Boswell Pipes & Tobacco Boswell's Best

The vanilla is the star flavor, but it's not deep or that rich. The caramel notes play a supporting role. The black cavendish is sugar sweet. There's not much tobacco taste here, but the grass, honey and citrus from the Virginia cavendish does peek through some. Some think this is 1-Q, and I can see why, except for one thing. The chocolate, while not strong at all, is a shade more noticeable than I have found in 1-Q. Has very little nicotine. Won't bite or get harsh. It burns a little moist and leaves some moisture in the bowl, but no dottle. Has a consistent flavor all the way through. The after taste and room notes are pleasant. A decent all day smoke that doesn't fill your senses as you go about your business. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

This is a very pleasant smoke for social gatherings and late afternoons, in my opinion. As a English blend smoker most of the time, I enjoy aromatics particularly when others are around - or when I have a "sweet tooth". Boswell aromatics are some of the best I've had. The Boswells staff seem to be genuinely nice people as well, which adds to the enjoyment of smoking their blends, odd as that may seem. Their attention to detail and lighthandedness in customer relations seem to flow into their custom blends. To put it another way, I've visited tobacco stores where the staff were nasty and harsh, and it seems their house blends were too. I received a sample of the Boswells family store blend "Boswells Best" when I purchased a pipe from their website (via phone order). Its a full Vanilla aromatic blend, and very pleasant. I personally appreciate complex tobacco flavors more than heavy toppings, but this aromatic isn't too heavy. It's good, and speaks well of the Boswell house. The Boswell pipe is quite nice too. I'm a fan, and I'll be purchasing more pipes and tobacco from them.

This is an excellent blend. All of the Boswell tobaccos are excellent but this stands out as one of my favorites. The thing that I like most about Boswells Best is its unobtrusiveness. Not in a boring way, but in a great background note kind of way. This is a tobacco that I could see myself smoking all day long and never growing tired of.

This blend will not bite whatsoever. I smoked this blend while watching an action packed movie and at times found my puffing cadence rather aggressive at the exciting parts, where most blends would have punished me, this one just kept on putting out creamy smoke and great flavor.

Highly recommended.

As a person whom lives near, and conciders the Boswell family a VERY straight up-NON arrogant good all around HARD working people who simply love pipes, pipe tobacco, and those who CHERISH pipes, and pipe smoking I take great offense to some of the posts on the review of this blend. Its one thing to simply NOT like a blend, or brand, but to outright post attacks against these folks is PLAIN wrong. I recently decided to get 3 oz. of the Boswells best with my 14th boswell pipe. It is a simple, and subtle blend that I love as it does not overwhelm the palate, and I HIGHLY recommend it to the novice pipe smoker. It has a nice slightly vanilla yet nice rounded tobacco flavor that will not knock ones socks off with flavor, and strength. This is a blend that is nice for an all day smoke that for me fills in a gap of tobaccos that are of the English nature that I crave, and yet from time to time when I tell myself I do not want latakia blends, English, heavy aromatics, or many times I simply cannot make up my mind what I want to put in my pipe--this is it. It is a nice blend to pack up the pipe--sip a nice beverage, and watch the stars around a warm evening fire. I have yet to have ANY of my friends complain about its room note, as they say it smells subtle, and warm to the point they want to take a puff off of my pipe. This is one of the most subtle, over all warm, and inviting blends from those around me that do not smoke pipes. The over all smoking pleasure of this one is a SUPER nice break from heavier stuff that has left me keeping this blend in my rotation. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking a soft, subtle, and peaceful smoke that WILL NOT bite your tongue, and is a wonderful relaxing smoke.

Pipers. If you have not ever tasted and seen (or smelled rather) the goodness of J.M. Boswell's handcrafted pipe tobacco, then your wanderings in the realm of fine tobacco have not been completed. Boswell's tobaccos are consistently of the highest quality, and in my short wanderings I have yet to find any brand worthy of the honors this man has earned my opinion. The quality of the tobacco and the expertise at which they are blended are superb. I have never met a Boswell I didn't enjoy.

This fine tobacco is no exception. A good friend and fellow piper delivered me a two ounce pouch of the stuff. He likes the stronger stuff, and has a taste for cigars as well, but said this light aromatic is his favorite blend. I wouldn't call it my favorite, but I will be repurchasing this blend in the future.

The description proclaims it cavendish through and through. Regular cavendish blended with black vanilla cavendish. Many of the cavendish blends I have lit up with over my last year of smoking pipe have certain sweet and brassy tang about them. This tobacco has its moments of such a taste, particularly on toasting and relights, but for the most part is pretty dark tasting. It's earthy and macho. A lot of aromatics seem to focus more on the aromatic flavoring than the tobacco. It's clear that Mr. Boswell isn't afraid to let the tobacco smoke for itself, and let whatever flavoring additives included only sing harmony. That's exactly what Boswell's Best does. Your taste buds are free to enjoy the taste of fine quality dark cavendish tobacco from lighting to ash, while your friends remark at how nice it smells.

My cousin, who never smoked anything but cheap cigars, had his first go at a corn cob with a bit of this blend. Even the beginner said "Oooo. That's nice" and "Why didn't I try this sooner?". This is great all around blend, and will likely become a old standby when I want something a little lighter than an full English, but something with character, that I wouldn't be ashamed to smoke with a real veteran in the room. This is a respectable smoke, one that should be included in your next order.

This has become my go-to tobacco whenever I want a good solid smoke. The tobacco smells incredible and maintains a great mix of flavouring to natural tobacco smell. I find as seasons change so do my tastes in tobaccos, certain ones appeal to me more in cool weather as others do in warm weather. This tobacco appeals to me no matter what weather or mood. It's very calming and flavourful. It smokes cool and with never any tongue bite. I find with pretty much all the Boswell blends I've had that the flavour really comes out after about 10 minutes or so. A definite favorite of mine.

I have been smoking this for over twenty years. I just happened to do a search on new reviews and saw this one. I can't believe that JM now has his face on tins of tobacco I've been buying off of him for years! Lol.

This is a very fine tobacco and I always keep it on hand. And if you somehow do not know, JM and his son are premier pipe makers and you should visit their store. They have a much better selection in-house than you will find on-line. This probably isn't much of a tobacco review, but trust me, BB it is excellent, as are all of his Tobaccos. Better yet, go to Chambersburg, PA and visit yourself. Best tobacco shop in the country, in my humble opinion.

I read other opinions and I saw this one, "The Boswells are a lot of guffawing yokels who make, ugly, unwieldy pipes with poor grain and a host of other flaws." JM AND HIS FAMILY have ALWAYS been very kind to me and he calls me by name even if I haven't been in his store in a couple of years. I have some of his pipes where the grain isn't a perfect flame shooting up the bowl and out the stem, but I do have a freehand of his that I will match along side any $400 perfect pipe with its perfect grain, and it definitely didn't cost me hundreds of dollars.

I don't know where JM gets his tobacco, I don't know how he blends them, and I don't care...they are simply good, period.

BTW, I have a Peterson St Patrick's Day Anniversary pipe and, trust me, the grain on that thing isn't anything to write home about.

I generally concur with the rave reviews this blend receives. It's almost a 4 star for me but there's just something missing in the taste and flavor. The room note is spectacular- similar to Captain Black as some have said. But it's MUCH better... not as dry and it's smoother. Unbelievably mild, no bite- certainly an all day smoke. A lot of times people will call something an all day smoke, but this is really an all day smoke.. even if you're a beginner.

Where it's lacking is in the flavor... The chocolate and vanilla are present.. vanilla more so in the flavor and chocolate more so in the room note. It's missing the fullness of a non-aromatic blend. I like to have the sweetness of the casing blend into the sweetness of the other tobaccos in the blend. This doesn't offer that. So for me it's a 3 of 4 stars... but that's more my taste than the blend itself. If you want that cool mild aromatic, this is a must try!! If you want a little more body (as I usually do) I recommend the Boswell's Sweet Tea which is my go to.

Re-packaged 1-Q? It smells like 1Q in the pouch, it tasted like 1Q and the room aroma was like 1Q. That left me wondering if there was some truth to Morley's accusations. I mean, surely no one would defend a tobacconist taking credit for someone else's blend, right?

But the more I smoked, the more I thought something was different. I couldn't place it and I tried and tried. I ruled out the aroma right away as the difference. Having some 1Q on hand, I finally did two back-to-back comparisons. Sure enough, the Boswell's tasted like 1Q but there was *something* different. The Boswell's smoked... drier, somehow. I realized I had missed what should be obvious when smoking an aromatic - the number of pipecleaners one has to use during the smoke and the amount of wet goo in the heel of the pipe afterward.

So what did Boswell do to the moisture content??? The blend is nicely moist but smokes dry! How'd they do that??? Is it my imagination? I'll have to try some more and see. But if Captain Black Royal is the "pool" of 1Q and 1Q is drier but still a bit too moist, Boswell's Best is like your lawn 10 minutes after a gentle summer rain. The moisture got in and then got zapped out. But it's still IN there somehow; it just doesn't come out in the smoke. I repeat: How'd they DO that???

Ah, a little dissent in the ratings. Since A Morley smokes and highly rates Carter Hall and Price Albert along with many other blends he has recommended I couldn't really call him a pipe snob, but I wondered if he or Ben was correct about the House of Boswell. Sorry A M, I think Ben and all the others have a better grasp on this one. Boswell's Best is a classic smoke. Well rounded, no bite, and for lack of a better term, a thoughtful puffing tobacco. Of course taste is subjective, but you seem to have a wide palate range so maybe you just had a batch that hadn't been handled correctly, who knows? As for the Boswells, I guess I also am just a guffawing yokel because I like good friendly customer service, quality pipes (smoke better than any of my high end Peterson's)and value for my money. I give Boswell's Best 3 and 1/2 stars and that only because I like their Paradise blend just a bit more and I gave it 4 stars.