Altadis - 500 African Queen pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 12 of 12 reviews of this tobacco
T. Collin Francis	12/16/2010	Mild	Strong	Overwhelming	Very Pleasant
This is an aromatic that I probably would have loved thirty years ago when I first picked up a pipe. Not now. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure it came from The Tinder Box,.....it tastes like it came out of plastic pouch from the Seven-Eleven. It might be fun to try to add something to it to see if I can tone down whatever that topping is. One positive thing I can say about it is.... it's got a really nice room-note for the bystanders who can't stand English or Vaper blends.
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Fellow traveler	11/27/2010	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant
A mild sweet tasting blend that combines the natural aromatic Smyrna with a light topping ( in the bag I thought it was rum, my wife guessed vanilla) to make a very pleasant and familiar taste. Light bodied, if you are used to big clouds of smoke you may be disappointed. Evokes Lane 1Q but sweeter and more natural tasting with less zing. A comfortable smoke when nothing else seems right. And you cigarette smokers may recognize the aroma of the smyrna. PS: Back when Istanbul was Constantinople, Izmir tobacco was Smyrna. "A rose by any other name..." These tiny, top-grade tobacco leaves from mountainous Western Turkey across from the Island of Khios have long been prized as the most aromatic of all Orientals.
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boxertwin	11/11/2010	Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Pleasant
This tobacco is one that smells really great in the bag but it ends there. It would make for a nice room air freshener. The taste is not there. It leaves your mouth feeling waxy. It is a goopy thing for sure. I like aromatics. This is not one that I would suggest at all.
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Rev. Avery	10/31/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
Just bought an ounce of this. Can't really tell you why though. Maybe it was the description. I'm finding that I like this. Very enjoyable. It's not out of the park great, but I've smoked far worse. I'll be getting more for my rotation.
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PIE-EYED-PIPER	03/28/2010	Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I smoke mostly English tobacco. I really don't care much for aromatics. However, this is one that I could get used to smoking. Though aromatic this may be, it is not too overly powering than most aromatics I've tried. It has a nice mild aroma with very pleasing taste. There's one drawback though, since I prefer a "full bodied" smoke, it would've have been better if Altadis made the strength a little bit stronger. But then again, that's just my own preference. *** UPDATE: 12/12/10 - To date, I've finally finished a full pound of this tobacco. Having compared it to a few blends, I can more or less make an "educated" update to my previous review. Well, the verdict is in. I do find that having tried different blends, AQ lacks the depth and complexity that other blends have. Although, the aroma smells great in the bag, it does do not translate to flavor when you smoke it. This blend is quite one dimensional. It lacks "something". Could it be that I'm just too much of a Latakia lover that I'm missing it on this blend? Honestly, I really don't know. Whatever it is, it's not there. Looking at it as objectively as possible though, for an English blend not to contain any Latakia and still be “smokeable”, that is something worth considering. I still do maintain (as originally stated) that it is not too overly powering and has a nice mild aroma. Compared to some aromatics, it does have a somewhat of a pleasing taste. With that being said, I am downgrading my recommendation to two (2) stars.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Jack0077	12/30/2009	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I can see I'm in the minoraty on this one but I am a fan of african queen great aroma in the pouch and room note while being smoked its not overly complex but its just fine for me its part of my regular rotation
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Demetri	10/18/2009	Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant
I picked up a 2 oz baggie of this just to sample an Altadis product. It was at the top of an alphabetic listing - my first criterion for choice, and I was intrigued by the exotic sounding base tobaccos in the blend. However, this sample (now 2 oz less four bowls) will join my collection of "whatever-was-I-thinking-when-I-bought-this" blends. In short the blend is long on aromatic aspect (even if I cannot tell what it is flavored with) and very short on basic taste. To me, cool, tasteless hot air. English? No way. Still, it is smokable.
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strongirish	04/05/2009	Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant
One man's trash is another man's treasure. I liked this one. It has a great aroma and while aromatic, not overwhelmingly so. I found it mild, non tongue biting and very pleasant taste. It burned well and stayed lit. It did not gunk up my pipe and it had a very sweet flavor, I think anise flavoring which I find I like. I think this is one of Altadis's better blends and will smoke it some more. An English does not have to have Latakia in it. It would ruin this one.
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	02/19/2009	Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant
I actually liked this crossover English very much. You taste the ORIENTALS throughout the whole smoke and yet it has an actual FUDGE quality to it. I would recommend this for people needing a change from Balkans. It is still a little too English for the Aromatic crowd. Good stuff.
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Redd	10/29/2007	Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
I use to buy thid at Mom's Cigars in NYC in the 1980's A good English blend a little on the full side. Packs well and burns easy. Has a very full Oriental scent in the bag. A good english blend at a very good price. drys out quick so smoke the whole bag fast.
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CaptnDan	04/03/2006	Very Mild	Extra Strong	Full	Pleasant
The description was just baffling enough to make me curious enough to buy some of this. Then I was dumb enough to try to smoke it. An aromatic blend without Latakia? Imagine that. After all, isn't Latakia a staple in aromatics? Yeah, right. Well, hats off to Altadis, that was actually what made my buy it. The flavor when I tried to smoke it is what will keep me from ever buying it again. This is some pretty foul, over cased tobacco with a very unpleasant flavor that will leave your pipe goopy and put your tongue in the burn ward. The room note is actually pretty decent. If you're in to suffering for the enjoyment of those around you, stock up on African Queen.
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Collezionista	09/28/2005	Mild	Very Strong	Medium	Pleasant
I have no clue what Altadis was thinking when they wrote their description of this product because the African Queen I tried has nothing to do with an English blend. I'm pretty sure what I tried was actually African Queen because I know for a fact that the tobacconist I got it from stocks Altadis bulk blends. That aside, African Queen is pretty awful stuff. Along with such tobacco travesties as Lane 1Q, it was one of the "sniff and buy" mishaps from my early days. It burns like a furnace, bites like a viper and is goopy as hell. IIRC, it was an aromatic of the worst degree. Avoid!
Showing reviews 1 through 12 of 12 reviews of this tobacco