Von Eicken Bayside Mixed Blend

Von Eicken - Bayside Mixed.

"Why all the bad reviews? It's alright!". That was my impression of Bayside. "Good God, this is truly foul!". It took all of a minute for that to become my opinion.

O.K, a few positives to try and rescue it: the nicotine's mild, and it's well hydrated from the pouch. The inaugurate flavour whilst getting the burn going is quite good; tolerable, but after that it belongs in the bin. I can't see how this would be enjoyed in either a cigarette, or a pipe; there's little actual tobacco flavour, but a heap load of a strange chemical flavour; very bizarre. When I used to smoke cigarettes I was a Marlboro man and can't remember EVER having a ciggie where the flavour resembled paint!

I'll finish on one last good point: it burns well.

Disgusting.

Not recommended.

P.S. maybe the chemical taste is subjective to my palate, so you might enjoy a pipe-full.

Okay, this is rubbish.

But, there's a but.

I mixed this 60/40 with some Cyprian that I've had hanging around and it smoked fine, kinda calmed the Cyp down and added a little sweetness.

I think this stuff could supply a cost effective base for some blending experiments: on its own it's a waste of matches!

If others were reviewing the blue pouch, then I also will go agains the grain, if on the other hand, they had the yellow pouch, they were not far of the mark. That having been said, the blue, only slightly more complex than the yellow, is a simple no nonsense tobacco that can be used for the pipe or cigarette. There is slightly and I mean slightly more taste and flavour than the yellow Virginia, I may not be stocking up on this but if there is nothing else to smoke, I would be grateful for it, I can think of many a blend at much higher prices far worse than this one, smoked very slowly in a pipe, some flavour does come through, but only some. If you like the milder blend and do not have a high nicotine tolerance, this is for you and you'll love the price so I'm going to give it 3 stars for those who like the very mild inoffensive blends, as opposed to myself who likes very strong pure virginia's on steroids

The only real virtue that this stuff has is cheapness. It's clearly intended to be a roll-your-own tobacco and is marketed as a pipe tobacco in the UK only to avoid the extra duty payable on cigarette tobacco (the same is true of a few other tobaccos that have lately come on the market). I imagine it's made from sheet tobacco and salvage of some kind. It's all right if you're hard up and it's a choice between smoking this and not smoking at all. It's not awful, but it smokes like what it is: a cheap weed chiefly intended to make RYOs with. Have a go, if only out of curiosity/impecuniousness. For what it is, it's not bad, but certainly not a tobacco that will please the discriminating palate. If you want something to smoke all day while you work, this'll do. It doesn't need (or reward) concentration. If you need a low-end smoke, however, Route 66 is much better than this.

Update, November 2018: Since I wrote this review, Route 66 - which wasn't at all bad - has gone out of production, for reasons that have never been made quite clear.

Well I have to go against the grain here. If you are seeking a cheap baccy (around £8.50 from ASDA in the UK) then we have one. Firstly it comes in a well sealed bag which both belies the cheapness and keeps the content fresh. A lovely aroma which I have found does come through when smoking. I have smoked baccy at over half the price again that tasted far worse than this one. Really its the little brother of ST Bruno, just a average, old fasioned, good burning baccy. And cheap!