This is my opinion based on the 10 bowls of London Dock I’ve smoked so far. For my other pipe tobacco reviews, click here.
The descriptions…
First off, the label reads: “An aromatic blend with sensuous flavor notes of rum, cherry and vanilla. Premium Double Toasted Barley, Flue Cured Virginias, and naturally sweet Orientals marry exquisitely with a touch of spicy Louisiana Perique.”
The description on tobaccoreviews.com is a little different plus it includes a note from Mark Ryan, owner of Daughters & Ryan tobaccos. It reads:
Daughter & Ryan’s London Dock is a blend of double-toasted Burley, Virginia, Oriental, and Perique, topped with rum and coumarin, making for toasty, earthy, slightly sweet smoke with just a hint of spice and fig.
Notes: Mark Ryan wrote: London Dock contains double toasted burley, Virginia, Oriental and perique tobacco. It’s topped with rum and coumarin flavors. The original formula had deer tongue, which is replaced by coumarin, something several manufacturers do. However, the Original London Dock used rose essence which is not used any longer by blenders due to its unpopularity.
London Dock…
Don’t go looking for the history of London Dock pipe tobacco and expect to really find anything. Like most old-time blends, there is very little information available. As near as I can tell, the blend is first associated with Bloch Brothers Co. of Wheeling, West Virginia. After that the information I’ve been able to find becomes sketchy, confusing and contradictory.
UPDATE: The original London Dock was produced by the Christian Peper Tobacco Company of St. Louis, Missouri. It was advertised as an aromatic. Bloch Brothers bought Peper and five other companies in 1952. London Dock was one of the blends which came from Peper. Some of the others were Cosby Square, Whitehall, Peper’s Pouch and Brush Creek.
Apparently, Kentucky Club bought the pipe tobacco side of Bloch Brothers, and the producer’s name changed to “Made by Kentucky Club (also in Wheeling). I’ve also been told that Kentucky Club was a blend made by Bloch Brothers. The American Tobacco Company made the blend at some point in the 1960s then sold the brand to John Middleton. After Altria bought Middleton in 2007, they discontinued that version of London Dock.
And then there is a connection to the General Cigar & Tobacco Co. which I know is there but I’m not sure where. I know because I have an old one-ounce London Dock tin and it reads “General Cigar & Tobacco Co. Wheeling, WV – A division of Culbro Corporation. My guess is the American Tobacco Company was part of General Cigar & Tobacco.
American, Aromatic or English?
I found no information on what the Bloch Brothers version of London Dock was or what it tasted like. The American Tobacco Co. produced London Dock as an English Blend but Middleton sold it as an American Blend version with rum as an added flavoring.
Sail also produced a London Dock blend briefly. It was a Cavendish/Virginia blend with floral essence & sweet/sugar flavoring.
You can also find a match blend to the Middleton version sold by the Milan Tobacco company.
Which brings us to the Daughters & Ryan’s version. Ryan said the original had deer tongue, containing courmarin – a natural blood thinner. The D&R version uses a flavor substitute with the same cherry and vanilla notes but does not have the blood thinner component. Ryan said the old samples of London Dock he used were not good for development but he found old consumers who helped refine the formula to the present blend.
I mention all of the above to point out that this may not be the London Dock your ancestors smoked. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good smoke. Remember, if the London Dock was making the original producers a lot of money, it probably would still be on the market ala Prince Albert, Carter Hall and Sir Walter Raleigh.
I smoke D&R London Dock…
I was introduced to London Dock at Mayan Imports in Metairie, La. It’s the pipe shop where the New Orleans Pipe Club holds its monthly meeting and they provided us with a fresh tin of D&R London Dock to sample. At one point in the meeting, four of us stood around smoking it and talking about it.
During the first smoke I found it to have a consistent cherry flavor throughout the bowl and I kept getting hints of vanilla. The spiciness of the perique keeps peeking through also. The one thing I didn’t taste was the rum.
The other three Pipe Club members, to varying degrees, found the cherry flavor to drop off mid-way through the bowl and it briefly tasted a little ashy but then the vanilla and the cherry came back. In my opinion, this is because the blend is burley forward. I personally didn’t get the ashy taste until the very end of the bowl when I pretty much was smoking just ash.
I find that it burns good. So far, every time I’ve smoked it, it smoked down to a fine ash with just very small particles of tobacco. I have smoked it in a Missouri Meerschaum Diplomat, a clay, two different Meerschaums and a variety of briars.
It has not bitten me yet.
The tin note does have a cherry hard candy aroma bordering on cherry cough drop, but I don’t get any weird or chemical after taste. I don’t know about room note because I generally don’t smoke indoors. No one that I’ve smoked London Dock around has complained about the smell, so that’s a good thing.
So far, I haven’t experienced any tongue bite from the blend. That may be my tendency to be a moderately slow smoker. I think if smoked too fast, like any other blend, it will bite.
Is it the best cherry tobacco on the market? Maybe not but I won’t hesitate to buy more of it. I also can’t compare it to the original London Dock because I have never smoked it.
Pipes Used: Briar, Meerschaum, Cob
Age When Smoked: new
Purchased From: Mayan Imports, Metairie, La.
Tin note: Cherry Vanilla
Pre-light draw: Cherry Vanilla
First light: Cherry predominantly
Thanks to: Steve Fallon at pipestud.com for contributing information.
© J. Gibson Creative Services. Feb. 26, 2019
