Smoker's Pride Vanilla Cavendish

I love vanilla blends and I've wanted to try this one out for a while, just to see mainly what the fuss was about.

As to the fuss, I still don't know. It doesn't smell like vanilla that much, and any smell you get is very, very chemical. Tastes boring, very one dimensional.

Though not terrible, there are much better vanilla mixtures out there, as I'm sure almost everyone is aware. But still, let it be said.

I think I'll stick to Mac Baren's Vanilla Cream for my vanilla fix.

Commonly referred to as a drugstore blend because of it's cheap price Smokers Pride Vanilla Cavendish is ok as an aro but not great. If you're nearly broke then go for it, otherwise look for a different brand if you can. There are other cheap brands that are better. If you want to try it then buy a pouch, not a 12 oz bag. Like many aromatics it does not cellar all that well beyond one year.

I won't rave of this blend, but I can't really knock it either...For a drugstore blend, I've defenately smoked worse and while it's cheap and a bit moist it packs well and takes a light with no fuss compared to the stuff that has no flavor and bites like a crazy black cat. Best of all it It burns cool, and no bite! It seems to be made up of mostly black cavendish and a lighter tobacco. I go back and forth between this and the Smoker's Pride straight Black Cavendish which I picked up at the same time. Now after both of those, I would even try the Cherry blend they have. The Black Cavendish has a bit stronger flavor, but this vanilla is a dryer, softer smoke. The vanilla comes through and it ends up tasting like is smells (kind of a rasin like/vanilla) with the usual sweet room note. Again, might not be the best out there but it's not too bad either...you'll be impressed if you take it for what it is. I think it's better than the usual cheap stuff, or even Captain Black. The only thing I've noticed is it leaves a bit of an aftertaste. I guess it's ok, but I wouldn't get it again.

My brother smokes this stuff by the bagful. He gave me about half a pound for Christmas (I gave him half a pound of Gawith and Hoggarth's Bob's Chocolate Flake. Who do YOU think came out on top?!)

It reminded me of Captain Black White. The strong black cavendish was rough on my throat. And it made the rim of my pipe bowl shiny and sticky with sugar and goo. It's rougher than Captain Black.

I wanted to like this, because I have so much of it. But, alas, I don't. I'll stick it away in a closet for emergencies, but I won't buy any more.

Bugenhagen

For me, this blend is the pipe tobacco equivalent of a hostess snack cake ..total "junk food", but sometimes really hits the spot.

Lighting this stuff up, I am greeted by a wave of fresh vanilla with some surprisingly nice tobacco flavor in the background. This is not a gourmet vanilla, per se (looking at you Mac Baren) but more of a straight-ahead, grocery store vanilla extract type of vanilla.

For me, any really desirable flavor typically dissipates in the last quarter of the bowl. The remaining bits at the end are goopy, but not offensively so.

A great smoke for when you don't want to think too much, are concerned about the 'room note', etc. ...not gourmet pipe tobacco, but it's not pretending to be.

You could buy 12oz of tobacco you don't want to smoke or like 6-8 of tobacco you do. I'd pick the former, this is the latter . Everything about it is horrible, it smells chemically and not very vanilla, the cut is very weird and there are lots of larger pieces of unbroken leaf, it is a pain to pack, a pain to light, and indeed painful to smoke as well. Save your money and find something good in the bulks section, 1q, PS luxury twist flake,

I'm going to go with a similar opinion of most of the reviewers here and not come right out of the gate and start bashing Smoker's Pride/Lane for this product. Buying 12 ounces of tobacco for under $14.00 (Ohio price) should really clue you in on the quality of what you are buying. Taking that into consideration, anyone who is surprised by the fact that this isn't a gold metal winning tobacco needs a reality check. It's the "bulkiest" of bulk tobaccos you can buy and must have one hell of a following because they are making this stuff by the truck loads.

Personally I picked up a big bag of SPVC because I see it all the time at the tobacco shop and have always wondered how it was. So a few weeks ago while I was in picking up a can of Price Albert I asked for a bag of the Vanilla. I wasn't expecting anything incredible or complex that would cause me to sit and analyse the experience for hours. I got exactly what I paid for...

Tin/Bag Note... When I opened the bag I fully expected that the vanilla would knock my socks off. I was actually a little surprised that it wasn't as strong as I expected. It might be the topping they use or the propylene glycol used as a preservative/moisturizer but there is a distinct alcohol smell in addition to the vanilla. In the bag this smells more like a vanilla liqueur than a true "vanilla" flavored tobacco.

Loading/Lighting... Packing and lighting this is just fine. Most of the Lane products I've used over the years are all pretty consistent in this department. I like to call them pipe training tobaccos. Easy to pack/light/smoke without much worry about tongue bite. The moisture level was pretty good right out of the bag as well... again probably the PG in there keeping it good for years on a store shelf.

Smoking/Flavor... Once lit you shouldn't have any problems with keeping this stuff burning. Giving it a little extra time to dry before lighting will only help in this department and you don't need to pay careful attention to this tobacco in order to keep smoking. I put this pipe down more than a few times and came back to it several minutes later to find I was able to stoke it up again without much effort. Where this tobacco really falls short is in the flavor department.

I was really expecting this stuff to be almost overpowering vanilla... It's not... You get some vanilla flavor with your first light and not long after that it becomes a bland and completely unremarkable smoke. Honestly I was expecting to get sick of the flavor of vanilla but I actually got the opposite from this. It doesn't really even have the flavor of tobacco... It's more of a smoky, bland "paper fire" kind of taste with the slightest "hint" of vanilla in there every so often to remind you that you are smoking a flavored tobacco. I didn't even get much Cavendish flavor or a general sweetness... Honestly this was the soul reason for my giving this tobacco a lower rating.

I've seen some reviewers comment that this is actually better than Captain Black - White... I have to disagree with that statement. With CBW you can at least get a slight tobacco flavor once you get past the topping but here you get almost nothing.

I have smoked a few ounces of this over the course of a few weeks now and I will probably take what is left and cellar it for a while to see if it helps the vanilla flavor set into the tobacco better. Maybe after a few months in a jar it will balance itself out and I will have a better result. Until then I would recommend most people going with Captain Black (White or Royal) to get their vanilla cravings satisfied.

It tastes better than Captain Black and it is cheaper. If you are desperate for a vanilla blend, this is the stuff for you.

I enjoyed the Smokers Pride black cavendish so purchased some of the vanilla. Lemme tell you, this is terrible stuff. Not QUITE as bad as the cherry but almost. On the upside, it is pretty dry and lights/stays lit quite well. That and the price are this tobaccos only redeeming qualities. Harsh tasting, tongue biting, and stinky. In the bag it smells "ok" but while burning I can only compare it to the smell of burning grass (lawn not pot). I tried blending this with some other tobaccos and still not worth smoking. The rest of this went on the plants outside to kill bugs, hopefully it does this well. Not recommended at all.