Lane Limited HGL

One of my favorite English Aros that hits the "three S's": savory, sweet, and smooth. To me this tastes like a buttered slice of banana & chocolate chip bread that was baked in a Dutchoven over a campfire. Love it as an all day smoke.

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.

This is Lane RLP 6 with Latakia. It’s quite good and an easy smoke that requires no thought to smoke . Highly recommended for the evening contemplations .

I bought this blend unaware of it being an aromatic. There is no other word for it, the tobacco has a strong smell of artificial vanilla and caramel.

In the pipe, it is even more obvious that this has great amounts of added flavouring agents. The tobaccos are more or less irrelevant, I mostly get the taste of sweeteners. Underneath, the burley is the most noticeable tobacco, but who cares.

The room smells strongly of candied smoke too, and it is very hard to get rid of. Two weeks after smoking a couple of bowls of this in a room where I don't usually smoke, the smell is still detectable.

I suspect there is something wrong with the ounces I bought. Anyway, they ended up in the bin after a few bowls. Life's too short.

Edit: After trying another couple of Lane tobaccos, I understand that the strong aromatic component is typical of many American blends. So I guess this is a case of taste rather than quality, and that my taste in pipe tobacco is very un-American. I still think this is awful, but it is probably a decent blend of its kind. I therefore raise the score to two stars, just to be fair. But I will not smoke this again.

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 believe there is only a small hand full of pipe blends in the world that has the perfect balance like HGL. I can see why this was Mr. Lane's own blend, it's delicious. Not to sweet, but sweet. Not to smoky, but smoky. Not goopy at all. Billows of pleasure in every bowl. Just an amazing spicy,easy going blend. I'm so glad this is being produced again. Thank you STG for bringing this one back.