Admiral's Choice Black & Gold Cavendish

The black cavendish is smooth vanilla. The gold cavendish is lightly grassy with a mild honey note. The creamy vanilla topping mostly sublimates the tobaccos, but they do peek through a little more after the half way point. There’s also a light caramel in the topping as well. Has very little nicotine. Won’t bite. Needs some dry time. Burns cool, smooth and lightly creamy at a moderate pace, requiring a few relights, and will leave some moisture in the bowl, but it’s not goopy. Has a pleasant after taste. An all day routine, uncomplicated smoke that doesn't fill your senses, but will give you the sweet flavor you're looking for. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Bleh! What a disappointment, especially based on how much I usually love Admiral's Choice! I'm a big Dream Castle fan, keeping a small wooden jar of Admiral's Choice Vanilla Cavendish and Super Value Chocolate around, so I decided to pick up some of this stuff on one of my low-end tobacco runs. Smoked alright, nothing special. But the smell in the pipe afterward was revolting! It was like a fireplace where you had burned the soul of a skunk-demon...at least, that was the best I could come up with. It was so bad, I had to force myself to smoke it again, just to be sure it wouldn't be a waste to just toss the bag. To be sure I could taste it originally again, I used a different pipe. This time, I picked up on the foulness immediately, and it went right to the ashtray. If you want cheap and good tobacco, stick with Admiral's Choice Vanilla Cavendish or the Chocolate Super Value. The Black & Gold is simply unsavory.

I wouldn't say this is an all day smoke. But I do enjoy a bowl about every night. Just enough sweetness, a good smoke. Char, tamp, relight and sip and enjoy!

inexpensive tobacco--good value for the money--

nice aroma in the bag-- needs drying--lot's of drying--3 days before it was ready--

packs easily; lights easily-- did use a char light-- could smoke hot and bite--very slow puffing is the key to keeping it from biting--

slight gurgle at mid pipe--cleared up easily with a swab-- more flavorful towards the end of the bowl-- a bit of dottle left--no white ash here--

handled correctly a decent value--not a premium smoke, but i have done a lot worse--

A newbie to pipe smoking this what I started with. It's readily available at CVS drug stores, which is where I bought my corn cob pipe. Had a good enough time puffing away on my first few tries, but have since "graduated" to the Captain Black brand which I now wish I had started with instead. Live and learn, right?

Folks complimented me on the room note, but on trying Captain Black's White I can tell you that the difference is night and day when it comes to taste. Admiral's Choice came in an 8 oz bag and I now have 6 oz left which I doubt I'll ever smoke again, so if you want to try some let me know (wink). If you never smoked anything before it might be a way to start, but you don't get as much bang for your buck as you might with Captain Black, and the taste is harsher (to me). No doubt I will graduate from the Captain Black selections I'm currently enjoying to better quality blends in the future, but for now they're a-ok. I'll go into those in another review.

As far as Admiral's Choice goes, however, I would venture a guess that you could do worse, but probably a lot better. If it's the only thing available (and it's usually not) you might get a bag and split it with some buddies if you are all trying out pipes for the first time. Corn cobs are cheap enough and work very well; I now have four which I rotate during the week. If you find you don't like smoking you aren't out a lot of dough. If you are satisfied with Admiral's Choice after your first few go-rounds, just know there's better (and equally available) tobac that won't break your budget. Again, this is the review of a newbie meant for newbies. I probably won't buy my first briar for three or six months until I'm sure I'm packing correctly, more familiar with various tobac types, etc.

Thanks for reading.

As usual, I am going to be kind er to this blend than others have been. At just over a dollar an ounce, one cannot hope to find the next Dunhill or Davidoff. You do get a nice, aromatic, bite-free, flavorful smoke. When you open the pouch, there is the typical vanilla and Cavendish smell. The moisture level was perfect for me, though I tend to like my tobaccos more hydrated than most of the smokers on this site. If it crunches like hay, it needs some water. You have to be careful with packing as the ribbon is thicker. It lights up well and the smoke is thick and aromatic. The wife approves of this one, even in a small apartment. The flavor? There is more golden than in 1Q and not near as much vanilla. Think more Captain Black Gold with a bit of Super Value Black Cavendish thrown in to stretch your supply. The flavor stays consistent to the end of the bowl. I did have to re-light once, but that could be due to user error. The one bad thing about that is that the first few puffs on the re-light are not good, but the tobaco soon settles back down and finishes like it starts. There is no moisture left in the pipe. The ash is nice and fine. There is no after-taste. The nicotine level is low. It will not ghost your pipe. If this were still at CVS, and I was needing an all-day blend while the wife shopped, I would be happy to pick up a pouch and sit with my pipe outside and accept compliments from passers-by. And, there is something about the 8 ounce pouch that just seems the right size for portability and economy. There are many cheaper pouches, but you do end up paying more per ounce. This bag seems like a good compromise to get your money's worth.

I try to be very forgiving of budget tobacco's in general since I was once a broke college kid that could only afford cheap pouches and do remember what it was like to have to smoke the entire pouch until I could get my next paycheck, that said I really do not like the Admiral Choice line. I feel that the toppings used are too mild and the tobacco used is very cheap. I ordered all of the flavors just to give them all a fair shot and I really couldn't force myself to smoke more than three or four bowls of each. After my fourth bowl this week of B&G I couldn't take anymore and went right back to Lane 1Q, spend a little extra and order 1Q or if you cannot mail order, buy a pouch of Captain Black Royal. At the very least CB Royal has a rich Vanilla aroma and taste whereas the Admirals Choice blends are truly underwhelming...

This blend comes soaking wet in a ziplock bag, pouch note is that of table syrup. Difficult to light or keep lit due to its moisture level and is quite oily to the touch. Almost not tobacco taste or any nicotine hit and cloyingly sweet, it will ghost the pipe and your fingertips. I tried drying it out for a week and nothing changed, this stuff is permanently wet. Id avoid it at all costs, the price is almost too good to resist (i know i fell for the trap too) Probably one of the worst blends going

When I bought this brand I thought that it would do as a good stand-in for Captian Black Royal. I was sadly wrong. I am not sure if it is the different amount of gold burley that they use, but the taste is much different. They do not even smell the same.

This smokes VERY wet. Its sticky. You can puff as slow as you can and you will still get a gurgle out of your pipe as it protests in anguish at being treated in such a fashion. You could probably leave this stuff out in the sun for a week and it wouldn't be dry enough yet. For all its wetness, though, it somehow manages to stay lit. In fact, most of these tobaccos by this brand pretty well stay lit no matter what you do to them.

With Captain Black Royal, as an example, you can taste the sweet choclate and vanilla as the smoke fills the room and the notes of sweetness revist you a second time. This tobbaco, however, leaves much to be desired. It can nip your tongue if you are not careful. For some reason it burns pretty hot.

Someone noted that the taste was akin to maple. This may be true, but it surely does not taste anything like the blend of Captain Black Royal, and that is just as well, or I suppose no one would buy Captian Black for the price. I am not rightly sure what it tastes like to me, but there are times I can taste something sweet, though I am not wholly sure what it is I am tasting. Also note that the aroma of the tobacco is as faint as the taste.

There is a saying in life: "You get what you pay for." and that is certainly true in this instance.

This blend actually also comes in large tins and the aromatic combination of flavors is quite nice. A light and sweet compilation with mostly flavored Cavendish with a dash of straight burley for a boost. It actually tastes like tobacco but I think I'll take the rest of my eight ounce tin to my local pipe club. It is one of those blends that satisfies once a year.

Pipestud