John Middleton, Inc Carter Hall

Carter Hall is one of the OTC's that tends to get a fair bit of positive mention, so I figured I had better try it.

Regrettably, my sense of this tobacco is that it is quite bitter. Perhaps it is just something with certain kinds of burleys? Not certain, just know it's not for me.

I have spent a year exploring a myriad of tinned tobaccos, and wanted a throwback to a simpler time, so I decided to pick up a pouch of something less fancy. I've never had a cheap "supermarket" blend knock it out of the park, but some (like Prince Albert) were OK, so let's keep an open mind and see what lurks inside.

Carter Hall has a sickly sweet, almost medicinal smell and is shredded into moist pinchable offerings. It certainly comes across as a cheap filler blend made for rolling cigarettes rather than packing a slow burning pipe, and well, that is how it ended up being I'm afraid.

It wasn't gross (like Half & Half), but if given the choice I'd rather have something tastier like Captain Black at the very least. This was just dry and lifeless, the thing you find months later in a coat pocket. Others entering the room told me it smelled like a stale cigarette, and they were not far off from the taste.

With so many choices and a growing cellar, I'm not sure I would ever want any Carter Hall, even if it was a whopping 70 cents cheaper. This should be rated 1.5 stars, but I'm rounding down as I can't see recommending it on any level.

This is a thumbs down for me. The taste is... cigarette. The room note... cigarette. That being said it burns well, and is smooth. There is nothing to savor here, for me, so it defeats the purpose of putting it in my pipe.

OK I smoked this, like many of us, when I first started with a pipe. I quickly went to Sir Walter Raleigh. Now I remember why. Almost tasteless. It will burn easily, it will light easily, and its really easy to forget. Are we sure there is tobacco leaf in here and not just shavings?

I really wanted to like this blend. I sometimes feel like I was born in the wrong decade/century and wanted to smoke something generations of pipers have smoked before me. This was not Carter Hall.

In the pouch, it gave off a sweet and sour chocolate smell similar to Prince Albert, but that's where the similarities ended. However, the taste was extremely flat and the aroma was like cigarettes. I smoked a few bowls and put the pouch away.

Six months later, I tried the same pouch again. The taste was the same, but the room aroma morphed into body odor.

On paper this sounded great. I really wanted to like this blend, but couldn't develop a taste for the topping; that I found overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, the topping on Half and Half is stronger. It's just that I like the topping on Half and Half and find this somewhat nauseating.

I bought a pouch at a Harvey's store in town heard some good things about the tobacco.. I took it home opened the pouch and it smelled good but it was very dry packed a bowl of it and from the first taste I was dissapointed however I didn't dismiss it put the pouch open in a humidor and let it set for a few weeks to get moist took the pouch out smelled even better and was a better smoke but still not a good smoke very cigerette like trust me on that I did smoke cigs for 6 years...

After reading the 4 star reviews here, I picked up a pouch. I smoked one bowl and wanted to throw it out. But, doing my best to give the benefit of the doubt, I smoked two bowls. Then, I threw it out.

This does light easily, and burns VERY easily. It burned like a cigarette, tasted like a 50/50 mix with cigarette tobacco, and left a cigarette ashtray aftertaste in my mouth for several hours.

I continue to try these drugstore blends as I want my flavor exposure to be as complete as possible. With that said, I can definately say that some flavors are best left where they are found.

I tend to describe these low end tobaccos by explaining chocolate. Very good Belgian, French, Swiss or German chocolates are a revelation to many Americans when they are tasted the first time. There is so much depth of flavor and the texture is different. All around much better than your average Hershey bar that contains very little real chocolate (cocoa).

Well friends, that is what these American drug store blends are like. American chocolate. Yes, it tastes somewhat of tobacco, but not ANYTHING like real tobacco. Not surprisingly, Carter Hall failed in every way for this smoker. I prefer to have the best that my resources will buy, and this ain't it by a long shot.

I'm sure that this is heresay to many fellow pipers. I'm sorry for that, but after nearly 30 years as a food and wine professional at a high level I trust my tastes more than most. Cheers!