Hyde Park is a strange duck. It is nothing like I expected from the reviews I have read. When you open the tin you are greeted by an attractive broken flake, just barely broken. The tin note is slightly sweet and the tobacco smells top notch. It needs to be rubbed out a little before you load the pipe.
The surprise comes when you light it up. It is similar to another tobacco I have smoked...Sugar Barrel. Not exactly, but the similarities are greater than the differences. It is more Virginia forward and less Burley nutty than Sugar Barrel. The topping is a little sweeter and there is a slight rum presence, but it is Sugar Barrel's grown up, more sophisticated cousin.
I went back and read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com and wondered if I was smoking the same tobacco they were writing about, or even if the different reviewers might each have received a different tobacco. Some said it is weak as water, others said it is right up there with Irish Flake. I found it started mild and built to medium. Many reviewers commented on the strong Lakeland topping. I found not even a whisper of Lakeland. I guess the best way to find out what a tobacco is like is to smoke it.
The surprise comes when you light it up. It is similar to another tobacco I have smoked...Sugar Barrel. Not exactly, but the similarities are greater than the differences. It is more Virginia forward and less Burley nutty than Sugar Barrel. The topping is a little sweeter and there is a slight rum presence, but it is Sugar Barrel's grown up, more sophisticated cousin.
I went back and read the reviews on tobaccoreviews.com and wondered if I was smoking the same tobacco they were writing about, or even if the different reviewers might each have received a different tobacco. Some said it is weak as water, others said it is right up there with Irish Flake. I found it started mild and built to medium. Many reviewers commented on the strong Lakeland topping. I found not even a whisper of Lakeland. I guess the best way to find out what a tobacco is like is to smoke it.
