National Tobacco Red Cap

Ill start off by saying what I think this tobacco "is" and "isnt" as well as my overall opinion of the product as a whole. I noticed Red Cap on the shelf at my tobacconist this week and decided to try a pouch(against his recomendation)The packaging is very nostalgic, this reminds me of something my grandfather would have had on hand and smoked(A no nonsense smoking tobacco). I opened the pouch and found an unusual aroma of decent burley with a hint of sweetness from the virginia, and nothing else just true tobacco smell it might remind one of Sail Natural. The blend is uniform in colour and texture, i really found the long cut ribbons refreshing and quite easy to pack in my pipe. Now i cheated by reading past reviews before actually smoking, so my expectations were very low.Upon lighting my pipe, the aroma reminded me of good old fashioned American cigars(and not the ones with imported tobacco filler) The flavour was natural full bodied burley and not much else. Puffed hard to try to get it to bite with no result. I honestly found it more enjoyable than Carter Hall but still not as good as the Prince. For $1.50 its definatly worth trying, this is not a blend you smoke in front of the fire with friends, this is what i call a "working blend" the kind of smoke you can puff on all day, when you dont want anything complicated.Buy a pouch and throw it in your tackle box or gun sock, this kind of blend is always nice to have on hand.

Well, I didn't think it was possible to find a blend that was worse than the modern day incarnation of 'Clan' or 'Three nuns'. Well it is....

Red cap is truly awful. If I had wanted to smoke fast burning and tasteless cigarettes, well then I would have bought, a pack of fast burning tasteless cigarettes. Not this monstrosity that masquerades as pipe tobacco.

I smoked it in Florida back in April 2011 whilst I was on holiday. I had picked it up at a local flea market (along with a cheap cob) that sells knock off discounted Disney stuff whilst my family browsed the various trinkets.

Well this blend (if it can be called a blend) is knock off, discounted floor sweepings, from a cheap hardware store in down town 'Mianus' (Yes that's a real town). It smoked like loosely packed shredded newspaper.

Thankfully some Prince Albert came to my rescue..

0.5 out of 5.

Wow, apparently my personal tastes very a great deal from those of my fellow tobacco officianodos. (not sure on the spelling there) Honestly, I rather like this stuff and it makes an ideal, very inexpencive "filler" for blending with either stronger or more aromatic tobaccos like Perique or Smyrna. I think part of the problem here is that I like a very robust, perhaps even rustic sort of "tobaccoie" smoke myself ya know? I think maybe other folks who've tried this blend and found it unpleasant or otherwise unsatisfactory are looking for a milder, cooler burning, much more aromatic experience. I also think the total lack of casings or top flavorings is a problem for pipe smokers too, because it seems like that demographic is fond of heavily adulterated tobaccos like Cavendish. This is precisely where my tastes differ greatly from those who use a Briar or Meerschaum pipe. I strongly dislike the heavy, wet smoke produced by combusting "aromatic" tobaccos which have been subjected to casings or top flavorings such as the numerous varieties of Cavendish available. (I don't even like traditional vanilla flavored Black Cavendish 'cause it's so damp and tastes heavily of alcohol) Thus, it would seem that the very thing that other members of this site dislike about this particular blend is precisely what I do like, haha. I like my tobaccos to be in as close to their natural state as possible and that's precisely what Red Cap is...simple, air cured leaf without any chemical adulterants. I will however, concede that the label is a bit misleading as I really don't detect much flue cured tobacco in the blend at all. I honestly think this is a very good blend for the price, and even without the addition of a generous portion of my beloved Perique is a rather well balanced smoke. (again, for an uncased Burley product) There's a considerable degree of variation in the maturity of the leaves selected, ranging from alkaloid-rich foliage so unripe that it retains some of it's chlorophyl content to leaf that is a nice, dark chocolate brown indicating a late harvest and providing a nice amount of nicotine.

PS I was just recently looking over the product description for this cheap but dependable blend and noticed that it mentioned it containing "Kentucky." According to my sources, Kentucky generally refers to the dark, robust and spicy product of fire curing a Burley tobacco. While this type of leaf is commonly encountered in the form of moist snuff for those who like to chew and makes up a large portion of blends for hand rolling cigarettes known as "Halfzware" shags, there is certainly none of this kind of tobacco in Redca Regular I do however, suspect a hint of Maryland or perhaps another sort of uncased air cured variety with which I am unfamilier because there is a very distinct aroma to the blend before it is cumbusted that I can't quite describe.

Found an old pouch of this in my cellar. Apparently this is still in production. I don't really remember buying it, but here it is. I didn't expect to like it, but I thought it might become a base for some homemade aromatic experiments of mine. I decided to load a bowl in one of my small cobs for tasting.

It's everything I expected and more. I expected it to be bad, and it's that bad and gets more bad as I smoke it. I was hoping for something very simple and basic that I could drown in flavorings and toppings. I don't expect any topping or flavoring to improve this. It's acrid, bitter, and sour. Tobacco flavor is hard to distinguish behind the taste of ash and hot air. Tobacco flavored straw is a good description and would probably make an accurate match. Don't bother with this one. Not recommended.

Noticed this for cheap at a local gas station, figured I would try it out. Didn't go into it with high expectations, as it was an OTC from a gas station.

It smelled of robust natural tobacco, with not flavoring that I could detect. It was uniform in cut and color, with a ribbon cut. It packed easily in my bow, and was easy to light. Did seem a little on the dry side out of the pouch, but smoked fine. Had no trouble keeping it lit.

Does burn a little fast, and can get hot if you smoke too fast. All in all, it was a decent smoke. Not the greatest, but decent. Just don't expect too much. This is an OTC gas station blend. I believe that it is RYO cigarette tobacco that says pipe on the pouch to help avoid taxes.

I have some friends that use it to roll their cigarettes, and I must say it is rather more pleasant than traditional cigarettes.

Overall, I would say it is highly recommended if you are into RYO cigarettes. For a pipe, it is decent, and I would use it if nothing else was available, or if I was looking for a quick, uncomplicated smoke. Rather easy to obtain and relatively cheap as tobacco goes.

Tried this one on a whim when I saw it behind the counter at a Circle K off the beaten path. I'm revisiting some old OTC / Drug Store blends and had never tried this one. Like some of the other reviews for this one, I was intrigued by the retro looking packaging.

It was horrible. I got through half a bowl and called it quits. I prefer English tobaccos so it wasn't an issue of raw tobacco flavor versus an aromatic for me. It's just that the tobacco they used for this blend really doesn't belong in a pipe. It tasted really nasty and bitter; more like smoking a cigarette than anything. In fact, after emptying the bowl I came really close to just throwing the pipe away, too! I came to my senses and gave it a thorough cleaning and worked some coconut rum into the cake. All that effort just so I wouldn't have to taste Red Cap again!

This tobacco was the only thing the shop had for pipe tobacco. The nice lady that helped me told me it was similar to Dorrel cigarets. Well guess what? I now know I don't like Dorrel cigarets. Bought the .75oz grey bag and I really did not enjoy it at all. I won't be returning to that shop(which was pretty much a Head shop) or trying Red Cap again. I will stick to Captain Black for a back up tobacco.

Aggressively mordant and bitter. Packs quite a bit of vitamin N. Not a pleasant experience.

Bought the red and gray pack at the same time. For about a dollar each, it seemed like a cheap enough experiment.

I tried the red pouch first and could not believe that pipe tobacco could be this bad and be on the market. I didn't like it at all and couldn't imagine a worse smoke. Then I tried the gray pack.

2nd time in my life i decided to pick up the pipe after giving up on it and the B.R. black cavendish i was given by a friend 9 years ago that makes me sick thinking about. Bought a pouch of Red Cap "pipe tobacco" at my local smoke shop. It was all they had besides the large costco sized "pipe tobacco" bags which i was almost certain was meant to be rolled into smokes based on the price/quantity. I smoked cigarettes, Camels to be exact, for 13 years. Also used chewing tobacco when i was in the navy, and when working in a non-smoking shop. Quit cigarettes and dip due to the cost, the hacking, the smell, and the overall lifestyle associated with them. Sorry, anyways on to the Red Cap. I like the strength it has. I like the no nonsense tobacco. Absent of any additional flavoring, yet smelled wonderful in the bag. All was great until i lit it, and it tasted, to me, like relighting last nights half-smoked marlboro. I experienced no tongue bite whatsoever with it, so that's a plus...but in my opinion, it's not for me. i then reluctantly bought a pouch of C.B. Cherry (yuck) and B.R. Ultra Light (weak) i tried mixing the Red Cap with the weaker ones, gave me hot breath and a headache. And I find it unfortunate that it was the only brand of actual pipe tobacco they had. I know the nice fellow who owns the store, and he asked if i had any suggestions which to stock there. (bonus!) so i've been thoroughly reading and studying others reviews, in hopes i can find that certain one that keeps me from giving up on this yet again. Any suggestions?