Just For Him Old Toby

Not a huge VA-Per guy, but they have been growing on me as I continue developing my palate. This one however, left me wanting. This is Old Toby for Gods' sake! A blend inspired by he the most venerable of Hobbits and supposedly one of the most popular blends in The Shire.

The Bowl: It burnt well and dry with little bite, but that's all the praise I can really give it. The toppings came across as muddled to me and amounted to little beyond mildly sweet vanilla. I also had an off note to mine that I have seen others mention in their reviews. An almost moldering tinge.

I will be reordering 'Shortcut To Mushrooms' from JustForHim.com (because it's great) and I may grab another Oz of this while at it, just to see if I got a bad batch. I really do want it to be great. If not, there are other 'Old Toby' blends waiting to be smoked.

There seems to be lots of excitement about this series, and I was not immune to its charms myself. I bought this very early into my pipe smoking career, and used this blend to first explore the vaunted world of Perique. Unfortunately, it nearly put me off that Prince of leaf.

This blend was dank, muddy, and dark. Bitter and earthy, like a decayed log. Cased, low quality leaf. I've had worse, and there's nothing wrong with this blend as a concept, but the execution is lacking. Look elsewhere.

I must agree with the majority on this blend. Having tried several other blends in the Middle Earth Series and rated them highly, I am disappointed totally with this one. Just does nothing for me, the only saving grace is that there seems to be a decent amount of Vitamin N here. Thankfully I only purchased a 2 ounce sample. Unfortunately, this may very well get to Sir Dumpster's lair as is, unsmoked.

My first batch of this stuff was wonderful. I couldn't get enough of it. It smoked very well with no tongue bite or dottle. My second batch was labeled Old Toby, but the cut wasn't the same and neither was the taste. It was very bitter and bit back like a rabid dog. I think that they made a mistake or was trying to fool me with something else, because that was nothing like the first batch. I let it be for a couple of months and it became tolerable, but was still a bit rank. I'm going to try one more batch, but if it comes out like this one, then I'll have to bury Old Toby in the back yard next to Old Yeller. Unfortunately not the same stuff. I do not recommend asking for this tobacco.

This was a very unpleasant smoking experience. It doesn't particularly taste good an starts to bite about 1/4 into the bowl. If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be "nasty".

If the last few puffs in the bottom of the bowl were the taste of the rest of my test smoke then I would say this was a tolerable tobacco but for almost all of my smoke I was...well...bored. I detected a little of the bland black cavendish flavor in here and that might be the burley, but for the most part this was flavorless. I never got the perique at all and never got the natural sweetness of the virginias. It was just...smoke. It did burn well all the way down on one light and left just a white ash. While I really like the JFH folks, I just can't recommend this to anyone. I will mix it with something else most likely.

Nothing good to day about this blend. It tastes horrible and bites. I dumped the pipe at mid bowl it was so bad.

Well, a little weak for me, but great to have around to mix with those that are too strong. It burns a little wet and just can't stay lit near the bottom. Maybe this one needs to be packed lighter. Not likely to order more of this though.

My well-meaning bride of 7 years (Good heavens, SEVEN years already???) bought me this stuff. She knows I'm a Tolkien enthusiast, and... Well, she was hoping Old Toby would hit the spot.

Sad to say, I don't like it, really. I wouldn't smoke it again. It's really not altogether different than prince Albert, or Captain Black. There's nothing noteworthy about this blend, and considering the price she paid for it, it was... Really not worth it.

God bless her, and her sweet heart, but this stuff isn't any good. (Of course I told her I liked it, but I also told her I wouldn't buy it.)

Fair winds,

DJM