When I ran out of Captain Black Royal - which I think is mediocre at best - I saw a pouch of this and decided to give it a try. It was either this or Captain Black again, so I went for this.

The smell right out of the pouch seemed to be pretty good, and I got a strong scent of Virginia tobacco, like with Drum rolling tobaccos. Like other reviewers, I didn't get much fruity notes upon smelling it. Smoking it, I got no fruitiness whatsoever.

What I like a lot about this tobacco is that it's extremely easy to pack and light, and keep lit. Another thing I absolutely love about it is that it requires absolutely no effort to keep smoking it. I found it great in my church warden while reading a book. Slow, small puffs and just forget about tampering etc, and just read. A really good experience.

I was expecting an aromatic, but quite frankly I got none, and I like aromatics. Captain Royal Royal seem to be more aromatic than this. The taste is good, you can taste the tobacco, but it's just a bit on the dull side. Not very exciting, but that doesn't mean bad. It's basically just Virginia tobacco, slow burning, no tongue bite (another thing I appreciate it for) and decent flavor. After taste is kind of, well, dull, but all in all, for the price it's a good smoke.

Update : I had 3 bowls before writing this review. A few more now and I can't feel my tongue.. not exactly the best feeling in the world.

I opened the pouch and smelled - tobacco (esp virginia). The cut and texture is that of a quality tobacco. So far so good - no baking extracts.

This tobacco packs nicely since it is not overly moist in the pouch. It had just the right amount of moisture (no old stock around here - we have lots of Amphora in Canada).

I lit the bowl, tamped and lit again. A little burley nose burn and bright virginias - verly little casing. In the first third of the bowl you taste a little citrus and a little fruity but mostly just from the quality virginias. The pouch says it is flavoured to compliment the tobacco - just so. By mid bowl, sipping the smoke you taste chocolate. Gently cycled through the nose you get chocolate, berry and citrus - tastey and refreshing. By the end of the bowl you get more chocolate but the other flavours are still there. I was left with a little dottle - not too wet, and a nice ash. This is a full bodied smoke. If you smoke fast you get a nice virginia taste all the way through the bowl. Smoked slow it has as many subtleties as higher end tobaccos. I do not consider this tobacco to be in the same class with other drugstore tobaccos. I have a drawer full of high end brands that I enjoy but none has given me as much satisfaction for the money as this unique and expertly blended tobacco. It is just slightly aromatic in that the casings don't overpower the excellent quality virginias. As an OTC class I give it 4 stars. If you haven't tried it go and buy some.

The current issue of this tobacco is not as good as the same label of 2-3 years ago. i.m.h.o.

Quality of leaf is mediocre, but after a few pipes,the subtle tobacco flavors do come through. Perhaps a good smoke for the beginning pipe smoker, not a bad "drug-store" tobacco at all.

This is a great quality cavendish that burns easily and doesn't bite at all. The tobacco taste is the main feature throughout the bowl, spiced by a subtle almond taste and hints of cocoa and orange. Lukily, I never tasted anything similar to raspberries or flowers.

Despite the name, this is a mild aromatic, almost borderline to natural tobacco.

I'll get more 'eloquent' with my discriptive terminology as time goes one, but one thing I notice is how the tobacco makes my throat feel 'raspy' in very short order (even though I'm smoking it slowly & smoothly). I do like its aroma, though (room note?). That's a plus.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now and see how things go as time passes. Cheers, d'Pappy

When I smoke this tobacco I get dark chocolate, coco and raspberry flavour notes throughout the bowl. It is never over the top or sickly sweet as some other aromatics become and are. It's also not cloying to the palate and it does not bite at all. It smokes cool to the bottom of the bowl to a fine grey ash, tipping the ash half way through the smoke is recommended. I seem to be reaching for this tobacco all the time now bypassing others and I highly recommend it to all.

Perfect for a beginner smoker and for public crowded places, like sports events or similar, as it is very respectfull towards others.

Good quality, but only 2 stars strictly because its lack of strenght.

Thx Medhat, Egyptian PipeSmoker.

I eventually secured some from a duty-free shop on the internet from England. I almost wish I hadn't. This is not the same tobacco that was around in the 70s. It has its moments, but I can only tolerate it in certain pipes: mostly the pipes that I smoked it in during the 70s.

It is still one of the few aromatics that I smoke along with a couple of Browns offerings such as Vegas 64, Brown's Vanilla and Planta Vanilla Flake.

This isn't half bad if you get a fresh pouch. I didn't detect any of the advertised flavors, but I did taste a little fruitiness.

A much better pic than the brown.

The room note is that of a sweet virginia, a little burley, and a slight hint of neroli.

I won't smoke this regularly but when I come across recently dated pouches I might buy one or two.

Storing this will ruin it.

Understandably, 20 years ago when I first picked up the pipe smoking habit, this was my first choice. My impression at the time was that all was fine but a stale room note would develop if you did not ventilate your area sufficiently after smoking.

Since then I stayed off pipe smoking for an extensive interval until I picked it up again. Now, my considerations are different.

I tried Amphora (Red) again and I felt something was missing. True, I did not find this pronounced "stale odor" any more. But, at the same time I did not get any enthusiastic remarks about room note.

This blend burns quite hot and it tends to scorch my tongue. After the first pouch I thought of never buying Amphora red again. For old times sake, and being somewhat swayed by the reviews here, I did buy another one. If I ever buy another one this will be just because I will have no other choice... (I Agree with the reviewers who say that this is good quality tobacco - way above the usual drugstore OTC blends, I just think that one can do much better.)

A reviewer mentions that one might go full circle and end up with Amphora red again. I doubt it. If you can afford the extra cost you should try other Blends, Mac Baren's Golden Ambrossia for example.

It is in fact a better quality Drug Store type tobacco, Yes, I will smoke it when I can. I think the Nostalgia is mostly due to lack of availibility in the US (due to the litigious nature of americans and fear of legal issues for Imperial) I would smoke it as a mild, treat if it were handy. I will not bother to order it from Europe for what it is. For a somewhat similar, but not equal quality pouch style, I would pick Sail, Troost, or House of Windsor.

Well, a couple years later, I finally managed to pick up a pouch, and I'm not displeased. In truth, I'm actually very surprised, for this seems to be an ideal drug store blend, in my opinion. Just a few dollars for a fifty gram pouch, though in short supply where I reside. There is enough here to quell my taste for more expensive alternatives.

Imperial Tobacco claims that this offering espouses a touch of "pure fruit blossom". Searching for proof, I opened the pouch to find a wonderful aroma, not of fruits or other such casings, but a traditional strong scent of unmistakeable tabacco, with a broken flake constitution and a smattering of color darker than I would have imagined.

Apart from these observations, I found the taste to be rather full, far stronger than something resembling Captain Black, soaking in additives. Judged against the myriad of other proclaimed Cavendish tobaccos, this one stands in its own class. There is little here to remind me of the accepted Cavendish designation, other than a guess on my part that this must be steamed. But, I don't know. I'm not one for rigorous categorization.

I tend to downgrade my reviews of aromatics heavily after greater sampling, so I may have to back off these claims. In the mean time...

Three and a half of Four.

I would not call this a bell ringer or a sublime way to spend your day with a favorite pipe, but it was a good, solid smoke with decent all-tobacco flavor and it was plenty cool. I don't think this stuff could bite even the wimpy tongued brats among us. (-;

It was like a pouch of dried out sticks, and had a nearly unbearable flavour.

There are many, many good aromatics out there, and since smoking does actually kill you, you may as well smoke something worth dieing for. This is one that should be left on the shelf - think drum tobacco smoked in a pipe.

Sorry to all those that enjoyed it, this is one of the only tobaccos sold in New Zealand, and we are definately the worse for it.

:(

Tiger

But to get to the point, this is a great aromatic with a flavor that is definitely akin to its pouch aroma. Unlike many aromatics, it doesn?t leave goopey residue in the bowl. I did notice, however, that the flavor dissipates somewhat towards the bottom of the bowl but its burning qualities are good. (I like to shred most cavendish blends a bit.) I do not smoke aromatics on a regular basis but I haven?t abandoned them either. If you want a quality aromatic of the Dutch variety, try AMORPHA Red (or is that Amphora Red). A delightful, flavorful and relaxing smoke to be sure!

I rate this tobacco 9.8 out of 10.

I think it will be difficult to get better tobacco for the same price.

A classic one-match light, I immediately noticed the delicious aroma. It smelled of fruit and blossoms, just like the package promised. About half-way down, a slightly stronger favor developes. Others have identified it as raisins, which I agree with, but there's also a little cinnamon in there. Towards the end, the taste of natural tobacco comes to the fore.

This was a great back porch smoke. I can't think of any better way to enjoy the sunset.

-El Pheasant

The smoking qualities of this tobacco are really good. It burns cool and slow, and the flavour is surprisingly complex, although very mild at first. The beginning of the bowl tastes light, sweetish and flowery, with fruity, vanilla tastes building as the smoke progresses. The vanilla taste is only ever a hint, and the bowl finishes with a rich chocolatey aftertaste from the burley tobaccos. The room aroma is as varied as the taste, a friend once commented that it smelt of chocolate, while at the beginning of the smoke it smells more floral.

This is definitely a very high quality aromatic, of a very different flavour from most, the casings must be very different to what is used in a lot of aromatics. A really interesting smoke, but not very heavy.

*

It's pretty good for a drugstore tobacco, just don't expect much from it. I wouldn't smoke this unless I ran out of my normal aromatics.

As it is, it's a rather pedestrian blend, but it has good raisin notes and a fairly stable tobacco base. You could do a lot worse than this with some premium-named tobaccos.

Give it a try. Even if it's not to your liking, it's not a huge waste of money. Good value, in my opinion.

When I first opened the pouch, I was greeted by an overwhelming, straight-up tobacco scent. I didn't pick up on orientals, or the aromatics (vanilla, fruit, or otherwise). The tobacco was slightly rubbed out and packed nicely.

When I lit the first bowl, I wasn't impressed. This blend tasted sort of bland but smelled strong. Again, I couldn't pick up any aromatics at all, so I was a bit perplexed by that.

I had two more bowls in the following two weeks and was ready to say "Not my cup of tea, won't try it again". But, I tossed the pouch in my tobacco cellar and forgot about it, until today, four months later, when I was going through my tobacco stash and deciding what I was going to fire up with.

I said to myself "hey, what the heck, let's give it another whirl". The tobacco didn't seem to be any drier that before, but the distictive "tobacco" odor I had mentioned was considerably more mellow now. I packed my Stanwell and lit. I found I was able to sort out the vanilla and fruit aromatics and was quite pleased. The tobacco was mild, had no bite, and the aroma was just as pleasant, with a hint of what I thought was possibly rasin. Overall, I now have to say that I will keep this one around.

Pros: A mild smoke, pleasing room note. Good for a general "anytime" smoke.

Cons: Got a bit of gurgle mid-way through the bowl that was my signal to relight, upon which the gurgle went away. A stale tobacco taste stayed with me for over 12 hours.

Old package in a old store. I'll make this one quick. This blend is similar to Skandinavik Full Aroma. Nice aromatic tobacco. The smoker is not swamped by some berry blast. Smooth and nice.

The tobacco was a little dry mainly due to the age of the pouch. Refer to my review of Skan Full Aroma as this is very very similar.

Hey, not bad. I didn't have the flavor descriptors, so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't pick out any particular flavorings, and I wouldn't have known that it WAS flavored except for the "aroma" in the name. Maybe this is because my sample was older and pretty dry. It smoked easily, pleasantly, with a decent flavor level. Not complex, but a comfortable, no-brainer smoke. I now keep the pouch in the trunk of my car in case I have a smoking opportunity.

It lights very easy and is easy to keep going, you can puff away quite hard, yet it still burns cool. The flavouring is hard to pin down, the main flavour is definately fruity, I would say honeysuckle. However there are additional flavours which I can only describe as possibly herbal. However the odd thing I find about this tobacco is that the flavour wears off after approximately 1/3 of the bowl, after that it becomes quite flavourless but still very easy to smoke. It leaves a fine ash which doesn't flavour the pipe too much.

I would describe this as a geat beginners tobacco or maybe a good bedtime smoke, due to it's mild but pleasant flavouring. It is not an adventurous tobacco, so you could get bored with it if you smoked it too much. The quality of this tobacco belies it's mass produced manufacture.

A "drugstore" blend is a burley-based concoction, savagely cased with inexpensive chemical agents, sold in the provinces of the US at "dime" stores and "convenience" retail-chains (called, in an all-purpose kind of way, "drugstores",) usually in bulk.

This is not a 'drugstore' blend. The fact that it was once very widely distributed and thus easily available does not make it a drugstore blend. Anyone who can't tell the difference between this and a drugstore blend, probably can't tell the difference between Balkan Sobranie and "Oriental No 12", either.

AMPHORA, like SAIL, is an older, Dutch Aromatic Cavendish-processed blend. Virginia, Burley, and several condimental tobaccos are blended, pressed together, and steamed. These "married" tastes are then given a natural flavouring, in the same way that tea might be flavoured with oil of bergamot or mint, or coffee with hickory. Or Latakia is flavoured by fumigation, or burley by flue-curing, or Virginia by stoving. These are classic processes that, since the Golden Age of perfumed snuff in XVIII century France, have been carefully followed by age-old practitioners.

The Dutch have traditionally been masters of the subtle flavouring of tobacco. They do not assume that Cavendish leaf is merely a pretext for holding an added flavour. The basic blend is all-important. It is often suprisingly intense, too, defying the chiché that all aromatic blending is lightweight frou-frou. In the best Dutch aromatic blends, too, the flavouring is undefinable, chimerical. If you can tell, "this is cherry", then it is not a good aromatic. Good aromatics are few and far between.

AMPHORA Red is delicious. Virginia, Burley, orientals, and an indescribable floral soupçon build to a full flavour that is tobacco plus. Nothing is in any way overpowering; it has a beautiful balance and finish; the arôme adds the je-ne-sais-quoi.

Burley is burley is burley. Latakia is Latakia is Latakia. They are a positive category, like roast beef. Oriental tobaccoes, fiddled-with Virginia, fermeted Périque: these enter a more religious realm of mystery and surprise: little Merrie England has met New Worlds. Finally the Dutch bring magic and necromancy to the game with their sleight-of-hand parfumerie. I enjoy it all, and would find all-roast-beef-all-the-time BORING.

Nose: Upon opening a new pouch, your nose is greeted with strong, fruity aromas that have faint traces of vanilla & licorice floating around. Although the aroma is strong, there is no ?cough drop? scent that plagues other blends. The initial room note is pleasantly fruity and of medium weight. Unfortunately, it descends too quickly into a staleness I associate with many Burley & Virginia blends.

Mouth: The initial flavour is fruity with pleasant undertones of natural tobacco. This changes a wee bit half way down the bowl into a stronger and darker flavor that is still moderately cool to the mouth and tongue.

Economics: In Canada this blend is low-priced and, coupled with its moderately slow rate of burn, is an economical smoke.

Last Words: Amphora Full Aroma is a wonderful change from Lane, Middleton & Sail products that festoon most corner stores. Out of the 'corner store' blends available to me, Amphora Full Aroma is my 2nd favourite. I rate it at 3 stars out of 5 and usually have it in my tobacco cabinet.

It burned well but was a little too wet for me.

All in all I did enjoy it but it won't bee on my list untill I run out of my current tobacco.