Peter Stokkebye French Vanilla (No.9-F)

I have not had the troubles with this that others have mentioned.

The first few bowls I didn't really taste the vanilla and don't sense much vanilla odor from the pouch. About bowl number three the vanilla finally came thought. Not overly strong, just a light pleasant taste of it.

Personally I'd like something stronger. Smokes well. Nothing exciting in my book, however.

This tobacco is almost like a mix of ribbon cut and some well-broken flake. It is part of the Ice Cream Shoppe sampler from P&C. At first, the smoke is fairly nutty, without much vanilla. I’m being real careful with my cadence, so there is not much tongue bite. I finally get some vanilla about halfway through the bowl, but it fades back out to a fairly bland, sweet smoke. I do pick up some more and (slightly) stronger vanila close to the end of the bowl. Similar to the previous one, I’ve had better vanilla and if I was jonesing for vanilla, there are better options.

I bought some of this at a B&M in San Francisco while on vacation and really enjoyed smoking it. It had a nice balance of genuine tobacco tastes and smells coupled with just the right amount of vanilla flavoring.

When I got home I ordered some in bulk, looking forward to the same enjoyable experience. The bulk delivery I received isn't as good. The vanilla is much less obvious, and the tobacco doesn't smoke so easily. Whether I got a bad batch, or whether this is poor quality control by Stokkebye or the supplier I don't know. What I do know is that it isn't the same enjoyable and satisfying smoke that I remembered, and I won't be ordering any more.

So - if you are able to get a good batch, this is a great everyday smoke with genuine tobacco tastes and a hint of a pleasant vanilla flavoring. However you might be unlucky and get a bad batch in which case the smoking experience isn't so good.

PS French Van… Sold as a bulk tobacco, in the form of a mostly rubbed out flake. Its aroma is a very pleasant vanilla, though somewhat strong. I also found it to be a bit fire retardant, so some drying time and a firm tamp was used, which helped, but still needed several relights. The pipe used for this review was a bent briar, a favorite for smoking aromatic blends. From what I can gather, from 6 or 7 bowls I had of this concoction, the tobacco taste came through nicely, whereas all that tin aroma shows up only faintly, as well it should. As for the tobacco's flavor profile, it seems not too different from, good old Velvet, (OTC) only not as smooth or tasty. Overall a bit crude, at least from this OTC smoker's point of view. Very reminisce of some of my past homebrew effords. I don't mean to sound harsh, but that is my experience, and I realize your mileage could vary considerably, but that's OK, If we all agreed on such things, there would be no need for this site, then what would you read? Bottom line, what's left of the original 4 ounces I purchased, will probably get fairly old before it's used up. For what it is. Somewhat recommended, 2 stars.

This was the first tobacco I ever tried and was not really impressed and was disillusioned at first with pipe smoking. I gave it a few shots and it became better.Not great...not good, but ok. It was flat and tasted like ash flavored vanilla. It is only for room note when it is important.

Another vanilla I would recommend only over drug store vanillas. it is a fairly decent aromatic of reasonable price.

Like other reviewers have noted, not the best of the Stokkebye line. This looks fantastic in the pouch- a mix of broken flake and yellowish ribbon. I also thought the pouch aroma was wonderful and definately vanilla. Same goes for the room aroma.

But, it bites like crazy. I mean just awful. 2 puffs and you're feeling it already. No matter what size bowl or what you do with the rubbing out, etc. it never changes. The bowl will get super hot in a heartbeat, also. I'd be interested in trying the toned down version of this blend, but then again, I won't go out of my way looking for it either.