Vauen Auenland - The Shire

Lo! What's that I see ahead? A green, misty valley. What's that I hear? The distant trickling of water, a shady brook. After trudging through miles of barren, dry land, this scene was a sight to behold. With an almost empty canteen, and a bone dry clay pipe in my back pocket, I marched on, into the mysterious verdant valley. I had images of elves racing about my feet as I stepped to—the little rascals were pulling at my pant leg and knocking my boots with their tiny fists. Call me, Gulliver.

My nerves tingled as I walked through the mist. The land was green, with tall emerald grass, and low dark trees everywhere I looked. But, wait! What's that I see in the distant meadow? A gray colored object, just off the trail. Why, it's a stone slab, a table. Reminiscent of something you'd see on the Plains of Salisbury. An archaic object, to be sure.

As I approached, an object came into focus. There, sitting atop the roughly hewn slab was a tin—a tin of tobacco! I couldn't believe my good fortune. My greedy hand grasped onto the tin, but it wouldn't budge. No matter what I did, I couldn't doff the bloody thing. While pondering what to do, something quite unexpected happened. A tall bearded man attired in animal skins walked out from behind a nearby tree! He blew into the hollowed out horn of an auroch, the grunting, choppy moan of his horn sent shivers down my spine.

"I am Sigismund! Velcome to Auenland. Plees place twelf euro on zee palm of mine hand and zee tobacco vill be yours!"

My ice cold pipe needed kindling, so I couldn't help but dig deep. I gave the man exactly twelve euros. As I coated his hand with silver, a wide toothy grin broke out on his face. He suddenly closed his hand tight over the money, turned around, and beat a hasty retreat into the nearby woods, never to be seen again.

So, there I was, alone in Auenland, with an unexpected tin of pipe baccy. This time, my hand plucked the tin off the table. I pried open the tin and, giddy as a teenager, stuffed my nose directly in. The rose was unlike anything I've ever experienced. It was an odd, mysterious scent; what was it? It tickled my menthol detector, first off. Just a hint. But, what else? Man, I've been smoking a pipe for many a year, and I've come across nothing like this before. The scent of this blend is heady, perfumey, sweet, and frankly, obnoxious. Clearly an aromatic. The colors of the tobacco ran the gamut and it was spongey to the touch.

Well, I threw caution to the moist Auenlandian wind and fired up a bowl. One puff, and my mouth went completely dry. A thick, toxic cloud of smoke hung in the air. What, in God's name, is in this weed? The taste was horridly interesting. Wait. What's that on my tongue? A hot poker? A needle, a pin? I slowed my cadence, it improved. But, then, Sigismund's smile popped into my head. His smile quickly turned into a laugh. A demonic, red-faced, joke of a laugh!

In a panic, my head began to spin. I smashed my pipe onto the stone table. Clay shards and red hot ash flew every which way. I dropped the tin aside and ran, bypassing the clear cold stream on my way out of the valley.

You know, just because your pipe is empty, it doesn't mean you have to stuff it with just any old thing. Sometimes, just sometimes, keep your dice safely tucked away and just walk on.

Keep on pipin'

I was very disappointed in this blend. I liked the flavor pairing used citrus and peach. The flavor combo was good at first, though it started to taste a little artificial as I smoked. The tobacco itself just didn't seem to be great quality; it was bitey and tasteless. I get the impression it was covered up by heavy flavoring, and then they slapped a LotR name on it to get it sold. Maybe some people will enjoy it, but it just didn't work for me.

To me this is an after dinner Tobacco. I'm tired and lazy and i wanna smoke something that doesn't actually taste like tobacco.

The tin note was a bit too much for me, it's very topped and sauced too. Not a bad smell, just too much, like a person wearing too much perfume.

In the pipe though it's like a sweet dessert. Today i was actually thinking it tastes like a bread with jam. Good job Vauen. That's something Bilbo would have liked. Since he's a hobbit and all. They like to eat always.

If you like aromatics this might be for you. It's not too fruity, but the peach is detectable. Like most aromatics, a little drying will tame it to your delight.

When I first opened the tin - I was actually looking forward to that as I was driving home from work, the room got filled with a sweet smell. As I closed in on the tin the number one note, the main violin if you will, is apricot. There are other things in there, but my nose detected the apricot by far. The composition is pretty sticky, not sure what they cased it with, but I told myself that I wouldn't risk any other pipe than my aro dedicated briar. I was right about that, I have only smoked two bowls, roughly about three hours ago and the pipe is full of apricot aroma. The color of the tobacco was mainly medium brown with some black ribbons, which I presume was black cavendish. When lit it burns pretty evenly, but like I said mine had some age to it and it definitely was gentle on moisture. No tongue bite, no relights, but nothing outstanding either. To my surprise, the blend stands out from other aromatic tobaccos in as far as retaining some of its apricot aroma. A bit of spiciness is also present, more like a perique peppery note more than the advertised burley, but that's about it. It's not your regular aromatic, where you feel like drawing in hot air but it's a world away from what I have expected. My wife was pleased, saying that the room note "was something like an expensive tea brewing in the room". My answer was ... "it doesn't taste the half of the smell it has in the tin" ...

Probably shouldn't review this, since I understand it to be a limited edition, meaning you probably can't find it. I bought it on ebay for a few bucks. I smoke few real aromatics and when I do they tend to be more in the vanilla or chocolate vein. In fact, I avoid fruity stuff as a rule.

Auenland is orange and peach, both of which I love. But do they work together in a tobacco blend? Actually, yes, pretty well--if you like this sort of aromatic. Mine was probably a year or two old, maybe older, and very mellow. Packed, lit and stayed lit just fine. Smoked down to a nice gray ash. The room note is nice, very nice, and you will likely get no complaints. Put this in a cob for the sweetest, cleanest smoke. Take your time; this one don't like to be pushed.

Not a nic bomb, but that is not its purpose. Solid three stars. More tobacco flavor would have pushed it up to four stars.

This tobacco has a wonderful tin and room note. It burns well and has a nice mild sweet flavor, pretty much exactly like the description. It will definitely ghost your pipe. Seems to be good quality, but I find Burley very drying, so I prefer other blends that don't use it.

Just started pipe smoking. Was advised to try this tobacco as a first. Took me a couple of bowls to see how it smoked best. In the beginning I smoked it to fast and then it tasted like ash.. very unpleasant! I feel if its smoked too hot this stuff just tastes nasty. After a week with it now I feel Ive sussed it out. Has a great taste when smoked cool. And a lovely room note. get allot of compliments when out and about. Tobacco was a bit to wett when first opened, so it kept going out. Now its perfect and only have to relight once. I think this is a great starter Tobacco! Really looking forward to try new ones!

Smell: Very good. I would define it as sweet and sour. I can definitely smell some orange. No peach detected by my nose. Quite natural smell.

Taste: A tasty aromatic tobacco. The Virginia, Cavendish and Burley are of good quality and well topped with some citrusy aroma, which remains quite consistent throughout the bowl. Unfortunately I do not taste any other flavor like peach or apricot. But a delicate and naturale orange/citrus flavor is present and really enjoyable.

Ratio Smell/Taste: I was not disappointed. The good smell from the tin translates in the smoke in a nice and interesting way.

Moisture: It requires some drying time.

Filter: With.

Ghosting: Mild.

Nice presentation and intense aromas at the opening of the tin. Very pleasant smoke with aromatic and creamy flavors, but not invasive. The smell in the room was very nice. For a morning or relaxed smoke, it can work very well.