Lane Limited Captain Black Original (Regular)

I love the taste of chemicals in the morning. Tastes like.....crap.

I bought this on a lark. There was maybe one or two puffs that were enjoyable but the rest was intolerable. Obviously I'm never buying this again. Wet disgustingness which will leave a gooey mess in the bottom of your favorite pipe. Don't__do__it.

This was my very first tobacco (as it seems it has been for many new pipe smokers). I've been smoking a pipe for just two months. I have to say, if I had to start all over again, I wouldn't select this brand.

I'm confused by all the rave reviews of this tobacco, mind you, I am aware that this is all quite subjective. To each his own...

I've gone back to it (mostly because I don't want to waste tobacco) and I have to say, it's no better. It lights ok, burns unevenly, has a bit of a bite for sure and no one around me expresses any favourable review of the aroma. And its expensive. Well, relative to others.

Unremarkable at best.

Apologies to the veteran smokers from a true beginner.

Have to reconsider the review below. In 1980 CB White was my first pipe tobacco in my very first pipe. I was 20 years old. Now that I'm 50 I find myself returning to that good old standby that never seems to disappoint. A great first tobacco, and one to return to on those cold fall and winter days.....

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Perfect tobacco to introduce someone to pipe-smoking. Smoked it for three years straight when I only knew one other pipe smoker and didn't know better.

That powerful vanilla aroma brings back memories but as the taste buds mature it becomes something difficult to return to with any regularity.

A convenient and decent alternative if you're on the road and run out of your good stuff.

So, I was catching up on my PipesMagazine Radio show the other night. I intently listened to Brian Levine present his impressions of a recently dappling with Captain Black Original. What, wait a minute? First, I was very surprised that he actually smoked it. Two, the ensuing review was rather favorable to boot. Really? CBO was one of those aromatics that I started with way back out fresh out of high school and haven’t smoke in probably 30 odd years for specific reasons mind you. Today I happened to be in the CR Butt Tobacco dispensary picking up some of my favorite cheapos for next week’s travels. As you would have it, one of the Captain’s wild hairs took hold of me; what the heck you know. Dropping the pouch of CBO on the checkout counter along with my usual treasures, I had to ask the cashier to redouble on the price call-out thinking a mis-heard her. Yes, I heard correctly the first time … $8.49 for the pouch. Holy geez! This stuff used to cost me a couple of bucks at most.

So, here’s the bottom line, I bought it, took it home, and upon the opening stood astonished to see how cultured the tobacco looked and smelled. Not the goopy drenched fluff that I ran away from so many years ago. After three successive bowls of the old boy, much to my chagrin or perhaps personal prejudice I got to go with Brian on this one. Simply, it really was an enjoyable experience much to my amazement. The taste is much more mild, mellow, and properly balanced. Namely a nice fusion of Cavendish, Burley and Virginia aptly coated with vanilla and honey flavorings. It burns nicely producing a pleasantly light comforting aroma. Ahoy to the reunion!

This tobacco has a great smell in the pouch and the smell of the smoke is even better. Have always received nice compliments how good it smells when out in public. I enjoy this most early in the morning and walking in the woods on the nature trails by my house. This is good stuff so I keep buying it.

These fake pipe smokers that leave these bogus reviews like "when I put my nose in the bag I smelled the chemicals" what chemicals? There is no chemicals besides alittle a glycerin or maybe a small amount of PG but this blend is a high grade pipe tobacco with high grade tobaccos. People have been smoking this blend for years and years and its not one of the best selling pipe tobaccos in the world for no reason. For the beginner pipe smoker its a perfect blend to start off with, then there's the seasoned pipe smoker like myself who have been smoking this blend for years and still loving it. Funny thing is I think Lanes RLP is pretty dang close to this one and I love that one to but back to Captain Black this whole yuppy new schooler mostly amateur highly immature this is a OTC crappy drug store saturated with chemicals gross tasting nonsense and I mean total bull nonsense this pipe tobacco blend is awesome and super smooth, it taste wonderful and don't be fooled by these no nothing fools the burley and cavendish mixtures with bright Virginia ribbons topped with a sweet vanilla giving off a almost nouget flavor but not to sweet letting the tobacco taste shine. When you smell the bag what you really get is a sweet tobacco smell with a hint of raisins and chocolate and a light vanilla smell with NO chemical anything, that's just the cool poser yuppy thing to say cause monkey see monkey do or in this case say. I can assure you this is one heck of a smoke and is very satisfying in taste and quality. Most pipe smokers enjoy Captain Black they may not smoke it all the time but for alot of us it out first smoke and I do come back to it over and over. The only complaint I have with Captain Black is over the years the price has gone way over the top here in Idaho $9.50 a 1.5oz. bag ouch!!! But when I get my coupons I go buy a few bags. If you never smoked Captain black I recommend the white pouch, gold pouch or royal for the original blends then feel free of course to try there newer lines, now I dont care for there other stuff but those three blends are very good in there own unique ways and a suggestion I can make as well is to try Lanes HGL if you like this blend but also like latakia, HGL will float your boat. I highly recommend Captain Black white pouch it truly is a all American classic pipe tobacco that is really good and worth trying. Ignore those reviews about chemicals and that OTC drug store smack!!!

The Goop that Pooped by:Christopher

I bought some Captain Black you see But the chemicals were to much for me I fell over and grew a new eye All that goop I wanted to die

I smoked and smoked till I could stands no more A drug or grocery a special OTC store I traveled far I traveled long But the chemicals were far to strong

My pipe was new it was very clean It had a shine a star like gleam That Captain Black with all its goop With a life of its own IT took a poop

Oh me oh boy my poor pipe has died That jerk on tobaccoreview totally lied That goop it pooped all in my pipe Now my bowl like a litter box is awful and ripe

Ripe like Ammonia or something from a nuke That awful goop that took a duke Captain Black OTC chemical wait I'm not a poet But reading this crap you would never know it

Lol!!! God bless all you pipe smokers, take care of yourselves and have a good day!!! Thanks for reading my review...

I have resisted reviewing this, because I have never really liked it, and my grandmother told me "If you don't have anything nice to say..." I decided maybe it was time.

It comes a little moist and takes an eternity to dry out any. It is mostly black in appearance and has a strong vanilla note in the pouch.

The smoking experience is one that is uneventful, and there is not much tobacco in the flavor. It is easy to overpack due to the moisture, and it requires a relight or two. I get a burnt marshmallow flavor and am told the room note is a pleasant vanilla. It has a fairly sweet taste with a chemical note to me, and I get the musty flavor I often get with black cavendish. The flavor is a little thin to me.

In terms of things to recommend it, you can find it almost anywhere that has OTC tobacco in stock. It seems to sell well.

On the negative side, there is the flavor. It also ghosts pipes, and sometimes you get an estate with a persistent vanilla ghost that endures. You can still catch a whiff of CB at the end of a bowl after a couple of pouches of Carter Hall or SWR.

It is hard to rate this, but for my palate it is a 1 really. The only way I can finish a pouch is to mix it with something to tone down the flavor and give it a little body.

Compelled by some strange siren to take up the craft of pipery, I have enlisted as a cabin boy in the service of Captain Black, that salty seaman. I packed only the corn cob pipe my late father had left behind that fateful morning, and set off to ply the angry seas.

I tell you, friends, that a week past I did not know the difference between a Dublin and a Diplomat, and thought Burley and Cavendish were some English lawyers. Having endured both the depredations and the tender ministrations of the Captain, I feel I am, at least, a little wiser.

When we were at sea, the Captain presented to me a plain white pouch, proffered with a knowing look. The leaf within looked and smelled enchanting to a young man raised on tales of swashbuckling and naval derring-do. Moist, with the aroma of vanilla and raisins, and perhaps old books. A comforting scent. The leaf was golden, it was dark brown, it was the color of high seas adventure. I greedily accepted.

When first I reached into the Captain's stash, I packed it but lightly, and burned it hot. Many's the seasoned sailor who laughed at my scorched tongue and bewildered look. Through trial and error, I discovered the virtues of packing tighter - but not too tight! - and the saving grace of the tamp. I learned of lights both false and true, and charred that leaf with the dexterity and precision of some Bavarian docktor.

In short, friends, I believed myself the captain's equal. A short week of working the cob and packing the leaf had filled me with a false confidence. I took shore leave at Carter Hall, and felt myself the master of all domains. But once more upon the seas, I learned that my confidence and my mastery had been left upon the shore.

I was ready for the billowing gales that blew through the Missouri Meerschaum. I slowed my rhythms, I managed the burning heat. But 'pon the wind came a sweet smell, and in my mouth I perceived the taste of some foul chemicals. Had some knave filled my pouch with that pinkish concoction they call "sweet and low?"

I confess I am but a greenhorn still, and no able captain nor even a bosun's mate. But this muddy mixture of Black's, while containing some pleasant aromas, still contains traps for unwary navigator. I found myself unable to reconcile its sweet aroma with a flavor that hid a bitter, chemickal taste within its breast, as a treacherous whore might hide a knife, the better to relieve some poor cabin boy of his loot.

When the waves subsided, I contented myself with a mild, pleasant taste of tobacko. But the memory of the gales, and that sweetness, shall forever mark me. I have endured the rough and sometimes unspeakable initiation of the dread Captain. I shall hoist my cob in my calloused hands having learned the hard lessons of the seas, and join that fraternity of men who earned their scars, and their smoke, honestly.

My fresh supply of BCA is still a few days away, and I was whiling away a bit of time in a local convenience store, and noticed that they had a few tobaccos on hand. Having never tried CBW, I succumed to the experimentation genie, and bought a pouch.

It was dry enough, and had a pleasant bag note, which came through as a mild vanilla upon lighting up. Contrary to some reviews, I got no bite, and it was cool enough in the bowl, with a nice room note. But, that's where it ends. There's just little taste to it, IMO. It wasn't objectionable, just bland, with almost zero tobacco taste. Mixing iwth a bit of Russ' Old Glory improved it somewhat, but took most of the punch out of ROG. Next was a 50/50 mix with Lane 1Q, which improved it a bit...enough for me to even keep around for some further mixing attempts. At least it won't go to waste. However, if CBW appeals to you, I'd say go for BCA, for a much richer vanilla taste, and at less cost, frankly. Even if you are new to piping, and like the reviews on CBW, you'll probably still find BCA preferable.

Just two stars. It's not bin-bound from the jump, but I wouldn't buy it again, for my tastes, which definitely do lean toward aromatics. I'm very glad that I landed on BCA and a BCA/1Q 50/50 mix as one of my regular choices. Guess I'll just have to go camp out near the mail box this week, and wait for the "BCA delivery gnome" to arrive.