In the bag. Northwoods smells like a mix of tanned leather and burning evergreen. I could imagine this smell emanating from a barbecue pit. Very bold, smokey scent. With a touch of sweet and sourness that salivates your mouth as you pull the aromas through your olfactory. A richly dark blend of what looks to be about half black cavendish, nearly half maybe red Virginia, and I would guess about ten percent Latakia.

In the pipe. Northwoods is a fairly mild smoke. I would consider it an introductory English for those getting into the experience. An all around good smokey flavor with luscious, billowy plumes of smoke with every puff. Then a touch of sour on the back of your palette with a paced smoke. It will bite you and get a little harshly sour if you rush it. Yet it can handle a fairly steady pace without getting to overpowering. Dry smoking and never got too hot, even at the point it got harsh when I was going to quickly. A bowl will likely yield about 30 minutes of smoking which is aces. I did tend to have to relight, however, at about the 3/4 mark which is a minus.

Room Note is smokey and woodsy. Much like the bag smell less the sour. It also has a whisper of sweetness in the end like in the bag.

An outstanding blend all around. Hopefully I can fine tune the tamping so I can resist relights but it is a miner drawback when put up against all the positives. Really like that even with the robust smoke yielded from every draw. Northwoods still is a long smoking experience. Allowing one to really sit back and enjoy the experience for a good long while without a lot of maintenance.

Was anxious to try this one. Curious about some of the lesser reviews claiming that this one tasted like pine needles? I've never eaten pine needles myself but it sounds cool so kudos to those of you who have.

I didn't taste any pine needles. I think Northwoods is for those who appreciate tobacco before sugar. I like sugar, I like JMB's aromatics (most of them) but Northwoods is great.

Easy to work with. Lit easily and stayed burning away nicely. Not the room note that the War Department is used to, but she liked it none the less. And it burned cool and I like the smoke it produced.

I'm only a couple months in to the Briar, but I appreciate this tobacco, a lot. Looking forward to Countryside. This one wasn't too strong (which surprised me). The first bowl was really nice. Had the second one with a sweet coffee; holee chow!! Third bowl and I'm sold.

Hey Northern Pipes, I grew up in Northern Ontario too (well, Sudbury, if you consider that north) and grew up sitting on the screened in porch with my grandfather, dad and uncle all smoking great smelling tobaccos.

A little air time is necessary as I find too moist. Medium to large size pipes preferred. Thicker cut allows this to burn well outside for me.

The Latakia flavor is very much just a smoky undertone in this blend that is really softened and rounded by the sweetness of the Va and Cavendish components. Mid Bowl like sweet and spicy BBQ sauce as I believe another reviewer mentioned.

I'd hesitate to call this an aromatic simply because it has highly sweet aspects to me. I also hesitate to compare this to compare this to other English blends as I find the Latakia component to be robust , but not full spectrum. Northwoods is a great blend that equals more than the sum of its parts. The flavors jive and mix well. It is not super complex, but it is full and satisfying. It does not require your complete concentration to derive enjoyment.

It really captures a vibe that others have mentioned. It is like that autumn time where the sweet smells of summer still mix with the notes of leaves changing color, and nights are getting chilly. In summary, one to keep in my rotation. A great outdoor tobacco for the cooler months. Not one I'm gonna reach for all the time, but recommended.

The more I smoke it the more I like it. After almost 2oz I am totally hooked. May never go back to aromatics.

Love the smoky Latakia flavor now.

I would highly recommend this for someone wanting to try an English blend.

I'll definitely order more..

A friend and I sat down together and packed a bowl of each, trading pipes back and forth a number of times, for comparison’s sake.

For starters, the pouch smells of NW and STM are nearly identical to each other.

As for the smoke:

NW has a more exotic flavor profile, and produces more billowy smoke.

STM, on the other hand, is a tad sweeter, a tad stronger, and is to me a tad more satisfying. Others have picked up on an “incense” like flavor in NW. Yes, that is exactly right. If you’re familiar with that unique, exotic scent of incense as used in liturgical Christian churches, you’ll catch hints of it in NW. This becomes more noticeable after about a third of the bowl, and it’s pretty consistent from thereon out. Quite enjoyable to me.

I doubt that incense-like flavor is from the latakia—it must be from something else. I think I catch more sweetened latakia in STM. Whereas I catch more of this incense profile in NW.

Both are good. If NW pushed that unique incense profile more robustly, and with a bit more sweetness, it would be even more distinct from STM than it is, and more enjoyable in its own right.

As it stands, though, it needs a bit more robustness and sweetness to stand out; so, despite bringing something good to the table that STM does not, STM remains slightly preferable to me.

I’m giving NW 3 stars, even though it probably deserves 4, just because STM has the slight edge to my personal tastes.

On another note, The Boswell's, hands down, have the best customer service I have experienced yet in the pipe world. I will be a life-long customer of theirs due to my experience with purchasing a pipe and tobacco from them!! Not to mention what a good smoker the pipe is and how excellent their tobacco is!

My sample was fairly moist and probably could have used a few hours dry time. The initial aroma from the bag was very sweet and dominated by that heavily cased Cavendish aroma with latakia playing second fiddle. I left the bag open for a few minutes and on second inspection the aroma was simply delightful. It reminded me of a great molasses based Missouri BBQ sauce, something like Show Me Liquid Smoke from Columbus. The tobacco was clearly high quality with broken red Virginia flakes mixed in with deeply pungent latakia and a moist cavendish that looked like rich high- grade compost. With no dry time, I packed a bowl in one of my largest pipes and went out to my patio in hopes of a flavorful smoke.

On first light the latakia played a much more assertive role that I thought it would. The Virginia and Cavendish components where quite subdued and at that point I thought I was in for a slight variation of a standard fair, albeit from the start a flavorful one. This perception changed big time near the half-way point when what came forth was a barrage of complex smoky/sweet nuanced spice flavors that one will not easily find in any standard latakia mixture. At that point all my reservations with this blend were squelched. Moreover, I was quite pleased with the cavendish component which rounded out the flavor nicely while only imparting a subtle influence on the overall experience. This is one very satisfying smoke, mild in strength, yet very full- flavored.

Unlike other reviewers, I had very little trouble keeping this stuff lit straight out of the bag. It burned evenly and fairly cool but is quite capable of biting if you don’t take it slow. Expect a little goop on the bottom of your pipe, but not too much. Some dry time would probably rectify this issue and make for an even more flavorful smoke.

Altogether Northwoods is a great mixture. If you’re shopping for something unique to try, this hybrid anomaly of a blend deserves your attention. It’s definitely made my current rotation.

*Update* 11/26/12 - Upon revisiting this blend I find it to be a tad too sweet for my liking. Perhaps my tastes have changed a bit. I have since given away the rest of my stash of Northwoods to another piper interested in exploring Latakia mixtures. Nonetheless still very much "recommended" just no longer among my list of 4 star blends.

I ordered a one ounce sample of this blend along with a couple one ounce samplers of some Boswell aromatics.

The first time i smoked this blend i wasnt all too impressed.

Its fairly moist, which i dont really mind, but i am not too happy about the cut. Sort of a rough,ribbon, broken cube cut sort of thing, i dont know, the best way to describe it would be rough.

I also wasnt too excited about the taste at first. It was almost exactly like frog morton, but with some sort of light casing. But after a few more bowls, in more broken in pipes, i have to say it is pretty good. Still has a resemblence of the frog, but it seems a little more spicy. Not a perique type spicyness, but what others have described as " a little like church incense."

Dont expect the spicyness to be overwhelming however, it is very subtle. The majority of the flavor i feel comes from the latakia, but you could also taste a fair amount of virginia and cavendish sweetness, cavenish more so than virginia. I have no idea where the spicy background flavor comes from, but it is nice.

Overall, not my favorite english blend, but other than the annoying cut, which i have trouble packing and keeping lit (In which I may be alone here) it is quite good and i may be ordering more when my single ounce is used up.

It's a great transition for an aromatic smoker looking to try an English-type tobacco. Try it - you'll be glad you did.