John Middleton, Inc Wine Berry

The toppings are red wine, raspberry, and what I'm sure is strawberry. There a definite floralness in the topping that one may consider distracting, depending on their personal preference. It reminds me of the floral note in Amphora Red, but it's a little stronger here. I get a hint of vanilla from the black cavendish throughout. Some nutty burley peeks out from the topping every so often (especially after the mid-point), and all I get from the Virginia is a very mild grassiness. Has a light nic-hit. Won't bite. Burns at a moderate pace with few relights and little moisture left in the bowl. I would prefer to give this three stars, but there's a light chemical, syrup taste that shows up occasionally to spoil what ought to be a higher rated aromatic. The fragrant, deep fruity flavor is very nice otherwise, and the after taste is very pleasant and lingers. Is almost an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Im a Middleton fan and a drug store cowboy when it comes to tobacco, pipers who pack expensive tinned blends need not apply here. The pouch aroma is the strongest ive ever smelled, if a sealed pouch is left in a car or room for more than an hour the scent of dark forest berry will haunt said room or car for days. I was nervous about even smoking it the topping was so strong and cloyingly sweet. The tobacco was at near perfect humidity level, which again surprised me as i assumed the heavy topping would mean a goopy sticky mess. Upon lighting the overpowering casing disappears and a fragrant rasp/blackberry note comes through with good tobacco flavor in the background. I really enjoyed smoking it, not at all as i had expected and probably the best OTC fruit blend ive had. If you can get past the price (almost double that of any other pouch)and the overwhelming pouch aroma its quite nice, and the room note is second to none. Im not implying this is my new all day blend, but it was no trouble to smoke and had a good dose of vitamin N. Would be lovely accompanied by a rod or gun, very fragrant and satisfying, a true surprise.

If you've ever wanted to smoke a fruit roll-up, then this is the tobacco for you.

To be honest, I have never had an aromatic blend I disliked... until I tried this!

The pouch not was initially quite pleasant... till you find that it sticks to your fingers, it permeates your room that you store it in and insidiously seeps into the adjacent rooms. Pretty soon your whole house will smell of WineBerry. Think of The Body Shop's dewberry scent. I think they use a whole bottle per pouch.

Packing it into a meerschaum pipe and lighting it was fairly easy. The tobacco is not too moist. First puff till the end of the bowl you will get only one taste. WineBerry with occasional taste of tobacco.

After the smoke, you will continue to taste wineberry in your mouth, smell it in you nasal cavities and in your wineberry infused hair and skin. Your meerschaum will definitely have wineberry ghosts. Prepare to clean it with alcohol soaked pipe cleaners. At least 20 pipe cleaners and plenty of alcohol. If you do not, every other tobacco you smoke in it will be WINEBERRY

Unless you are really a big fan of that scent... stay away from it.

I bought this tobacco in a large supermarket chain in my area (Pittsburgh). Premium tobacco, I don'tnow; however, I paid a premium price, $ 3.59. The Prince is $ 2.09 in the same store.

This is fragrant tobacco. I could smell it in the bag as I put it in the back seat of the car. Later that afternoon, I filled a small Kaywoodie (without the stinger) and lit up. A casing filled berry smoke, immediately I thought of a berry variety of Palladin. I began to hiccup at some point, so this must be loaded with nicotine. As the smoke progressed, my pipe began to gurgle, and I tasted some minor bitterness. I think I will confine this blend to a cob. Also I think my package was overly fresh and moist. Drying out may improve the smokeability.

I don't think I will buy this tobacco very often. Middleton's Cherry Blend has more natural tobacco taste, with a hint of cherry casing. I believe if Wine Berry is a premium mixture, less berry casing would make this an excellent smoke.

If anyone has ever wondered what it would be like to smoke a fruity life saver, well, here you go. This has a huge fruity top flavor aroma that is reminiscent of strawberry with a touch of something else in the olfactory make up, perhaps menthol that I suppose makes for it's wild forest berry character. This will permeate the room with it's pouch aroma. A soft texture blend that is not too moist and goopy in the pipe but will yeild some moisture. The smoke is light and mildly sweet with hints of it's berry flavor; more intense aroma than flavor though. Beware, this will aromatize your pipe. I smoked it in a old corncob that destined it for it's last voyage. The aroma is just over the top(for me) and no real honest tobacco flavors come through. For those who like bright and fruity aromatically "radioactive" blends.

Its a decent tobacco for aromatic smokers you could say. I'm smoking some in my Peterson right now, and it tastes almost exactly as it smells. The wine and berry flavor can be slightly overwhelming, but other than that its a decent aromatic. Probably will buy again.

I like this blend. its one that my wife bought me from the smoke shop because she liked the name and I make wine. I found the smell in the pouch nice an berry (ish), fruity. the flavor was mild a fruity nut type flavor. lights well and stays lit. can burn hot if you puff to fast. its nice in a lager bowl smoked slowly. when you have the time to relax. one of my favs. off the shelf blend. The armra was nice a sweet. My wife loves the room note as do my duaghers and I do enjoy it as well. I recomended this highly to the new smoker and the old hand. a must try. it also afforable and you can get it amost any were. May your pipe always smoke smooth. Jimmy

This is one of my favorite "Of the Shelf" pipe tobaccos, is sweet with a little bite, the aroma is more than acceptable and the taste is weak showing its "mass production" characteristic. Although is not one of the delicious blends handmade by an artisan, wineberry is a good to very good emergency smoke, hence somewhat recommended.

Got a sample of this from my tobacconist and it is a pretty good smoke. Not goopy at all. Might leave a ghost in your pipe. The room note is very pleasant,like cherries. This might be prefered over Middleton's Cherry Blend. Good to smoke around others. Mixture of black and dark brown tobaccos. Some may have to dry it out,but I pack my aromatics loose, for the best taste IMHO. This is a blend I will return to. Will taste good in a cob. Would recommend this to aromatic smokers and others like me who smoke everything.

Funn