Anybody Else Experiencing this problem trying to go to tobacco reviews .com?

[shikano53]

I've been going to to tobaccoreviews.com site for 15 years and all of a sudden today I got redirected to this error message from something called Cloudfare?
I have no idea what this is or why. I was on the tobaccoreviews.com site a few days ago.

Has anyone else encountered this?
Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[InWithBothFeet]

Are you in Europe? If so, you will have to run a VPN. There are free ones available.

 

[fireground_piper]

Tobaccoreview Not Accessible From Outside the US? :: General Discussion

Hi Just noticed this morning that I need to connect through a US server to access tobaccoreviews.com. Otherwise i have this: Does anyone also need to use a VPN to access TR?

pipesmagazine.com

 

[shikano53]

Many thanks! Several other review sites. Will have to check them out. Or, I may just start growing my own. I know there is a guy in northern Alberta who grows his own. I will have to look into this.

 

[Eireprof]

It's been really slow for me, but I'm still getting through to reviews.

 

[Sigmund]

If you happen to use Norton 360 Deluxe it includes a vpn and you can pick the country you want to imitate (USA for that site). Its not the fastest but its plenty fast for the TR site which isnt lightening fast anyway.

 

[woodsroad]

I’ve always found TobaccoReviews to be mostly useless. My experience rarely compares to the reviews, which I often find to be overly verbose and self-indulgent.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I’ve always found TobaccoReviews to be mostly useless. My experience rarely compares to the reviews, which I often find to be overly verbose and self-indulgent.

I usually use it just to get an idea of what is in a blend, is it cased, how strong is it, etc... Of course, Jim's reviews are the only ones I pay any head to. But, I will stop and read a few others if they seem humorous or entertaining... dilly dallying around, h aha. But, yeh... if someone is looking to see whether a blend is popular or "the best" you're engaging in an effort that is useless from the ground up.

I know that cigar guys like to look through reviews to find the "top" rated cigars; the 95-99 rated crowd. But, mostly these types of cigar guys are knuckle dragging Neanderthals that have no sense of real taste to begin with.

You have to start relying on your own sense of taste. Not other people's. But, TR does have it's uses.

 

[woodsroad]

I usually use it just to get an idea of what is in a blend, is it cased, how strong is it, etc... Of course, Jim's reviews are the only ones I pay any head to. But, I will stop and read a few others if they seem humorous or entertaining... dilly dallying around, h aha. But, yeh... if someone is looking to see whether a blend is popular or "the best" you're engaging in an effort that is useless from the ground up.

I know that cigar guys like to look through reviews to find the "top" rated cigars; the 95-99 rated crowd. But, mostly these types of cigar guys are knuckle dragging Neanderthals that have no sense of real taste to begin with.

You have to start relying on your own sense of taste. Not other people's. But, TR does have it's uses.

So often, when I read reviews of any kind on things I already own, eat, smoke, been to etc., my experience is quite different than the author’s. Sometimes, there’s a broad consensus (“York Peppermint Patties are the best!”) but more often than not, my experience is somewhat different.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So often, when I read reviews of any kind on things I already own, eat, smoke, been to etc., my experience is quite different than the author’s. Sometimes, there’s a broad consensus (“York Peppermint Patties are the best!”) but more often than not, my experience is somewhat different.

That is if you use the reviews to see what is best or worst. Those are very subjective. Even a few people like Mixture 79.
But, I do find that my tastes align with Jim's, in that I tend to pick out most of the same tastes in the tobaccos he reviews. Not 100%, but enough to get an idea if I am going to like it or not.
And, some tastes I avoid like the plague.

What is starting to make reviews pointless, are company take overs and a certain company that is playing with casings and toppings and not telling the truth about it. So, readers have to beware of things like this as they use the reviews.

But yeh... if you are looking for someone else to tell you what you'll like, you're a f'ing moron.

 

[woodsroad]

I used to look at TR to see if a Gawith blend had any Lakeland, and if so, to what extent, but even then the reviews were often contradictory!

 

[sablebrush52]

Reviews are subjective. Some may be informed by experience and study. Nonetheless they are all subjective, even when trying to be objective, as reviewing is an experiential form of communication and experience is personal and subjective.

There were a handful of reviewers I found useful on TR. Besides jiminks, steel cowboy, drums and beer, and a couple of others whose accounts are now emeritus accounts. All of them demonstrated an ability to coherently convey their experience of smoking a blend, and I found that their taste generally agreed with mine. That made their reviews useful to me as a filter.

To be honest, I did most of my searching myself, or through recommendations by people I know. TR has played little to no part i my choices. I more often look at the reviews in retrospect, after I've tried out a blend, just to compare notes. Even that's rare. I don't need someone to tell me what to like, or validate my choices, nor my experiences, at least when it comes to pipe blends.

Even though tobaccoreviews.com has meant little to me, I appreciate how important is is to others and hope that it will be made and kept available to all who want to engage with it.

This banning is bullshit in excelsis .

 

[Terry Lennox]

Generally I go by the user reviews on SP translated from Mandarin that refer to tobacco as "grass" and Orlik Golden Sliced as "the red judge."

No, seriously though, you have to sample a lot of the TR reviews and sort by date. The newer ones may tell you what the blend tastes like now, not 20 years ago.

 

[sardonicus87]

Honestly, I only ever use TR to see the components or cut of a blend that isn't sold on SP. Most of the time, even that's useless though, like recently when I looked up LJP Blend 111 I was looking it up to see if it had Kentucky in it. Of course, ingredients just says "burley", doesn't distinguish what types.

Sometimes it's funny to read reviews though, like one for the aforementioned LJP 111 starts with "A Virginia-based light English blend, with a light touch of Latakia". I'm sure they accidentally reviewed the wrong blend, but still funny to see.

Most of the reviews are largely useless, much like many reviews on many sites.

 

[Barry H]

I'm sure that for those with long and varied experience TR would seem to be an exercise in deficiency and futiliy. However, as a returning pipe smoker after a too long an absence, I've found it invaluable for several reasons not least of which has been to see what the consensus is regarding whatever blend, both of those I've tried and those that sound interesting. Searching and sorting by parameters is also useful as is the listing of component tobaccos, ie What's the most reviewed English blend? What are those blends with the highest ratings? etc. All interesting stuff, especially in the beginning.

Yes, I'll take any one review with a large pinch of salt and I'll make up my own mind, working my way through depleting my bank account in the process. But there have been reviews that, to me, have been interesting, useful, funny, or got me wondering. Surely that's the point? Safe to say that I wouldn’t be where I am on my journey to pipe smoking nirvana without the contributions of my fellow tobacco connoisseurs on TR, whether I agree with them or not. Like this forum, it’s part of the 'fun'. I'm disappointed that TR is now out of bounds in the UK without a VPN, but at least I've got 'ze list' to be going on with before the door slammed shut!

 

[Sigmund]

There are free vpn services in most countires. Often you get some ads.

 

[Sicut_Incensum]

Has anyone put together a tobacco database website that actually presents, in clean alphabetical order, as many tobacco blends as possible with clear factual info about manufacturer, style, tobacco types, maybe short pithy summaries of consensus views, remaining as objective as possible? Not a review site, a lean and professional reference database.

If not, I might actually give it a shot. That kind of thing sounds fun to me.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

factual info about manufacturer, style, tobacco types, maybe short pithy summaries of consensus views, remaining as objective as possible?

You want something that requires totally factual and objective statements about a blend. I don't even think it's possible for the companies themselves to do that, much less someone from outside the industry.

 

[Sicut_Incensum]

You want something that requires totally factual and objective statements about a blend. I don't even think it's possible for the companies themselves to do that, much less someone from outside the industry.

The more boutique blenders tend to be pretty honest about the tobacco varieties in their blends as a point of pride, but yes. All the more reason to have a database with citations, though, for those rare occasions when we CAN get objective info!

 

[bpinkstaff]

I like cake!