I am wondering if any of you have tried some of the blends from Middle Earth Tobacco? I heard about them on Ollie Sylvester's pod cast. I will be ordering some of the blends. I was just wondering if any of you had any experience with them.
Middle Earth Tobacco
- Thread starter riffraff
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Nope, tried the country squire blends and tried just for him blends - those are the primary ones I always hear about.
I think people starting their own blending businesses is great, but i'm rather put off by the heavy LOTR marketing strategy. It would have been OK if the name of the blending house was Middle Earth Tobaccos, but the descriptions and the lines such as "Gimli's favorite" really don't do much for me.
But that wont stop me from placing an order if some Piper Brother comes back to this thread raving about how awesome these blends are...
But that wont stop me from placing an order if some Piper Brother comes back to this thread raving about how awesome these blends are...
Yeah, I dont go in much for those type of blends either - but I understand why they are marketing it as such.
The only "middle earth" tobacco I've tried is Shortcut to Mushrooms which is a blend from Just For Him. I found it to be a very nice crossover type of tobacco, using some cavendish and latakia. Quite mild, but you can taste the latakia in the background, similar to the Frog Morton blends, but not quite as good IMO. It's good enough that I can see keeping this in my rotation for now though.
Oh, I almost forgot, I was given a sample of Hobbits Weed a few months ago, a cherry blend. which I guess would be a "middle earth" tobacco. I forget who makes it, and as cherry blends go it was pretty good, but not good enough to replace the only cherry blend I like, PS Cherry Bon Bon.
Oh, I almost forgot, I was given a sample of Hobbits Weed a few months ago, a cherry blend. which I guess would be a "middle earth" tobacco. I forget who makes it, and as cherry blends go it was pretty good, but not good enough to replace the only cherry blend I like, PS Cherry Bon Bon.
Thanks for the input. I am going to order some samples. I will let you guys know what I think. Take that for what it's worth. :D
Thanks Mike. The Old Toby is a for sure purchase. I might just get the sampler which includes all of his blends.
This I can agree with, it doesn't take much of an investment to buy a decent digital scale. If anything should hurt him, that should be it. That said, I'll give the guy a shot to impress me. Just ordered two of his blends. Granted the site isn't exactly flashy and polished but it's functional. As long as he ships the product I don't really care. Shipping was damn cheap.
I find the whole concept of "I won't try his stuff because of the name" to be ridiculous. There are a ton of blends out there with cheesy names. We could start a ten page thread on overused seafaring themed names alone. What if a LotR fan tried one of his blends BECAUSE of the name, found they really liked pipe smoking and stuck with it. Would that be such a bad thing? If it helps, even slightly, to promote the hobby I don't see the negative. Now, if his blends suck then all bets are off but I won't discount them just because of a name. If that were the case then I would have to discount anything named after a street in London because, OH MY GOD there are a bunch of those. Talk about being played to death.
While I can't speak for anyone else, I think the frustration with the LOTR theme is that it exploded once the movies did. Pipe smokers have long been endeared to Tolkien novels since they speak so favorably about our hobby. When the movies release though and the flood gates open with tons of shoddily made pipes and a dozen new companies marketing blends with LOTR names, it gets a bit much. In that respect, throwing yet another on the pile isn't going to help you get noticed and might inadvertently be lumped in with some lesser product. Personally though I don't care what something is called if it tastes good. La Merde de Cheval anyone?
When I first read The Hobbit and LOTR back in the 1960s, there was no shortage of pipe smokers then so that part of it was not much of an issue. The resurgence of Tolkien's work since the movies started has brought a flood of pipes and tobacco blends that take advantage of that popularity. For the most part, I am pretty turned off by anything that takes advantage of this.
Tolkien never mentions any characteristics of the blends that his characters smoke. IMO, if you want something that is truly tied to the LOTR, smoke Capstan, which is purportedly Tolkien's brand of choice. Don't expect the knock-offs to be good just because they make use of the names. (Actually, smoke Capstan just because it's a really good blend)
Tolkien never mentions any characteristics of the blends that his characters smoke. IMO, if you want something that is truly tied to the LOTR, smoke Capstan, which is purportedly Tolkien's brand of choice. Don't expect the knock-offs to be good just because they make use of the names. (Actually, smoke Capstan just because it's a really good blend)
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