Ole Shenandoah Bootlegged

I had fun tasting all of the Ole Shenandoa blends (easily gotten at pipesandcigars.com). They have great tin art and really nicely put together aromatics with crisp, tobacco taste, yet with aromatic agents that are not too sweet. Bootlegged has some nice Virginia blended in that makes the taste more round than you'd normally expect from a tobacco that also caters to the Black Cavendish fruit misted crowd. Easy on the palate.

Tin note is cherry cough medicine. Room note is cherry cough medicine. Taste is not far from cherry cough medicine.

Someday, the Robotrippers of this generation may find this pleasing, and will travel back to the days of yore, when they abused cough medicine and went on epic adventures, but I simply am disappointed. I really enjoy Barrel No. 76. I can't finish this tin of Bootlegged. I'll probably pass it on to somebody else.

The smell reminded me of one of those cheap fruit flavored cigars sold in gas stations and used for blunts. The smell is sooo artificial and chemically. It has a sugary cherry aroma, so that part of the description did match, any lemon topping inside would be of the cleaning product kind. This citrus was born in a factory and not an orchard.

The contents of small confetti bits was moist and springy, and would make a great pillow stuffing. It quickly burned to dust (yet to it's advertised credit) there was no bite. The gross smell just turned into a gross additive taste that lingered in the pipe after being tamped out.

This was an odd offering from from Lane, as while they never came across as high end, they always made products with a yummy sweetness. Akin to a Twinkie with no refinement, but has that guilty pleasure.

I can see why aromatics can get a bad reputation, when blends like these are lurking in our mists.

After 69 years of smoking I really no more care about what the tin smells like or how the tobacco looks as long as it is not too moist and only smoke aros so I don't have to go outside and freeze. I found this to be a very tolerable aromatic with a decent flavor albeit very mild but what I especially like is the way it stays lit even if you have to set it down for a few minutes which is great for a sitter pipe. Will probably become one of my regular in the house blends for winter.

I found this blend to be a pleasant alternative to Barrel 76, similar, but with enough fruit overtones to make it unique. Smoked well right out of the tin with few relights. Like 76, no bite. I will keep this in my rotation with 76 as both have something to offer and though similar they are differant!

Opening the tin the scent of aromatic pipe tobacco wafts from the can. Something about this reminds me of a blend I tried in the 1970’s, and I like the smell already. The pipe is filled and the first puffs are oh so good. Incredibly good in fact. A little fruity, mild, the tobacco comes thru, and amazingly stays lit. This is darn good!

I was given a tin of this and was not expecting much. Well, comtempt prior to investigation never works out well. This is a good blend. It's fruity and cherry but not overwhelming at all. I had to add some five brothers to up the nicotine. Otherwise, this is a good blend!

I finding myself going back to this tin more often then I thought I would when I first opened it. The blend is not world changing in any way but that l think is what keep s calling to me it's a little sweet a ,little fruity with enough nicotine to satisfy. It's just a comfortable smoke.

I don't know, I guess I'm just not a fruity tobacco kind of guy. I really want to find a good cherry blend but it seems every single one has let me down. Component tobaccos are very good to excellent here, a lot of Cavendish, some burley and a little Virginia just for fun. Shag cut with a little more moisture in the tin than optimal but enjoyable as is. The bowl loads and lights well, smokes well with a consistent mellow cherry flavor to the dregs. It's more of a cherry pastry flavor without the acrid "sharpness" of some other cherry blends. Not much nicotine to be had, of course, but this allows pursuit of simultaneous endeavors if you feel inclined. I ended up blending the end of this tin with some Golden Extra and MM Missouri Pride all in equal parts. Two burleys and one Cavendish with the cherry in it. This further mellowed the cherry flavor and added a lot of burley nut and N in what turned out to be an excellent puff.