National Tobacco - Red Cap pipe tobacco reviews

Review

Please log in to add or edit a review. If you do not have an account yet, you can sign up for one here.

Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 14 of 14 reviews of this tobacco
Bull Durham	10/10/2012	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable
This tobacco was the only thing the shop had for pipe tobacco. The nice lady that helped me told me it was similar to Dorrel cigarets. Well guess what? I now know I don't like Dorrel cigarets. Bought the .75oz grey bag and I really did not enjoy it at all. I won't be returning to that shop(which was pretty much a Head shop) or trying Red Cap again. I will stick to Captain Black for a back up tobacco.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
nt	08/24/2012	Strong	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Strong
Aggressively mordant and bitter. Packs quite a bit of vitamin N. Not a pleasant experience.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
CGHurlburt	08/04/2012	Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Strong
Bought the red and gray pack at the same time. For about a dollar each, it seemed like a cheap enough experiment. I tried the red pouch first and could not believe that pipe tobacco could be this bad and be on the market. I didn't like it at all and couldn't imagine a worse smoke. Then I tried the gray pack.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Susanna Hoffs	03/18/2012	Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Tolerable
Well, I didn't think it was possible to find a blend that was worse than the modern day incarnation of 'Clan' or 'Three nuns'. Well it is.... Red cap is truly awful. If I had wanted to smoke fast burning and tasteless cigarettes, well then I would have bought, a pack of fast burning tasteless cigarettes. Not this monstrosity that masquerades as pipe tobacco. I smoked it in Florida back in April 2011 whilst I was on holiday. I had picked it up at a local flea market (along with a cheap cob) that sells knock off discounted Disney stuff whilst my family browsed the various trinkets. Well this blend (if it can be called a blend) is knock off, discounted floor sweepings, from a cheap hardware store in down town 'Mianus' (Yes that's a real town). It smoked like loosely packed shredded newspaper. Thankfully some Prince Albert came to my rescue.. 0.5 out of 5.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
vandiabolus	10/25/2011	Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Strong
2nd time in my life i decided to pick up the pipe after giving up on it and the B.R. black cavendish i was given by a friend 9 years ago that makes me sick thinking about. Bought a pouch of Red Cap "pipe tobacco" at my local smoke shop. It was all they had besides the large costco sized "pipe tobacco" bags which i was almost certain was meant to be rolled into smokes based on the price/quantity. I smoked cigarettes, Camels to be exact, for 13 years. Also used chewing tobacco when i was in the navy, and when working in a non-smoking shop. Quit cigarettes and dip due to the cost, the hacking, the smell, and the overall lifestyle associated with them. Sorry, anyways on to the Red Cap. I like the strength it has. I like the no nonsense tobacco. Absent of any additional flavoring, yet smelled wonderful in the bag. All was great until i lit it, and it tasted, to me, like relighting last nights half-smoked marlboro. I experienced no tongue bite whatsoever with it, so that's a plus...but in my opinion, it's not for me. i then reluctantly bought a pouch of C.B. Cherry (yuck) and B.R. Ultra Light (weak) i tried mixing the Red Cap with the weaker ones, gave me hot breath and a headache. And I find it unfortunate that it was the only brand of actual pipe tobacco they had. I know the nice fellow who owns the store, and he asked if i had any suggestions which to stock there. (bonus!) so i've been thoroughly reading and studying others reviews, in hopes i can find that certain one that keeps me from giving up on this yet again. Any suggestions?
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
LongRider	12/30/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Strong
Wow, apparently my personal tastes very a great deal from those of my fellow tobacco officianodos. (not sure on the spelling there) Honestly, I rather like this stuff and it makes an ideal, very inexpencive "filler" for blending with either stronger or more aromatic tobaccos like Perique or Smyrna. I think part of the problem here is that I like a very robust, perhaps even rustic sort of "tobaccoie" smoke myself ya know? I think maybe other folks who've tried this blend and found it unpleasant or otherwise unsatisfactory are looking for a milder, cooler burning, much more aromatic experience. I also think the total lack of casings or top flavorings is a problem for pipe smokers too, because it seems like that demographic is fond of heavily adulterated tobaccos like Cavendish. This is precisely where my tastes differ greatly from those who use a Briar or Meerschaum pipe. I strongly dislike the heavy, wet smoke produced by combusting "aromatic" tobaccos which have been subjected to casings or top flavorings such as the numerous varieties of Cavendish available. (I don't even like traditional vanilla flavored Black Cavendish 'cause it's so damp and tastes heavily of alcohol) Thus, it would seem that the very thing that other members of this site dislike about this particular blend is precisely what I do like, haha. I like my tobaccos to be in as close to their natural state as possible and that's precisely what Red Cap is...simple, air cured leaf without any chemical adulterants. I will however, concede that the label is a bit misleading as I really don't detect much flue cured tobacco in the blend at all. I honestly think this is a very good blend for the price, and even without the addition of a generous portion of my beloved Perique is a rather well balanced smoke. (again, for an uncased Burley product) There's a considerable degree of variation in the maturity of the leaves selected, ranging from alkaloid-rich foliage so unripe that it retains some of it's chlorophyl content to leaf that is a nice, dark chocolate brown indicating a late harvest and providing a nice amount of nicotine. PS I was just recently looking over the product description for this cheap but dependable blend and noticed that it mentioned it containing "Kentucky." According to my sources, Kentucky generally refers to the dark, robust and spicy product of fire curing a Burley tobacco. While this type of leaf is commonly encountered in the form of moist snuff for those who like to chew and makes up a large portion of blends for hand rolling cigarettes known as "Halfzware" shags, there is certainly none of this kind of tobacco in Redca Regular I do however, suspect a hint of Maryland or perhaps another sort of uncased air cured variety with which I am unfamilier because there is a very distinct aroma to the blend before it is cumbusted that I can't quite describe.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Piper Chris	10/09/2010	Strong	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Tolerable to Strong
First pipe tobacco I tried and hated it. I was looking for a transition from cigs to the "grandpa smell" but this was no better. Burned very hot, tasted and smelled horrible, wife was not persuaded. Threw the huge bag away after 20 or so bowls, waste of $15.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
chetking	07/10/2010	Very Strong	Very Strong	Overwhelming	Tolerable
I, too, was intrigued by the retro design, color, red and white aluminium fabric Red Cap packaging sporting a jockey with his mount. Alas, that's where the intrigue ended. This is a harsh, bitter smoke...there may really be more Turkish cigarette tobac than anything else in this blend. Smell reminds me of my Dad who was a pack-a-day Camels man. Even tried to make moderate corrections by adding a bit of latakia and perique, then tried a cherry flavored mixer. Not much worked to dull the intensity. Plan to trash this stash but I'll keep the pouch for one of my favorite tobacs when I go Crappie fishing.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
SopwithCamel	05/26/2010	Mild	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Tolerable
I love the nostalgic pouch it came in. I nursed it along gently, but it doesn't have much flavor, and the aftertaste is awful... Stick to Prince Albert, Sir Walter, or Granger, if you can find them. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and check out the blends from Uhle's, Peretti's, or Pipeworks and Wilke. Yes they cost more, but they are worth it!
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Storm Watch	04/28/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Uh, I'm not sure what to make of this stuff. Seems more like cigarette tobacco than anything else. Seemed a bit harsh in a pipe. Only tried this recently. Very dry and smokes very fast. I've had better. Lots better. Two stars because it's so cheap. If you're broke I guess you could do worse but not by muck.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
CornCob	02/25/2010	Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
Ill start off by saying what I think this tobacco "is" and "isnt" as well as my overall opinion of the product as a whole. I noticed Red Cap on the shelf at my tobacconist this week and decided to try a pouch(against his recomendation)The packaging is very nostalgic, this reminds me of something my grandfather would have had on hand and smoked(A no nonsense smoking tobacco). I opened the pouch and found an unusual aroma of decent burley with a hint of sweetness from the virginia, and nothing else just true tobacco smell it might remind one of Sail Natural. The blend is uniform in colour and texture, i really found the long cut ribbons refreshing and quite easy to pack in my pipe. Now i cheated by reading past reviews before actually smoking, so my expectations were very low.Upon lighting my pipe, the aroma reminded me of good old fashioned American cigars(and not the ones with imported tobacco filler) The flavour was natural full bodied burley and not much else. Puffed hard to try to get it to bite with no result. I honestly found it more enjoyable than Carter Hall but still not as good as the Prince. For $1.50 its definatly worth trying, this is not a blend you smoke in front of the fire with friends, this is what i call a "working blend" the kind of smoke you can puff on all day, when you dont want anything complicated.Buy a pouch and throw it in your tackle box or gun sock, this kind of blend is always nice to have on hand.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
sapo59	12/28/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
This tobacco does seem to be more for rolling than for a pipe. The flavor of this tobacco is alot like carter hall. I would say not a terrible smoke, it is cheap and if you pack it tight I can make a bowl last 15 minutes or so. I would say if your straped for cash and need a straight tobacco, go ahead and try it.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Robert	12/15/2009	Medium	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Much like the reviewer before me I find this is just cigarette tobacco that has been packaged as pipe tobacco to avoid the extra taxes. Rolled into a stick it is passable. Put it in a pipe and things change. It burns hot and the taste is only of strong cigarette smoke. For the pipe don't bother. If you are looking for cheap ciggy tobacco go for it. It might blend well but I haven't tried that yet with this one. At .99 cents for 3/4 of an ounce I'll pass on this cheap 'pipe' tobacco.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
CJBas	11/14/2009	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I do not recommend this for smoking in a pipe. That does not seem to be its real intended purpose. This is a fine roll-your-own tobacco. It's a ribbon cut, rather than a shag as are most RYO tobaccos, and can be used to blend with nd tone down other pipe tobaccos. On its own it's not a bad smoke in a pipe although it can burn a bit fast if you're not careful and thus become too hot. As a RYO tobacco, on the other hand, it rates among the best. The Peter Stokebye RYO blends are a bit better, but at 6x the price they should be. They're not 6x better. I do treat myself to a cigarette I roll from one of the Stokebye blends from time to time but generally when I want a quick cigarette, it's Red Cap I turn to. Even after the exhorbitant tax imposed on tobaccos this can still be had for around $19 a pound.
Showing reviews 1 through 14 of 14 reviews of this tobacco