Boswell Pipes & Tobacco Christmas Cookie

The aspects of the gold cavendish are toasted bread, and a little grass with mild honey. The black cavendish offers some vanilla in a support role The toppings are the stars, and include vanilla, light cocoa and caramel, some nuts, a little whisky, a little brown sugar, nutmeg, and perhaps a couple other spices like all-spice and/or clove. The vanilla lacks some depth and there is a light syrupiness, which I found slightly distracting. The nic-hit is just past mild. Mildly moist, but needs no dry time. Burns at a reasonable pace, cool, and is moderately smooth with a consistent flavor, though it has a minor acrid note at the finish. Won’t bite, and has no dull or harsh spots. Requires an average number of relights. Leaves a bit of moisture in the bowl. The after taste is mildly sweet and spicy, and slightly bitter. Not all day smoke; more of an occasional one. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

If you are a fan of aromatics than you probably are aware of J.M. Boswell, makers of some of the finest aro's on the market today. Christmas Cookie is one of their best IMHO. It is quite sweet and the smell is very similar to the flavor of the smoke. I seldom smoke aromatics but when I do, this is one that I reach for on those cold winter nights. Highly Recommended.

I was so excited to try this blend. So many great reviews and it sounded amazing. I ordered a bunch of 2oz aros and Northwoods from boswell, but ordered 4oz of Xmas cookie. The aroma out of the bag was already much milder than I expected. Smoking the first bowl, it was kinda disappointing. I felt it was way mild, and I even got hints of potential tongue bite. Then it started to get bitter. Took it slow again, (I won't talk about re-lights since i am a very novice pipe smoker) and it and it seemed to help the bitterness go away. You have to smoke it slow and gentle. Then it got wet at the end and gurgled a bit. Second bowl was the same experience. I am sad cuz I love cookies. Oh well - I loved No Bite DeLite however, so far!

-- UPDATE -- much better experience in a meerschaum!

Christmas Cookie was a wonderful treat for me, probably because I had heard so many stories about that I thought the mystique would end my curiosity. It did taste like grandma's fresh backed Vanilla sticks, but grandma never put liquor in hers and there is a definite hint here of Jack Daniel's (or, something like that). The Black Cavendish did provide some body and at times I really did, I swear, think that maybe I was smoking tobacco. A fun smoke for any time of year, but once was enough for me.

I have had to revise down my early impressions of this blend. The room note remains the best factor of Christmas Cookie. Yet most everything else about it just hasn't convinced me over time.

In the bag I certainly get a very holiday aroma. I would compare it to mulling spices with dried berries such as pomegranate. The cavendish blend is dark and adds a visual impression of a mulled wine with whole spices swimming throughout the mixture.

This was a very cool, dry smoke. As well as little to no bite but relighting is naggingly constant. It wasn't as heady a smoke as I would like either. It draws out in fairly weak plumes instead of rich, dense clouds of smoke. It also was a short smoke at only thirty minutes. My preferred time being at least forty minutes.

The taste wasn't bad. It is just very boring. A little sweet. No complexity or tobacco flavor. Ends up being the taste of ash with a bit of sweetness mixed in. The spice, berry, and vanilla notes I could make out in the bag don't transfer to the taste at all.

The room note was very nice on this blend. It was light and dissipated quickly but in the first few moments after puffing it smelled like a spiced nut loaf was just pulled out of a nearby oven. After only a short time it is almost undetectable except for a whisper of vanilla remaining in the air which lingers for a fair amount of time.

Christmas cookie, despite an excellent room note. Just doesn't deliver in most other important characteristics. Flat taste, weak smoking experience, endless relighting. It is one that I really wanted to like my first few times smoking it. Yet in the end I had to stick with reality.

Just got this today from J.M.Boswell and what a great tobacco! If you like Aromatic tobaccos & you like the taste of freshly baked cookies,this blend is for you! You won't be disappointed with this blend.Mild but the flavor is great,room note is very pleasant to fantastic and you could smoke this all day & you'll never get tired of it.this is one of my favorites and is definitely a keeper and has a permanent place in the rotation line. Give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

This is my first time smoking anything from boswell's. I ordered a pipe from them, and they sent me some samples to try. I chose the christmas cookie for the free sample, and the berry cobbler as well. I was about to give up on the aromatics, but based on the r eviews here, I decided to try once more. I have heard others say they could taste the flavors in the smoke, but for me I have never tasted anything but "Sweet air" in the previous blends I have tried. I tried everything my local shop had to offer in aromatics, but I had to smoke real hard to get any taste from them. When I tried this blend, I put it in a corn cob Pipe I had because I did not want to take a chance on another tasteless tobacco ruining a new pipe. I could not believe it when I lit it up. It was incredible!! I smoked half the bowl, and then went and got a good pipe and filled her up. If you have been let down by all the aromatics you have tried....give this one a shot. It has taste, a very pleasant roomnote, and you wont find yourself smoking your pipe hot looking for flavor!! Thanks Boswell's....you saved me!!

Though there may be certain things about this tobacco that the smoker might not fully appreciate (or even absolutely not like), the flavor and aroma are above reproach, in my opinion. Nice sweet vanilla cookie taste and an aroma that people WANT to be around. This is a very mild blend and is not going to overwhelm the smoker's taste buds with flavor, and accordingly it does not bite in the least except for an overeager puffer looking to expand this blends focus.

I agree with the tin description that one does not need to like aromatics to enjoy this blend but it would not, IMHO, be an all day smoke. This, for me, is a treat... almost like a special dessert. I probably won't have more than 2 oz of this in my tobacco bar at any one time, and will likely go without it for stretches of time. It's less so than other aromatics, but it does leave the telltale goopy trace in the pipe. Best to give it a pipe of its own. It does lose some of its flavor down the bowl as the casing burns away. It's not perfect.

But I fully believe that when the smoker is in the mood for this, nothing else will do. I think this is a very good and original blend; I've never found anything quite like it. Boswell The Younger (like his dad on other projects) should be congratulated on this exclusive gem.

I just finished a sample of this that I received nearly a year and a half ago along with several other Boswell aromatics. I was most looking forward to trying this one as it was the likely most famous of all the samples in that I had actually heard many other folks talk about this blend and not any of the others.

Ultimately, I was disappointed with this one as was I with just about all the rest of them. Ironically, the one I liked the most was the Cherry one that was sent. I say ironically, because I don't like cherry aromatics. One thing I did notice about the Christmas cookie is that the flavor did flash off a lot in the time I had the sample. The last few bowls were very dull. I would add that I felt the toppings were dull with all of them. What I did taste is what has been explained in every other review here. Strong vanilla presence and sugary baked goods. I didn't think it was anything different than any other vanilla I have tried nor was there anything that differentiated it other than the declining strength of the topping.

I wonder if this is a trait with the boswell aromatics in general. If so, this could explain my tasting results as I have no clue how my samples were stored before they got to me. For all I know they were left in a bag. After they got to me they went into a mason jar and the flashing still happened from that point forward. In any case, I don't think it weighs well for any blender of aromatics that the toppings would easily flash from the blend.

Even if this blend were a fantastic aro fresh, something I can't claim to know, I would not feel comfortable buying a large amount of it if I knew the quality would noticeably decline in a relatively short time period. There are too many blenders making aros that do not have this problem. It is with this that I put two stars on this one. Not terrible, but there are many better options for people with cellars. Insert Sutliff Mountain Pass. 🙂

This one is a gentle throw back that reminds me of grandmas sugar cookies in the oven around the holidays. A really nice mild smoke that doesn't overpower the palate. I just took a freind to Boswells shop, and he brought several ounces along with him. He really likes it too. Some might say its a little flat, but I find it very even as far as flavor, and over all smoke from the top of the bowl to the bottom. Its a great aromatic, and when I have smoked it where others can smell it they ask me what it is. For those who are afraid of room note around the ladies--I have not gotten any complaints--only questions about whats in my pipe.