Just For Him Shortcut To Mushrooms

A true 4 star blend should be a rare thing. I don't think this is one of them.

Let me temper the rave reviews that have come before this one. . .

This is a smokeshop mixture and seems to use the usual humectant-soaked blending tobaccos (McCleland? Lane maybe?). It's an outstanding blend, so good it nearly transcends it's B-grade ingredients. It seems to be a Latakia/Cavendish mix. Which means it's smokey and earthy and (not overly) sweet.

This is worth a try for anyone. Pay the $10, get the whole Middle Earth sampler. Even if you don't love any of the blends, it's a pleasure working your way through them.

For me, I was never able to lose the feeling that I wasn't smoking really quality leaf. And that's a shame, because I like this stuff. I wish there was a version out there by a blender that had access to better ingredients.

Smoking Just For Him Shortcut To Mushrooms is like eating fresh picked mushrooms right out of oven. Somewhat Recommended to the lovers of Aromatics and Highly Recommended to the hobbits of Middle Earth.

Has a strong aroma out of the package. Kinda smells like a cigar. I consider frog Mortans cellar the worst smelling tobacco I have smoked thus far. I prefer aromatics. This is border line a cross between an English and an aromatic. It burns well out the package. No drying required. Aroma out the packe is not my favorite but not the worst. Just a normal average blend for me.

This is a difficult review and my impressions are based on only one bowl, smoked in two sittings. But my impression is so strong, that I decided to go ahead and post it. TASTE: This tastes like nothing I've ever smoked. As other have said this is NOT an Engllish. it IS an aromatic with Latakia. It is mild, but rich, with a mix of earthy mushroom flavor mixed with a caramel-toasted marsh-mellow taste, that manages to not be cloyingly sweet. It is interesting, compelling, different and leaves you wanting more. I really like it. BODY: It has a heavy creamy, oily smoke in the mouth. The BURN: Here is where I have a problem. The first bowl lit easily, required only a couple of relights, and burned cool. THEN I LEFT HALF A BOWL IN THE PIPE OVER NIGHT. After half a bowl sat in the pipe over night IT WOULD NOT BURN. The previous session was a delight. Relighting this second half was nothing but frustration! I finally gave up. The WORST PART is that this COMPLETELY gummed up one of my favorite pipes and it is now severely ghosted. This is really frustrating because I really do like the flavor of this tobacco. It is really unique. RECOMMENDATION: 1) Dry it out a bit, first. 2) Use a cob, or a pipe that you do not intend to smoke anything else in. 3) Make sure you smoke the WHOLE BOWL, because left in the pipe, it becomes a gooey mess that WILL NOT BURN!

Ahh, Shortcut to Mushrooms, the better of the bunch.

A very cool, earthy and sometimes sweet smoke.

Very good on a late summer's evening.

There isn't much to add to the other reviews, this is good stuff.

Had high hopes for this blend but it just doesn't do it for me. It taste like a very "young" tobacco as if it was blended the day I purchased it. The flavors are not well melded and at times the smoke can be harsh, just not a very good balance going on here. It just taste to me like the blender put together a mix of vanilla black Cavendish and Latakia and viola sold it as a Middle Earth blend. Not impressed in the least. I give it two stars because I think it would make a great blend for beginners looking to transition their way into Latakia blends.

I have been looking for a rotation partner with similar characteristics to pair with Sillem's Black, a sweet-cased Latakia/Black Cavendish which happens to be one of my favorites. Well, Shortcut To Mushrooms comes close, but decidedly in second place. Let me clarify the "mushroom" debate before delving into my review. I spoke with a very nice woman by the name of Chelsea at Just For Him and asked if STM was indeed blended with mushrooms. She checked for me and said that mushrooms are not used at all. They blend the tobacco components with vanillas. I am sure that the creaminess of Latakia cased with the creaminess of vanilla is what accounts for the unique flavor.

Now for the review. The blend is predominantly a coarse cut black cavendish with a dominant bag aroma of Vanilla-laced Latakia. It was very fresh and only minimally sticky, but this did not interfere with the packing or smoking at all. It lit with ease and smoked cool and dry to the bottom. Re-lights were infrequent. The amount of sweetly cased Latakia for me was sweeter in taste to that of Sillem's Black. The Black is cased with plum and vanilla. STM has a more definitive vanilla pouch aroma which translates as a very nice sweetness to the smoke; not cloying, but definitely sweeter than Sillem's Black. There may be some Kentucky in this as there was a spiciness I wouldn't necessarily say was from the Latakia. A bit heavier on the Latakia compared to Sillem's Black, and for me personally, it becomes tiring. Also, there was an ever present taste of PG that is not present in Sillem's Black. This PG taste, for me, detracts from having a totally positive smoking experience, and has remained present even after sufficient drying. This and its price are two major drawbacks. Lastly, STM has a tendency to nip at the tongue as does SB (I always experience this in blends with sufficient amounts of Latakia). Although I prefer Sillem's Black as a better produced crossover blend, STM may very well satisfy the aromatic and Latakia fans both. Overall, a very so-so blend and typical of a cheap tobacconist house blend that just doesn't do it for me. 2 stars and no more.

Rather than write a completely new review, I am re-posting my comments about this tobacco from my blog (see my profile).

"I've now tried Ruins of Isengard and Shortcut to Mushrooms from Just For Him. Service was very fast. Both tobaccos were incredibly fresh, as if mixed the day I ordered them. My initial impressions -- easy to light, lots of smoke, but not much flavor. I'll try them again.

Update: I dried out Shortcut to Mushrooms for several hours, put it away for a few days and tried again. I sipped it slowly, trying to taste the delicate flavors which eluded me last time. Again, the tobacco put out a lot of heavy, beautiful smoke -- almost like a 'stage' tobacco. The flavor was just a light sweetness mixed with the non-flavor of propylene glycol. Shortcut to Mushrooms and Ruins of Isengard are the wettest tobaccos I have ever tried, probably due to the newness or freshness of the blend. A shiny wetness forms around the rim of my pipes when I smoke them, and my clear corncob stem shows drops of clear liquid inside. Just as I did with the first two bowls, I tamped this one out early. The extinguished bowl smelled faintly of Hunt's Snack Pack pudding. Shortcut to Mushrooms is to pipe tobacco what Johnson and Johnson's No More Tears is to shampoo."

Update2: I let this stuff sit awhile. I wanted to pose and smoke my churchwarden in public, so I took this with me. It gave off an impressive smoke from start to finish. The mild sweet taste came through and was enjoyable. The tobacco was a little harsh at the back of my throat, perhaps due to lower-grade leaf or additives. The smoke is a fine, showy, billowy mist. I still cannot recommend Shortcut to Mushrooms, but I can somewhat recommend it for someone who likes very mild sweet aromatics and wants to look like Gandalf in public.

If you are looking for a nice mild aromatic that won't clog up your pipe and yet has a fairly decent taste, this one should fit the bill. The room note passed the Significant Other test with flying colors. To my taste, this isn't an everyday tobacco, more like a every couple of weeks or more weed. It is a simple, undemanding blend that I tired of before finishing a 2 oz. sampler. Its redeeming features are that it doesn't bite and burns well after just the slightest drying time. I may try it again but right now, I don't think I will.