PS thank you all for the reviews. That's how I picked my order out. :)

This is a wonderful blend of quality Virginia and Cavendish leaf mixed with a wonderful vanilla flavoring. To me the flavoring is almost pastry like and carries nicely into the smoke as long as you keep your palate moist and chew on the smoke. By that I mean swish it around your mouth a second or two before exhaling to let the flavors really hit your palate.

It comes at close to perfect moisture level. There really isn't any airing time needed for this or many of Lane Limited's blends.

1Q takes a charring and true light wonderfully and burns nice and evenly to a fine white ash. It doesn't gurgle or bite or burn overly hot.

The room note is terrific. Most people mention smelling roasting marshmallows when I smoke this blend in public.

If you're looking for a go-to aromatic or just a nice aromatic to take a break from other styles this is definitely worth checking out. Since it's in bulk you can sample it without breaking the bank.

But taste and smell are closely linked. And this tobacco smells like... marshmallows and vanilla and coconut and butterscotch and caramel and... everything good. It's a hug from your mom. It's a down comforter on an early Saturday morning in February, when you know that you can sleep in.

This is the arch-aromatic. This is the aromatic greater-than-which no aromatic can be conceived. This has then scent that people think of when they hear the words "pipe tobacco".

Lights and burns easily. Snork it. French inhale it. Smoke it when you are around those you love. Smoke it in your car. Or save the box that your refrigerator came in, and smoke it in there. Revel in the aroma.

Apparently, many retailers purchase and re-brand this. I purchase it as Lane 1-Q, but I've re-branded it myself. I call it "friendly" and (not infrequently) I enjoy smoking a bowl of friendly.

Those who assert 1Q is the same as Captain Black (insert blend here) and therefore is an inferior tobacco remind of "German- Engineering-Is-Superior car snobs" who oh-so-arrogantly proclaim that Lexus (insert model here) is the same car as the Toyota Camry and therefore an inferior automobile. Never mind that the Camry is a great automobile, or that the assertion isn't even remotely true (other than the fact that Toyota owns Lexus). Who needs facts when you have elitism and mindless condescension to compensate? "I'll just be over here smoking a proper English blend, driving my Mercedes (when it's not in the shop), arrogantly condescending to those of you who drive your cute little dependable Japanese automobiles and have the audacity to smoke aromatics. I mean everyone knows REAL PIPE SMOKERS don't smoke aromatics right?" Yeah... riiiight.

If you don't like aros, fine. No problem. But let's not act more refined, or well informed than we actually are by parroting the "Captain Black Lie". It makes one no more refined and, at this point, serves no real purpose as this rubbish has been regurgitated innumerable times by every would-be pipe-snob with an internet connection.

Now for the facts: This is a nice little bundle of pleasure that smokes well all day, but I especially like it when relaxing at night. The room note is very nice and I find myself getting compliments from non-smokers (who are the true test of room note) at the poker games I play in when I merely open the bag to pack my pipe. Open the flood gates when I light it up, as the compliments are showered upon this heavenly tobacco. In fact, this is the one blend I smoke that regularly compels total strangers to go out of their way to compliment me on the aroma.

The taste is pleasant as well; slightly refined, but simple and not overly complex or pretentious. It is not quite as mild as other aromatics I have smoked, but I would classify it as mild, nonetheless. The lack of complexity in the flavor profile is not necessarily a bad thing, as any great chef will tell you "Keep it simple, and execute" when it comes to cooking. And I guess that's the best way to describe this pleasant little nugget: "A simple, well executed blend" (I would add "with a heavenly room note").

I would give this blend 4 stars were it not for the following: While the smoke starts out smooth, it gets progressively harsher, and has more than a bit of a bite by the heel. I find myself often packing other milder blends at the bottom to minimize this. The blend also tends to smoke a bit wet, especially if you don't use a filter. This would be forgivable (I mean, it is an aromatic) were it not for the excessive bite at the end which can be quite extreme, even for an aro.

I do highly recommend this blend and wish I could give 3.5 stars. Alas, I cannot bring myself to award 4 stars as the flaws this blend does have are just a little too glaring for it to be "perfect" or "near perfect". If it burned a little smoother throughout, or had a bit less bite on the end, it just might have been the aro of my dreams.

UPDATE: Looking back, I remember my first experience with this blend being far more pleasurable, especially at the heel. I was originally smoking this in a small corncob pipe with a very small bore stem and a bowl circumference about the size of a U.S. dime. Needless to say the corncob burned much cooler than the Missouri Meerschum Ozark Mountain Cherry Hardwood Pipe I have recently been smoking; a pipe which probably has no business anywhere near the hotter burning Virginia-aromatics.

I put this blend into my corncob and enjoyed it to the fullest, yet again. Still, I couldn't be comfortable giving this blend 4 stars if it had to be smoked from such a small bowl. I decided to try it in a larger corncob pipe and got the same bite on the end - not a pleasant experience at all!

So, I did what any self-respecting aro-smoker should have done a long time ago and bought a briar pipe (nothing fancy, just a simple Dr. Grabow Duke). The tobacco smoked beautifully! No more bite on the end, unless I was smoking too quickly. Even then, the bite was nowhere near what it had been in the Ozark or the larger corncob. I should also disclose that I am no where near a refined, gentlemanly pipe smoker. I am just a guy who bought pipe one day because the pipe tobaccos were infinitely less expensive than cigarettes and smelled better in the tobacco shop. From my first bowl I fell in love. Smoking ceased to be a nicotine fix and suddenly became a wonderfully relaxing art form. So much so that the mere thought of a cigarette is now repulsive to me. Being a converted cigarette smoker, I tend to smoke way too fast. That being said, any aromatic that can stand up to my frenzied inhalation with minimal bite should surely be commended.

This blend smokes exceptionally cool with the filter in the pipe, but loses a degree of its flavor. That being said, I find the Dr. Grabow to be a damn fine pipe, especially considering it only cost $30.00. This blend smokes cool enough, even without the filter and retains full-flavor. Moisture is minimal, even at my inhuman pace, and I never experience a gurgle, even without the filter.

Long story short, when smoked from a decent briar wood, even one such as the Duke which is still not optimally designed for aros, this blend actually is the "near-perfect aro of my dreams".

I hereby upgrade my rating from 3 to 4 Stars. Highly Recommended!

1-Q smokes really well. In loading the pipe I just let gravity fill the bowl and top it off with a push of the thumb then char it and finish with the final match. After about five minutes or so, I drop out the top ash and then it pretty much smokes all the way down to the heel with a minimum condensation. Even with aggressive smoking it doesn't bite me. The tobacco leaves a nice room-note.

Nothing real fancy in the taste, some sweetness in the wafting smoke some mild nicotine but does get some bitterness near the end, but then again, most of the tobaccos I've tried do that near the heel and I always smoke 'em all the way down.

1-Q is a good all-around starter or for those who want to try a light Aromatic.

I'm giving this blend 3 stars. It is readily available, inexpensive, and this blend is a good starter for those who want to give pipe smoking a go. However, after you explore better blends you will find yourself somewhat disinterested when you come back to it. This isn't to say you shouldn't try it, it does make a good baseline by which you can compare your review to others.

If you are looking for a tobacco that will knock your socks off look elsewhere. This is a mild smoke that some Pipe Elitists will balk at (see several of the ranting reviews below). This is a good place to start and if your an aromatic fan a decent smoke when there is nothing else.

1.- This is exactly the same thing as captain black but sold in bulk. The fact that it is advertised as a higher quality version of captain black is deceptive, just like the McBaren's 7 seas series advertises to be a high quality pipe tobacco but it is, in fact, captain black packaged in tins. Tastes like captain black, smells like captain black, smokes like captain black, IT IS captain black.

2.- A bargain?!?!?!?!? Nope, not even close. Some have said that it is a value and you won't find any other aromatics this good at a better price, wrong again... A pound of this is, online, about dollars. If you want quality aromatics on the cheap then check out Peter Stokkebye's selections; they are about the same price, sometimes cheaper, and not as heavy on the PG.

3- If you have been wanting to try it and don't want to order online then I got excellent news for you: go to your nearest gas station and get a pouch of captain black. There are MANY blends out there that are claimed to be something different from this other blend but the only difference is the packaging. People seem to notice certain differences in blends when they are, in fact, the same thing in different packages.

I'd love to see how a blind taste test goes with this stuff, captain black, and Mcbaren's 7 seas.

This one smells good, it tastes good, and has the aroma that even an anti smoking Nazi has to like. Its pretty good, it just is not great.

This one is heavily cased, as in your fingers are sticky after packing sticky. It can absolutely flambe your tongue if you don't handle it with care. It also makes the heel of your pipe look as though you have been brewing loose leaf tea in it, it is a moist blend. Your probably not going to smoke this one down to a nice fluffy ash, your more likely to smoke it to a soggy clump.

That being said it is sweet and smells like vanilla. There is a reason this stuff has been sitting on the shelves in big bulk jars for a long time. This is a blend that a lot of people have smoked, even if it had a different name than 1Q. This blend is everywhere.

This is a solid aromatic at a great price point. Sweet, but not overly so. The tobacco flavor still comes through and it is mild and pleasant. It doesn't goop up the bowl and is a fine tobacco to try as an introduction to aromatics. It does need to be dried and the only drawback for both aromatic lovers and those that like to dabble is that 1Q lacks the depth can can be found in other aromatics. Recommended.

It's got a bit more flavor than most aromatics- vanilla sweetness, but there's a little cinnamon spice to dance on the tongue too. Certainly not complicated, but sometimes simplicity is preferable. It burns cool and evenly, drops to the bottom of your bowl like an elevator. None of the goop or sour aftertaste that make aromatics so despised. And the best part is the room note- YOW! If you're a young pipe smoker like me, save your flavorful but foul blends for the porch and den. When you're stepping out on the town, 1-Q is the ultimate wingman. Light up a bowl of this near society and the ladies will walk a block just to smell it. Trust me, fellas, 1-Q can be a real friend to you.

There's absolutely nothing to bash here. 1-Q is comforting, charming, inexpensive and reliable. Next time I make a baccy run, I'm cellaring a pound or more.

And it was a good blend then. My pipes changed throughout the years, I added several to the collection (and broke one or two), but this was still the blend I off and on again smoked. I tried one or two other blends, but I was not a serious pipe smoker and kept coming back to this one.

It bit my tongue at first, about how you'd expect of a new smoker. But once I got used to smoking a pipe, loading, tamping... this was a well behaved blend that had a decent flavor. Being an aromatic the room note is of course mostly pleasant to other people.

For the newcomer to the pipe world, this is one blend I would recommend strongly.

Update; 1Q is my go to aromatic. One of my favorite blends!