Smoker's Haven's Cliff's Blend Pipe Tobacco Reviews

This is a medium-cut English blend of rich-looking, contrasty colour: roughly half reddish-brown and half blackish in colour.

The distinct aroma of latakia is obvious in the pouch, but there is also something sweeter and more subtle than latakia in there - I do remember that the blend's description listed among its ingredients a variety of not-so-common Oriental tobaccos such as Xanthi.

Although undoubtedly dark in taste, this is extremely mild and an incredibly smooth smoke. Still, it doesn't smoke flat. The smoke seems thick, but it also has a light, creamy quality to it, which I believe is due to the Oriental leaf in the mixture.

In this way, it reminds me somewhat of Fox's Banker's Mixture, but a bit lighter on the latakia. It even reminds me of Blatter Reserve, but without the slightly aromatic component.

What makes this stand out from a lot of English mixtures is its complex, underlying roasted-nut flavour, which is quite different from the simpler, hollower nutty taste that burley tobaccos will often lend to a blend. This is an an extremely well-balanced blend with excellent smoking qualities.

Don't let its dark colour turn you away: this is among the smoothest of full-English mixtures you will encounter. A good choice for someone who likes the taste of latakia and by no means too strong as a morning smoke. Burns clean and dry to a fine salt-and-pepper ash and leaves a rich English-tobacco scent in the room after smoking.

Schurch's Pirite Pipe Tobacco Reviews

Here's an English-aromatic hybrid that is mild as well as flavorful. The combination of light, medium and dark tobaccos in various cuts and its dry appearance make it look like a typical English mixture.

It gives off a somewhat sweet, but not especially distinct, scent that obliges the nose to question whether or not this is an aromatic. No pungent latakia aroma wafts out to definitively identify the blend as an English. Once in the pipe and lit, it produces a creamy, tangy smoke, revealing its Virginia base.

A well-balanced spice mix of latakia, black cavendish and perique provides a continuous and satisfying flavor boost throughout the duration of the smoke. Most notable (and pleasant) is the faint, coconut-like taste of the black cavendish that peers through every now and then.

This sweet touch also makes the room aroma quite sweet for an otherwise savory, natural smoke.

Smoker's Haven's America's Best Blend Pipe Tobacco Reviews

With such a pompous name, this stuff had better be good. Well, it is. This is a medium-full English blend that is ribbon-cut for the most part and with a distinct, mottled appearance due to the mix of blond, medium-brown and black tobaccos.

It has quite a spicy, woodsy taste, a nice balance between high-quality, smoky latakia and complementary Virginia sweetness, as well as some Turkish I believe and perhaps even a smattering of perique.

The lively flavour of this blend is very similar to The Smoker's Smoker II, but is perhaps a little sharper and not quite as full. Although I like the blacker, more mellow English blends a lot as well, if not more, I like how the pronounced latakia flavour in this one becomes so zingy tasting.

In this respect, I am reminded of such vibrant, but richer, blends as McConnell's Oriental and Balkan Sobranie 759, or perhaps what C&D's NO.416 Plantation Evening would be like if it contained more latakia. I suppose this really is a full English, at least in flavour, but the body of the smoke is more medium than full, reflecting the lighter Virginias in the mixture.

It really is a nice, relaxing latakia-flavoured smoke with a decent strength, but one that would probably appeal most to those who prefer a medium-bodied smoke to a heavier, more velvety one.

Burns clean and dry to a fine, grey ash. Leaves that beautiful, smoky latakia aroma behind in the room upon smoking. It is definitely very good. But I think I have the right to sue them for calling it America's Best, since it's not my absolute all-time favourite.

Sinclair Flake Pipe Tobacco Reviews

Now discontinued. An Irish-style cavendish along the lines of Erinmore Flake, but more subdued. No latakia here - medium reddish-brown flakes - but a very satisfying blend nonetheless.

I have enjoyed this often as a morning pick-me-up with tea. It manages to be sweet and a bit fruity without being at all candy-like, in the way that many herbal teas do.

The sweetness is more manifest in the aroma and aftertaste than as a sensation of something sugary hitting the taste buds. The light fruitiness is balanced by a slight sharpness, which I find quite complementary, whereas in some blends, sharpness is a purely negative quality.

Burns easily and, because of this, it is best smoked slow and savoured. Leaves a fine white ash and a fragrant, fairly heavy aroma in the room.

Sherlock's Haven's Mycroft's Pipe Tobacco Reviews

From Sherlock's Haven, San Francisco. The flecks of this medium-cut blend span the full range of light brown to nearly black, with a concentration of reddish medium-brown tones.

This satisfying, first-class oriental mixture contains a reasonable amount of latakia and provides a smooth, ever-so-slightly sweet smoke with just a bit of bite at the end of a smoke.

Its strength is somewhere between medium and full, leaning toward full―regular smokers of English blends would probably class it as medium, smokers of lighter blends would find it full.

Its rich taste is nuttier, cleaner and not quite as vibrant or as heavy on the palate as blends like Sobranie's 759 or McConnell's Oriental Mixture. As someone who really enjoys orientals, I find this blend's heavy room aroma, which is as nutty as it is smoky, to be especially pleasing.

Sherlock's Haven's Bohemian Scandal Pipe Tobacco Reviews

From Sherlock's Haven, San Francisco. This is a hearty, full-English style blend that includes burleys in addition to the more typical English recipe of Orientals + Virginias + latakia. It's a medium-cut, mostly dark mixture. Due to the liberal quantity of burley that it contains, this blend is not quite as rich in body as many English blends of a similarly dark color and full latakia content.

Some might therefore prefer to call this an "American" mixture. At the outset of a bowl of this, an intense nutty taste resulting mainly from the burleys and Orientals is dominant.

It proceeds to become a bit more stout and slightly bitter further down a bowl full. The high latakia content ensures that it be a reasonably smooth smoke, but the burley keeps it strong and perky tasting.

This is a very strong-tasting tobacco that would be best enjoyed by those who like the taste of both dark burleys and full-English blends.

Skandinavik Natural Pipe Tobacco Reviews

What a nice, natural raisin-like aroma in the pouch! This is a moderately dry, ribbon-cut tobacco of a darkish-medium brown colour, somewhat contrasty due to the presence of dark and light tobaccos. Although the length and width of the tobacco are consistent, many fragments of broken flake create an uneven texture.

Upon lighting up, some of that sweet fermented aroma is passed on to the smoke's flavour. Subtle, but delicious to my palate. My first impression of this blend was that it had a somewhat spiky, peppery quality and I began to think that this might be yet another rather sharp Danish tobacco.

However, its vibrant taste stops there, remains vibrant, and doesn't really bite. Actually, I find it to be on the threshold of biting and non-biting... I believe this is a Virginia-burley mixture (in very good balance I might add) with its fairly mild taste and stimulating sidestream smoke. As one smokes a bowl of this, the slight fruitiness melds into a more dominant, simpler, light smoky flavour.

It also becomes smoother as one progresses through a pipe full. The smoke has an enjoyable texture, not as thick as a latakia mixture, but not as thin as some lighter mixtures. It's a tobacco you can absent-mindedly puff on steadily without it becoming significantly harsher, unless you overheat it of course. It might have a slight casing and/or sweetening agent added, but it doesn't have any distinct flavour that suggests additives.

The aroma it leaves in the pipe is a neutral, slightly burnt smell and this pretty much sums up how the tobacco tastes when one reaches the bottom of the pipe. I don't know how an audience would receive this blend's non-sweet, all-tobacco aroma. It's another of those mixtures whose room aroma reminds me of non-acrid cigarette smoke. I'm surprised by how much I enjoy this non-latakia blend.

I like it enough to have purchased it several times now and I'm not the slightest bit tired of it yet.

Stokkebye's Twist Flake Pipe Tobacco Reviews

These medium-dark, one-inch-diameter slices have a twirly, zig-zag grain and beige birds-eye speckles to make them attractive. Their texture is soft and they rub out easily to a coarse cut that is perfect for slow smoking.

The tobacco smells sweet and buttery, and generously offers scents of coconut (vanilla flavouring often smells like coconut to me) and something deeper, like chocolate. It is a fairly sweet smoke, but not as much as the scent in the pouch promises. Much of the flavouring seems to burn off and become part of its fragrant sidestream smoke.

What really dominates is a caramelized-sugar taste, nicely balanced by some light and clean tobacco flavour. The smoke is of a dense, medium body and has a satisfying kick that suggests the presence of burley in the blend. It also has a bit of a bite, which adds freshness to its flavour and makes this a nice hot-weather smoke for me.

It might be too spicy for more sensitive palates, however. The flavourings fade and almost disappear after half a pipe-full is smoked. Unlike many flake tobaccos, this one does not develop additional richness as the bottom of the bowl is approached; in fact, I find it becomes progressively less complex.

Still, I like to smoke this on occasion, and have been doing so for several years, usually as a mid-day or mid-evening smoke. In many ways, this reminds me of Dan Pipe's Sweet Vanilla Honeydew. This tobacco could be a crowd-pleaser and thus an asset to those pipe smokers who need to flatter their entourage. Bystanders won't realize that your tobacco is much more robust than the heavily flavoured mild cavendish that they think you are smoking.

This tobacco burns clean and dry to a salt-and-pepper ash and I enjoy the caramelized-sugar scent that it leaves in my moustache. You might have already smoked this without knowing it... It's available loose in the jars at many smoke shops, under whatever name the shop chooses to call it.

Sullivan's Gentleman's Mixture Pipe Tobacco Reviews

This is a tobacco of contrasts that I seem to smoke most often as my first pipe of the day, especially on weekends (who knows why?). The base flavour is a dry-tasting (bright?) Virginia base that is neither rich nor smooth and is practically devoid of sweetness.

On top of this, and in complete contrast, is a perfumy and slightly sour component, an Oriental perhaps that I can't identify (?), which gives the smoke an aroma that one smells more than tastes.

The presence of perique adds a distinct pepperiness and furthers the contrast between perfuminess and earthiness. My first two pipes of this were not at all tasty, as I smoked it in pipes that had an incompatible flavour.

Overall, this medium brown, medium-cut tobacco with darker flecks (and, occasionally, a bit of sugar crystallization) is good, although a bit on the sharp side for me.

Three Star's China Black Vanilla Burley Pipe Tobacco Reviews

Dry, medium-cut, vanilla-flavoured burley tobacco in two rich reddish-brown tones, one a bit darker than the other. This smokes dry, clean and smooth, with no bite.

I wouldn't have thought that this mixture contained Oriental tobaccos, but the pouch says it does. It's probably a small amount, just enough to give the smoke a little extra body and smoothness.

What I like about this is that it is not a sweet and cloying blend. The vanilla acts more like an essence than a syrupy casing.

It is much more present in the aroma and perfumed aftertaste than in the actual flavour. The end result is that it still has lots of that refreshing, nutty tobacco taste that is particular to light burleys, so it should appeal to many folks who like real tobacco flavour in addition to sweet aromas.

When smoking, the room aroma has lots of that vanilla aroma that almost everyone likes, but just as much of that long-lingering natural burley aroma. As with most burleys, this burns well and contains a fair amount of nicotine. A light-bodied, energizing smoke.

Three Star's China Black Whiskey Pipe Tobacco Reviews

Although the pouch declares "Golden cavendish with Oriental," this medium-cut aromatic blend is overall quite dark looking, probably through liberal addition of black cavendish tobacco.

It has a pronounced sweet-musty aroma in the pouch that is presumably that of whiskey or some facsimile thereof. I'm not a whiskey drinker, but this doesn't smell much like whiskey to my nose for some reason.

Not only is it quite moist when the pouch is first opened, but it remains that way for a long time afterwards.

The taste is an even balance between sweet and earthy, without highlights, and with a decidedly musty aftertaste. This smokes smooth and is very mild, but it is a decidedly wet smoke that has little tobacco flavour.

If you can't cope with a wet smoke, you will not find this acceptable. Aside from its unfortunately high moisture content, the flavour is an interesting one in the way that it is aromatic, yet neither flowery, fruity, vanilla-saturated nor sugary.

A distinctive savory and slightly sweet aroma lingers in the room after smoking this.

It is often sold in buy-one-get-one-free, double pouch packs in the USA.

Tinderbox's Philosopher Pipe Tobacco Reviews

This is categorized as an English blend because it contains a discernable amount of latakia, but some might call it "American" in style due to its moist, mild base (which seems to stay moist forever).

The mixture is about half medium-brown tobaccos and half black, all in a coarse, wide cut. Those used to heartier English blends might be surprised at the sweetness and relatively light latakia aroma in the pouch.

Although the taste is smokier than the pouch aroma would suggest, the mildness of the Virginia and Oriental base tobaccos produce a light-to-medium, not full, smoke. It also seems to contain black cavendish, both for sweetness and for accentuating the dark, latakia flavour in the mixture. It's a surprisingly light smoking experience for a latakia-flavoured blend.

In fact, the soft texture of its smoke is almost reminiscent of aromatic blends such as Lane's 1Q. It's extremely mild if blown out the nose, and doesn't seem to contain much nicotine, but I find it has more bite than many heavier English blends, even though it burns cool and slowly.

It leaves a dry, smoky, and slightly sweet aftertaste and its room aroma is similar. It is rare to find a mixture with so much suggestion of latakia flavor, so much smoothness, yet so little comparative fullness.

Trinity East's #326 Pipe Tobacco Reviews

This is a commercial-grade aromatic blend of that all-American, Captain-Black style. A stringy, medium-cut reddish Virginia cavendish is mixed with perhaps 25% black cavendish and heavily cased with a vanilla (and perhaps a bit of chocolate and/or liquorice and/or who-knows-what) casing to produce a (permanently?) moist tobacco that feels soft and silky, almost oily, on the fingers.

It produces a smooth, very mild, and fluffy smoke that you could smoke non-stop if you didn't tire of the caramelized vanilla flavour and aroma first. Although it is a moist, cased tobacco, it smokes fairly dry.

Its flavour is predominantly that of the sweet casing. At first the vanilla is more prominent, but the caramelized taste takes over while smoking. Still, the vanilla essence remains in the back of the mouth as an aftertaste, both at the end of the smoke, or between puffs when smoke is emptied from the mouth. Best of all, this blend doesn't get wet and bizarre-tasting after your pipe is half-smoked like some heavily cased blends.

All that occurs is that the caramelized flavour intensifies, without any obnoxious bitterness, and a little bit of actual tobacco flavour even comes through at the very end of the smoke when all the casing is burnt off. This mixture burns quite well and leaves a blackish, dry dottle mixed with white ash in the bottom of the pipe.

The room aroma is as sweet and fragrant as you would expect, almost incense-like. Aficionados of creamy, sweet aromatics would love this one. Similar to Captain Black Royal in style and flavour, this one seems to have better smoking qualities, without the compromise of character that I perceived in Finck's Generic Captain Black clone mixture.

Troost Special Cavendish Pipe Tobacco Reviews

Open a pouch of this and smell the fragrant, but not sugary, aroma. The flavoring employed is a distinctive recipe that's rather hard to break down into its individual ingredients. To my nose, there's a good amount of chocolate for fullness, perhaps a bit of licorice, almond and at least one variety of fruit, maybe even cherry, This may sound like candy, but it's far better than that - one smells fermented tobacco aroma in there as well.

The texture of this blend is that of a flake tobacco that has been unevenly crumbled up, almost as if it had been done by hand. It was quite dry in the pouch each of the three times I tried it in 1997 and it tended to dry out quickly once the pouch was opened.

Upon lighting up, one notes that this does not taste sweet as might have been expected. Instead, the flavorings add a flowery aspect to the nutty taste of the base tobaccos, Interestingly, more of this aroma is experienced later as aftertaste than while actually smoking.

The smoke has a creamy fullness to it, suggesting Virginia tobaccos, and a zestiness that suggests burleys. These two qualities coexist in good balance with each other, such that this is neither a heavy nor biting mixture.

It's a notch or two stronger than a mild tobacco, but it doesn't smoke harsh. Overall it is reminiscent of Amphora red in character, only smoother, richer and cooler smoking. This one should have a lot of fans: aficionados of flavoured tobaccos would probably enjoy this step toward a more natural-tasting mixture and smokers of natural blends who like clean-smoking aromatics should find this appealing.

It leaves a rich and slightly musty scent in the room after smoking which, although pleasant, does indeed smell like tobacco and won't likely be mistaken for cookies baking in the oven.

Pipe Tobacco Reviews: Wild Geese

A non-sticky cavendish mixture from Germany with a contrasty appearance. It contains a rather complete spectrum of tobacco colours: from pale yellow to reddish-brown to blackish.

The cut is overall somewhat erratic: wide and chunky, sometimes short-cut, sometimes long. In the tin, it has a sweet aroma that I can't identify.

I do however recognize this fruity-flowery smell, whatever it is, as being in the same league as that of Germain's No.7.

Once lit, it proves to be quite smooth and without even a trace of harshness. Natural tobacco flavour here is practically nil. The dominant taste is that of the added flavourings, but it's very well balanced and refined in nature - not heavy or overly sweet.

Sniffing the sidestream smoke while puffing away, I find it has a pleasing, slightly musty aroma in addition to its sweetness. Although mild, the Virginias in the mixture produce just enough piquancy to keep it from tasting flat.

It's a fairly light-bodied smoke that burns absolutely dry - and cool due to the wide cut - to a fine light grey ash at the bottom of the pipe.

This is listed in the British A.I.T.S. index, but doesn't appear to be widely available in North America.