J. F. Germain & Son Uncle Tom's Mixture

Weird and unique blend. Stringy ribbon - almost a shag - of mostly light to tan but with a few strands of black, which I assume is the Cavendish. Oddly, many of the black pieces were of a harder consistency. The tin aroma was just bizarre for a pipe tobacco... very earthy and almost peaty. Smelled like newly mown hay that had contracted mold somehow.

This is listed here as "Cavendish based" but the Cavendish seems more of a condiment. A light sweetener, pretty much just sugar with no added flavors. Imagine Odgen's Gold Block with a touch of black Cavendish that had been excessively moistened and then hurriedly dried. Yet, this tastes better than I'm making it sound. Somehow it just works in the pipe. It's not a world-beater but it's interesting. It's a mellow smoke, with just the right proportions of earthiness and sweetness... unless you prefer more sweetness in your bowl. This is more balanced. Smells funny, tastes on the odd side, but it works. The original blender must have had a stroke of creativity with this one - nothing like it that I've ever tried.

J.F Germain Uncle Tom's Mixture.

The unlit mixture has a very raw and "earthy" natural tobacco smell, where the Virginia dominates the blends aroma. It is mainly a medium brown Virginia colour with a smaller amount of darker Cav specks in there. Moistness is great: not damp or dry, a superb amount.

This one takes to lighting up with amazing ease, and when lit it leaves behind a very white ash. The burn is really even, it doesn't need a re-light unless left to long without any attention. The flavour of the smoke now: like the unlit mix, it is prominently a Virginia one. To be fair you do also get a small amount of a "basic" Burley cigarette type quality with a very slight addition of black Cavendish sweetness. Tongue bite does not occur throughout the entire bowl , but we all vary for that!

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Three stars.

Good old Uncle Tom! Processed in the delightfully unique way that Germain has of combining leaf, this is a light naturally aromatic blend with a casing that I can't put my finger on. It is way off in the background to expose the old world flavor of the Virginia. Crackin' good!

Pipestud

Mild, middle of the road, relaxing, yes. The reviews were so mixed I didn't really know what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised. It is true nothing really jumps out at you. On opening the whiffs were sweet and more peaty, mossy, than anything else I noticed. I don't know how old the tin was but the moisture was about right. It lit right up and took one re-light. Seemed like it might bite but didn't. Go slow. Room note was unobtrusive, very "old-fashioned" whatever that means.

The fairly grassy, citrusy Virginias have light dark fruit and a little earthiness as they form the base of the blend. The nutty, earthy, woody, toasty dry, cavendish style burley is a secondary player. The unsweetened black cavendish provide some sugar as a condiment. There is a topping that I can’t quite define, but it reminds me of caramel, and a touch of something else with an alcohol note. Whatever it is, it adds a slight creaminess, but the touch of alcohol is distracting. The toppings mildly tone down the tobaccos. The strength is mild, while the taste level is a step or so past that level. Won’t bite or get harsh, and sports a hint of a roughage at times. Burns slightly fast and cool with a very consistent floor from top to bottom. Leaves hardly any dampness in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a short lived after taste with a sour note. An all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

This tobacco isn't going to blow anyone's socks off. That said, it is a very enjoyable smoke, and quality is really high.

Opening the tin, I am presented with a little brick of tobacco wrapped in some kind of silver-lined plastic, and the silver is peeling off and sticking to some of the tobacco. Not acceptable, and coupled with the stupid square tin, it's almost enough to put a guy onto some other brand. Aroma is Virginia and stewed prunes, not unlike Peterson Sherlock Holmes or even Dunhill Elizabethan.

A mixture of ribbons, leaf bits, and some stems, this stuff packs easy and lit up pretty well. I wonder if the tin was a bit old, because it was not very moist at all.

Smoke is voluminous and pleasant... not a particularly hot burning blend. The pruney smell comes through, and I am reminded of the plummy notes in Presbyterian. In fact, add some orientals and maybe a bit of latakia, and you've got Presby.

Lacking the ashy harshness that Elizabethan gives me, this is a nice mild smoke. Not completely monotone, but not particularly complex. A good choice for one moving from aromatics to English or Virginia blends.

Odd to find so many negative reviews of this. I happen to like the Germain tobaccos. I love Plum Cake, but this is second. Its an old time kind of english taste. And without latakia, those old english blends have gone out of fashion a bit. Which is too bad. Smoke it slow. Its basically a medium Virginia with light casing done and with pressed cavendish. Deceptively good stuff.

Very strange tin aroma for a tobacco. It smells exactly like dried fruit, black raisins and prunes. Not very exciting, but however welcome a nice tin aroma is, we buy the tobacco for smoking primarily….

It comes packed in a loose cake which consists of long thin ribbons of mainly bright leaf and some brown - almost shag cut – with a few pieces of black Cavendish. I think it needs some preparation first. One thing is to unfurl the ribbons to ease the draw when smoking. I spread them on a surface and untangled them from each other and let them dry for a few minutes. After this it’s ready to go.

Now, with the very first draw I sensed a very familiar taste! It soon dawned on me that it tastes eerily similar to Samuel Gawith’s Best Brown Flake. That yeasty, honeyed Virginia sweetness. As the bowl progresses the tobacco becomes more nutty and more natural tasting, good plain tobacco flavor. What I taste mainly is Virginias with a little added sweetness and fruit (prunes, figs, black raisins) with a touch of Burley.

There are differences with Best Brown Flake, Uncle Tom is a little sharper, a little lighter and it also has an extra sweet fruity nuance coming from the Black Cavendish. But imagine Best Brown Flake in an (almost) ready-to-smoke form, without all the drying and rubbing. For this reason only, Uncle Tom deserves a try.

This is one of the most exciting blends I’ve tried recently, and I am really surprised by the low scores from other reviewers. For me it is a tobacco that has everything to commend it: easy handling, superb burning qualities, mild to medium strength which allows you to smoke it all day, full and nuanced flavor and it’s also rather unusual.

I am enjoying my first ever smoke of this, in a meer, as I type. In the tin, it is medium cut, mainly mid-brown, some black (the Cavendish, no doubt). It is a mild, smooth, slightly earthy, pleasant if unexciting smoke.

This is a very mildly aromatic virginia based tobacco with a smidgen of black cavendish and a bit of burley from the description which went unnoticed. The tin aroma has a distinct fig-fruity aroma that seems to me to be the same or similiar to the manufacturer's blend Esotorica Dunbar. So, that blend has an aroma enhancement, not just from the fruity character of perique respective to it. The flavor is dominated by slightly sharp golden virginia flavors. Occasionally, there was an unusual flavor nuance(perfumed spice, slight bitterness) that I think is the black cavendish that reminded me also of the same manufacturer's blend Plumcake so, perhaps this element is the same in both. I wish this was a little milder on the palette but, I'm one of those sensitive to virginia bite. Overall, this is a very pleasant blend in character but not outstanding. Nevertheless, I'll finish the tin and perhaps order it again. It wouldn't be a bad idea to order this and add a bit of blending perique when Esotorica Dunbar and Dorchester are out of stock.