Benson & Hedges Special (Mellow) Virginia

Not for me - tasted of cheap cigarettes, I have watered this down with a cherry cavendish to get through it. Would not buy this again.

I picked this up because I was stuck away from home and it was the only variety of tobacco I could find. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it because I've read so many indifferent reviews, but I found this a pleasant and quite enjoyable smoke. In the pouch it smells of apples and did have a fruity taste when smoked, though the taste didn't last down to the bottom of the bowl. At first I experienced some tongue bite but found this was less of a problem after a few bowls. It's one to be smoked gently rather than quickly and when the smoke is allowed to travel around the mouth the taste is rather special. It's not the best of the easily available brands but it's certainly not as bad as some are claiming.

I agree with others who have noted the peculiar Jekyll & Hyde way in which this one starts out as a rather nice mild smoke but then becomes quite nasty. It is the only pipe tobacco sold by my local newsagent; and it is a pity that a blend that is quite widely available is not better quality. Good enough for an emergency, I suppose, but I would recommend only ever smoking half-way through the bowl.

This tobacco reminds me of chewing gum. It starts off with a pleasant flavour then soon becomes bland and insipid. This is a blend and not as the name indicates a Virginia tobacco. There is Virginia in it but there is also other stuff too.

Once the lovely sticky toffee flavour has worn off you are left with a very mediocre tobacco. There is none of the blending skill you find in quality blended tobacco. I think part of the reason for this is that they have used very average tobaccos to go in the blend. This is not the worst tobacco I've tried but is sure is not the best by a long way. The good thing about Mellow Virginia is that it's cheap and readily available. If I was to buy a supermarket tobacco I'd buy something else. If the topping lasted the whole bowl I'd give it more points but it doesn't so I wont. All in all a disapointing smoke, not recommended, there are far better tobaccos out there.

Pack smell: Old fashioned toffee note

Flavour & Taste: a bit like sticky toffee pudding with a slight 'soapiness' - not in league with Condor original though (wich made me feel sick). Needs to be smoked gently to taste the flavour and not get that harsh bitterness of ash lower down in bowl.

Room smell: sweet toffee aroma (possibly a bit sickly), not the richer molasses & peaty smell of St Bruno.

Had some St bruno left but not enough for a full bowl, so mixed some Mellow Virginia with it. It was quite pleasant. Fuller flavour, not as sweet & sickly as MV alone.

Not on my Desert Island list, sickly overwhelmingly sweet aroma from the pouch. Tastes very mild, but tolerable for perhaps the first ten minutes. However, tends to make pipes go wet, and after the first ten minuted the tobacco itself turns sour.

Not good....

An easily available leaf but thats about its only strength. Its room note is very sweet and almost sickly especially to others in the room. It needs to be re-lit often and with 1/2 to 1/3 of a bowl left it taste dreadfully ashy. My recommendation is hold out and buy a better quality tabacco.

Like a good few others I too smoked quite a bit of this about 10 to 15 years ago. I must admit that whenever I smoked Condor or St Bruno, I got given a load of grief from SWMBO...so taking the route of least resistance, I usually ended up with this.

As I remember it though, it wasn't half bad actually and like another reviewer I wonder if the recipe has been changed or the standard of tobacco diminished. For one thing the flavour seemed to last to the end of the bowl...which it doesn't appear to do today. Smoked gently, it starts off well enough and lasts maybe to the last third of the bowl and then goes a bit sour and ashey. I'm quite sure that it's the topping not lasting, and once it has gone, the cheap tobacco reveals itself.

Shame really: if Imperial/Gallaghers/Whoever took a bit of pride in what they produced and not just set out to make the cheapest crap that they can get away with, with the punters; this tobacco could become a nice little number again.

As it is, it's just about tolerable...well no...it's tolerable...but could be a lot better.

i was very disappointed with this pipe tobacco but to be fair i did buy a few packets of it, but there was no kick to it,no room note to shout about,i was glad when i finished the packs and moved on.never again will i buy this tobacco. update....the fool that i am i bought a pouch of this stuff again after a very long layoff,i said i would never buy this tobacco again..well i let my guard down and i bought some...let me say that mellow virgina has changed.....i will repeat that..mellow virgina has changed....but not for the better..in fact is worse..a lot worse than it ever was,its more bland than i care to remember it as it was years ago..please dear reader...leave this alone..i hate the stuff.and i mean it this time...never will i buy it again.