Admiral's Choice Vanilla Cavendish

(Before I begin, bare in mind that we're talking about cheapo drug store tobacco, so the caveat that will be running through this review is that all my descriptive words are relative. It wouldn't be fair to compare this directly with expensive tobacconist brands...)

I've been relying on Captain Black White as my cheap everyday staple for a few months, now, and never thought I'd complain. The Captain was good to me - cheap and pleasant. What more could a starving college kid ask for?

Apparently, this.

The Captain is certainly outranked by the Admiral. This stuff is CHEAP at about $4.50 for an 8 oz. can at my drug store. On top of that, it's good. Extremely similar but a bit better, I dare say, than Captain Black White.

It starts out with a rich nutty flavor, sort of like a hazlenut cup of coffee, but the tobacco doesn't get lost in the mix. It smooths out into a straighter vanilla flavor, then returns to the hazlenut flavor with an increasingly intense tobacco flavor until you finish the bowl. At times it's sort of fruity.

If it's windy out this stuff will burn rather quickly, but it burns easily and evenly. The smoke is thinner than I'd like but still thicker than Captain Black.

In short, this is my new staple tobak. I'd like to experiment blending this with something a bit thicker to strengthen the experience, but for day-to-day use on a micro budget, I couldn't ask for more.

Excellent vanilla aromatic, decent tobacco flavor, lights and smokes well. I think the AC brand has come a long way in the last few years. This is good tobacco, not the best but just fine, and very smokeable. The vanilla topping was really well done. And I'm not an aro guy. Not so sold on other AC blends, but the Vanilla Cav is a winner. I did not have a dottle problem but if it smokes a bit wet, try it in a cob.

I buy it on sale, like 9.99 for a half pound. At that price, 4 stars.

This used to be the CVS otc house brand. Since CVS no longer sells any tobacco products this only available online now. This has been my go to aromatic for a long time, it's a great mild vanilla for around the house, garage, yard, ect. As far as otc aromatics go this is the best for the money.

I found this a really pleasant, relaxing middle of the day smoke. It's on the moist side in the freshly opened bag, so a bit of drying probably won't hurt. I smoked a bowl immediately upon opening the P&C delivery box, and found this Vanilla Cavendish surprisingly smooth and pleasant without any drying. As a prior review noted, there's no bite. I find that many aromatics leave an unpleasant aftertaste, and therefore tend to favor non-aros and English blends. This however, was surprisingly comfortable. For a frequent smoker of English blends, this tobacco made of an enjoyable change of pace.

Love it! Browsing my local tobacco store, I noticed an old map on a package, and, as a collector of old maps, I immediately picked it up. Bit of an odd start, but I bought it for very cheap, resisting the urge to smell the pleasant vanilla aroma issuing from the bag all the way home. Lit up a good cob full one I reached the safety of my abode, and was instantly impressed. The sweet, almost buttery undertone of my pipe and the strong, vanilla flavor made for a very good taste, and I ended up smoking three small bowls over the course of the day. Delicious, smooth, and cheap. Highly recommended, especially with a good corncob.

I really like this blend for the money. I don't find it as goopy as the Super Value brand and better than Smoker's Pride. It's a great all day smoke. Smoke it slow and it's very enjoyable. Doesn't require constant re-lights.

I can't tell you how impressed I am with this blend. It's hard for me to believe how inexpensive it is ($6.50 for half a pound at my local CVS pharmacy). This is definitely one of the nicer aromatic flavors I've ever tasted. The smell is amazing, and every time I smoke it I can't stop my girlfriend from kissing me. The first time she smelled it she even wanted to try a puff, and she hates smoking. Thanks to the Admiral, now-a-days she encourages it!! The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it's WAY too moist. If you try to smoke it straight from the bag without drying it, you'll just get a gurgly, goopy mess and miss out on a wonderful smoking experience. Some of you experts may frown on my method of drying it out, but it works great for me. I pour the whole bag onto a deep baking sheet and set it in the oven with just the pilot light on. I come back to stir it when I think of it, probably every hour or so. It's just right after six to eight hours, but my oven stays fairly warm with just the pilot. One night I even fell asleep and it stayed in the oven until morning!! Didn't hurt it a bit. The exquisitely sweet, smooth flavor combined with the unheard of price make this a four star blend in my book. And my girl's kisses aren't bad either. Four stars for her too!! 😉

To start out, let me state, that I enjoy world class high end pipe tobacco as well as anyone else on this site.{Any thing blended by the St. Louis tobacconist John Dengler would be at the top of my list}. But alas I must admit to being a man of shall we say, not unlimited means. That is to say, that I am not wealthy, although I do feel so at times when I am sitting next to the lake with my fine Ben Wade filled with an excellent High end tobacco Like Dengler's 1917 blend. But I cannot always afford it and I have to commute to another city and state to get it. So being a person of limmited means, there are times when the fine 1917 runs out and I, as many others of us, must resort to going "over the counter" at the local drug store. Now there are many a over the counter blend that I have tried, and not many deserve a retry. At the top of my over the counter list would have to be dream castle. Of their products, the two blends that I find myself returning to are "Black and Gold", &"vanilla cavendish". With the vanilla' what I like to do is open the tin and put the contents into one of my wood top humidors and leave it there for aboult a month to let it dry. I do this because this tobacco as is many other the counter blends is over flavored, and overly moist. After this I find that I have a nice flavor with a nice room note that my wife( as she has just informed me as I write this), is veary pleasant and enjoyable. The tobacco is not hard to pack or to light. This tobacco is an excellent fill in between high end purchases, and is great for those on a budget. In comparison with other over the counter blends I would rate this blend with four stars, better by far than most others. As far as being compared with, say,,, john Dengler, Dunhill, Or Mcclelland (in that precise order). Well.... Ha! Ha! we all know where that goes!!!! God Bless you all, and Happy smoking!!!