John Middleton, Inc Prince Albert

I hate to insult the OTC lovers here, but this is not your Grand Father's PA. Just as the ingredients in cigarettes have changed dramatically over the years in favor of sheet tobacco and chemicals, I fear similar tampering with the PA formula. This is nasty tobacco. Little flavor, full of PG, and drying/aging makes it worse, not better. After a few months jarring it smelled like a cigarette ashtray. Flat, nasty.

If Burley is what you're after, there are much better choices made with real, unadulterated tobacco.

Update June 2014: I left the house on some errands with a couple of cobs, but forgot the tobacco. In a panic, I pulled into a gas station that offered a choice of RYO "pipe tobacco" or Prince Albert. I bought the Prince. Same lovely pouch note: so much promise. Delicate cocoa flavors caused me to doubt my long-held destain for the Prince. Then I smoked a bowl....

The charring light was quite good. Then the flavoring agent burned off to reveal the same ashiness, harsh chemical flavors, and hot burn. My opinion remains unchanged.

Well, laddies, when I was home in the States recently, on the strength of 1. old memories from rolling my own back in the 1980s, and 2. some recommendations here, I brought back (count 'em) TWO HUGE plastic tubs of PA. Eagerly, I went out on the back deck with one of my nice calabashes (a huge 1950s Kaywoodie) and lit up. UGH. I couldn't believe my tastebuds. Awful! But, full-of-faith, I put it off to having had Chinese with a heavy load of garlic. I'd try again later. WORSE! (The garlic had actually helped!) I've managed to give away one "tin" - and will play around with cutting some other blends with a bit of it, but without high hopes. Alas... a severe blow has been dealth to my nostalgia genes. And, I'll not mention here my impressions of the other old standby I returned with, CARTER HALL. Dang. LongJnSilver - London -

Ah, the ole Prince. Prince Albert holds a special nostalgia for me, since it was the first pipe tobacco I ever tried (save for a brief trial with some cherry stuff as a teenager....but that doesn't really count).

Simple? If you take it at face value, yeah. You can mindlessly puff PA, and just get that mild straight tobacco taste. If you pay attention, though, there really is a lot going on flavor wise. There's the nutty burley flavor. There's the sort of raisin-y pouch note that carries over to the smoke. There's an almost chocolate-esque flavor to the finish. There's some sweetness in there. And I get something else, too - a soft creamy flavor, sort of a butter-vanilla-butterscotch, but not really close enough to any of those to say "that's what it tastes like"....it's a very pleasant flavor, I assume must be from the topping. Perhaps I'm over analyzing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with just puffing away on PA and not picking apart the minutia of flavorings - that's the way I smoke it most of the time. But I figured the prince deserved a bit more than that in my review

If a newbie ever asks for a pipe baccy recommendation, PA is the first one I mention. It's the easiest to smoke blend I've found. It's never too moist, it's so easy to pack, and it takes a flame effortlessly. There aren't many blends that I could confidently claim to be able to finish a bowl with a single paper match, but I definitely could with PA, straight out of the pouch or tub.

Which brings up another point - pouch vs tub. Yes, they are the exact same blend. And there's nothing inherently wrong with PA in a pouch. But I've found the quality of the pouches to be a bit inconsistent. Sometimes you get one that tastes just like the stuff from a tub...but sometimes it's a little drier, and sometimes the flavor is a little muted. I assume this is due to the packaging not being able to keep it as fresh as long. It's not a huge difference, honestly...and I wouldn't recommend anyone buy a 14 ounce tub as their first trial run with any tobacco. But if you smoke PA regularly and usually buy pouches, you'd definitely be well served to buy yourself a tub next time.

Great tobacco, a staple in my cellar. Nothing pairs better with my morning coffee. Highly recommended!

(originally reviewed 9/9/2012)

At the time that I tried this I was bit skeptical since most of the inexpensive readily available tobaccos I've found had lived up to their price point. This one was billed as a good classic mainstay and so I was intrigued.

Upon opening the very tiny (and kind of a pain to use) pouch I was happy to find the leaves felt fresh with some moisture and springiness. Packed and burned well and would be a great first time tobacco to try.

The flavor was full, but not overwhelming. It was rich for what it was. Many of the more expensive brands I now use have a fuller complexity, but Prince Albert does fill a good niche.

Does a great job for the cost.

Sometimes you don't always want that top end espresso and just want a cup of joe from the diner. Enter Prince Albert.

Prince Albert is an old standard Burley-based pipe tobacco. My Dad's favorite pipe tobacco was Sir Walter Raleigh but if he couldn't find it, he would smoke Prince Albert. The appearance is a consistent reddish-brown fine ribbon cut; it is fine enough to roll into cigarettes. Because of its fine cut, it packs into a pipe and is lit easily. The flavor of the tobacco is of typical, unadorned Burley: a bold, nutty and somewhat cocoa taste. It tastes the same throughout the bowl and finishes dry and tasty. The smoke is of medium intensity; you don't have to puff hard to be satisfied. The nicotine strength is mild/medium. This is a simple tasting tobacco, not complex. It is of moderate richness but not sweet at all. I smoked it in a Missouri Meerschaum General, a tall stacked bowl.

PA is the tobacco I started with many years ago. I've only recently gotten off my high horse and returned to it. Always pleasant and unchanging. A good Burley with no bite. Benefits somewhat from cellaring for a year but pleasant enough right from the store. The room note is nothing to write home about but is not unpleasant. Smokers new to it should try it in a cob first.

With age comes wisdom. I just discovered PA a couple of years ago and I wish I had sooner. It's a simple burley that is truly as reliable as a friend. The cost doesn't hurt the wallet.

For me it's premium smoke at a working man's price. Love it

I wanted to give the Prince every chance of success, so I ordered a fresh can from JR since everyone says the tin is superior to the pouch. It smells, tastes, and burns like cigarette tobacco, because that's what it is. The bottom of the bowl tastes like an ashtray. If you like the idea of smoking a cigarette in your pipe, this is for you. If you are looking for a mild, easy to light, pleasant, economical burley blend, Lane's BLWAB is vastly superior to the Prince.

Starts good, ends bad.

Has a nice, straight forward taste at first. Stays lit well.

Becomes sour, tarry and harsh very quickly.