The tin aroma is very pleasant, and the blending of tobaccos and flavoring is nicely proportioned. The flavoring is cased in a way that does not produce a wet smoke. The blend burns clean to the bottom of the bowl to a nice gray ash. I detected the flavoring in the first quarter of the bowl. After that the Virginia hinted through occasionally but never quite enough for me. The room aroma was very nice according to others, with slightly nutty, sweet scent that was not overwhelming.

While I do recommend this blend and will buy another tin or two to puff, my motivation is less for myself than for the benefit of others. I received many complements on the aroma, and when I am out and about, it will be a nice puff, particularly since it is very forgiving if I occasionally puff a little too much. The blend does not bite if I am more vigorous in my smoke, but overall it is not one I would choose when I am back home and am seeking a blend to enjoy for me.

It was, as others have pointed out, a bit underwhelming but not in a negative way. It just did not excite me, and in the same way I will use the Lane 1-Q when I am in public, I will occasionally substitute this blend for public places or in the car.

It is one of my crowd pleaser blends that my family and fiends all like.

I have also used it to blend with other bulk tobacco ... it adds a nice smoothness and sweetness to some of the strongers tobacco that I play with. I am glad to learn that it is still in production. It will be one of my staples.

NOTE: This blend does not seem overmoist straight from the tin, but if you do not let it dry out for an hour before loading your pipe, it tends to smoke steamy with some gurgling and frequent re-lights. If you don't let it dry a little, just packing your bowl very loosely seems to do the trick and it smokes just fine. Tamp VERY lightly as it burns down.

4/23/2009 Okay, let me update, I work on a flightline at night. Sporadic action and almost nobody to bother me.

The above view lives, except that with McClelland 620, these two tobaccos are my easiest to enjoy, put down and come back to.

I've read that it has been discontinued, my tins are dated 2/2008, but I'm not taking any chances. I don't give out samples anymore and 20 more tins are on the way.

I have to upgrade to four stars for an everyday smoke. I know my stars look high on my reviews, but I discovered this site recently and it has led me in directions.

I've been smoking a pipe off and on for 30yrs and exclusively for the last 6 months, great intro to aromatics and a decent go to tobacco.

Bob

Tin: As another reviewer has mentioned, this product smells as if it is something you eat. Very sweet, candy/caramel/(honey??) smell from the tin.

Smoke: Sweet smelling but not as strong as the tin smell. Very volumous/thick smoke.

Taste: Subtley sweet, a good tobbaco taste in mouth/nose.

Personal: A very pleasurable smoke. Good combination of taste and smoke texture. I would liken smoking Retriever to drinking coffee with cream in it as opposed to skim milk. The smoke is very full and buttery.

I would appreciate any suggestions about similar products.

There is some kind of very sweet casing that is difficult to identify.....maybe vanilla + something else. Retriever is not offensive in any way, it burns cool without bite. It also happens to be devoid of tobacco taste. If I didn't see smoke exiting from my mouth, I'd swear that my pipe wasn't lit.

Like canopener, I'll add some Virginia to this in an effort to salvage the tin.

If smoking warm, sweetened air is your thing....you'll love this one.

The flavors stay in motion, with a steady dance of vanilla, chocolate, and spice dancing across the palate. I don?t smoke very many aromatics these days, but now and then I feel the urge. When the urge hits in the future, I will reach for Retriever. I started my pipesmoking journey with C.B.R, and I sometimes smoke a bowl of it for ?nostalgic? reasons. With Retriever, I can get the same tastes, but with the subtlety and nuance that I have come to appreciate, as well as real tobacco flavor. Highly recommended for fans of aromatics.

I used a 4-star rating of "One of my favorites, I smoke this regularly". I don't smoke aromatics that often, but the tobacco warranted the highest rating.

For the new pipesmoker who wants to smoke aromatics, this is THE choice.

On opening the tin, I smelled a very woody chocolate smell. I was concerned that the tobacco was too moist. But I packed my Nording Hunter, and started to enjoy the blend.

The tobacco crackled like frying bacon in the pan. The taste is very light. The tobacco does a fairly good job of stying lit despite the best efforts of the moisture content. It reminds me of a few of the other aromatic cavendishes I have sampled.

Mid-bowl, the flavor has become even milder. The crackling is gone. I would say this is a very non obtrusive blend with a nice room note. It would be very tolerable around non smokers.

Bottom line, I still prefer the Pointer blend.

After day three of an open tin sitting out, I decided it was not going to get any drier (I now prefer drier blends) so I packed it in and lit up. The description on the tin suggests this is a light aromatic with VA/cavendish tobaccos, although right away I detected mostly cavendish...which, I can only assume nullified the few parts VA that were packaged in this tin.

The first bowlful was quite pleasant, with a flavor resembling that of a burley blend. It burned clean with almost no gurgling, and no bite. However I cannot say the same for the second. The first half of the bowl was much like the first, flavorful but mild with no gurgling or bite...the few days of drying must've worked...or so I thought. Gradually, a weak gurgle turned to a consistant gurgle, so I put it down for a bit. I fought through goop and gunk to relight about two hours on. The pleasant flavor had morphed to an ugly, sour monster. This was an A-typical, full blown aromatic.

My pilgrimage from cased aromatics to natural blends has taken a sharp detour with this one, however, I might try adding a pinch of this stuff with a straight VA blend to give it a little more kick every now and again.