Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Tasting Notes. I am back on track with my mission to smoke through all of the HU tobaccos and today I have selected HU's Dark Moor.

Dark Moor's Components

Dark Moor is one of the cult classics in the HU line. It is one that I personally had never had a chance to sample, previous to them being available in the US. There was an open tin floating around the office several weeks ago and I didn't know anything about it. I stuck my nose in the tin and immediately was fooled. I thought it was an English or a Virginia, Oriental, English, maybe even with some Latakia in there.

As soon as I checked the actual tin description, I realized that Dark Moor is actually made from a couple of different grades of darker Virginia, Perique, and Kentucky. It's listed as a Kentucky blend, and I think there's been some fire-curing here. I don't know if that means that there are technically both regular Kentucky varietals here and maybe some Dark Fired, but I definitely get at least a little bit of that spice, that smoky, woody, and spicy quality. There are very sharp, very woody aromatic qualities that are almost mesquite-like coming through in the tin note and the smoke.

I wouldn't expect that that was coming from the Perique or the Virginias. There is a good bit of Burley earthiness too, so I'm wondering if that means that there is more than one type of Kentucky in here. It has an extremely rich tin note; it's very pungent, very sharp, and doesn't have very much sweetness.

It's a little bit of that campfire sort of vibe, but with woods that are a little bit more aromatic in quality, I guess is the best way I could describe it. I do get a nice bready sort of note here. Again, it's on the tangier side, maybe more like sourdough.

Dark Moor is a really rich blend of some of the strongest tobaccos that you can find, which sounded interesting. Now that I've been smoking it, I can tell you it definitely is interesting.

Cut, Moisture, and Preparation Notes

It's a really good cut too. I'm a big fan of the mixed-ready rub. We have some slightly larger chunks in here of pressed tobacco and some ribbons.

I think that this is really well suited to cramming directly into the pipe. If you're smoking a larger Group size or if you're planning to smoke outside under windy conditions, it'll keep the burn nice and slow, and give you a little bit of sweetness, and let the flavors develop throughout the bowl.

Now, personally, because I favor smoking inside and I tend to smoke slightly smaller pipes, I did give this one an extra little bit of rubbing out and fluffed it up a little bit.

The moisture content out of the tin is perfect. It unfurls nearly immediately when I give it a little bit of a pinch between the fingers. It packs really well and takes to the flame really well, so it passes all those checks.

A Complex and Flavorful Blend

At first light, I get a blast of flavor. There's definitely a good bit of spice. It's extremely woody and has a dry finish. There's a tangy quality from those darker Virginia grades as well, and a very aromatic, nearly incense-like quality that I would typically associate with either Orientals or with Latakia itself.

There's just enough of a molasses kind of flavor. There's not a ton of sweetness in this blend, but there's just a little bit of that sort of molasses vibe that really ties everything together.

It's very spicy through the retrohale. Again, lots of woodiness. There's a little bit of that dark-fruit vibe coming from the Perique, like dark red fruits, maybe even a little bit of that fruit leather, and some pepper on the retrohale as well. There's also that fermented funky character that I associate with some Burleys and also with Perique coming through.

I'm back and forth on whether or not I'm actually tasting Dark-Fired Kentucky or if it's just Kentucky varietals. If it is just Kentucky varietals, it reminds me of the very powerful, very dark African-grown Burleys. There are elements of Dark Moor that remind me almost of some of the Kendal-made Burley and Virginia flakes, and maybe even some of the stronger ropes.

This is going to sound crazy, but when I smoke some of those darker African Burleys, particularly like the ropes and stuff like that from the Gawith houses, I almost get an earthiness that approaches something that reminds me of asphalt, which sounds insane, but it's actually very appealing.

Also, in peated scotch, you have those medicinal-like qualities. A lot of people would say Laphroaig tastes like Band-Aids, like iodine, and stuff like that. I do get some of those heavier, let's say, aromatic qualities here. It balances really well with the tangy, sour-like qualities from the darker Virginias and the fruity and spicy Perique.

It's in the tin description, I think, that the Kentucky is of a peaty nature. Now that I'm remembering that, that's exactly what I'm tasting here. This is like smoking Ardbeg 10. It has those nice peaty qualities, the earthiness, just a little bit of sweetness. There's a little bit of that barrel character that's sort of on the vanilla side, but the finish is long, dry, and complex with some of those medicinal notes and incense-like qualities.

A Powerful, Full-Bodied HU Tobacco

This is also a stronger one, for sure. I would say it's firmly medium plus. Being that it's relatively early in the day right now and I have been smoking mostly much milder tobaccos recently, I definitely feel this one right away.

I think the guys out there that are really big fans of Solani Aged Burley Flake, the bigger, powerful blends from the Gawith houses, Toscanos, any of those things, Dark Moor has that vibe to it.

Today, I'm smoking HU Tobacco's Dark Moor in a little sandblasted Apple by Former. I picked this pipe because even though it's still very much in my size range of preference, it has just a little bit of a bigger chamber.

It's somewhere between a Group Three and Group Four, and I really wanted to let those robust flavors develop and to find a medium for myself between fully rubbed out and the actual rough ready-rubbed cut directly from the tin.

As the bowl progresses, I'm getting Kentucky forming more as a base. When I first lit this blend up, the Kentucky was more front and center. I start to feel and notice the darker Virginias a little bit more, even verging on some citrus-like notes and a malty character, but mostly still just dark, rich, and woody.

That woody base lets the spice and the dark-fruit notes from the Perique and then some of the tangy and sour bread-like malty character from the darker Virginias. That woodiness from the Virginias is different from the Kentucky and I'm going to attribute that to those darker Virginias, those brown Virginias.

It's a really full-bodied, spicy, yet balanced blend. It's a very interesting combination. If you're a fan of Mac Baren's HH Bold Kentucky but you want something that's a little bit more of an all-day smoke, or if you're into darker Virginias and Virginia/Periques, this is gonna give you a little bit more complexity, a little bit more woodiness, a little more spice, and a little bit more oomph.

If you're normally a Burley smoker, or if you're into the really strong blends made by the Gawith houses, this one's gonna find a really special place in your rotation. I'm also gonna say that, I wouldn't have guessed this going into it, but Dark Moor pairs extremely well with a cup of coffee.

It's got a sort of tannic quality. The woodiness is really pronounced, and there's spice, a little bit of pepper, and a lot of tang from the Virginias as well as a super dry finish that's very long.

Again, if you like bold tobaccos or bold scotch, you can't go wrong here. Thanks, everybody, I'll see you next time.