Mr. B's Vanilla Maple

Being a Canuck i have a real soft spot for this brand, that being said i dont think this is one of their best. The pouch aroma was lovely, i could sit there all day inhaling in the sweet earthy aroma while eyeing ribbon cut reds and brights with some cavendish slices, truly a spiritual experience and a part of my routine each time i light my pipe. I do the three finger pinch thing and grab a clump to pack only relize how wet and oily this blend is,especially when i prefer things on the drier side. I opened the cheap "vapour barrier" of a pouch and let it sit for a week and to my surprise absolutly no change in texture or dampness still the same wet belend....weird. It packed well but sprang out of the pipe once lit, a little tamping put things back in their place. It took the match well for such a damp blend, and stayed lit pretty much the whole way through. I couldnt detect any maple of vanilla but it was sweet none the less. Mid bowl the "burley bitter's" and Mr.Dottle started to rear their ugly heads shortly followed by that tickle in my throat usually from blend riddled with PG. The room note was very pleasant, thick and sweet always finding the shortest route to the nostrils of neighbours and dog walkers, often recieving several compliments from passerbys, followed by the all too familiar stories of long lost fathers and grand pappy's that smoked pipes, and how the aroma brought back pleaant memories of sitting in dens and duck blinds shrouded by thick aromatic smoke, with good drink and better company, its amazing how scent triggers the most euphoric of memories that most of us wish were recent rather than distant, the memories only timeless blends can rekindle(that always makes my day, i dont know why) I will continue to smoke this pouch, because it is very light and refreshingly mild but i dont think ill buy it again, at a Canadian price tag of $18.00 for a 45 gram pouch, i think ill move on with the series, and im sure ill find a brigham blend that strikes me and sticks. This is a great blend for a new member of the fraternity of pipers and the occasional smoker, light sweet and satisfying with no bite, id say Brigham is on the right track.

Update 08/05/15: This is Lane's 1Q just re-branded, not that that's a bad thing (just a point of information, my tobacco shop owner fessed up when I said they were identical side by side) so I could go to my local Canadian tobacconist and pay $23.50 for a 1.5oz pouch as a brigham product, or get it for a couple bucks an ounce in bulk from any one of the popular online retailers.

This is a fairly pleasant smoke. The vanilla is not overpowering, there is only a hint of maple, and there is good tobacco underneath. The room note is nice. Overall, not a bad smoke at all.

Yet I cannot give this one a "Highly Recommended" rating. There is a slight "edge" to this tobacco--enough that I find I only really enjoy it in one of my 9mm filter pipes, to smooth out the flavour. I know many beginning pipe smokers start with aromatics, among them vanilla blends, but because of the "rough edges" that I find on this one, I don't think I'd recommend this to a raw beginner who may not have the technique of filling, lighting, and puffing quite correct yet. Still, while there are some better (IMHO) vanilla aromatics out there, there are many that are worse; and with a little experience, it is entirely possible to enjoy this one.

My first impression of this one was not favourable, but after smoking several bowls I quite like it. Like many tobaccos it?s a bit too wet when first taken out of the pouch, but after storing in my drawer for a few weeks, it?s more to my liking. It lights easily and burns well, not much tongue bite, mild, sweet flavour and the room note is great.

The pouch note here is good, not overly so however. A nice smelling, more or less average aromatic off the start.

In the bowl it behaves well if a little wet which is what I expected. Slow puffing is for the best here. The maple flavour is hard to discern, to me it is more of a carmelized sugar taste with vanilla overtones. This is not a bad point and I quite like this blend. I find for an unknown reason this blend is best in a corncob, might just be me though.