Brigadier Black Antietam

The grassy, citrusy Virginia is mildly noticeable. The sugary black cavendish is more so. The moderately tart cherry topping is a little subdued, and yet it sublimates the tobaccos at a fair extent. The strength is mild, while the taste is a step or two past that mark. Hardly has any nicotine. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a very consistent, mildly sweet flavor from top to bottom. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasantly, lightly lingering tartly sweet after taste and room note. More of a two and a half star blend.

-JimInks

The Brigadier Black series, exclusive to pipesandcigars.com, caught my eye because of the names...Gettysburg, Antietam, Waterloo etc. I'm a bit of a military history fan; as good a reason as any to try a new blend.

I grabbed a tin of Antietam to start with. the description lists it as a flake, which it is not. It's mostly ribbons of VA and toasted black Cavendish with a few large chunks here and there. When opening the tin you're greeted with the expected delicious cherry aroma and also some vanilla. Vanilla isn't listed as one of the toppings but it's coming from somewhere. The tobacco is ready to go out of the tin, at least mine was. It isn't too fussy about how you pack it. It takes fire easily and you'll get to the bottom of the bowl with minimal relights.

The tobacco flavor is front and center in this blend. Grassy sweetness from the Virginias. The cherry flavor, so obvious in the tin is a bit hard to detect on smoking, at least for me. It's there, but quite subdued; I'd like it to be a little more forward. Still, if you want a cherry aromatic that doesn't ghost your pipe and turn it into a gluey, sticky mess, Antietam is worth a look. It's good. I'd give it 2.5 stars if I could. A little more cherry flavor and it'd be 3 stars easily.

I ordered this tobacco was very disappointed. No cherry flavor and not much of a good Blk Cav taste at all. I now understand why you can not write a bad review of this tobacco on the P&C review. I would not order this again or any of the blends what have the Brigadere name..

6/27/16....I have smoked 3 to 4 more bowls of this blend and I am unable to find anything different except the after taste is bad. It tastes like something I can imagine but will not say. Some blends are made to be good smoking tobacco. Others are made cheaply to just make money.

A mixture of large flakes. Needs to be aired briefly after opening. Quite mild and no complaints on room note. Seems to leave a slight aftertaste but burns cool.

I do enjoy this blend and would like to give it 4 stars but the confusing thing about the blend is it’s description on pipesandcigars. It says it’s black cavendish and the picture looks that way. The tobacco I got looks like a mixture of burley, Virginia and black cavendish. Because of the somewhat misleading description, I’m giving it 3 stars because it smokes well and I do like it but it does make me wonder if I’ll get the same thing if I ordered it again.

I consider myself relatively new to the art of pipe smoker, I started in 2014 for a short while but took a long hiatus until late 2021. I grabbed the Brigadier Black sampler pack from pipes and cigars and began my reintroduction to smoking pipe,

The Antietam description caught my attention as it was described as a black cavendish with a black cherry flavor undertone. I utilized the "frank" method of packing my corn cob and the breathing technique. I'm not great at describing flavor, I'm probably ignorant in terms of flavor profiling but I'll try my best. It smoked very smooth, mellow, no bite at all, it was also quite sweet. However the cons were that there was little to no cherry, I couldn't find it at the top of the bowl, the bottom, or anywhere in-between. Despite the main character missing from the show, I did enjoy how mellow and smooth this tobacco was. I'd give it a 2.75

Antietam is my go to blend when I want an extra mild, cool smoke after a crazy day at the office that allows me to just sit and mellow out for an hour. It has never been bitey or harsh and the moisture level is near to perfect as it does not leave my pipes wet like other aromatics can. There is little to no nicotine for those sensitive to it. This blend does not ghost a pipe either like some do. I have smoked some Black Cavendish cherry-vanilla blends that are very in your face in comparison to Antietam but its taste and aroma are very pleasing. All of my friends love it when I smoke this blend and even ask me to smoke it when we get together. The flavor of this blend is mild but it does come through nicely in the taste. To me, there is no real aftertaste. I have smoked Antietam in a variety pipes and it smoked well in all of them from corn cobs to briars to meerschaums in short pipes to churchwardens (unlike the Sherman's March blend which to me only smokes well in a churchwarden).

I do recommend this blend. It may not be your go to tobacco but it is mild enough to smoke all day, anytime, and almost any place where we are allowed to smoke.