Larus & Brother Company, Inc Four Seasons

The simple fact is that, nowadays, when a non-smoker and even a good many smokers are asked to imagine pipe tobacco in either appearance or smell, a chunky, sweet-smelling, mostly black Cavendish sort of blend will come to mind. Perhaps this is not what tobacco was meant to be, but it remains true that Captain Black and his host of imitators have brought the fight in from the streets and into our smoking rooms and have come out on top. I still like matured Virginias and straight Burleys above all others, but even I am not so high-minded as to think that I will fail to enjoy a little something plebian in my pipe now and again.

Four Seasons is as much a common man's tobacco as can be found and a good one at that. For its ingredients all that is required is a simple footnote that reads 'see Captain Black'. It is so sweet and simple that it cannot be brought to burn the mouth, and the only way that it can be offensive to the palate is if one feels one is not being presented with enough sophistication. You certainly will receive no bad comments about the smell from others. What really makes this blend shine, once again shine in a straightforward, almost childlike way, is the mysterious addition of something called cherry birch. I have no earthly idea what it is. I signed up for a forestry class once and ran like the Dickens back to English Literature after only a week. The stuff adds interest, though, and even a little surprise. With the overall flavor of soft, comforting vanilla found in all such domestic aromatics, one will also be given a flavor like unto ginger or apple or honey cruller. Uncomplicated, yes, even uninspired, but it still can make one feel as good as eating a bowl of a favorite breakfast cereal from when you were a kid or watching an old Saturday morning cartoon. I give Four Seasons the highest marks not because it is the best imaginable, but because it is the best it can be for what it is.