Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Half & Half

Update: (STG Lane)

Thought I would add an update now that Lane now produces Half and Half. I find it similar to the Pinkerton product, but I think they dialed down Half and Half's unique flavor a little. I still smoke it occasionally and still enjoy it.

Original Review: (Pinkerton Tobacco)

I smoke a few bowls of this tobacco a week. I do have a pipe dedicated to it. Maven's Choice in the Winter 97 issue of PipeSmoke Magazine described this tobacco as "Burley & Bright; cased with a basic combination of licorice, molasses, and invert sugars, the blend is then top-dressed with a spice flavoring derived from marinating cloves, cinnamon, and other spices in rum", and I believe that's probably right, especially the "clove" part, which I believe is what might make it a like it or hate it blend. Some reviewers stated it reminded them of cigarettes, & I agree. CAMEL was even mentioned. I smoked CAMELS most of my adult life (no longer do), and they didn't taste like H & H, but LUCKY STRIKE cigarettes when still made by AMERICAN TOBACCO tasted alot like Half & Half, and with good reason. A little history: My grandfather smoked Half & Half, he quit before I was born so I don't have fond memories of the aroma of his pipe. What I do have is his hardware collection stored in Half & Half tobacco tins. Some of these old tins looked very different from the one's we see now. Instead of saying "Burley & Bright" they have "Genuine Lucky Strike Roll Cut Tobacco" "& Buckingham Bright Cut Plug Smoking Tobacco" with the "Lucky Strike" residing in the very familiar red circle we see on Lucky Strike cigarette packs. It turns out H&H was originally formulated by mixing half & half two already existing tobacco brands acquired by the American Tobacco company in the early part of the 20th century. Also Lucky Strike cigarettes emerged after cigarette smoking became popular about the time of WW I. I thought the history might be interesting. I hope I didn't bore anyone. Half & Half is a drugstore tobacco that cost about $2 a pouch. I keep a pouch around and enjoy it occasionally. Maybe I smoke it for nostalgic reasons, but I don't find it an offensive smoke. I find it smokes cool & dry to the bottom of the bowl leaving a fine grey ash.

Bought my first pouch yesterday, first i was not sure if i want to spent my money on this because in my country it costs 15,50€ and all Peterson blends costs 20€ but im glad i did, this tobacco is just perfect to smoke while driving or whenever you want to JUST smoke and not over think the tobacco. At the first light it releases a barrage of flavors and mellows futher down the bowl, but every once in a while it reminds you that there's Half and Half in your pipe. It isn't an heavy aromatic i get more tobacco flavors than anything else. It burns cool and somewhat fast and doesn't bite at all. On the nicotine content its in the middle, more than enough for me. Dont become skeptical on reading these reviews here, this tobacco is a mist try. I myself been smoking pipe over a year mostly Petersons blends, English, balkans and everything between, so i dont shy from trying anything new, neither should you.

This is a wonderful cut of tobacco, period! It must be packed loosely in order to fully enjoy the flavor of this tobacco. It has a liquer casing to it and that is evident upon opening a canister. I was always told the canister has a better flavor so I went with that suggestion. I can see why this has been around for so long. I like the cigarette-like taste as have millions of others who've come before me. This is not a "sit down and concentrate on my bowl" but a mild tobacco blend made for the everyday smoker who has an addiction to nicotine. This is one of those old everyman, everyday tobaccos that smokers buy habitually and smoke the same. For all the negative reviews, I can understand why they gave it a bad review. You almost have to "learn" how to smoke this blend to fully enjoy it. Otherwise, this is a great go-to blend and will always be in my rotation along with SWR.

Smoking now:

Making my way though OTC blends. Next up, Half and Half. Bag smells like burley. Has a chocolate cherry brownie smell. Had a bit of that plastic smell similar to other pouch OTC blends.

Now I was super looking forward to this blend because the art work on the pouch and that it has Virginia in it.

The taste… it’s harsh. Burley tobacco usually bites me and does not agree with my Ph. This is no exception. I can’t tell if their is Virginia in this or not. It’s not sweet at all and has mostly burley flavors. Slight chocolate cherry flavor. Earthy nutty plastic burley. Has a sharp mouth feel… it’s not good. It’s not as bad as velvet, but not even close to SWR, Granger, or in the same league as CH. When smoked very slow with a coffee it’s doable. Probably am not finishing the pouch. Non smokers in the room with me said it wasn’t offensive but the aroma wasn’t good either.

Your great grandpa probably smoked it but if he had access to the internet he probably wouldn’t have.

What a disappointment.

I have to say I was expecting a lot from Half & Half. It's a burley blend, and I love burley; it's been around for ages, so it has some degree of popularity at least. But already the pouch note is a little bit off: An aromatic? Smells like a laundromat, what the heck have they put in this, and above all, why? Good burley is good and needs no flavouring whatsoever, and bad burley - insofar as such a thing exists - would not be worth keeping at all.

Then, the first few puffs... What the... How... Why... Feels like a solid burley base, but in an effort to spice it up (Again: Why? WHY?) the taste is as if someone sprinkled my good burley liberally with washing powder. And now that I read the contents list here at TobaccoReviews I can see that they put aniseed in it and that pretty much explains everything; I hate the stuff up to the point of being almost allergic to it.

No, no, no, and no. Never again in my pipes; I'm pretty sure it even ghosted the one I was using with aniseed a little bit. What a waste of good burley tobacco!

(Now I'm actually a bit at a loss as to which Half & Half I should put this review under as there seem to be two identical articles for this tobacco in the database, but since mine came in a pouch and this has a picture of a pouch, I'll put it here.)

Beautiful Soft, nutty Smoke. Notes of raisin in the pouch- very slight on the palate. The Virginia sweetens the nuttiness of the Burley.This is NOT a complex blend. It is for slowing down and simple enjoyment. Plus it's AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE! 5 Stars for me. *****

Knowing this blends reputation as a classic otc I was looking forward to trying it for quite sometime.. I was quite disappointed immediately after opening the pouch and smelling what I consider to be a rather aggressive and cloying chemically aroma.. but I figured it still may have a secret to two up its sleeve, so I lit it up hoping for some kind of Carter hall or prince albert level experience.. I really despised my first smoke.. I am stunned that some people refer to this as a 'natural' tobacco.. you really have to dig to get to the leaf.. and the leaf to me is very underwhelming.. I did come back to it again.. and like so many things after the initial letdown you can find things to like.. it does settle down as you go down the bowl.. but it just isn't for me.. I think you really have to like the flavoring to dig this one.

This tobacco seems to me to be a nice blend of basic smoking tobaccos. It's chunky cut makes it pack nicely in my pipes. The smoke is a little unremarkable. I mean it smokes well enough, cool, even, and mellow, but it has little flavor or room note. It's not unpleasant mind you, just ok. It's a good all 'round under achiever for a rainy day staring out the window into the back garden.

For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why all the negative reviews of this brand. What do people expect from a pouch they paid less than $5 for???? H&H is a quality burley blend as far as OTC's go. The only thing I can think of that would explain all the negative reviews is that either A.} the reviewers are inexperienced with OTC blends and haven't triedvery many. They have probably only tried the fancier pipe tobacco blends. and B.} they probably never smoked cigarettes. Former cigarette smokers will find themselves right at home with H&H. If you've only ever smoked pipes and cigars, you'll probably be unimpressed with this and all other burley based OTC's.

All in all, H&H is nothing spectacular, it doesn't try and impress you by pretending it's something it isn't. It reveals to you what it is from the first puff and stays true to itself right on through to the last. It's a straight up burley based blend that will satisfy with it's bold burley flavor. Nothing more, nothing less.