John Middleton, Inc Prince Albert

Over the last few months I've been working my way through some of the classic "Drug Store" brands of tobacco. Of course in doing so I was bound to run into Prince Albert at some point. Years ago I was given a few pouches of OTC tobacco for Christmas as a joke and Prince Albert was one of them but I honestly don't remember if I even smoked it. In any event, every week or so I visit the tobacco shop and pick up a different OTC tobacco and take it for a spin.

When you open the little foil pouch the first thing you will notice is that there isn't anything fancy here just the mild smell of straight tobacco. It would put you in the mind of a RYO tobacco like Bugler cigarette tobacco. Over all the moisture wasn't too bad, I did notice that the little foil pouch wasn't "sealed" and I don't know if it is supposed to be that way or if it was a mistake. I fluffed it up a little bit and then filled my bowl.

Packing and lighting was fine and once it was going I didn't need to relight it.

Now comes the bad part... This just doesn't taste like pipe tobacco. It has a sharp almost cigarette like quality to it that doesn't smoke well in a pipe. It actually tastes like wet mulch or straw. I'm usually a fan of non-aromatic blends but I don't even know if I can call Prince Albert that. I try not to review tobacco based on 1 bowl or even 2 bowls so I've smoked about 3/4 of the pouch before writing this review. Strong points here are that the smoke was dry I didn't get any gurgle but it wasn't cool by any means. I took my time and smoked it slow and still found that it was hot. I didn't burn my mouth but it wasn't pleasant by any means. As far as the "Room Note" I honestly think it smells like a cigarette in that department as well.

At the end of the day I would probably avoid Prince Albert. I can put it in my tobacco journal as something I have tried but just don't think I will be revisiting. As this is the tobacco that my Grandfather smoked I'm a little disappointed that I didn't enjoy it more.

UPDATE 9/28/2015 - I'm going to give Prince Albert 1 additional star. I'm still not sold that it is any better than that however I dedicated myself to finishing a pouch of this because I hate to see tobacco go to waste. It takes a little getting used to the simple flavors that are present in PA and until I dedicated one of my Cobs to smoking it I wasn't too impressed. Once it is smoked without the ghost of other "stronger" tobaccos present however the subtle flavors of the tobacco are far more noticeable and pleasing. It still might not be fore everyone but I would give it a fair go before you make the same mistake I did and judge it too soon.

Pouch note- Vanilla, Slight grass smell. Placed in jar to keep fresh. Moisture content good. Packs easily. Burns easily with infrequent lights. Can get little harsh if pushed too fast. Otherwise cool mild smoke. Decent flavors. Little dry and slightly nutty. Every day smoker. Not great but not horrible.

Sometimes you want a gourmet meal accompanied by the finest wine you can afford. Sometimes you want mac & cheese washed down with a Pepsi.

Prince Albert is mac & cheese, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. It's your basic American burley blend, hints of chocolate and some fruity sweetness and of course the nuttiness from the burley. I like it better than Sir Walter I think, and it's much better imho than Half & Half. Good, basic, all day smoke. 2.5 stars

Yes, I've read most of the reviews for Prince Albert. I like this tobacco. The trick to smoking this tobacco is to take the time to slowly experience it. It takes soft, gentle draws to keep the pipe from heating up. When drawn properly, the flavors do present themselves. The flavors are nutty and mildly sweet. I'm not intending to sound negative or sarcastic, but the best description of the flavor reminds me of walking into the shower and smelling scented soap. Women love those little decorative balls of soap that give off that musty sweet scent. That's the flavor I'm reminded of with Prince Albert. The entire time of smoking is to keep a careful draw so as not to over-heat the pipe--that's the trick.

The pouch note has plenty of cocoa aromas, whether artificial or not I cannot say. To be honest it reminds me of space food sticks. It doesn't translate to the actual smoke tho. What comes thru on the light is some sort of berry flavouring. I suspect this is something similar to what has been added to its rivals SWR and CH. It is pleasant, probably enough for it to be considered a semi aromatic in my book. It has more of it than either of those competitors however and is considerably sweeter.

Other than the cocoa pouch note there isn't a lot of tobacco aroma to be had, altho I daresay this is not the case for the room note. The neutral burley is there only really for body, smoke and nicotine.

It is what it is. An everyday, pleasant, easy burning tobacco that is neither challenging nor disappointing. If it has a significant downside it is the humectants, which I find tend to coat my mouth. Not a deal breaker, but if you are after pure or close to unadulterated baccy, might be best to look elsewhere.

For me, somewhere between 2 and 3 stars. I doubt I'd buy it ahead of SWR or CH.

This was my very very first tobacco to try pipe smoking with last month. I thought it tasted and smelled like...cigarettes to be honest. The pouch smells better - slightly chocolatey and nutty. I felt it was slightly harsh and slightly bitter. I have tried 2 more bowls since, and it may have improved a smidgen, but I'll come back to this one when I've sampled more tobacco and perhaps l can appreciate this one more.

--UPDATE-- have since smoked quite a bit of blends in albeit a short amount of time. This morning in an Eaton cob, for the first time again, enjoyed this blend and moved it up a notch. I can see how this is enjoyed at all times any day. It is a smokier smoke, but def has a slight sweetness to it like cocoa. Goes well in the morning with coffee. Will be coming back to it again in a few months!

Nothing fancy here. Just burley burley and more burley. Pouch aroma is reminiscent of chewing tobacco that is typical to this genre. Packs and lights well. Smokes with no bite. Nutty tobacco is the what I get. I struggle to find the sweetness here that others do. I have nothing negative to say about this tobacco, but there is nothing remotely memorable here to me either. Taste is an opinionated thing and you might just enjoy the heck out of this, but for me there are better inexpensive burley options out there. For the price it's worth a shot just to see for yourself.

I have to admit this is not really bad. I had tried this in the past and really did not care for it, in fact I was opposed to it being allowed into the hall of fame. Recently I decided to give it another shot.

This time around I found the tobacco to be much better, but I did buy the 14oz tub as I've heard they are somehow better. I also have a few thousand bowls of many other blends under my belt since I last tried PA. Don't get me wrong PA will never replace my GL Pease tins for the most part but it will do fine as a fill in blend for a workday smoke. Or when I want something simple

I find the tin aroma to be of apples and maybe a hint of chocolate.

The tobacco itself is not particularly high quality but I have honestly smoked worse that cost quite a bit more.

As far as the smoking goes it was pretty smooth and a bit buttery/creamy tasting. I think this is great with a cup of coffee. As long as you don't rush it there is no bite, although there is a hint of bitterness through the second half of a bowl.

One major point, I can't say there is no PG in this but it is fairly dry in the tub and leaves the pipe dry and burns all the way to the bottom leaving the pipe clean. So if it contains PG, it is very minimal.

I won't be smoking this exclusively by any means but it is nice to have some on hand. Considering I paid less than $14 for a tub I would consider it a good value.

I do regret any negative statements I may have made about PA prior to now. However I do agree with others that you can get a better or worse batch of this. Overall it is smokable, affordable, and obtainable. Therefore I will assign it three stars. It is one of the very few burley blends I can tollerate.

With the way our economy is these days it's nice to know something decent is out there for an affordable price.

Update: Two stars, I can smoke it but it does grow boring rather quickly. It does hit the spot once and a while but I'm neutral on this one. I think it leaves it's character in the pipe a bit too strongly for me. Considering the price, it's not the worst out there.

I have smoked this blend on and off for years now. I've heard others speak of how there are good and not-so-good issue years for it, but I've always found it to be consistent. There is nothing fancy about this classic 'drug store' blend, instead one gets an honest burley smoke. It burns without trouble and leaves very little residue in the bowl. For me, the mild nutty flavor tends to build in intensity from start to finish. I've often wondered if the blender might be using some economy wine for caseing because I taste a port-like influence to the flavor on occasion. There is nothing spectacular to this smoke - but it is at once familiar and comforting. It's not unusual for others around me to recognize the fragrance when I'm smoking it - very often they will associate it with 'ol grandad, who must have burned it without pause or change. It is to be found almost everywhere tobacco is sold, so it is never hard to find or costly to obtain. This blend taught me to smoke a pipe slowly for full flavor and to avoid incinerating my mouth. I don't usually cellar this blend because I have no difficulty finding it whenever I get a yen for it.

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