Drew Estate Heirloom Cherry

My least favorite of the Drew Estate line. Don't get me wrong, it's great tobacco with a mild casing that gives you just a hint of cherry when smoked. The tin note is VERY cherry and it is drier than most of DE tobaccos. Smokes well and has a moderate punch of nicotine. I think cherry is just not my thing. But, I would recommend it for those who like it.

It was with great anticipation that I tried Drew Estates take on the Cherry Aromatic after being blown away by both Grand Central and Meat pie. Unfortunately, it set me up for a giant let down as I ended up less than impressed.

To start with I will say that there are not many cherry blends that I like anyway, so it may seem like this is another one of those, "I can't stand aromatics and I smoked this aromatic and I can't stand it reviews", but I absolutely love Top Black Cherry. Of course that has some of that Gawith Hoggarth juice (soap?) in it and I love that stuff.

So I don't really look at that as the standard cherry blend. That said I am giving this one two stars and that is probably a lot since I would not recommend the blend at all meaning from a subjective standard it should get one star. My reasoning is as such. The Drew Estate tins are commanding a pretty high price and this one is not worth it when Middleton Cherry is a better blend at a cheaper price. I also preferred Bowell's cherry smash to this one. Granted, I didn't really like Boswell's cherry smash. What saves the blend from getting one star is the fact that it was tolerable and was not nearly as bad as Lane's very cherry, McClelland Three Cherry, or Altadis Galleria Wild Cherry.

Those blends are downright vile and were difficult to finish. So it was not that good, but it was tolerable.

More cherry is needed. When I smoke a cherry blend, I want it in my face, not so subtle. It does not bite, and the overall flavor is OK. I just need more cherry. On the plus side, the cherry flavor that was there was not the cherry cough syrup taste, but real cherry.

Not quite up to par with the rest of the Drew Estate line, but still enjoyable.

The cherry flavoring is not overdone, so the tobacco flavor shines through, and it's good tobacco, albeit a little mild for my tastes. Just enough nicotine to make itself known. Not at all goopy and doesn't gunk up the pipe. Nice toasty flavor mid-bowl and onwards, and the cherry is subtly present throughout.

No bite if puffed slowly. Surprisingly the room note is not that great, just ok.

I'm not a huge fan of aros, but this one is decent enough.

I don't want to completely bash this as I try to find the good in things. On the positive side, this is the strongest contender to give someone an idea of the baked bread flavor that is mentioned in some reviews. What turned me off to this was the cherry, I had hoped for something less synthetic tasting. I felt like I could get similar results breaking up a urinal cake and packing it. This is the first tin I need to give away or toss outright.

EDIT: I came back to add a bit more positive because I really don't like leaving negative feedback just from my personal taste. The Cherry, while not for me was not goopy at all and the leaf was obviously of good quality. I would like to try maybe (SG's?) dark cherry as cherry isn't in and of itself a bad thing. I give DE credit for branching out into Pipe baccy and would like to see them succeed and perhaps expand their line.

I was pleased by the strong cherry smell in the tin. However, this is misleading. It only has a slight sweet flavor. I will have to compare it to the bulk cherry tobacco that I can purchase locally for $3 an ounce. The 50g tin cost $12 here in Connecticut. Some nicotine. Tastes better in a better quality pipe, go figure. I don't think the cost is justified. No bite, but smokes wet. Caused a gurgle that needs to be cleared with a pipe cleaner. I left the lid off the tin for several days to dry it out enough to smoke.