This tobacco seems to have the most flavor out of the lot of Captain Black pouches so if you don't care about the room note pick up this but if you want a happy medium of a good room note without much sacifrice in flavor then stick to Captain Black White.

The flavoring is something like vanilla?sugar cookie dough or (insert something sweet here). It was a wonder that it any pouch aroma at all, because like most (if not any) drug store tobaccos they have been sitting there for a long time, and in some cases a VERY long time. Wouldn't surprise me that a box of these pouches have been passed around store to store only selling a few each time through the years. May be possible that the last person to buy a pouch from that crate/shipment was your grandfather. SO take heed and be wary of 'pouched' tobaccos and instead reach for tinned/canned ones.

Despite this stuff being almost too dry to save, it came back well once put into a tobacco pouch with a button humidifier. With that said, maybe the flavor was destroyed from age and tobacco gone stale. I tried it anyway, and got through a couple pipe-fulls. The taste was fairly flat, not as bad as some (IRC THREE STAR BLUE) but the tongue bite would not let me enjoy this stuff no matter how hard I tried. Tongue bite is something to be expected from aromatics, Captain Black, and most drug store brands yet this didn't have anything going on that would make the bite bearable (such as Capt'n Black White's AMAZING room note and OK flavor)

How pipesmokers could possibly let loose a beginner on these aromatics is beyond me, its borderline sadistic.

(come to think, if I didn't like someone I'd tell them to smoke this stuff first and say something along the lines of: "this is the best beginner blend, if you cant deal then don't smoke a pipe".. Not sure if I've met someone that I hate that much and wants to start smoking a pipe)

Just stay away from this one, or any Captain Black's tobacco save for the white---and with the 'white' only smoke if you love aromatics, and are experienced enough to avoid the tongue bite and or tolerate it.

Packs and burns OK. Careful puffing helps the bite somewhat.

Very mild, quite sweet, vanilla fades significantly as the smoke progresses. Chemical taste is worse than Capt. Black White, and this stuff coats the mouth with some unidentified substance - not pleasant. Simple flavor - not unpleasant at first - goes downhill pretty quickly. Mild notes of clove, burning paper, even plastic, creep in halfway down the bowl. Room note is OK, but not as pronounced or as pleasant as CB White. Seems to get sweeter near the end.

If you are in a pinch, broke, or cheap as hell. Stick with Capt. Black White. The Gold blend is not worth messing with at any price. However, good or bad, life’s too short for drugstore tobacco. Support your local (or online) tobacconist, and do yourself a favor.

First off i cannot reccomend this for a new smoker unless they like pepper tongue (not tongue bite) A new smoker will tend to try and puff this out like a chimeny and ruin their palate. Its considered an armoatic and armomatics are just not a good place to start. (read reviews on Carter Hall if you are a new smoker having a bad start) Then get some Carter hall.

If you are moving into cheap frills, drugstore aromatics then knock yerself out. Enjoy your pepper tongue. There are a ton of better aromatics out there to cut your teeth on besides this.

I'm sorry to Capt Black tobacco company, I just cannot recomment this blend and brand and I think with your international success and reputation as producing a cheap armoatic line then I think you have the experience to do much better and get back into the real pipe tobacco competition.

The color is uniformly a beautiful bright yellow gold all through. The cut is so perfect, it is a beautiful medium ribbon cut with nice fairly long elegant lacy strands, and I never ever find even the smallest or thinnest stem in this premium blend. Wow !!! I can stare and marvel at this beautifully perfect tobacco for minutes. And it's moisture is just right.

The smell is perfect right out of the pouch. It is not too much, nor not too little. Just right ! The aroma is bright, modestly sweet, perfectly perfumed with some warm yet uplifting and energizing mellow honeyfruit, all welcoming and embracing.

Lighting is amazing. It is instant and even intuitive in a sense, like driving a BMW. I never light more than twice, I usually light just a little bit once and it quickly just takes off. Wow !

The smoke smells perfectly marvelous and is nice and thick white. It smells modestly sweet, mellow, fruity, and golden all in one. The taste is superb...perfect. I get this instant stimulation and energization in my mouth right when I light this stuff. It is like this pleasant widespread vibration...somewhat of a tingle. Never any tongue bite or heat. The more I puff, the better it gets, the more the body builds up into this nice thick creamy white mellow smoke, and the more I can taste. There is so much potential in this blend. There is this widespread fullness of an everpleasing and ever so present and well centralized taste of modestly sweet and just enough fruity and honey oaty gold tobacco, the great core and ever emanating essence of this great blend. Furthermore, you can actually pick up more and more complexity too. I can do whatever I want with this blend, I can sip on it and it will stay lit forever, or I can smoke it like an intake system of an F1 car and get a nice big plume of super full bodied delicious mellow sweet golden tobacco goodness. Surprisingly, this blend never gets hot, nasty, sour, or bitey.

Captain Black Gold is the best and most dynamic pipe tobacco ever !!!

I give it two stars only because it could be a good introduction to pipe smoking for a beginner...