Rattray Tower Bridge

Smell wonderfull from tin! Easy to pack. Easy to light and burn well with few relights. Taste is fruity and all flavours in harmony! One of the best aromatic i have tasted so far.

This was my first ever Rattray's tobacco. Found it in a local shop, and without question, I bought it. I do not regret buying this. Out of the tin, it smells like sugar, syrup and everything sweet and nice, including some fruit and floral notes. In the pipe, if you smoke it fast, it tastes smokey, with a hint of sweetness..if you smoke this slowly, very slowly, however, you get a strong flavor of slightly aged rum (think Captain Morgan, spiced gold), and some beautiful tones of smokey vanilla. It's very easy to smoke and keep lit, but I would highly recommend drying it out for a bit before smoking it.

One oddity about this tobacco is that it would make my EA Carey pipe burning hot, but leave other pipes ice-cold to the touch. This might be due to the pipe, I do not know, but I do know this is best smoked in a large, cold pipe, slowly sipped, despite it not giving me any tongue bite whatsoever.

Tin note. Opening the tin you'll notice that there're some broken flakes in it and(!) not a whole lot of strong tobacco smell. Which (at least for me) is a good sign, when it comes to aromatics. In my opinion it smells mainly of a chocolate liqueur flavoured sweets and fruits. However every single person that I've asked to share their thoughts on the tin note said either "fruit" or "vanilla". If I be forced to describe it in one word, I would definitely say "Malaga" (the wine).

Taste. I've packed my pipe considerably loose and left it overnight to dry a bit, as I've found the tobacco kind of "muddy". When lighting the pipe, what surprised me the most was a little harsh taste, that I totally didn't expect. After about a minute that taste vanished, instead of it I got only sweet, rather warm (still not "hot" by any means) smoke. It burnt well, with a few relights needed. One thing needs to be said here and it is: I think that it isn't impossible to overheat this tobacco (which may be a problem of my technique), as I've got a few bitter draws out of it.

Cleaning. It doesn't procuce a stinky or exeptionally hard to remove ash. After a bit of cleaning with tissues and pipe cleaners the pipe doesn't smell much of burnt tobacco, way more of the casing. This tobacco leaves a noticable smell of said fruits, chocolaty sweet liqueur or vanilla, which makes me believe it may need a pipe just for it. However I may be wrong, as I don't smoke that much of aromatic blends.

Final thoughts. It is a sweet blend (I wouldn't call it "balanced", it is predominantly sweet), that I think suits the role of dessert tobacco, accompanied by coffee (with no milk) or some light tea. It burns well. When smoked slowly, gives a lot of sweetness, that may be tiring in a bigger bowl, but is a real delight in smaller ones. I consider Tower Bridge a really good tobacco.

A remarkable aromatic tobacco with a full and unique fruitiness, smoothed by a pleasant vanilla note.

Burns well in the bowl, does not bite the tongue and retains its full aroma through the end of the pipe.

Exceptional room note