Tinderbox - Sherlock's Choice pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 26 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
JimInks	10/27/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
This is my favorite English blend made by Tinderbox. All the components work well together and are not overwhelmed by the latakia, which gives a nice, smokey taste. It burns well, cool, and is strong enough to enjoy, but not so much that you need to lay down after you're done. It may not be as complex in taste as some other blends on the market, but it stands well enough on its own as an enjoyable smoke. A very comfortable medium English that tastes the same to me now as it did when I first tried it back in the mid-1970s.
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radioisotope	10/26/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
When I first started smoking this tobacco was my adventure into english blends. At the time I thought this tobacco was great. Now that I've been smoking high quality english blends like C&D Star of the East and others, Sherlocks is mediocre. Wheres the Latakia? Its not horrible just that I've been spoiled. I guess its a good mild transition blend to stronger english blends. I just think for the money you can get some better bulk blends.
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Shamie	12/10/2011	Medium	Very Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
I love this stuff. Its my first smoke of the day. After that i just cant stop smoking it. I'm a lifer on this one. Best english blend ever.
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gungfu	03/22/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is my everyday smoke. No bite, you can smoke bowl after bowl without worrying of toung bite. Slightly chocolaty, like light coffee. Smokes really well. You can pack it light or tight. I seem to have no problem to keeping it lit. Usually only takes me two matches. Good for long drives don't have to worry about relighting while I'm driving.
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llazy_llama	12/17/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Another excellent Tinderbox blend. I prefer Chartwell for an all- day smoker, but this is an exceptional blend for an after dinner smoke. Definitely made it in my standard rotation. The Latikia is what makes this blend, in my opinion. A fine English blend.
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Andy Ellis	10/18/2010	Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant
Pleasant in the late afternoon in the shade.Nothing too mysterious about it..Flavour quite nice - but a little dull. I was expecting a pick me up
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Hiram Briar 23	09/15/2010	Very Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant
Mild across the board. Not entirely sure i want to toy with tinderbox tobacco after this one. Sampled a bowl at tinderbox with my pipe heavily caked with another tobacco and was tricked into thinking this blend was comparable. Not sure how i missed that one. It was my own undoing. Three pipes later and I realized my mistake. It is cheap though so if your looking to save some green tinderbox is better than prince albert and about the same price.
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ProfessorBrown	06/14/2010	Mild	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a great blend. Its a little one-dimensional, but overall its good. A great introduction to english blends
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Miyanovich	06/06/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
The more that I smoke Sherlock, the better he gets. I find the balance between the VA, the Latakia, and the Turkish to be perfect. The Latakia is what makes this blend happen for me - it's at a perfect level. I happen to like moist, flavor filled English blends. I don't mind relights. It takes a few extra matches for me, sometimes, to get Sherlock rolling. But once he's going, he's a solid, smoke filled, long lasting smoke. I refuse to smoke indoors, and certainly would never smoke around non-smokers. However, I would not recommend Sherlock for his room note.
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Meisterlowin	01/23/2010	Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
This is a tolerable blend. There is nothing terribly exciting or offensive about it and I could continue to smoke it. My three stars are really two and a half.
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Demetri	09/26/2009	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
This deems more of a crossover "English", and I use "English" only as I think that is what it tries to be. This is not really a fair review because I dislike crossovers generally and did not finish my first bowl fully. For myself, I'd give this a lone star, but others might like it more - hence two.
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bryantm3	02/20/2009	Medium	None detected	Full	Tolerable
Crappy. Full of burley with some other stuff thrown in to make it an 'English' blend. Tastes like tar. Stick with 'Philosopher' if you want an English blend from Tinderbox. Otherwise, try Sam Gawith's Squadron Leader or for a good Balkan try Dunhill's Early Morning Pipe.
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DK	01/28/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Comparing this to blends like Squadron Leader, Penzance, Dunhill 965 etc is doing this fine blend a disservice. The truth is that it does not try to be like those other mixtures. It wasn't blended to replace Balkan Sobranie or Red Rapparee or London Mixture (to pick blends that are more contemporary to this one); it was blended to fill a specific niche - that of a very mild English made for aromatic smokers who wanted to try something different. This was developed to be as much like Penzance as the Tinder Box's cherry blend is to Gawiths Sweet Cherry Twist tobacco. One blend uses cherry as its overall presentation and one just wants a slight sweetener. My only comparison product is McClellands Frogmorton On The Town. Not because they taste alike - not at all! But they both possess a light latakia leaf with a somewhat creamy blend flavor... something that smokes easily and is mild. This has less overall flavor than FOTT, and I think less latakia flavor was the whole point when Lane blended it originally. It's a soft, round, piquant taste rather than a balkan powerhouse. Complex? No way! Flavor development down the bowl? Nope. Destined for the Tobacco Hall of Fame? Nuh-uh. But if you want a taste of latakia in a smooth blend rather than to have the latakia rule, try this one. And if you want to move up the flavor chain from here, two words: Squadron Leader.
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DRijkers	10/28/2008	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Very Mild	Tolerable
This was my first foray into English blends, and I picked it out at the time because I lived near a Tinder Box and am a big Sherlock Holmes fan. This is a fine English for anyone just starting out in that style of tobaccos, but once you try something like Squadron Leader you'll realize why others here have said that Sherlock's Choice is just so bland. Nothing much really happens here, and I still have a pound cellaring right now. I guess I like to have this on hand because it's cheap, a workable English, and available in bulk (in my area). Squadron Leader is much better, so go there first.
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cecilianinnc	08/28/2008	Mild to Medium	None detected	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant to Tolerable
I was inspired to try this blend because, at the time, I was reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes. I bought it for nostalgia sake. I must say, even though it smelled very strong in the pouch, it was extremely weak in the pipe. There were no levels of flavor, no nuances, just plain bland. I could finish it though, so I rated it 2 stars.
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Digz	12/19/2007	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant
I am mainly an aromatic smoker, but have ventured a wee bit into the English blend arena. This is the second English blend I've tried, and to me it is enlightening. Quite honestly, I was so turned off after my first English experience that I had all but written off English blends altogether. This one reopened my eyes.
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Big Blue Jazzman	09/03/2007	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable
Sherlock's was one of the first English blends I smoked. Not a bad blend, just not much happens when you smoke it. Lights ok, burns ok, and tastes ok. However, there are just too many good English blends out there to spend your hard earned money on this one. If you like Tinderbox, and I do, try the blend they have called Special.
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GarageLocked	08/20/2007	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I have worked at my local tinderbox for over a year now and have since moved on from this blend but I can sincerly say I wouldn't be the pipe smoker I am today withought it. As the first english blend I had this was, at the time, quite nice. I would recomend this for anyone trying to get your feet wet in the english market, and maybe as a starting point for the nicer blends like margate, westminster, or every ex RAF man's favorite squadron leader.
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oldmanpipe	04/06/2007	Very Mild	Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant
All anyone of my relative age need do to rate the traditionally-named Tinder Box blends is to pop into a Tinder Box today. As the old joke says, "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be." Neither are Tinder Box blends. No way; no how, no, sir! This is not to say, categorrically, that tobaccos of 2007 that bear the same names as those of 1977 are much-the less---but, so help me....THEY ARE!!!!!!!! Tinder Box's "Sherlock's Choice" has always been made by Lane, Ltd. But for those who remember Lane in its salad days....'tis a lesser world, indeed. I discovered Tinder Box tobaccos in 1976...and there ain't no sunshine three-decades later. Sherlock's Choice has a scrumptious aroma in the pouch, reminding one more of Smokers' Haven's "20th Anniversary" than Esoterica's "And So To Bed." Regretably, it delivers neither at the match. In fact, it delivers NOTHING at the match except a decent, smokable tobacco. Why two stars? Because I could finish the bowl; no other reason.
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Puff Daddy	01/30/2007	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
I'd say that this is my favorite all-around Tinder Box blend. That isn't to say that it's going to go down in history as one of the great Balkan/English blends, but it's pretty reasonable at $2.00 per ounce. It's reasonably tasty, and one thing that I like about it is that it's a fairly full latakia blend that doesn't leave your mouth feeling like the Chinese army walked through it in sweat socks. It definitely has a smoky presence on the palate - like a wood stove. As with many bulk blends, and frankly every Lane one that I've tried, this is pretty heavy on the PG. It can smoke hot and give a good gurgle in your pipe if puffed too quickly. There's always some dottle left for me, but that's not a biggie. It's pretty good, and may make for a good blend to break in a new pipe that will be dedicated to latakia-based blends.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 26 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >