Robert McConnell Cruise Line Original

This is a fine aromatic, no bites, no warm bowls, excellent taste at all stages. In the beginning you taste pure milk chocolate with a nuty taste here and there. Then the nuty taste and Virginia becomes more evident. After the half of a bowl starts developing nice characteristics of a cigar. I don't like cigars, I only liked once which was Cuban hand made. Anyway some puffs slightly reminds me notes of cigar. This has become a regular among my Virginians. Finally the style s European aromatic not the wet syrupy American style. If you like Danish or German aromatics you should try this. I was looking for a tobacco like this. This is the best aromatic I have ever smoked.

I can see why this is a hit with the aromatic crowd. Tobacco taste and a very cool burn while smoking. The Vanilla/Hazlenut is quite evident and the odor adhered itself to my moustache for quite some time after consumption of the leaf. I knew my wife was a fan of Vanilla/Hazlenut coffee. So, I gave her a quick kiss right after my first bowlful of Cruise Line Original. She came back for more... reason enough to keep smoking this blend!

The best thing I liked about this tobacco is the attractive tin. In my opinion the tobacco was your typical run of the mill aromatic with the usual vanilla overtones. It was too mild and one-dimensional for me, but then again, I find little difference between the numerous similar tobaccos of this genre.

Comes out of the tin at pretty much the right moisture to smoke, and produces a nice, if somewhat artificial tin note of chocolate and vanilla.

Once you pack a pipe with it and light it, it offers up it's flavour from the very first puff. There's a little bit of noticable virginia flavour, but mostly, this blend is about the topping and the cavendish, which provide a smooth, neat flavour of nuts and milk chocolate. The vanilla some people get is only a whiff for me. The thing i find quite interesting is the milk chocolate part. Usually, when a pipe tobacco goes for chocolate, it tends to taste of dark chocolate, but with this one, they've pulled off a proper milk chocolate flavour, which is neat. I'm also not entirely sure they were going for chocolate at all, but it does seem that way to me, at least.

It burns clean and mostly cool, though if you do manage to heat it up a bit, it can bite. It loses only a little flavour towards the latter half of the bowl.

Overall, this is a simple, but likeable blend.

An atypic tobacco, in many respects.

First of all, the design of the tin is a pleasure to behold, as other reviewers already noted.

But there is much more inside the tin: the tobaccos are very unevenly cut (I even found a piece which was over an inch long!). This is obviously not something you want to smoke in a small bowl.

The flavour, as the cut, is difficult to describe: chocolate, perhaps some rum, and doubtless vanilla (but not the chemical one).

After a pipeful, one gets very satisfied. At least, this is my opinion.

Not an everyday smoke, but sometimes a wonderful one!

In my opinion this is an overly flavoured and sickly sweet aromatic blend.

In the tin, its way, way too moist and bites like a rottweiler no matter what i smoke it in. Leaving it to dry out a bit did improve it, but I wouldnt bother buying it again.

I have to admit the tin art is nothing short of incredible.. This makes me feel like im in the 1920's or something, Pity about the sweet muck inside Borkum Riff is better than this!

Aromatic lovers - enjoy, me, stay away - this put me off Aromatics for life!!! Seriously

I never really understood people's need to weigh in on something they already know is not for them... such as non aromatic smokers allowing themselves to critique an aromatic smoke [short on aromatics : if you do 10 bowls a day you are not a pipe smoker, you are a nicotine addict, "pipe smoker" equals to "non addicted to nicotine, tobacco connoisseur" / a nicotine addict is already past the enjoyment, so he labels himself "mature" and goes for the nic stuff]. I do one bowl per week at most, so I am a pipe smoker, not a nic addict. And to me, this is the best tobacco blend I have come across. Beautiful room note, noticeable yet natural flavor, taste is compatible to the smell (that is VERY important, quite a few aromatics are targeting the nose, but there is no flavor to taste), easy on the tongue, easy to light up. PERFECT.

The taste is not the usual vanilla, cocoa, cherry variety that is forced into most common aromatics (some of which are actually pleasant and enjoyable and usually the cheaper ones because many peeps buy them, such as mac baren 7 seas, amphora reserve 2 or mac baren vanilla / amber), as it is more subtle but very very pleasant and easy, remaining closer to Hazelnut with a hint of vanilla and a faint hint of cocoa, and indeed this is a smoke you will not want to air the room afterwards.

So if you, like me, are a true pipe smoker free of nicotine addiction, and want to enjoy a natural yet sensational aromatic every now and then, fill your (falcon) pipe with cruise line, sit back and relax, sipping a beautiful, zen smoke