central, but subjectively I can only award this one two stars.

I should have known better as I did not figure that the apple flavorong and I would get along. I was not wrong. When I opened the tin the apple notes were VERY strong. The moisture content was also high. Over all the tobacco itself as it appeared in the tin does look nice. However after letting some dry for a little--well I loaded up the pipe and as I smoked this offering from Drew estates--well perhaps its just my palate as this one seemed to burn hot, bite my throat a bit and the apple flaoring was VERY pronounced. This just may have been the clump of tobacco I had. The next couple of bowls behaved much better and I could detect hints of the tobacco and a spicey nature or notes coming through. Over all its just not for me. I like their Heirloom Cherry and I must note that I really do think their offerings are nice quality tobaccos. Its all in what you want or, prefer.

This blend wasnt too bad, it has a pleasant room note, and hardly any tongue bite. The apple flavor to me seems to be hard to nail down at times, but all in all not too bad. Im curious to how some of the other blends fare compared to this one? The company makes good cigars, but the pipe tobacco thing was heh, but not too bad. Room note was, well, "apple."

A very pleasant mild smoke. Great for the morning/mid day enjoyment!

While the tin suggests hints of apple I picked up subtle leather and cinnamon.

On my last P&C order I was bummed out to not find Drew Estate's Grand Central, which is a real shame as I consider it one my favorites. I have a sneaky suspicion this may be the end of Drew Estate selling pipe tobacco, so I order the only other blends available I had not tried (this one and Gatsby Flake), just in case they turned out to be something special.

While fruit flavor has not been much a sell for me, I didn't mind the apple aroma from the tin, though it does remind me of the potpourri people spray in bathrooms. The cut is very rough and the occasional stick was annoying to weed out when packing it. It tended to burn quick, making the smoke time more frantic and hurried.

The apple was retained in the smoke, so I could see this being a fall harvest blend, but it was a tad bitey and harsh due to the quick burn. In the end it was interesting, but it needed to be smoother to really enjoy it and earn 3 stars.

Popping the tin reveals a mostly dark and somewhat sticky tobacco with a very noticeable fruity aroma. I'm pretty sure I've smelled this on another blend somewhere. At the match the fruity, apple-ish topping is about medium and mostly sublimates the underlying tobacco taste. No bite. Great room note. If I were a regular aro smoker looking for a fruity/apple flavor this would be a good pick. What few aro's I do smoke tend toward letting more of the natural tabacco taste through so won't be ordering this but would smoke again if offered.

I like to start with off on a positive note, so I will say it smells fantastic. The taste however is a different story. It makes me think of a cider mill complete with cider, doughnuts, fresh apples, and caramel apples in aboundence. That has been set on fire with kerosene. And is full ablaze filling your mouth and nostrils with its scalding hot noxious fumes. Good luck with the tongue bite.