Dan Tobacco Galway

Galway is prepared expertly by Dan Tobacco in a form that is certainly remindful of Ireland with its preparation. Each puff delivers plug style old world Virginia flavor with the addition of the Vanilla to sweeten the pot of gold and the end of the rainbow. A lightly aromatic Virginia with the sprayed Black Cavendish offering support.

After smoking nothing but aromatics and then subsequently swearing to never smoke them ever again, a friend sent me a tin. Reading the frequent comments regarding bite, I still wasn't very interested. Realizing that aromatics (generally) taste of nothing but casing, I held off longer.

The tin was opened before it came to me and I didn't bother opening it when it arrived. I'm too addicted to Northwoods and Early Morning Pipe and Countryside and Artisans Blend to be bothered.

Then, out of boredom one day, I opened the tin. Bam. Loved the smell immediately. Still reluctant because I don't care about room note as much as I once did. Roughed some up in the tin, it wasn't moist.

Packed my least used pipe, I dare not foul one of my pipes selected for the English.

In short, it packed well, lit well, burned long (AND COOL) and there was just enough flavour to keep me coming back. Strange. It did leave a bit of a residue behind, but oh well.

Not 4 Stars because it's not an English but it should be because I love touring around Galway.

Limerick is next.

A sound aromatic, subtle hints of Vanilla and fruit, good tobacco background taste. Not too bitey, not too soapy, a hint of campfire and pepper adds to its depth. Worth a try for the aromatic man.

upon opening the tin you are greeted with a very interesting vanilla spice aroma.. this aroma is, in fact, the best thing about treasures of ireland galway and in this sense it achieves what i think it sets out to do- it is an aromatic afterall.. however, not much else here to like and the flavor, while not too artificial is hardly pleasing. I feel that the tobacco flavor should be more prominent.. it is very dull and lifeless in the background.. vanilla and herbiness dominates.. almost like a potpourri.. I do not enjoy the smoking characteristics of the blend - it is very very dry right out of the tin.. and for some reason i have had bad luck with tobaccos that come this way , as far as the smoking process is concerned.. it will bite you if you are not careful and it is difficult to find a good way to load it in the pipe as the consistency is so strange. I find that the flavor, while not terrible, is almost like a drugstore blend.. the vanilla almost reminded me of captain black though i will say it is a step above that chemical rich cavendish. I am glad I tried this but I will not buy it again.. and would recommend it only to someone who likes this sort of thing.. but for aromatics I think I would tend to prefer something in the macbaren line..

Dan Tobacco - Galway (Treasures of Ireland).

I spent ages in Ireland during my twenties, and remember how much I liked Galway. But, I've made sure my fond memories didn't cause nepotism towards this!

Firstly, it isn't ribbon cut. Yes, it includes ribbons, but also an equal measure of cube cut pieces. The tin-note clarifies Galway contains blackberries. Sadly, I'd appreciate more moisture.

The smoke has plenty of added flavour, but it isn't too agglutinative or sticky. This is because most flavour comes from the blackberries; sour, sharp, quite acidic, and very tart. The vanilla tries to diminish this alacrity by lending a subtle creaminess; but, it would take more than a 'subtle' creaminess to properly placate the fruit! The tobaccos lack the archetypal cumbrous, weighty, aromatic character. A generous helping of light Virginia gives the smoke some buoyancy. It burns reasonably, however I do note it creeps above medium in temperature when pushed.

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: nice.

Galway? Although not 'horrible', it wouldn't make it into my aromatic rotation. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.

I purchased this because I saw it referred to in a review of Ashton's Rainy Day (which I enjoy) as being similar. I would say it is only remotely similar. I've only smoked a couple of bowls and I like it a lot. Smokes dry and cool and right to the bottom of the bowl. Surprisingly the last puff or two had a flowery note I hadn't picked up on earlier. It's what I call spectator friendly and would only offend the nose of those who like to be offended.

Don't think it would ever become my go-to smoke because I'm pretty much a VA kind of guy. However I think I'll keep a tin around for a change of pace. It smoked well right out of the tin - didn't need any drying time. I plan on letting it age a bit and see what happens.

This is one of my favorite aromatics. The tin aroma is a light vanilla spice with fruity herbal notes. This blend lights easily and burns cool and dry. It delivers a creamy smoke with a touch of vanilla sweetness mingled with VA and herbal flavors. The room note is excellent and will be enjoyed by smokers and non-smokers alike. All and all a top notch light aromatic.

I think the Leprechauns are still hiding the REAL TREASURES of IRELAND. This was terrible. SKIP IT!

Quite by chance a couple of months ago I got a sealed bag of Galway's Treasures of Ireland blend with a 2010 excise stamp and clearly pre-2013 markings. From this we could conclude that the tobacco in this bag was between 9 and 13 years old. I was bought by the name - I really liked this city, having lived in this place for some time. And even the facts that I didn't like the two previous Dan Tobacco blends I've tried recently (including Limerick from the same series), and the date on the bag didn't inspire much hope, given that this is a Cavendish-based flavor blend (and they don't usually keep for long) I decided to open the bag and try its contents.

The appearance of the blend is jumbled slices of ribbon, coarse slices and cubes. The light cube-cut Virginia stands out against the rest of the dark brown and black tobacco. There are some "logs" in the placer, but overall, the tobacco is of acceptable quality. Despite its venerable age, it is quite moist, and has clearly been soaked in a fair amount of propylene glycol, which has prevented it from drying out.

Propylene glycol and age influenced the flavor of tobacco - to the aroma of blackberries (which, by the way, is weathered a lot) mixed with a faint sour note of apple cider vinegar. In addition to that, you can sense a faint scent of vanilla, overlaid with a bread note. Overall, the smell of tobacco is very inexpressive - the aromatic blends Peterson of a comparable age smell much more brightly.

The tobacco taste is vanilla cupcake with blackberries and a slight hint of pepper, pleasant enough, but unexpressive. Absolutely, this blend can not be stored for as long as it was on the shelf in the store before I bought it. The tobacco smokes very cool, but tends to bite your tongue on a deep puff. The strength of the tobacco is not felt at all, no nicotine hit is out of the question. The aftertaste is sweet and honeyed, with a blackberry undertone. The ash is gray with a darkish tint.

The smoke is sweet and has a berry flavoring. In general, it is just as weak in smell as tobacco, and wears off almost as quickly as you can smell it.

Bottom line: tobacco that is best smoked as soon as you buy it. I don't know how long it can last, but don't even think about aging it. If you like German flavored blends - you might want to try this lightest tobacco in fresh. I, on the other hand, am once again convinced that blends from Dan Tobacco and I are incompatible concepts.

I would not mind to have another tin of this to age, but I did not find it one of my favorites. May be worth another try later. Found it a little lacking in taste.