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Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Irish X
THE BEST
This is the smoothest, tastiest, and most satisfying rope tobacco GH&C produces. Not as peppery as Boggie, it still hits the senses like sweet wildfire and doesn't leave your palate as scorched in the process. It has a more subtle flavor profile than the Black X, but it's not lacking anything at all - this stuff doesn't leave much room for contenders.

Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Black Irish X
English/Irish
It does taste like barbecued meat and tanning oil at first, but there's a strong undercurrent of flavor reminiscent of Latikia to me in the smoke. I hate that sort of sour musk and ended up dumping the whole bowl out, but if you like English blends I'll bet this one would blow your mind. I'll just stick with the brown ropes myself.

Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Maple Twist
Good? Even Better!
Maple Twist isn't as sugary sweet as it used to be - no, it's even better now. Just to make sure, I let mine sit for a few months and aged it before comparing it to memory. That malted cream flavor still fills the back end of the Lakeland/Virginia profile (deliciously!) but the after-taste is more like musk and spice than syrup. It's safe to say this is Irish-X with a little maple flavoring added, and that says a lot - because it's hard for me to say which I like the taste of better.

Brigham - Voyageur (109) (Rock Maple Inserts)
NOW IT'S A TANK
I used to own the older style of this pipe, one with a vulcanite stem, but it broke. Thankfully Brigham pipes have a one-year warranty. Smoking Pipes replaced it for me with this newer style Voyageur, and not only is the fully-acrylic stem sturdier, but it also has a totally different draft hole & inner chamber. The new configuration results in a drier smoke even without a filter - I can re-pack & smoke this thing not half an hour afterward and it's just fine. The cost of the pipe may have gone up, but so did the quality - this one's hefty enough to really voyage with, and might even be the only pipe you need to take with you.

Daughters & Ryan - Three Sails 16oz
Hope It Stays Clean
I smoked Windsail Platinum for many years - until earlier this year when I found bird feathers buried inside the tobacco inside the bag. I doubt that batch came out of a hogshead, so I called ICT to complain in the hopes their Quality Control would fix the problem for me, but I was only promised a replacement I didn't receive. D&R is just the old label now I guess. Regardless, Three Sails is basically the same tobacco but in shag-cut form, so I'll assume it's processed at a different location from Windsail and that it won't contain any trash. Here's hoping it stays clean.

Old German Clay - Antique Shell (Brown)
Class Transition
As someone who used to roll their cigarettes by hand, I have to say this pipe is the perfect piece to switch with. The bowl is just big enough for a quick ten-minute smoke, and it delivers the flavor. The stem on the pipe I received looked a bit wobbly at first, but it fits the contour of the fingers nicely when held like a cigarette. It smokes wet, but the furl on the mouthpiece traps most of it. The clay is also fairly thick, so it will ride safely in the pocket or the recess of a laptop case. My only complaint is the orientation of the pinch at the tip of the mouthpiece - some OGC pipes are pinched vertically instead of horizontally, but you can always bite down on the soft ceramic stem. I smoke it too much to hate it for that fact, anyway.

Old German Clay - Antique Thorns
Lil' Champ
It's easy to smoke the hell out of this little pipe. Not only does it already look like it's been there & back, it does a fine job of keeping the moisture at bay, and you'll always find a cool spot to grip it when you smoke. Those raised bumps on the bowl & shank don't just look awesome, they make it extremely tactile in the hand. But bear in mind, this is an imported clay pipe. It does feel kinda fragile. As a pocket pipe I'm leery - one hard knock in a crowd, or one plump child on the lap, and it might be toast. For just a few dollars more OD clay pipes are far more substantial, but I like the newfangled tube bore more than the old-fashioned funnel, and you can actually clench this one in your teeth thanks to its size and ceramic coating.

Old Dominion - Williamsburg Clay Pipe
A Trusted & Timeless Companion
I love this pipe. It does smoke a little wet near the end of the bowl, but this piece of history has performed faithfully otherwise for many years. For a ten- to fifteen-minute smoke it will deliver on-cue every time as a tasting pipe. And it won't clog as badly as it first seems, but it's impossible to keep this thing clean on the outside. Moisture will usually collect inside during the smoke and will stain the white clay around the rim of the bowl brown when blown out. Coffee will stain the tip of the stem brown if tobacco juice doesn't. Always keep a paper towel handy when you smoke it. Also, any ash that happens to touch the clay will turn it grey, typically where you're holding it. This color-change isn't patina - you can't bleach that off. It's more like one of those dogs that are only white the day they come home from the groomer - otherwise they're kinda brown. Still a good dog, though - pipe I mean.

Peter Stokkebye - PS24 Nougat
The Holidays At Home
It's hard to believe this is so cheap. This casing tastes and smells amazing, and the tobacco isn't that bad either. Compare it to similar bulk offerings and you'll see. RLP-6 has an equally over-the-top casing, but on the palate it soon turns dry, mucky, and artificial. The ashes taste awful. Nougat tastes like a Snickers bar every time and continues to taste good down to the ashes - clean and powdery. I smoke aromatics in my indoor smoking spaces to clear their funk and make them more inviting, but I also want to enjoy a good smoke at the same time. Lane used to be my go-to for that, but I haven't smoked RLP-6 in a few years. Nougat is a real tobacco-smoking pleasure that still fits into a tight budget and which you can enjoy virtually anywhere. Find another bulk aromatic you can easily stock up on that tastes and smells as good - and good luck. The one problem is its burn-rate. It does get too hot, it will start to bite, and the flavor of the casing will burn off mid-bowl, so the finish is bland. But I smoke it blended 2:1 with BC and it's perfect, worth that extra effort.

Tampers & Tools - Savinelli Coin Pipe Companion
Solid Metal
The tools themselves are solid, stainless steel - not just coated to look shiny. There's a latex rubber gasket sandwiched between each, and it's riveted to a brass cylinder. It's very sturdy and compact - but I don't use them this way. I keep my pipe tools loose on a key chain. My only complaint here was that this number was harder to cut apart than the cheaper Czech option, almost a joke. I intend to buy more of these.

Peter Stokkebye - PS23 B & B
Everybody's Comfort Smoke
This is what 7 Seas was supposed to have been. The vanilla casing reminds me of cookie or play-dough at times, and the room-note is just a sweet shade above plain smoke, but the tobacco taste isn't cloyed at all by that casing - they actually play off each other pretty well here. You taste the Burley - that distinct sour/nutty/musky flavor of tobacco - more than you smell it, and that taste mingles nicely with "pound cake" - making this a rich and satisfying smoke for you and everyone around you. It took me a long time to love this blend, but I do. I usually add a little Nougat or BC to kick-up the room-note, but it's perfect on its own.

Rivertown Tobacco Works - Sunrise Select
Like Rays Of Sunshine
This is the perfect blend of these varietals. Sunrise Select is pretty well raw but kinda wet fresh - it's not cased that I can tell, maybe steamed. Give it a day or so to dry. It has the bright and oily caramel flavor of C&D's Yorktown, but it burns a lot cooler. It embodies all the vital elements of each Windsail grade: the delicate nuances of flavor found in Platinum, the sweetness and assertion of flavor found in Silver, and the earthy and satisfying body of Regular. Plus, it has fewer sticks, the cut is way more consistent, and you'll never find bits of garbage buried in it. It also burns just as clean and smells just as nice. Blend with it or enjoy it on its own, Sunrise Select is an excellent blend!

Rivertown Tobacco Works - Sir Vanderberry
Green River Good
If you like C&D aromatics you're gonna love this stuff. You'll instantly recognize the greasy casing, which tastes like soda syrup without the carbonation to me and even managed to ghost my sinuses. I do taste a medley of decent tobacco in the smoke, and I can taste the vanilla along with the berry, too, but the room-note doesn't cut it. I actually hate this stuff - I'm just giving it 3.5 stars for the effort.

BriarWorks - Country Lawyer 2oz
Good, But Rated PG
I have a jar of this dated 02/09/22. Just cleaned out my OD Williamsburg clay tavern pipe and cracked the jar open to pack it up for a quick smoke. This Country Lawyer somehow has a way of abating my hankerings for good Perique. It's a lot smoother now than it was when I bought it, but it still smokes robust and peppery. The taste of Virginia appears more prominently in the flavor profile than any cigar I've tried, but that rich cigar-leaf-taste is still always dominant throughout the smoke. Tonight I'm shocked to see how moist on top inside the jar it still is after three years of sitting there, even if the lid was cranked down pretty tight, and I'm finding it leaves a film on my tongue like Prince Albert. So I'm going to dump this bowl out, actually.

Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Bogie
Looks Like Pig's Guts (I'm Told)
That leathery, room-filling aroma melts my heart every time - that's even before I've cut it up. It takes some practice and lots of patience to prep Brown Bogie yourself and still get a good smoke, but the longevity of the rope over coins and ready-rubbed is remarkable. The Brown Irish X is smoother, but the Bogie has more kick. The smoke tastes like peppery oil and grassy musk, bawdy chalk, soap and tangy citrus as it coats your mouth and explodes through your sinuses, burning like sweet country fire the whole way and making your head spin like mad. It's a proper throat-punch at any rate. So glad to see it back!

Mac Baren - 7 Seas Regular
Mac Baren Aromatic
This tastes exactly the same as 7 Sea Black, it just burns hotter. The tobacco flavor here isn't bad, and the taste of the casing reminded me of an old candy cigar, but it really looks better than it smokes. As an aromatic, it smells like toast in the room more than cake or perfume. And I got tired of smoking it just to pass time, even blended with the Black. But at least it doesn't taste like you're sucking on a battery. Somebody would like this stuff, I'll bet.

Peter Stokkebye - PS31 Optimum
Best Budget Room-Clearing Sugar-Fog-Bomb
Optimum does deserve its name. It's instant perfume and a consistently good flavor. Honestly, I like the taste and aroma of Nougat more, but it burns hotter so I always have to blend it with BC. Optimum can also get pretty hot, but it's an even heat that smokes more than it bites without any extra BC added. It tastes basically like fruit punch and vanilla (with some tobacco flavor buried underneath.) I'm told it smells like cake or a flower garden. To me, it smells either like a sexy lady at the beach or a car-wash air-freshener. Whatever the case, it smells way better in here than it did before.

Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation - Evening Flake
甘いパンのように。ほんま、これは良いタバコじゃな。
I hate to smoke VA flakes, they always burn my tongue, but Evening Flake was worth my effort. Natural sweetness with rich and peppery undertones, it starts with the classic flavors of graham, hay, oats, and citrus in every puff - then it leaves you gripping your chair with a nice nicotine buzz and spices. That continues consistently down to the ashes. Honestly, this is one of the tastiest VA flakes I've ever had.

Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Kentucky
An Old Friend
Kendal Kentucky isn’t a bad substitute for GH&C’s brown ropes, and it doesn’t go out of stock the very same day it went in. The shag cut might have been easier to pack for the old-tyme sailors, but it gets hot and nasty quicker than rubbed-out coins or ribbons to me. I’m explaining, not complaining. Dark Bird’s Eye is more palatable, but what does one expect from a straight DFK? I’m a fan of both! This tastes better to me than HH Bold Kentucky, and I love that stuff. I can’t taste any Lakeland soap here either.

Cornell & Diehl - Burley Flake #2 2oz
Basically Good
Had this tin since last year, just poured the last of my Haunted Bookshop into its remnants to finish off this week. I love the taste of C&D’s Dark Burley, but this particular broken flake only satisfies me blended with other tobaccos. For what it is, I think I should give it a full 5 stars, but with everything else C&D has to offer, it might be a long time before I ever taste it again. Not this Dark Burley, I mean, but Flake #2.

Cleaners & Cleaning Supplies - Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil 18ml
Stems That Shine Like New, Forever
I paint this stuff onto my Vulcanite stems about every two weeks with a small brush, then I let it sit for half an hour before polishing it off. There is an obvious difference afterward, and even my older pipes are starting to look new again. After months of abuse and travel with my pipes, their stems still look glossy. It’s well worth the time and effort. Mineral oils are what industry uses to maintain hard rubber, so it’s also a good idea to keep the already-abused stems on your workhorse pipes from oxidizing and becoming brittle.

Cleaners & Cleaning Supplies - Brebbia Stem Polish (7.5 ml)
Impressed
Had an estate pipe I recently restored with what I thought was irreparable oxidation on the stem. This stuff is like magic, it really impressed me. Works on the briar just as well - it took years of caked soot off the rim of the bowl with just a little effort (to be honest, I used a Dremel tool with a buffing wheel on the rim in conjunction with this polish. What can I say, I was a Teamster for years - “work smarter, not harder” is like the 11th commandment, might as well be a constitutional amendment.)

Cornell & Diehl - Green River Vanilla
The Only C&D Tobacco I’ve Ever Hated
This BC has the worst consistency of any black, wet leaf I have ever smoked. Oh sure, they’re all a little goopy, but this stuff is actually viscous, even slimy. I had no problems inhaling C&D’s Green River Vanilla BC - and it doesn’t taste bad, or leave any weird mouthfeel afterward. You could probably even eat it; I baked mine in the oven for a while on a sheet of wax paper, low heat. It dries out ok. It still leaves an oily film that lingers longer than any other on the fingertips, even after baking. The guy that said it’s motor oil really, really wasn’t kidding. I gave most of it away.

Cornell & Diehl - Kajun Kake 2oz
Just Don’t Eat It
I was hoping to review a C&D tin I disliked tonight, because I seem biased and had not touched this one since last year. But it didn’t seem fair to review it without smoking some again first. Kajun Kake is smooth, strong, and simply delicious. Candidly speaking, I can hear old Satchmo off in the distance now playing When the Saints Go Marching. I said that Gates of Light was a sweet and spicy ride - this is plain old Earth Candy. AH EE! Welcome to de swamp, bruthahs un sissas! Yeah! But eat something before you inhale too much, no really.

Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop 2oz
The Most “C&Dish” Blend I’ve Ever Tried
The title might say everything. Sweet and musky, peppered with broken flake, stout and packed with flavor, I’ll smoke every bowl down to powder and finish the entire tin before the end of Spring - that’s in case it didn’t.

John Cotton's - Double Pressed Kentucky 1.75oz
A Porterhouse in your Pipe
I received a tin of this two years ago as a Christmas present, so its cost has no bearing on my opinion of the smoke. It’s not just as good as a good cigar, it’s even better - this stuff will have you rethinking your own concepts of a flavor profile. Despite that hefty B&M shelf price (can you believe people actually pay this price for HH Acadian Perique at stores?) and the admittedly small-looking cake size, the depth and intensity of flavor is worth every single penny. That Christmas tin only lasted me a week, I couldn’t stop reaching for it. Believe me, the next one I get is coming out of my own pocket, and it will not be the last. Glad to see it here! Even if it somehow feels like extortion. (Of course, Stokkebye was not to be outdone by the likes of you there, SGT. But these John Cotton tins are all delicious, and Smoking Pipes has them at rock bottom prices.)

Cornell & Diehl - Gates of Light: Sha'are Orah 2oz
It’s As Magical as Its Name Suggests
The tin of this I’m finishing up now is almost a year old, so - bear in mind I hit the jackpot. But this has got to be my favorite treatment of C&D’s Perique so far. Its interplay between that mouth-watering Stoved Red and the floral hints of Turkish is nothing short of miraculous. A ponderous medley of some of the best raw components you can find, curl up with a good book and stretch your mind a little - you’re in for a sweet and spicy ride all the way to powdertown.

Cornell & Diehl - Morning Light: Boker Or 2oz
Turkish Treasure
This stuff never gets old, so I smoke it all the way down to its tasty, powdered ashes. Perfect nicotine level for a daily smoke, even great at night. Another one that tastes as great to smoke as it does to sip and savor.

Cornell & Diehl - Sansepolcro 2oz
Not What You Might Expect
This is not an ordinary DFK blend. The Dark Fired here presents more of a vinegar and pepper profile than that of smoky leather, and it’s incredibly light. It reminds me of a good, unroasted Dark Burley. The Virginia here is sweet and grassy, and it comes in equal measures. Had no clue there was any cavendish in this until just now. That said, what seemed like a disappointment at first turned out to be a real champion - I have been milking this tin for months, and I’m eyeing another one before they’re all gone.

Low Country - Natural Virginia & Burley
Bargain Price, Bombshell Flavor
I was hesitant trying this blend. As far as I understand, Low Country is blended by C&D, and my experience with their Dark Burley has been a little rough. The batch I recently received was a bit long in the tooth, and it had more pepper than flavor - that was even blended 2:3 with LC Natural Virginia. What was used in this blend, however, is a lot more fresh - the balance here between pepper and flavor is perfect. For the price, this is one of the best “sit down and smoke” blends you can find for the price.

Cornell & Diehl - Pegasus 2oz
Thankfully, You Don’t Need To Be Bellerophon To Fly This Steed
This is my personal favorite C&D blend to-date - it’s the pentacle of the art. Stout but cool, bite-free and easy smoking all day long, unrelenting with natural flavors of cocoa, cream, and granola all the way down to the powdery ashes, an almost carbonated tingle on the retro - I can’t seem to put this stuff down. Tasty doesn’t even scratch the surface. I’m puffing on a bowl right now in my Country Gentleman, and nothing could wipe the grin off my face for the next half-hour. No, it’s not very complex, but it does not need to be - everything is in perfect proportion. Yes, it can be a bit rough, but it’s raw and I love it. This is the reason Burley is still the king of pipe tobacco to my palate. And unlike its namesake, this one might actually fly you to the heavens.

Cornell & Diehl - Daylight: Or L'yom 2oz
Tobacco The Way Adonai Intended
I must say, I was somewhat disappointed in this blend at first. I got nothing of the Perique or Turkish, and the Cavendish only appeared intermittently. It was all good tobacco, but that’s about it. It really surprised me today. It seems the more I smoke Daylight the more the components color my experience - the Cavendish is definitely present in every bowl. Now I can distinctly taste the melon tang of the Turkish, and won’t be shocked to discover in future bowls the musk of the Perique that no doubt contributes to the delightfully stout pepper in the retrohale. Given a chance and some attention, the pure taste and complexity of this blend really does shine like the Light of Day. In fact, I think Aaron could have burned this stuff in the tabernacle instead of frankincense and G-d would have been just as pleased. Wish they carried this in bulk! I’ll have to try the whole series!

Cornell & Diehl - Dark Burley
A Method for Setting One’s Face on Fire
Description reads, “a mellow smoke and fine flavor”, but smoking this batch on its own I get pepper maced and have to labor to find the flavor. I love the smoky ketchup and cigar taste of a good Kentucky Burley, and you will find it hiding its full glory in this leaf, but there is far more pepper here than anything else. It is fine blended - given a month to sit in a tin with some Virginia, the flavor becomes far more evident - it’s truly delicious - but the strength of the pepper persists. I ended up giving the majorly of the two ounces I purchased away to an older man in a care home who normally smokes sniped cigarettes, and he fell in love with it, though in hindsight I could have found my own good uses for it. Maybe it was just the batch I received - fermented indeed, there was a significant amount of bloom on the leaf, and I think if I’d sat on it much longer it might have turned into actual Perique (that was a joke). But in all fairness, mellow seems to be subjective. This stuff might actually set your face on fire. I’ll stick with tins and avoid bulk from now on, at least while I still have my own teeth!

Cornell & Diehl - Red Virginia Ribbon
Sticks & Powder
The leaf itself deserves a full 5 stars. Rich with the flavors of hay and tangy cider, this is pure, quality Red Virginia, and it doesn’t get any tastier than this so fresh. Smokes smooth, cool, and bite-free on its own, and has a fairly modest kick of nicotine. It arrived quite dry, but it hydrated nicely. When it arrived, I applied roughly 3mL of water to an ounce and a half, mixed it in the bag, and let it sit overnight. The problem is, I had ordered 2 ounces - roughly half an ounce of the weight consisted of a fine powder that I had to sift off the intact ribbons, and three disappointingly large stems (one of which was almost 7cm long and had the thickness of a muddling straw.) My advice, since this is such an excellent tobacco - try a tin first. C&D tins usually have perfect moisture levels (which means no powder) and fewer stems. Then, buy a pound in bulk if it suits you - the 1lb bags tend to have better moisture content, far less powder, and any large stems found within them will seem more unavoidable than disappointing.

Low Country - Natural Virginia
Not A Cheap Tobacco
It’s not just a decent blending base or cob-fodder, this by far the best value for an honestly good Virginia blend out there. It’s smooth, creamy, cheaper than any “pipe tobacco” bulk bag from a liquor store, and 10x tastier. A 4:1 blend of this and C&D’s Dark Fired has become my new daily smoke. In hindsight, I wish I would have gotten the Virginia/ Burley blend - didn’t expect it to be this good! EDIT, just bought another pound, and “complexity and sophistication” be damned, price is a factor, and it really does deserve a full 5 stars.

Mac Baren - HH Bold Kentucky 1.75oz
Very Good but Not Quite A Brown Rope
I love this stuff! The extremely rich and smoky flavor of the Burley really pairs nicely with the subtle sweetness of the Virginia here. It’s strong but well-balanced, and that musky flavor will permeate your senses in a way that keeps you coming back for more. I do have to add, though - another reviewer attempts to suggest this is a viable substitute for GH&Co ropes. Bold Kentucky certainly has a similar profile and decent strength, but it misses the flavor mark for me by a wide margin. It is not as oily or pungent - it’s more like a cousin than a brother. Still tastes delicious, worthy of 5 stars without any comparison, so don’t let that diminish your enjoyment of what this actually is - very good indeed.

Cornell & Diehl - Three Friars
Breakfast of Champions
Citrusy bright Virginia ribbon and musky, peppery balls of Perique is aggregated with big chunks of broken flake - what must be Brown Virginia. I don’t taste any of the Burley, only Perique and Virginia. The flake has an almost graham cracker-like twang to it, a lot like Newminster No. 400. No need to fiddle with this blend, just pack and light (I did find an almost entirely intact flake at the bottom of my bag, but still, the larger chunks lend enjoyable variation to each bowl.) The nicotine level is just right, but it can pack a punch after consecutive bowls. Turns out to be a pretty good daily smoke, though. Goes good with a cup of black coffee first thing in the morning - it’s an eye-opener.

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