War Horse War Horse Bar

First of all, I joined TR about 10 years ago & have since rejoined with a different handle & am copying &/or revising my earlier reviews. OK... about the War Horse Bar! The tin aroma is tantalizing... out of this world & the blend certainly doesn't smoke like it smells. It's a very sweet aroma that wafts from the tin with a flavoring that I couldn't possibly identify. It actually smells good enough to eat.

It's more of a crumble cake than a plug that can be scraped with something as dull as a butter knife or a good thumbnail & takes very little drying time. No sharp implement is needed. The first few tokes tasted a little like a sweet cigar that initially, is just a tad on the bitter side. However, that taste or flavoring tones down about one third to midway through the bowl as the nicotine kicks in & the awesome aroma of the flavored casing/topping, whatever, sort of disguises or diminishes the cigaresh taste.

It actually produced an alluring aroma as it burned off which seemed to make the blend more enjoyable... even when smoking outside. I don't smoke inside my home nor due I inhale which is the reason I prefer stronger blends & this one will absorb into your membranes without bite or harshness & will give you that added bliss you're looking for in short order.

It burns up pretty quick with little moisture, stays lit fairly well & leaves a light grey dottle in the bowl. I would purchase this again & it will be used as my "Nightcap" blend. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea but it works for me & goes great with a strong cup of hot coffee or tea. I wouldn't advise smoking it with anything stronger.

Wow what a great tobacco! I've been smoking a pipe for 6 years and been trying to find the blend I want to stock up on. I bought one tin about a year ago and wasn't interested in opening it since I didn't like the first release version. I think that was some kind of English blend. Smoked half the plug and left the can open for two days straight by accident. I thought I might have ruined the tobacco, but I stuffed my pipe with it and it was still the perfect smoke. So I bought 7 more tins. This is with out a doubt MY tobacco. Next order will be twenty cans.

Well, you don’t need me yapping about how great this is. Plenty of others here do a better job than I would. But I do want to give this qualifier: just because this guy or that guy likes or doesn’t like this blend doesn’t make it good or bad. It is what it is. If you enjoy Gawith Dark Flake (scented or not) you’re going to like this. For some reason I don’t get this giant Lakeland floral thing from it like most others have described. I just get waves of strong dark tobacco flavors with a slightly sweet note that takes the edge off rather like the Gawith Sweet twist flavors are subtle and sweetening. If you’ve smoked some of the Gawith scented flakes (which pretty much reek of the scent) this one is way down the scale. This is one of my favorite blends. Great, great stuff for those with the constitution to appreciate it. Five Stars.

20230501: Probably has hit the #1 spot on my list. It's complex enough in its aromatics to be interesting, but not overbearing or cloying, and the underlying tobaccos are excellent, perfectly suited to my tastes. More than sufficient in the nicotine department. I've come to appreciate the moderation in aromatics of WH bar as compared to Green, which has become a little too much for me lately.

20230313: Yep, upgrading my rating.

20230219: Compared to some of the G&H Lakelands I've tried, the (what I might call) Lakeland style topping is fairly light. In the jar I smell licorice, probably anise mainly, and I love it. Shaved some off the plug and packed it into an Old Dominion 'Jamestowne', a very small clay. I taste the licorice and anise, the Kentucky, maybe a tiny bit of baby powder, but also some cream. Moderately sweet, very strong nicotine hit. When it makes the rounds through my other pipes, I may upgrade my rating; not positive it'll end up a favorite, but this is definitely something I'll keep around. I almost find myself wishing the topping were a little stronger, it's very nice.

What can I say? This is a great tobacco. Nice strong Kentucky, nice topping. Sutliff manufactured this? And Russ Ouellette blended it. I like Sutliff's aromatics, except for Mixture No. 79. The guy who said it is like smoking a urinal cake was right about that blend. This, though? No urinal cake here. Nice Lakeland-type flavors, though of the rich and savory rather than the flowery perfumey type. Most importantly, high-quality tobacco that smokes long and evenly and well. Expensive, but highly, highly recommended. A crumble cake not a plug, but a good crumble cake.

Sweet floral, almost fruity back taste. I really miss the HH Rustica, but this is very nice. I will definitely buy this again. Nice early morning smoke.

Wow, this is good!

A lot has been said of its great attributes. But let me add my 2 cents' worth.

The plug is firm and you gotta slice it. I sliced it thin across the grain and it rubbed out easily.

It is good and full, in the same way the old St. Bruno and Condor tobaccos were good.

If you love those traditional and storied tobaccos, you will love War Horse Red.

Sip gently for full enjoyment.

Looking forward to trying War Horse Green.

First things first: this is not a crumble cake, nor is it truly pressed like a plug. It's like a block meant for slicing into flakes, left unsliced. Still soft and easy to tear or cut. Fresh, "manly" scent, like a mild and clean old time aftershave, in a perfect amount. Very much an Oulette aromatic; that master of burley has a definite style no matter who he blends for. The tonquin in combo with the other notes comes off more vanilla and less exotic than in 1792. Anyway, the Virginia is sweet and the burley is quite present, smoothing out the Kentucky, which isn't as strongly present as I expected. Yet while being smoother and a touch milder in taste than I expected (still a boatload of flavor though), it still has a serious nicotine content. Better to use a narrow flake pipe and not your XL Peterson. If you reclose the tin but leave the little plastic disc thingy out, it will delightfully scent the room.

Here's another potent one! A long time ago, I used to split a block of the original Gallaher's War Horse with a friend that worked at the tobacco shop. That tobacco was a special order, and the guy who ran the shop would be adamant that we were going to buy this if he was going to order it, because nobody else in their right mind would smoke it! And this was a shop that used to carry all the Irish ropes too... The old War Horse used to come in a solid brick with the word "War Horse" stamped on the top, and it used to take some muscle to split one of those bricks in half. The current version is a little easier to manage out of the tin. It's hard to recall after all these years, but whatever flavoring they used to use is pretty well mimicked here on the new one... it's a bit of an indescribable and unique flavor. I've had somebody describe it as "mothballs", and in that case I've always wondered how you could get those tiny moth legs apart to smell that 😜.... it may be an apt description though, despite the fact that maybe mothballs might not be the most appetizing way to put it. Not quite vanilla, not quite clove, maybe a slight anise note in there as well. Whatever it is, it's not like any other tobacco I can think of, except maybe Bosun Cut Plug. With the Bosun you definitely pick up clove, with War Horse, it is a little harder to tease out all the flavors. Both War Horse versions were very strong tobaccos, and even with the top flavoring you definitely get solid tobacco flavor... the older variety was that strong Irish tobacco, the newer version is maybe slightly more mild, I'm assuming using currently available tobaccos. Definitely nicotine here as well. Once it's well rubbed out and correctly packed, it needs maybe an average number of relights, and you might get a gurgle or two depending on your cadence. I like St Bruno; in comparison, War Horse is a good deal more formidable all around. This is one of those modern recreations that comes pretty close to the original, the big difference being you really can't get those exact tobacco varieties they used to use nowadays. Highly recommended for those of you that like potent smokes!