Peter Stokkebye Optimum (No.31)

This one is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I know I shouldn't like it, but on the right occasion it's a real joy.

It's a mild aromatic blend, cased with just the right amount of vanilla. The vanilla doesn't overpower the tobacco but adds a bit of sweetness and depth. Overall, the taste is very light and smooth and I find it goes perfectly with a cup of good coffee in the afternoon.

It's certainly not a tobacco I could smoke all the time because it's just too sweet but once in a while it's very enjoyable. I'd only recommend it as an occasional smoke, and the room note is one of the most pleasant I know of so perhaps a good after dinner pipe when in company.

Average, cheap American aromatic type tobacco. Bought it out of curiosity and although I do not usually like aromatics due to tongue bite, this tobacco did not bite. I will not be buying this again but, it is not terrible.

Packs and lights well, smokes easily and not as hot as expected.

Taste is almost all flavoring. Typical, generally sweet taste. Gets a bit acrid the further down the bowl you get.

I purchased an ounce or two of this from the tobacconist after getting a whiff of the rum and/or vanilla others here have noted. Stokkebye's English Luxury is a standard for me, and I ventured to this light aromatic to keep up patronage.

Smoking with Johann, a cigar smoker who had recently picked up the pipe, I quickly realized the odor of the casing did not translate to taste. As mild an English as Luxury is, its taste is quite a bit more substantial, and, it being my daily, I was not prepared to step down in intensity of flavor.

Comparing Burley to Burley, were one to soak Prince Albert in his can with rum, afterward letting it dry, I can imagine it approximating Optimum. As much as I dislike the former, I think I would choose that route before again attempting Optimum. One might imagine Jonathan's response, he accustomed to the cigar; to him, it was like smoking nothing. We offered it to his girlfriend for potpourri, but, I hear, she discarded it.

Like everyone said, it can burn a little too hot. So watch out for that. I must disagree about the taste though. The first 1/2 of the bowl is good and sweet. The last half is very ashy and not doesn't have much taste. Its a decent aromatic, but only smoke half a bowl.

This is a great experience as long as you are not the one smoking it. Great in the jar and in the air. But in the mouth its a little overwhelming. I think it actually gives me a headache.

A milder version of this would do well if they cut the flavoring by 2/3rds or something. Something closer to Virginia Q. Bad part is I really wanted and tried to like this stuff but I don't think my tongue would survive. Yeeeooowww!

Whoa, a blend of many synthetic flavors that smells great. It taste like marshmellows and I actually felt a little ill- like when you eat too many oreo cookies..... good for young novice.

I bought an ounce of this blend and it smelled nice. The taste is there if you smoke more of it, but I dont want a hot smoke. Though I did get a wet smoke. The room aroma is nice and my wife liked the smell.I got no tongue bite and it lit well, but it lacks the flavor I look for. I probably wont buy this one again.

I thought I might be in the mood for an aromatic - not a mood that strikes very often. Optimum smelled OK in the jar, but I wish I had stopped right there.

A typical bulk aromatic, it was over-cased and no matter how much I tried, it smoked wet. I really wanted to like it, as I would love to have something to smoke in less-than-smoker-friendly environments.

If you can get past the flat Black Cavendish flavor and the topping, you will have something that won't run innocent bystanders off.

Keep a very good supply of pipe cleaners on hand.

I was in the mood to like this but not to be. when I first heared about this blend it was supposed to be flavored with rum and vanilla. But when I checked the website it now says fruit and vanilla. That may be my problem. I noticed blends that have noted to be flavored with a similiar scheme don't appeal to me. The taste is odd and a little sickningly confectionary. Mostly a black cave base that tastes flat with a smidgen of lighter tobaccos.It may also be the vanilla flavoring which I don't like, perhaps a vanilla extract or vanillian that tastes a little unpleasantly "synthetic." Some real vanilla flavorings don't have such a character and in combo with that flat and lifeless black cav. tastes like a marshmellow, blahhhhhh.

Not recommended