John Middleton, Inc Cherry Blend

One of the more enjoyable blends encountered during my ongoing tour of the "drug store" tobaccos. This one really takes me back to my earliest memories of the pipers of my old neighborhood. My parents were considerably younger that all of our neighbors, and literally all of the older men would sit around in the evening smoking pipes which I greatly enjoyed. This one and Half & Half were ubiquitous with the "old guard". Indeed, the room note of Cherry Blend is not only one of first tobaccos I remember, but it is one of my first memories period - its that memorable and pervasive. After trying a dozen or more cherry blends, I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of cherry-infused tobaccos. That said, I found this to be largely enjoyable and easy to smoke. My example came in a 1.5 ounce pouch. Moisture was just right. Pouch aroma was unmistakably cherry, though not overwhelmingly so. Appearance was lighter and darker brown flakes giving the look of a burley/Virginia rather that the darker cavendish. Packing and lighting characteristics are excellent - a standard 3-part packing, one charring light, and it was off to the races. Good burley-forward tobacco flavor smoothed out by the cavendish. Here's where it gets confusing - as distinct as the pouch aroma is, you really have to search for the cherry flavor which is a pleasant surprise. No tongue bite at a slow cadence. Room note is delightful - nostalgic bias notwithstanding. At five bucks, its a steal. Of all the cherry blends, this is a front runner for great value, easy smoking, and that one- of-a-kind room note. Recommended

tobacco searchers here is the honest review for cherry blend. This tobacco is a burley, and it has a light cherry flavor, I am a burley smoker and I enjoy this tobacco often. This blend is just a standard burley with a little cherry topping. Now this blend will bite if you cheef, I myself have only had tongue bite once but I was smoking it on a wiindy day, this is a good blend to atleast try. Remember every palate is different.

My good friend D gifted me a pouch of this. Thanks bro.

I actually found myself enjoying the simplicity of this blend, much to my surprise. The cherry is lightly applied and burns off around mid-way leaving a decent tasting VaBur. The Bur provides a little more flavor than the Va. I get no bite and it burns fairly cool and even. This will do in a pinch. Not bad at all. It's about a 2.5 for me and I'm feeling generous today so 3 stars it is

Mild in body. Very mild in flavoring. Mild to medium in taste.

Well, wanted to try this before it was gone since it was put out of production. This leaf is kinda neat. Upon opening the middleton pouch arrangement and was struck by a strong cherry candy smell. Not mediciny mind you, but strong, I could barely smell the burley. On lightning and enjoying the bowl though the opposite was achieved, a light nutty burley ( of the middleton variety, which I like) with only the slightest hint of cherry. Where did the scent go? In the roomnote which is pleasant burley cherry scent. It burned like other middleton products, fully, and a bit quick. No mess in the pipe like most aro's. Bite? You could make it bite, but then you have to be trying. Shame it's gone away, not some super fantastic aromatic but as with Carter Hall and the Prince a solid porch sitter, all day smoke with a bit of cherry.

When you open the pouch, there is a sweet smell and you might think you are in for a cherry candy smoke. You would be very wrong. The Burley tobacco is light and the cut is rough. There is a swettnes, but one could just as easily call this a sweet Burley. The moisture level was perfect out of the pouch and the little roll-up bag keeps the stuff fresh and easy to carry. If you know how to pack a rough cut, you should not need too many re-lights. And, this stuff will not ghost your pipe. The flavor does not change throughout the bowl, but it is sweet and gentle. The aroma will not win any friends as it smells just like many other codger Burley offerings. I love Prince Albert and Half and Half; I like this. The taste is a little on the light side for me. The ash is nice with no clumps. If you do not puff like a dragon, there was no moisture left at the bottom of the bowl. The nicotine level is pretty low. I think any true Burley fan should try this. Some talk of cough medicine in the taste, but that is either those who simply see cherry in the title and hate cherry or maybe they tried it years ago and simply lump it in with many other cherrty Cavendish blends that really to tast sickly sweet. I read that this blend is actually named after a street called Cherry, but I don't know.

it was given me by Clarkus (Steve, thanks again), he told me it’s perfect for summer so I planned to preserve it for the warm season but … a fight against curiosity is a hard thing! Cherry has been a pleasant surprise, the pouch smell is heavenly: cherry of course, and something else that I can’t describe but the whole effect is very pleasant, the taste is fresh and slightly sweet but not cloying, the base tobacco is mild and pleasant. Bites? Honestly I haven't experienced any bite, may be a personal chemistry or a cadence on puffing. Thumbs up!

The first tobaccoreviews.com review for 2011 and a Happy New Year to you all!

I smoked this on and off during my early piper days and always found it to be a pleasant experience. Nice tobacco pouch aroma; very subtle on the cherry. Always lit well and smoked without bite. No moisture, no goop, no mess. always clean by the bowl's end. Never was there a negative comment when I smoked it in mixed company. On the contrary, I always received the highest of compliments, especially, "It smells just like my grandfather's pipe used to smell." Good, old-fashioned tobacco taste. One of the great American drug store blends. I always liked tobacco packaged in a foil wrapper within a box. Thewre's something very nostalgic about it.

Take care in filling your pipe and smoke it slowly. You will be pleasantly surprised. For me at present, always a nice change of pace smoke, and good for reflecting on the years that have gone by.

Cherry Bld… Having at one time or other, smoked most drug store blends, my memory of Cherry blend (late 1960's) was at the very least, an agreeable smoke, certainly not deserving all the negative reviews found on this site. Could it have changed that much? So to satisfy my curiosity I bought a fresh pouch, containing today's product to find out. Reading the box this baccy came in, there is no mention of this being a aromatic, and the only mention of anything cherry, is its name. Sounds to me the idea of this stuff being a goopy, heavy cherry aromatic, is simply not the case. What I did find, was a blend where the somewhat strong tobaccos, provide the dominate taste, with a mild cherry casting, that only slightly shows up in the smoke taste. Sounds like the description of a good smoke to me.

After smoking this baccy in a variety of pipes I found the simple cob, the way to go. Briars seem to bring out a stronger tobacco taste, at the cost of the many delicate flavors this blend is capable of. The secret to these delicate flavors, is no secret at all, no different than smoking a fine Virginia for example, sip and taste, sip and taste. Nothing new there, just SOP with most blends.. I smoked bowl after bowl of this stuff, to get a good feel for this blend, and found it to be bite free. Not saying an aggressive puffer won't get bit, but I experienced none. Light up and burn was typical of a burley blend, easy light up, lots of smoke, and stays lit, to just short of total tobacco consumption, leaving only some ash and a few charred flakes to clean out, no wet goop, no special clean up. or for that matter no moisture at all. Bottom line; You do your part in smoking this old timer, it will provide you with a real decent smoke, as it has been doing for decades. Chronic complainers need not apply. 3 stars

I bought a couple of pouches of this I found in an Admiral tobacco store in Michigan. I had heard it was no longer in production, and I wanted to try it. The tobacco itself looks like a slightly darker Carter Hall with a sweet smell that is a little nondescript. If someone told me it was cotton candy, I would believe that was the intent, but it is not exactly cotton candy. I can believe it is supposed to be cherry, but in a blind test, I would not identify it as cherry. It came at a good moisture for smoking.

This smoked like a slightly sweeter version of Carter Hall. The topping was mostly gone after the first third of the bowl. It was again a nondescript sweet. Once the topping was gone, it smoked a little like Carter Hall with a slightly tart quality when puffed. There was some nutty burley and a little sour. The Virginias present as some hay.

It was an easy smoke, and I could codger scoop in the car and puff mindlessly without giving it too much attention. It was pleasant, but it never evoked any "wow!"'s. It was good enough for back to back bowls. The flavor and strength were both mild.

This is easy to recommend if you see it on a shelf. It is a lightly topped VaBur that is a good OTC. I prefer Carter Hall and Prince Albert, but that is just me. If this were all I had to smoke, I would be grateful and smoke a lot of it. This is a 2.5 on the scale for me.

Edit: It seems I had bad information on this being discontinued. It is still in production as close as I can tell.