Ashton Guilty Pleasure

I have been working my way through some of the Ashton aromatic blends that I have overlooked and am glad I am doing so. I really like Guilty Pleasure. The Virginia/Burley components give me that true tobacco taste that I enjoy and the casing gave me sweetness without overwhelming the wagger. K&K bagged another trophy with this one. The leaf, by the way, burns mostly dry right down to the bottom of the bowl.

I had never tried this before, God knows why, but I finally picket up a tin at my local tobacconist's. I was not dissapointed. I like sweet aromatic tobaccos, and this is really my kind of tobacco. It is very similar, however, to W.O. Larsen's Simply Unique, which I always have load of at home, so it will probably take some time before I buy more. But I will definitely!

Tongue taste (the taste you feel on your tongue when you first get the smoke into your mouth): intensive but still softly sweet with tones of honey and sugar, with a slightly spicy undertone. Keeps the taste through the whole smoke (compared to Simply unique, which tends to loose its taste the last minutes).

Snork taste (the taste when you roll the smoke around in your mouth and out of your nostrils): mild, slightly sugary, almost like honey on toast.

All together: Takes a few puffs to develop its taste, but is sweet with slight spicy undertones. Just a perfect everyday blend for us who like aromatics.

EDIT about tongue burn: Interestingly enough, it seems like mainly americans get burned by this and other aromatics from European manufacturers. Could be due to smoking technique; like MacBarens, LArsens etc it has to be smoked slowly and peacefully, and it helps to pack a bit looser. Don't belch (and most of you who get burned DO belch, you are just not really aware of it).

I bought this for the tin only. Then I smoked it and was pleasantly surprised. I stopped smoking fruity cased tobaccos a few years ago, so I wasn't looking for this type of this tobacco. I must say that it is the first time a tin (containing and aromatic blend) perfectly describes the contents inside. Sweet fruit overwhelms the senses followed by a creamy vanilla type flavor and aroma. Furthermore it did one other unexpected thing; it did not goop up like other aromatics. It burned a solid white ash all the way through. I was rather surprised by this blend. It's nice on a hot day with lemonade but it can be too much sometimes. Most definitely recommend for the candy tobacco lover.

Ashton - Guilty Pleasure.

One of my retyped early reviews.

The aroma from this brings a candy factory factory to mind: fruity, sweet, decadent. Some of the ribbons are coarse, not 'chunky' but quite robust.

The smoke has a busy flavour. The aromatics all peek through, are all notable, but darn, it's a little crowded! The tobaccos give a taste where neither one's particularly conspicuous: hidden by the topping. It burns well distributing a cool smoke. But, it's a biter.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: false.

Willy Wonka should stick to making sweets 😉

Two stars.

Oh dear. Guilty Pleasure. I consider this the black sheep of the Ashton range.

The tin note is quite sweet and fruity, and the tobacco comes fairly moist, so it will need some drying.

Once you light it, it doesn't take long for the aromatic flavours to kick in. Now, in it's defence I will say, it doesn't taste overly chemical or artificial. However, in my eyes, the flavour of the topping could best be described as "sweet mess". I know it's a fruity aromatic, and it's supposed to be very sweet, but this feels like stuffing an entire handful of gummi bears into your mouth. Too many sweet flavours all at once, to the point where it feels like a bit of a sickly sweet mess. I also didn't get any vanilla.

I can't tell you much about the leaf used in this blend because well, I couldn't really taste much of it. The flavour's all topping with this blend.

It burned relatively clean for such a heavily topped blend and was kind enough not to gunk up my pipe. However, for some reason, despite drying it out to a good moisture, I had some real issues keeping the stuff lit. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that I might have packed it improperly.

It did leave some moisture and dottle, as you'd expect.

Under the bottom line, i'd say maaaaaybe you like this if you really just want some candy to smoke in your pipe, but even then, there's better options. Like Ashton's other aromatics, which are all better than this.

this is the first time i have tried this tobacco and i quite like ashton blends and i quite like this one.nice tin aroma and smokes well with a very nice room note, the tobacco burns quite well...not much relighting,this tobacco is far better than many i have tried like 3nuns.and the dreadful clan..never again for those tobaccos. this tobacco does give a nice fruit taste in the mouth,but it needs to be smoked slow dont rush it and it will give you enjoyment.and thats what pipe smoking is all about...enjoyment.

My review is based on the price and what it is supposed to taste like from the can.

The can cost about double from the "normal" pipe tobacco that are sold in your local supermarket but doesn't deliver on this price. It is said to taste vanilla, mango, and exotic citrus but I haven't gotten any of that taste from this tobacco. Perhaps I don¨t know how to smoke it or smoke it in a bad pipe or something of that nature but it just isn't there. I have once convinced myself that I can taste the mango but I really don't know if this is true or my imagination. It feels like I have some kind of oil in my mount after I have smoked this and I really don't want that. The scent it is given of when smoking is like that of cheap candy you find in the stores. Really not something you want to linger around.

I have had no problem with TB from this tobacco.

If this was half price it would be a decent one but I do expect more from something in this price range. Try it, but don't buy it is my recommendation.

NOTE: where I live you get a tin of Petersons Irish Flake for less then a can of Guilty Pleasure. Prices may wary where you live but I really can't see this beating any brand in the same price range.

Like the last reviewer I agree ; this isn't a bad tobacco at all.

Ashton's aromatics aren't bad and they certainly aren't horrible. Yes, admittedly Gold Rush was tasteless, but the others are worth a try.

If you don't like aromatics then don't bother.

This one has a superb tin fragrance, probably one of the best I have had the good fortune to sample. It's really moist though and will need a bit of drying.

It's a swine to keep alight as a result of course and ends up burning real hot. There is some taste there, buts its relatively mild and doesn't hang around for long.

I've had no response to smoking this in the lounge so - somewhat surprisingly - it doesn't score as highly on room note as you'd expect.

A typical aromatic from Ashton's but whether it's memorable enough to warrant a further purchase I'd have to say probably not.

I tend to stay away from tobacco that is flavored with fruit or any other additive that I suspect will take away from the tobacco itself. I usually smoke some sort of flake with a lot of nicotine and big ‘tobacco’ flavor so I didn’t give this one much chance, but for 20 bucks I said , “ what the heck “ , I need to broaden my perspective, so I bought it. I got very nervous when I opened the tin because the vanilla and fruit just seems really over the top, but that intensity didn’t carry over to the smoke. It seemed very moist out of the tin, but burned cool and clean and didn’t seem to bite. I’m familiar with cigars that carry the Ashton name and they are very good, and I’ve tried other pipe tobacco with the Ashton name on with mixed results. I won’t look for this in the near future, but I would buy it again and I gave it a 3 because it’s made with quality Virginia and Burley and would appeal to a smoker looking for those kind of flavors in a good smoke.

The tin is a little wild on this one, but it makes for a good draw. When you open your tin you will see a nice even cut ribbon with a few stems here and there. There is a nice mix of light browns and black in the ribbon. The tin note smells like creamy fruit and mangos, with a hint of Burley nuttiness. This blend does come rather wet, so some dry time won't hurt. It does stuff and light fine, but it will tend to burn hot, so I recommend smoking this in a longer stemmed pipe.

When I light this up I taste a pleasant melange of flavors. The Mango does peak through, and the citrus builds well off of it. The vanilla isn't as noticeable in taste to me, it kind of gives a milkshake flavor to the blend. Now the Cavendish adds a toasty note, and the Burley adds some nuttiness that pairs well with the toppings, but I feel like the Virginias are MIA. Smoking this fast, besides causing tongue burn, can make this blend taste really acrid.

The taste on this blend is a mild, as aromatics go it's just not as bold as say Sutliff's Rum or Molto Dolce. The strength is mild and I have a hard time detecting it. The room note is amazing and you will get a lot of questions from non smokers. I think this is a solid aro but it's not for me. I would not refuse it if it was offered, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a tin of this either.