HU Blends - Favorites and Dogs

[hoosierpipeguy]

Received 9 HU blends and have enjoyed trying them. I will likely buy 4 or 5 again,2 or 3 on the fence and 2 that were good but definitely won't buy more of.
Old Fredders, Dockworker, My Red Fox and Directors Cut are definite rebuys. Edward G and Sunset are likely, need to smoke more. Flanagan needs some more testing. Oriental Sunrise and Zulu were good but no more. The Oriental Sunrise had good flavors but not enough body. Zulu was to latakia forward for my tastes.
Sunrise is very good. I've read where Haymaker is similar but somewhat stronger so I want to try Haymaker before buying any more Sunset.
I'd say Dockworker and Old Fredders are my two favorites thus far with My Red Fox not far behind. These blends have zero tongue bite to me even when puffed rather aggressively. Lots of complexity. If there is one con, I wouldn't consider any of them full bodied and if you're a nicotine freak, these run more in the mild to medium range.
I definitely want to try Nashville County, Makhuwa and Haymaker. If someone has any of these and would like to trade for Zulu, Oriental Sunrise or something else I might have, please pm me.
I'd like to hear other people's thoughts, good and bad, on these blends. What are your favorites and why? Did you find any dogs I should avoid?
The other cons are it was a PITA to set up an account, order and it is a bit pricey. $210 for 750 grams which is $14 per 50 grams. Not horrible for the quality of tobacco you're getting.

 

[oldtoby]

My Latakia lovin' palate really likes Olaf's Favourite English and Tuarekh Balkan.
Director's Cut is definitely good, along with Edward G,as you pointed out. Balkan Passion is good if given a few months to age in a jar. Removes the sharpness from the Orientals imho.
Great Dixter is very much like GH&Co. Grasmere Flake. Very floral.

 

[thomasw]

If you are a burley lover -- and a bit of dark fired gets your manly man rocking, Nashville County and Makhuwa are must smokes. Makhuwa is by far my favourite aro. It is cocoa/dark chocolate in flavour and it harmonizes extremely with the malawi burley and dark fired in the blend.

 

[darwin]

I've tried eight blends so far and the only one I didn't much like was Director's Cut, predictably one of the most popular. Rather too much perique for my tastes. Standouts for me have been JU 52, Nashville County, and Out of Africa.

 

[sablebrush52]

I ordered a variety of HU blends directly from Hans back in early 2016, before the dreaded FDA compliance dates, and of those that I've tried, I've really like Makhuwa, 5th Anniversary Blend, Indaba, Out Of Africa, Zulu, and Director's Cut. Nashville County was a bit of a snooze, as was Dockworker. I haven't opened up the Old Fredders, Flannigan and others. Like other blends, moisture content can make a big difference in whether the blend is deeply flavorful or flat and bland.

 

[halfy]

Fredder +1, best found in recent years.

 

[rokerdepipe]

I've only ever tried the Director's Cut and I really liked that one. I haven't had the opportunity to try any of the other blends.....yet.

 

[northernpipeshed]

Have a tin of Flanagan open at the moment......i like it...but its a bit different!
Makhuwa,Director's Cut, Nashville County, Dockworker and Edward G I really like...............as the OP, i found Oriental Sunrise to weak tasting for me and gave most of it away.

I have a 100g tin of Haddes Best Irish waiting to be opened....but I think I will finish off the Flanagan first....

 

[alexnc]

I really like Nashville County & Director's Cut - I have so many unopened I'm not sure what to pop next (with 70 or so open and jarred, trying not to open anything for a bit)

I have Flanagans, Haddes Best, Makhuwa, Dockworker, and Old Fredder's waiting.

 

[flakyjakey]

As I recall, about five years ago, I was one of those that can be blamed for introducing the Forum to HU Tobacco blends, as in the thread:
"Watch out Mr Pease!! There's a New Kid On the Block!!!"
I don't smoke aros, but over the years have smoked seventeen of Hans' other blends. I don't think there are any "dogs", but my favourites (all heavily cellared) are:
- Directors Cut

- Edward G

- Old Fredder

- Nashville County

- Indaba

- Sunset

- Dockworker

- Balkan Passion

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

flakyjake, or tastes run similar it seems. After smoking more of these, Old Fredder is rising up the ranks. I started smoking it in a larger bowl, the complexity is awesome. I am going to try Indaba and Nashville County, perhaps Balkan Passion since you recommended it. Even though it has some caring, which I normally don't like, I'm going to get a tin of Makhuwa.

 

[flakyjakey]

hoosierpipeguy, to be honest, you really cannot go wrong with any of these.
Balkan Passion is a strong Lat-forward blend, if you like that kind of thing (think "Odyssey", but better IMO).
I neglected to include HU Fayyum Kake - a "Rolls-Royce" Lat blend, made from compressed HU Fayyum

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

flakyjake, I haven't tried anything that I thought was bad. A couple just weren't good enough to order for the purpose of building inventory and aging. I'm not a big Latakia fan but that Fayyum Kake did look interesting. For $25, it is probably worth taking a look at.

 

[snowyowl]

Recenty, JimInks and I have listed HU blends as having been smoked in the monthly "What are you smoking..." pages. Jim has reviewed several of the newer blends at TobaccoReviews.com. I currently have and like: Fayyum Kake, Zulu, Nyala and Tigray.
So order and try anything and everything!! I'm in the US and have not customs issues.

 

[jmill208]

The Fayyum tobaccos are excellent. Surprised it wasn’t mentioned from the start. I believe it contained Syrian Latakia, so I wonder if it’s now made with Cyprian? Try it, you’ll like it if you like a smooth full bodied English. A little bit sweet, but a strong lat taste as well. Now to go find mine..