Peter Stokkebye Heather Honey

The two ounce bag I purchased lay among my other tobaccos for at least a week. I still have yet to open the tin of Rattray?s ?Old Gowrie,? but tonight after dinner is the night for Rattray. This afternoon I finally opened Stokkebye?s ?Honey Heather.? It seemed to be, in some ways, the quintessential pipe tobacco. There?s nothing like a sensory memory and I felt like my Dad was walking right beside me as I enjoyed a well packed bowl of ?Honey Heather.? The taste was more like Bee Pollen and Lavender, but that came as a pleasant surprise. Although it did smart the tongue a bit, I attribute that more to my excitement (okay, maybe I need to get out more) than to the tobacco itself. Even so, the bite wasn?t altogether unpleasant either, considering how consistently good the smoke was from start to finish. This could be a daily smoke, one that I may navigate back to from time to time. My wandering pipe and I so infrequently travel down the same road twice, but it is always nice to make new ?friends? to visit again sometime.

I make no bones about the fact that Peter Stokkebye makes some of my all-time favorite aromatics. I like aromatics that are intense enough to really be aromatic, while still having (1) a true tobacco taste and (2) not being gooey and wet. PS does it well in this regard.

Heather Honey has, to me, a very floral tin aroma- the floweriness overwhelms the honey. I ordered a 1/2 lb of this over the internet based solely upon my previous experience with PS aromatics. Upon arrival, the product looked exceptional. The composition included a fair amount of broken flake virginia, some longish ribbons of virginia and chunks of black cavendish. Just beautiful. (Another of the things I like about PS is their habit of combining broken flakes or curly cuts in their blends.)

But the smell of the stuff, WHEW! It was so floral that I wondered: "Why didn't any of the previous reviewers warn me of this!" Are their schnozes busted, or what? It was not like aftershave or air freshener- common comparisons reviewers of other floral blends have used- it was like, well... FLOWERS! Heather, I guess.

It was with trepidation that I loaded a bowl of this in a use-for-anything pipe and lit 'er up. I just hoped that the taste did not resemble the tin aroma. Well, this stuff does taste floral. But that is OK, even good! . The honey flavor was very apparent, blending well with the floral notes. Underlying all is the flavor of virginias. This taste was pretty consistent down to the not-so-bitter end. And the room note was great as well. While I could not smoke this all the time, it is a great treat I come back to regularly. (Not sure what I could smoke all the time...)

Kind of like Erinmore Flake, I would not recommend this to anyone who could not get past the bouquet of the unlit product. To those that like hearty aromatics however, this is well worth a try. Ya might not want to start with a 1/2 pound though.

I got this stuff at my local tobacconist, and was VERY pleasantly surprised by its aroma! This stuff reminds me of honey and toast.

I packed my pipe to the top, and gave it a light. Right away the casing makes its nuances known. It's a fragrant smoke. Smooth, cool, and somewhat hearty. Towards the middle, the moisture inside actually adds some body. You WILL use a pipe cleaner with this, because it's a fairly wet tobacco. Mid-point, the flavor broadens, and gets nutty. It DOES get hot, so you have to sip a bit mildly. Towards the end of the bowl, the casing fades altogether, and you're left with a nutty, almost minty finish. I'd assume this is primarily from the virginia that's there.

This is a fine tobacco.