Drug Store Burleys:: Prince Albert, Carter Hall, Half&Half, etc.

[TOB9595]

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Tom

[Slow Triathlete]

There's a great article in the latest "Cigar" magazine about drug store tobaccos. Pick it up and read it!!

My favorite drug store blend is Carter Hall. Mix it 3/4 Carter Hall and 1/4 Stokkebye's Black Cavendish and you have a real winner!!

[8ball917]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

There's a great article in the latest "Cigar" magazine about drug store tobaccos. Pick it up and read it!!

My favorite drug store blend is Carter Hall. Mix it 3/4 Carter Hall and 1/4 Stokkebye's Black Cavendish and you have a real winner!!

I just tried Carter hall, and it's pretty good. I also have some bulk black Cavendish around, so i will make sure to try this next time.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

There's a great article in the latest "Cigar" magazine about drug store tobaccos. Pick it up and read it!!

My favorite drug store blend is Carter Hall. Mix it 3/4 Carter Hall and 1/4 Stokkebye's Black Cavendish and you have a real winner!!

Finally! Something to send EvanS that he'll appreciate. I may mix up a tub this weekend.

[Mr.Lordi]

Here is what I've tried:

Carter Hall
Prince Albert
Sir Walter
Granger
Half and Half
Edgeworth


Carter Hall is spouse to be sweet, yet I had a terrible taste come form smoking it out of the pouch. Haven't tried it since, but might be worth one more try. Maybe a tub?

Prince Al is ok. I got a tub, and smoked some of it. Has a nutty taste sometimes that I like. Sometimes it is burnt tasting. Sometimes upoun relighting(and this goes for any tobacco) it gets a rotten egg taste to it, but dissappers soon.

Sir Walter I had really dry, so I want to get a fresh pouch. But I liked it, for what I did try;it was good. Apprently one of the smokes my uncle smoked.

Granger is freaking awesome, in my opinion. I tried it and liked it. This has been my exclusive smoke recently;although I've had some taste problems with it recently and I don't know if it is me or the tobacco. Not the greatest, but a good on I think.

Half and Half is blah! Never tasted right to me. So what I did is make my own half and half. I took half of prince al and mixed it with orlick golden slice, which I am not fan of and call it "Natural half n half" natural meaning no fruit flavoring.

Edgeworth smells like a barn, but in a good way. I enjoyed the dry sample I got my hands on and it is a shame this tobacco is gone for good.

[randyw41]

I think it smells a bit like a fresh opened box of raisins. I like Prince Albert a bit more, but if I want a sweeter smoke, then Carter Hall is my next choice. Both brands are better in the tub...

Originally Posted by Slow Triathlete

Bought a small pouch of Carter Hall last week and smoked my way through it. Did I like it? Well, I went to JRs yesterday and bought a huge tub of it. So yes, I liked it a lot.

Not sure what the aroma is supposed to be though. Cherry? Anyone have an idea?

[MarkC]

I'd prefer an option somewhere between 'tried it, didn't like it' and 'tried it, loved it', as my drugstore choice is hardly my favorite; it's just my go to option when it's that time of the budget month, I've run out of tobacco, and don't want to break into anything aging in the cellar (okay, closet). And in fact, I would have gone with 'hate it' until I discovered Carter Hall. Just basic, admittedly bland tobacco that will serve in a pinch until my latest order arrives by UPS...

[RichieR]

I'm on board with the Carter Hall folks. I just started smoking the stuff a few weeks ago, and it's freaking amazing. It took me a while to try Carter Hall because I heard people say that Carter Hall is PA's "little brother", and since I did not care for the 2oz of PA I smoked last year, I sort of decided to not bother with CH. But I'm glad I got around to it. I got a 14 oz tub of it, on the way.....and CH is the very first 14 oz tub of ANYTHING that I ever ordered.

It's good in a cob, but I prefer to smoke it in a my featherweight Stanwell, most of the time, and I've been working this Stanwell pretty hard these days--- hopefully it won't die on me.

Recently, I've also discovered Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic and it's pretty good, but CH is clearly and definitively, the winner of the OTCs. And CH easily competes with my fav "high-end" blends like Escudo and what-not. I'm convinced that if CH was packaged in a little tin with the fancy frilly inner paper cover and Dunhill stamped on it, then the "connoisseurs" would be going GOO GOO GAH GAH over CH.

[gillywalker]

Last week I got CH, PA, SWR, and SWR Aromatic. I've smoked Half and Half before.

I like the two SWR the most. Both burleys, but both very different. I think I'll be keeping both of those around for a long time.

CH was good too. I didn't like the Prince.

[Dgar]

Im a Prince Albert fan, I smoke many different cigars and enjoy the variety... but with my pipes its Prince Albert 99% of the time. I've tried several different pipe tobaccos, and Prince Albert just seems to fit the bill, I may be missing out on some great tobacco but Im totaly satisfied with this simple drugstore brand.... Im lucky, how much easier can it get.

Im a boring pipe smoker I guess, but sometimes keeping it simple has its advatages.

[strongirish]

I am an Old Codger so I smoke OTC's all the time. PA is a daily for me, I smoke it at least once a day. I keep on hand CH, Half and Half, Walnut, Middleton Cherry, Five Brothers, and smoke them all the time. I also smoked Amphora Brown for years until it became not sold in the US. I also smoke a lot of the Brit blends that are their OTCs like Condor and St Bruno. Then I love a lot of MacBarons, SG, And others.

I love pipe tobacco, there are very few I don't like, just some I like more than others.

[Roddy]

Since different tobaccos are found in different places across the country I can't say I've tried them all.

PA: Tried it, loved it, have smoked it for many years.
CH: Always have a tub around the house.
H&H: Eh, don't hate it, but don't love it. Still have a jar somewhere...
SWR: Tried several times to like it and finally do!
Velvet: Not always consistant but sometimes good.
Broken Rip: Ok so that's not the real name but I hate all their blends.
Paladin Cherry: Ouch! Tried several times. Hated every time. Bit me bad!
Hunters Best: Used to like it but haven't seen it for many years around here.

Stuff I'd like to try but can't find locally:

Five Brothers: I've found it on line but don't want to buy a ton of the stuff only to find I don't like it. Shipping for a single pouch isn't worth it.

Sugar Barrel: I'm not much on the sweet stuff but after reading several posts about it I would like to try it out. Again there's that cheap tobacco and high shipping problem. I guess sometimes it's not good to be a tightwad.

[Diodon nepheligina]

I recently picked up the pipe again and dutifully went out and laid in a supply of drugstore burleys to sample with my new cobs. So far...

Prince Albert- Finished off a pouch and liked it. Easy smokin anytime. Will buy more.

Kentucky Club Mild- Bitey and cheap tasting. Wont buy again.

Middleton's Cherry Blend- mild and pleasant morning smoke. Like this best cut with 1 part straight burley to 3 parts cherry blend. Probably buy again just to have around for the occasional smoke.

Kentucky Club Aromatic Mixture- Tastes like Kentucky Club Mild and Middleton's Cherry mixed together, but not in the proportions I find to work best. Not bad, but wont buy again.

Half & Half- I expected this to be bad with all of the less than stellar reviews here. I was pleasantly surprised. It smokes cool and mild. I'll probably get some more of this.

Carter Hall- Haven't smoked it yet.

Granger- Haven't smoked it yet.

Sir Walter Raleigh- Haven't smoked it yet.

Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic- Haven't smoked it yet.

Middleton's Gold and Mild- Haven't smoked it yet.

Middleton's Black and Mild- very sweet vanilla aromatic, but smokes cool and actually has decent flavor (my memory of Captain Black is hot, rather flavorless tobacco that had good smelling smoke). I think drying it out for a day and cutting by half with straight burley will improve this as an occasional aromatic smoke.


I'll revisit this thread when I've had a chance to smoke the ones I haven't tried yet and chime in again.