Lane Limited Captain Black Original (Regular)

I bought this and two other captain black tobaccos as part of my first purchase when getting into the hobby. I will say the experience was certainly pleasant enough to get me intereted. My taste out grew them quickly though. If I was to choose one of the captain blacks to try first I would have. Been this one. The diversity of the blend makes it actually interesting for a newbie to purposefully select more cavendish or not to detect the difference in the smoke.

I assume this is the classic and original Captain Black offering. I bought this blend, along with just about every other available when I started smoking pipes in earnest about 12 years ago. At the time, it was this or Prince Albert or Borkum Riff. I had not yet discovered the many other blends that existed. My shopping was limited to the local cigarette store at that time.

Being curious, I open my old pouch of Captain Black (white) to see how badly it had dried out over the last decade. To my surprise, it hadn't dried out at all. The moisture actually seemed to be about perfect. A testament to the power of propylene glycol as a tobacco additive. I remembered the blend for the tongue bite it and Borkum Riff gave me. Although, i don't remember it being quite as offensive as Borkum Riff in that respect. Still, it did cause tongue bite.

Aged is often noted as an improving measure for a tobacco blend, making it smoother, better. I figured that few people have a chance to smoke 10 year old Captain Black, so I decided to give it a try.

Maybe it was the propylene glycol, maybe it was something else. What I do know is that it was exactly the same as I remembered it being over 10 years ago. It was all there, the taste, the mouth feel, the tongue bite. A decade of smoking experience did keep me from suffering a serious tongue bite. However, it is clear that this tobacco did not age well.

Actually, it didn't age at all. I now strongly suspect that if a pouch of this could be locked away for a thousand years in a time capsule, those future people would find a pouch of Captain Black that is nearly identical and unchanged from the time it was placed in the capsule a 1000 years earlier.

Captain Black is Captain Black. It is what it is, and apparently will always be just that. It's been on the market for a long time and continues to sell. There must be plenty of folks who like it a lot. It's mostly a Cavendish blend, so you get the typical flavored Cavendish vanilla and pleasant room notes. The other components of the blend that are not Cavendish don't stand out. It was those that I had hoped would improve and change the blend into something more interesting given the age of it. That didn't happen.

Honestly, if I want to smoke Cavendish, there are many other options I would reach for before this. I've really tried to like Captain Black over the years. I wouldn't describe it as a terrible tobacco, terrible tobaccos do exist. Rather, I would describe it as a good "training" tobacco. Something to teach the new smokers how to pace themselves and go slow without tasting awful or offering up too strong a flavor profile or kick. It works great at that. Puff too fast or too hard and it tears a hole in your tongue. It teaches pipe smokers good technique. And for that reason, I give it two stars and consider it "somewhat recommended".

This tobacco was one of my very first blends, and I wasn't fond of it. The vanilla flavor was subtle, and overall left a tolerable post room note.

Captain Black White seems to be a "love it or hate it" blend if you read all of the reviews. Well, I don't love it but I don't hate it. If it is the only blend available at the time, I don't mind it. I like the vanilla flavor and the room note. It usually loads and lights well. I just have a bit of a problem with the aftertaste it leaves. It's not harsh, it just seems to last forever. I much prefer Captain Black Royal. In fact, CBR is my go-to blend, with PS Optimum running a very close second. " Smoke what you like and like what you smoke".

A pleasant smoke for those who desire a sweet innocuous aromatic blend.

The vanilla topping is at the forefront off the blend. Next, I find the burley slightly nutty with some hints of coco, though this might be part of other ingredients in the topping. The black cavendish produces mostly sweet hot air and the Virginias get lost. The blend can bite, so watch out.

Overall, Captain Black is a pleasant smoke, but nothing specifically helps it to stand out in a sea of vanilla flavored aromatics.

It is similar to Lane 1-Q, but Captain Black has more burley and a stronger topping. Mac Baren 7 Seas Regular has similar tobacco components, but is more driven by the cocoa topping.

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Judging this tobacco is a fairly educative task, once it is subject of frequent genus/species confusions. Many flaws are appointed that are in fact related to the entire genus, and therefore are not flaws. The extravagance of aromatic tobaccos is something that pertain to this genus (in higher or lower degrees). As a cigarette and cigar inveterate who came to smoke his first pipe after 10 years of smoking other forms of tobacco, I couldn't be more skeptical about artificially added flavours. But I have to admit, this blend gave me a lot to think about, and was the one to break my skepticism. It can be argued that it is maybe too much chemically manipulated, and it certainly do not have that extremelly satisfying virtue of the more expensive and pure blends - that is a natural, unsuspected, refined, ontological integrity - but there is a position in the market for something that is not exactly refined, but yet pleasant. I call it the waiting room, the driving, the "I forgot to bring my pouch" tobacco. Someone up here said it is like the girl he knew in college: futile and somewhat nasty. Maybe that can't be negated. But it happens all the time that we find joy in childish, innocent, beautifully foolish girls. It's sweet, unpretentious and playfull, which means you've got have a "sense of humor" to enjoy it. Certainly a blend for when you feel more of a hedonist, and less of a connoisseur. It doesn't deserve 4 stars, for that I reserve to those heroic blends that convey what they have to using tobacco only. It doesn't deserve 3 stars, for that would be the best aromatic following the last principle. Two stars it is.

I think every almost every new pipe smoker starts smoking or into their intermediate days they try CB blend. Easily available and relatively cheaper. I also bought a pouch of cb 3 blends smoked a bowl of white before I get any taste or flavor I was half way and then it was taste less. I still have it and smoke just the heck of it.

I bought this one recently out of curiosity. It was this, or carter hall. I waited till I had a cob to smoke it though, as it is an aromatic of royal pedigree. I usually don't smoke them.

It's a ribbon blend with some chunky cav in it. Smells strongly of vanilla and honey. A lot like marshmallows so far as room note. It packs and lights very easily and tastes similar to it's smell for the first half. After which I noticed tobacco popping up here and there.

I would swear it has the same sauce as 1-Q. It may even be 1-Q with some va added to round it out. It tastes like it, and smells almost exactly like it. And, is made by the same folks.

Others enjoy the smell. My wife, my kids, my mom, my mother in law. I'm sure you get the idea. Not bad for a beginner, or an aro fan. It's a huge seller worldwide for a reason.

The classic stench of grand fathers who can't be bothered to smoke better, or are tired of grandma complaining about them smoking something without the artificial flavors and aromas.

Surprisingly, age did help this a tiny bit. It's still covered in PG, feels like plastic, and leaves me wishing I had smoked something else. But, in a pinch, it will do.

I think I can taste some burley, maybe a pinch of va, but it isn't the star. It's all about whatever syrup they dump on it.

If I was looking for a pouch of something to tide me over at the drugstore, I'd go to Carter Hall first.