John Middleton, Inc Apple Pipe Tobacco

The apple topping is very mild. The burley is sharp with very little of the expected flavors one looks for. It’s just a tad nutty, woody and earthy. The Virginia is grassy and barely citrus sweet in a support role. The strength is extremely mild, while the taste is very mild. Has virtually no nicotine. Burns hot and harsh even when slowly puffed, and will bite. The light flavor is consistent. Leaves very little dampness in the bowl. Hardly needs a relight. Barely has an after taste. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

Not great, but not awful. This seems like Carter Hall with a Glade air freshener. Pouch smell was cloyingly sweet and will keep my pets off the furniture. Tasted the apple at the first light, and it was pretty artificial, but not offensive. It didn't last long, but it persisted as sweetness. It burned well, and surprisingly dry.

I'm glad I had to try this seeing it's been discontinued. I'll smoke the whole pouch.

What a shame . This blend will " funk " your bowl.Room note is'nt that great . It's strange how the cherry blend middleton makes is realy pretty good and this is not . This company make other classic American blends but this is'nt one of them . Given the positive reviews here , I will snag a pouch next time I see one . Theres a chance it has changed or I changed since smoking it last , which was many years ago

I can no longer remember with any certainty what the first tobacco I smoked was. But I do remember my grandmother's gardener (the first pipester I ever observed at close quarters) used to put an apple slice in his tobacco pouch?to keep the tobacco moist, I think. I vaguely remember looking through the selection in a department store's smoke shop, and choosing something with an apple on the cover for this reason. Was it this? I remember the apple as being grannie-Smith-green, not delicious red.

Perhaps I dreamt the whole thing. In my teens, my dreams were far more vivid than they are now.

This is the mildest kind of brown cavendish, with a light casing of something that tries to taste like apple. It would not offend a beginner. As a dime-store cavendish, it is far from the worst.

And just think, from this little acorn, a mighty oak can grow. And grow...and grow...

I'm going to say it: I like this tobacco. Admittedly, it's not the best of tobaccos, but's it a good budget 'baccy. You don't get a lot of apple flavor. But, if you sip it slowly, you get a little bit of sweet apple-ish flavor. It's a good burley, all-in-all. Worth keeping around, but not an everyday thing.

I got to try this brand before it was discontinued. My friends uncle would smoke this in a pipe only. He was mainly a cigarette smoker though. The blend smelled like apple the cut was a ribbon cut and the aroma was a fruit like Apple.I enjoyed it even though I find most fruit tobacco’s to burn too hot. The room note was pleasant.I think pipesandcigars has a match to this tobacco if you want to try something similar to it.

Mixed colors, and mixed cuts - some cube and some short ribbon. Pouch aroma is pretty nice - mild apple. Not cloying at all. It's a little on the moist side, but looks ok for smoking. Unfortunately, it didn't burn very well for me...some extra drying time probably would have helped with that. Nicotine level is quite mild.

On initial light, I get a burst of very pleasant apple aroma/flavor. Nice! The topping is well executed - it actually tastes like a fresh crisp red delicious apple. The topping should have been applied with a heavier hand, though. The apple fades fast, and I'm left with a base of mild burley...not bad, but somewhat bland. If I set the pipe down for a minute and come back to it, I pick up a bit more of the apple aroma again, but it fades fast again. Same with relights - burst of flavor that fades with just a puff or two.

Not a new favorite, but definitely not bad! I'm not gonna run out and stock up on this, but I'd be willing to buy a pouch and explore this one a bit further.

originally reviewed 12/1/2012

I had been curious about this blend for a long time. I finally got a hold of some a few weeks ago. The smell in the pouch is...well, apple. The appearance is very similar to SWR of the new Lane Ready Rubbed. It was a nice moisture level. The blend loads easy. I found that it can be a bit tough to keep lit at first, but eventually settles down, and will stay lit to the bottom.

Now on to the flavor. At first, and I mean the very first time you smoke it, you taste apple. But then, you begin to look past that flavor. Half-way through a pouch, you hone in on a slightly sweet, slightly dark, molasses/spiciness. The blend tastes a lot to me like Edgeworth with a faint hint of sweetness--the apple. This is an aromatic in that it has a pleasant smell, but it is not a gooper. I'm sure it would ghost a pipe it if was the only thing smoked in said pipe for, maybe 5 years. But no one should worry about destroying a pipe with this blend ever. I plan on buying much more of this blend. The roomnote and taste are exactly the same. The note is less apple, and more apple cider. Great for autumn...

I tried this in 2000 and only smoked one bowl. It burns without any effort and might work for you in a slow-smoking competition. Although a red apple is on the package, I think the apple flavor was more of Granny Smith. If you like apple-flavored tobacco, you will enjoy this. If you don't, then stay away. One bowl will funk up your pipe for at least a month.

What happened? This was the tobacco my dad caught me with when I was a teenager about 1980. I remember it having a smooth, distinct apple flavor that I enjoyed late at night sitting on the roof watching the night sky go by. Fast-forward 30+ years and I order a coupla pouches awaiting wonderful memories. When it arrived I couldn't wait to tear into the package and savor good times past. What a let down. Smell and texture was not what I remembered. Carefully loaded my custom Armentrout--still with hope--and again...flat. Almost no flavoring I could tell other than chemical. Disappointed for sure.