Lane Limited HGL

Way back in the early 80s when I lived on Long Island there was a tobacconist at a mall, Wally Frank Tobacconist. After I had spend a few months trying various aromatic house blends, one of the guys there suggested that I try some English blends (house blends). He had several English blends and hooked me up with a few ounces of a mild one and a heavier one.

Those two blends were my introduction to latakia, and non-aromatic pipe tobaccos. Wally Frank went out of business, and I moved upstate, and many years went by.

A few weeks ago I decided to order a few Lane bulk blends, one of which was HGL. When they arrived, I opened the HGL, and fired it up. It took me right back to Wally Frank and his mild English blend. I think his house blend was Lane HGL.

This blend is mild, round, sweet for an English, and just enough Latakia to disappoint a regular English smoker, but shock and amaze an aromatic smoker. It smokes cool, packs and lights easily, and has no problem staying lit.

If you have an aro loving friend whom you'd like to introduce to the world of English tobaccos, this is a good starter blend. It tickles the sweet tooth a bits, and has just enough campfire woodsiness to be a simple easy all day smoke.

These days I tend towards virginia blends and burley blends, but every once in a while a small dose of latakia is good for the palate.

Bugenhagen

OK having been a Aro smoker for about 20 years, I was recently bitten by the "Latakia Bug", so just starting my journey into English Blends, and tobacco containing Latakia, and Orientals. I LIKE IT. I ordered a small amount of this with my last order just the about 2 months ago from my on line shop. I really liked it, so now have just received my order for this month, and I had ordered a pound. This is a nice place to start the journey. Not overwehelming, but just enough Latakia to keep me interested. It's rally addicting. This is now going to become my standard everyday smoke, at least for a while. It packs well, lights well with just 2 lights, and smokes all the way to the bottom of the bowl. And the flavor is consistent all through the pipe. Smokes down completely to a light gray ash, and no goop in the bottom like when smoking ARO. This is a good one for those just starting the adventure into "English Blends".

A very pleasant, easygoing American blend. The experience of smoking it fresh brings more sweetness and with age that sweetness fades a little with the very citrus, sour lemon Virginia standing out more - which makes an interesting counterpoint to the Latakia. I enjoy this one both ways. Could never quite connect with RLP-6 but HGL is an old friend that I always keep around.

Pleasant and smooth. When first opening that baggy I noticed a somewhat leathery smell. Odd yet pleasant. Which put me at odds whether or not to even bother trying it and just leave it on the undesirables shelf. I decided what the hell and packed a half a bowl in to my pipe. My first impression was it is extremely smooth. No bite no initial charring taste either. As for the taste profile I personally find it has a campfire and almost balsam fir note, which I find extremely pleasant. I don’t understand how in most reviews it’s called an aromatic I get no hints of sweetness out of it at all.

To be honest, I have smoked a pipe on and off for well over 30 years and in that time, aromatics have dominated my tobacco cellar with the occasional light english blend such as "P.S. 17 English Luxury" taking up some small space. HGL was one of my first forays into English/American aro cross over blends and remains one of my favorites. It never disappoints as long as you keep in mind what it is supposed to be. It's not intended to appeal to latakia freaks as the lat is only used as a condiment and not as a prominent player. But that being said, there is enough latakia in this blend to be noticed and does so very nicely. The burly and cavendish tobaccos are still the star players in this game along with a light aro topping of vanilla. Blended all together you get a pleasant, mellow, combination that is extremely easy to smoke but still has a little complexity to it. It's a tobacco that can be smoked any time and lends itself to the kind of contemplation and serenity that only a friendly type of tobacco can provide. There is no harshness or disconcerting tastes to be found in this blend and it smokes cool and even from top to bottom leaving a fine ash. Some reviews mention HGL as having an overpowering room note or the ability to "ghost" a pipe, but I have not noticed it being anymore intrusive than the average vanilla cased aromatic. If you are a aromatic smoker that is looking for something a little different without getting into heavy lat forward, woody tasting, English blends, then this might be the tobacco for you.

Back in 2017 there was a Lane Limited bulk sale and I noticed HGL. It was described as Herman G. Lane’s, President, Lane Ltd. personal blend so since I like trying blends smoked by well-known people, I bought some. I tried a few bowls, liked it but it found its way back on the shelf until recently. So, this is RLP-6 with a touch of Latakia. I have smoked RLP-6 and am not going to try to compare the two but this blend is smooth, cool smoking and very mildly smoky. As to what percentage of Latakia is in this blend is anyone’s guess but as stated more of a condiment. Well I spread my condiments somewhat thick but I get the point. Really good and if I was an all-day smoker this would be a good one. If you like aromatics with a little mild smokiness then this is a good choice.

I received a sample of this from my local tobacco shop and to be honest I wasn't really expecting much. Lo and behold, I was pleasantly surprised. I do enjoy cross-over type English blends and I found this to be a very nice, well balanced smoke. A little sweet from the Cavendish, a little nutty from the burley, A little tangy from the Virginia's and a little smoky from the Latakia. I find that some blends with Latakia tend to have too much and it overpowers the rest of the tobacco's, but not so with this blend, as the Latakia seems to be perfectly applied. This blend will not bite, stays lit easily and burned fairly cool, it was a nice easy effortless smoke. I could see myself smoking this all day and I will be ordering more.

I received a sample baggy of this with a recent order placed with smokingpipes.com and a big thank you goes out to them for it!

A mixture of black and tan leaf with a nice, low-key Latakia aroma with some background sweetness. As I'm not a huge fan of Latakia, I found the amount added to HGL was just right for me. It loaded and lit very readily and did not smoke hot or bite. It burned slowly to the bowl's end and did not leave any goop behind, nor did it gurgle. Picked up the Captain Black influence that many have commented on; not too much, but present.

A pleasant set-it-and-forget-it type of smoke and a good crossover blend for those wanting to venture into Latakia territory; but not too deeply. Not my type of tobacco to place in weekly rotation, but certainly good for what it intends to be. A nice smoke for a cool fall day, sitting on the porch, watching the leaves fall. Nothing spectacular, but dependable. Reminds me of those old codger burleys with Latakia mixed in. Happy I tried it. A solid recommended for those who want a smidgen of Latakia in their smoke.

I've never had the chance to try this blend, from years past when it was readily available. Now the online company I buy my pipe tobacco from, has started carrying this one time popular blend. It packs well, and lights easily enough. Sniffing the contents of the bag, I could definitely smell the Latakia. As an avid aromatic smoker, I would've liked just a tad more sweetness to the mix. Someone else said this was RLP-6 based, but I smoke that blend all day and this ain't it, trust me. I'll update this in a few days, but for now to me this is OK, but not something I'd order again anytime soon...

Peppino, no worries. I'm no tobacconist expert, but maybe the mix so changes the flavor, at least for me, that I didn't detect the RLP-6 taste. I've smoked pounds of the stuff, and couldn't taste it in the HGL blend...

7/26/13 I had ordered several ounces of this stuff and on a whim I thought it might be better if it had a little more sweetness to it. I added some black cavendish to it, and what a difference it's made. It's actually pretty good. Ya got the latakia thing going on with some nice sweetness and smokey-ness. Sort of a yin-yang thing. Is smokey-ness a word?