Iwan Ries - Three Star Blue pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 75 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
atomicbuster	02/09/2013	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
As many others have stated, this was a gift with a purchase order from Iwan Ries. Thanks IW, but no thanks. This smells OK out of the box. To me it smelled like orange cream soda. Smoking it was the same way. It was almost like smoking Sunkist or Fanta Orange. Unfortunately, this does bite. Yes, I could puff slower, but I'd have to puff much slower than I prefer. It's a bright tobacco rough cut. It does produce some moisture in the bowl. I usually solve this by letting the tobacco dry out for a few days. It mostly worked. The first 4-5 bowls were nice, aside from the bite. Then it lost most of the already mild flavor as soon as it became too dry. I think it might be just OK if you knew at what point to let it stop drying and if you train yourself to puff this slowly. I'm not interested in either endeavor. I can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but I can't say it was totally unpleasant for those 4-5 bowls.
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Taste Buds	09/28/2012	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Many years ago this was an everyday favorite of mine. It was a blend that I could smoke almost anywhere without complaint. Although I found the casing to be over the top, by adding 1/3rd Kentucky Club Regular, the problem was solved. Kentucky Club also prevents Blue from burning hot. You might want to experiment to find the right proportion to suit your taste, but these two blends work well together and compliment each other.
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Piper@TheGatesOfDawn	09/25/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I received a complimentary pouch of this with an order I recently placed with Iwan Ries, which seems to be the predominant means of procurement. Does anyone actually buy this blend on purpose? I certainly intend to. Opinions regarding Three Star Blue are all over the board. Many of the reviews here seem to describe something quite different from what I'm smoking: a VERY mildly aromatic, rough cut blend. The burleys are at the forefront, with the latakias and periques adding just the right amount of character. The cavendish provides a subtle sweetness to round things out. My tastes tend towards strongly flavored tobaccos and I will smoke anything form Lakeland blends to the goopiest aromatics; however I tend to enjoy this when I need a break from all the flavoring. This blend is best smoked in a small bowl and SLOWLY. Although it has yet to bite me, all tobacco has that potential. Three Star Blue goes well with coffee in the morning or bourbon in the afternoon or with some smooth jazz and good French brandy in the evening.
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PuffedRomanian	02/10/2012	Mild	None detected	Very Mild	Very Pleasant
The first Peterson I ordered came with it, I absolutely love it, smells great, tates sweet, definetly will be ordering some more.:)
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Fazby	10/05/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
One of the few aromatics I like. A nice spiciness. Yes, it can get hot. Yes, you need to slow down and learn to smoke this. My Savinelli, with a balsa filter, helped tame this through my learning period.
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Redirish	05/19/2011	Extremely Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant
Got a sample of this with a Savinelli I ordered. Very dry, lots of stems and chunks. Smoked very slowly it is tolerable. 'Nuff said.
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smokincoyote	03/12/2011	Mild	Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant
Got this crap as a sample from IRC... They got my order wrong too.. Bad first impressions from this company. The tobacco was bone dry and gave off an aroma like wet wood, or that smell in your humid shed in the backyard. Bleh. It didn't smoke too well and there was no pleasant flavor to be had at all. The tobac looked like a collection of pressed stems and tree bark. The good: It was free and the room note was nice.
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zacchaeus11	03/10/2011	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable
This literally was the worst thing I have ever had. It was just..well...lets just say down right nasty as butt. The packaging it came in gave off the vibe like "this will be ok." but no. The cut wasn't even ribbon. It was the most dried out crappiest stuff I have ever seen. I reccomend this tobacco to go die.
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Dr. Scott	02/17/2011	Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Strong
How disappointing. Proof that aromatics are the spawn of Satan.
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boogieman	02/11/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I have only smoked pipes for a couple years, and only smoke around once a week, so I am by no means an expert. I found this tobacco very enjoyable. I didn't notice the tongue bite others have reported, but I think I smoke slowly anyway. It's a mild aeromatic, and has a great flavor. To me it seems like a more natural flavor than some of the chemically tasting ones that are so common locally. One thing to mention with this, I hate the aftertaste on most tobaccos, but this has a very pleasant aftertaste. It leaves a very light, sweet taste. Quite good!
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azguy	01/27/2011	Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This was a blend I smoked for a short time in the late 60s. At the time, I rather enjoyed it. My son recently gave me a pack that he had received, unsolicited, in the mail. I smoked some several times in a variety of pipes. The smell out of the pack is rather sweet. The taste is burley all the way. Old tastes(and memories) tend to change over the years. I can only recommend this blend to new smokers, however they should smoke it very slowly as it can burn the tongue.
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Arkie	01/24/2011	Mild	Medium	Medium	Tolerable
This tastes like the other 3 star blends. All of them are similar to Mixture #79. Aromatics are ok if the casing doesn't overpower the taste of the tobacco. This stuff is like smoking a bar of soap. Not recommended.
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ravkesef	12/29/2010	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
De gustibus non est disputandum, and that's certainly true when it comes to tobaccos. I've just returned to pipe smoking after a hiatus of 20 years. I had a discussion with the folks at Iwan Ries and ordered some tobaccos and supplies from them. In the old days I smoked English blends, especially the late lamented Balkan Sobranie, so it seemed natural that I would gravitate back toward this type of tobacco. It didn't work for me, and I understand that some people have or develop an intolerance for Latakia, and that turned out to be the case for me. I dug into my pouch of TSB and thought I had a rattlesnake in my bowl––it bit, and bit again, harder each time. At the same time I found that I did enjoy the taste, and family comments ranged from "extremely pleasant“to “delicious.“ Well, being an old, experienced pipe smoker I asked myself the rhetorical question “what does one do when the tobacco burns too hot?” And the answer is simple: “smoke it slower.” That turned out to be very good advice in this case, because smoked slowly, TSB turns out to be a most pleasant experience. it's not too strong at all, and when the tobacco is savored, turns out to be exactly what one wishes for in a tobacco. It now burns cool and dry to the bottom of the bowl leaving a small quantity of powdery ash. My advice to others who have found this too hot burning as I initially did: give this one a chance, smoke slowly, and you'll be rewarded with a very satisfying smoke.
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Peppino	12/28/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
A classic that like the Dutch smokes best in a meershaum, more flavor and cooler on the palate vs a briar. One tobacco everyone should try at least once. Brings back some great memories for me, taking a trip to Osco drugs to buy some 3 star blends! Going to the Tinder Box and smoking my 1st Castello. Ahh for one more time in the 70's....:)!
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jdr2008	11/29/2010	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable
I received this tobacco when I purchased a pipe which was a nice gesture and that much is appreciated, But this particular blend was not very appealing to me, To me, this blend tastes like it smells, and it smells like a 100 year old house that has been vacant for thirty or more years (some of you know what Im talking about) that being said, It packed and lit well and as far as smoking, it smoked well, It is very sweet along with the musty old house taste and to me the only time it actually tasted good was at the very bottom of the bowl and that didnt last long. That being said, If all I had to smoke was 3star and dried out manure then I would smoke the 3star. Sorry guys, This stuff doesn't taste good to me.
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tmoney	10/19/2010	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Tolerable
This tobacco was free with a purchase I made recently. It wasn't good at all. I tried it and it smelled like Medicine. Had tongue bite early on tasted like cough syrup mixed with sugar and didn't smell very nice either. I would not recommend, but there will be someone out there that likes this... there always is.
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Capt. Cavendish	12/09/2009	Medium to Strong	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong
When I smoked my very first pipe, I had never heard of tongue bite. Three Star Blue sure made me a quick learner. It was recommended to me by my brother who--like me--has since bailed on this blend and never looked back. I guess good judgment runs in the family. Sometimes I'm surprised I stuck with pipes after smoking this one; the tobacco was extremely dry and burned terribly hot. It was so dry I could have kindled a fire in the fireplace with it. Actually I probably should have, at least that way it would have found some use other than taking up space in the landfill. Room note you ask? Let's just say it left a lot to be desired. I have smoked and enjoyed other Three Star blends, but Blue is surely not one of them.
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Todd	12/08/2009	Mild	None detected	Mild	Pleasant
I got a pouch of this free with the purchase of a pipe, I smoked two bowls and threw the rest away.
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bergxu	11/24/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I'm gonna keep this one short as it's late in the evening and this tabac didn't do much for me. Like many here, I received a freebee sample with a pipe I ordered from Iwan Ries and decided to give it a whirl. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. I did enjoy what seemed to be a combination of aromatics and Oriental leaf, which I found interesting, but the perfume taste is way overpowering and I am betting it comes from casing oriental leaf with a flavoring. Without question, this stuff could definitely ghost a pipe, which is why I tried it in an old Hardcastle which isn't one of my favorites anyways. Sorry, but I'll take my 1Q any day over this stuff.
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appy	10/06/2009	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild	Pleasant
Greetings ladies and gents, yet here is more of my babbling. Three Star Blue is a debated subject. And in fact i must agree that this a very tempramental blend. However I have enjoyed it for many years. Its aroma a p***y magnent and worth the heat! Nice blend of burly, virginia, and I do detect oriantials. Now to the facts....hot as hell. As I have posted earlier, I bore out pipes.....every one of them. After the advice of Laars Iverson, I have tamed the wildest of tobaccos. Being a machinist, with extensive flow training has taught me a great deal in pipe smoking. People, all pipes have tiny draft holes for purposes of strenght. The taste, burn qualitys, ash formation is caused by this draft. The smoke we enjoy is made available by its clinging to water dropletes. NO turbalance can be involved, nor small draft holes. A pipe is a chimmney and needs to breath. TSB has become now one of my all time favorites. Cool smoking, Superb flavor and has all the desired qualitys we search for. Yes it ghosts a pipe....all tobacco does in fact!!!! Most recent is a Canadian bored to 7/32". An absolutly marvolus smoke, as compaired to years gone by with stock bores. Lets take a second and examine our equipment, even the dunhill guys, before we pass judgement on an old and trusted blend from our great friends at Iwan Ries. Thanks Pipestud for your postings and renouned experiance.. (PS the vintage meer smokes like a dream!!!) Best regards to all............
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 75 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >