Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Half & Half

Selecting a pipe tobacco is clearly a matter of personal taste. (After all, it would be pretty silly to ask anyone other than a child "What's the best color?")

I've been smoking H&H for roughly 45 years -- and exclusively H&H since L.L. Bean ceased producing they're wonderful pipe tobacco. At the rate of about 20 bowls per day, I personally find H&H not only a wonderful smoke, but one that doesn't wear on me. At least as far as I can tell, the flavor has remained pretty consistent and the only significant change is that, somehow, they removed some of the "bite" that I used to get early in the day.

I agree with the cranberry comments. As a new piper I bought a pouch of H&H, vaguely recognizing it as an old standby. Then I read the reveiws here and thought maybe I ought not open it, but did anyway. Its not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. As someone else here mentioned it has a nice cranberry smell in the pouch. Heeding the advice of other reviewers I tried it in my corncop pipe and took specal care to keep it as cool as possible with short puffs. It was very flavorable and pleasant. As long as you don't pull on the pipe like you're drinking a frozen milkshake H&H is very enjoyable. I didn't notice much of a room note because I smoked it outside on my back porch, but what I did smell seemed pleasant. I will add it to my rotation.

you know I never tried this blend until recently. I always figured it to be nore of a cigarette tobacco. I am now growing quite fond of it. I have consumed most of one pouch and have another ready to go. I most likely will purchase a canister of it next to see if any improvement comes along with time. It tends to burn a little warm in the pipe but doesnt seem to make it to the mouth that way. I have heard others mention spiced apples and I would tend to agree with that flavor both in the pouch and in the flavor of the blend. Wish I could have an older sample as many people say the older blend was better. It burns down well with no noticable goop in the heel. Smokes best for me in a Sasieni Ruff root dark pipe .

I actually had to go out of my way to find some of this previously ubiquitous "drugstore pipe tobacco," as it seems to have mostly vanished from the shelves of convenience stores in my area.

Years ago, when I mostly puffed on Captain Black and didn't really know any better, I tried this blend and didn't think much of it. It seemed quite strong to me and very different than what I was used to. It says "Burley and Bright" on the box, "Bright" being a term for virginia tobaccos. Once could assume that its half virginia and half burley.

Now, however, as I have gravitated towards stronger and more natural tobaccos, I find that this in fact tastes pretty good to me now. I have taken straight virginias and mixed in some burley as experiments, and I find that Half and Half in fact tastes very much like those blends which I have made. It has a nutty sort of flavor from the burleys and there is a bit of tang and sweetness from the virginias present. Smoked slowly, it is a fine smoke with pretty good "real tobacco" flavor.

As far as to whether it is cased or not, I'm rather unsure. It has a sweet and quite strong pouch aroma that reminds me of raisins or apples or something. It smells pretty good I think. It could very well just be that the virginias used are high sugar variants because the pouch aroma is somewhat reminiscent of chewing tobaccos like Red Man. If some kind of casing is used, it seems to serve only to enhance the flavors that are typical of straight virginias anyways. Casing or no, I don't think anybody would describe Half and Half as an aromatic.

It is fairly strong for a drugstore blend, and it is much different from milder burley based blends like Prince Albert and Carter Hall. I'd have to recommend this blend actually. I think that if I was out on the road and running low on tobacco, I'd look for this blend in preference to others.

Overall, not bad, and certainly better than a two-star. New pipesters might not like this much but if you are into stronger tobaccos then you might enjoy this once in a while. I think I'll keep picking up the odd pouch now and again.

After reading so many unfavorable reviews of this American icon I just had to give it a try. Color me surprised because I really do like it. But then again I enjoy Burleys and Virginias so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I won't try to defend this tobacco by saying it's a decent drug-store blend because it truly is better than a lot of so called premium high dollar offerings I've tried. It is an enjoyable tobacco, plain and simple... but of course like all things that does not mean it is for everyone.

The arguments used against H&H are with respects to it's pouch aroma, room note and ability to "take over" a pipe. I would gleefully agree because to me, those are positives attributes.

I must be blessed but I really like many over the counter cheap burley blends. I know alot of people hate them but to smoke while delivering or working outside they are fantastic. This blend has a unique flavor which I really like. Sure cheap burley tends to be like oatmeal is to fine food but it has a simple strong quality that is perfect at times. Some of the reviewers compared this tobacco to Lucky Strike cigarettes which my father smoked and I agree somewhat. This has more flavor than the cigarettes ever did. If I hadn't been on a aromatic kick when my dad was alive I might of converted him to pipe smoking with this one.I think most beginning pipe smokers would be better off with Captain Black then this.I am not sure what is in this but it is not a straight burley, beside the virginia, "bright", it has something else in it. This does burn really well and doesn't require constant relighting which is a big plus while driving. Best of all this is as cheap as tobacco gets and can be found in many locations while traveling.

My father always telling me that when he sees me smoking a pipe it reminds him of his grand father smoking a pipe made me ask him what he smoked. My father told me he smoked Half and Half and Union Jack. Not being able to find Union Jack, I was able to easily Locate a big can of Half and Half for a relatively low price of $13.99 for a large 16 oz. can. I immediately opened it to find that I noticed a strong cranberry smell. I asked a few of my friends and people I know to take a whiff and people came up with the same smell. Cranberries. I found it kinda shocking that of all the reviews here for it, no one came up with cranberries. I was pleased with the aroma, and proceeded to pack my pipe. Packing was easy enough, and so was lighting. It filled the room with a pleasant aroma that my dad immediately recognized as Half and Half which is amazing considering my Great Grand Father died in 1965. It was a very pleasant tasting tobacco that had a light cranberry overtone but tasted more like tobacco than anything else I could detect. Reminded my of a very smooth, cool Lucky Strike Cigarette that happened to be one of the only cigarettes I ever sampled. Reading the other reviews here it seems to be of the same tobacco as Lucky Strikes, so the taste similarities make sense now. The only thing keeping me from smoking this daily is the bite factor. In any briar, even a filtered Dr. Grabow, this seems to bite the tongue. That caused me to set the can aside after finishing about half of it. Reading the reviews here last night made me rediscover that half used can I forgot about for roughly 4 years. I was surprised to find it still moist and smelling of the cranberry aroma I remember. I decided to try it in a corm cob and to my surprise, it didn?t bite me at all. Now, I am not sure if my smoking habits have changed since being a occasional pipe smoker to a everyday pipe smoker but smoking it in the corn cob made me change my mind of it and putting Half and Half in my weekly rotation that is now growing into a rotation that contains over 20 brands. I would recommend this to a pipe smoker that wants a good tobacco for a reasonable price. But not for the new smoker. It does bite and any tobacco that bites easily is not a good recommendation to someone just getting used to the art. I would recommend you buy a corn cob for this tobacco as it seems that is where this tobacco shines. Be warned though this is not a flavored tobacco so don?t expect the aroma to carry over to the flavor much if at all. Overall a good smoke.

After all the negative reviews about this tobacco, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I actually enjoy this stuff.

I do find the pouch aroma somewhat odd, citrus and raisins, yes, but also probably alcohol.

On the first few puffs, the topping comes through pretty heavily, and it is enough to make you want to put the bowl down. But after that, the tobacco mellows into a fairly smooth smoke in which the burley predominates. The casing (not sure what it is) is always there, but not so much that you can't tell you still aren't smoking tobacco. Some have called this an extremely heavy aromatic...there are heavier ones out there. The sweetness and nuttiness are present throughout the bottom two thirds of the bowl. The very bottom of the bowl can get just slightly sour.

As a former cigarette smoker, I agree with previous reviewers who have stated that this reminds them of cigarette tobacco. It isn't exactly like Camels, but I can understand why some make the comparison.

If you enjoy Burley, and don't mind cigarettes, you might enjoy this tobacco. It isn't for everybody. One of life's little pleasures is in finding something cheap which you actually enjoy. For me, an occasional bowl of Half and Half fits the bill. If you don't like Burley, you'd probably be better off with something else. To each their own.

Half and Half this is a nice go to tobacco for a trip back into yesteryear, brings back the memories from the early 60's when I first smoked this tobacco. This is truely an old Icon from when Grand Dad lit up that pipe after the supper meal.

This smokes better in a small bowl like a Prince or an Apple, it definately needs to be smoked slow and easy with short smooth puffs to be able to enjoy the fullness of the tobacco taste.

IMO nice to have around for a change in the evening hours for a relaxing smoke, no tongue bite, sweet taste, and very rarley needs much attention in keeping the tobacco lit.

Yes, this is a drugstore tobacco that can be found in most grocery stores