"...without the discomfort of thought"...is an elegant way of defining critical thinking.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are tobacco reviews really of much value?
- Thread starter Bub
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William Serad's and Ted Gage's reviews on Pipes and Tobacco Magazine were tremendously helpful to me when I first started. They pointed to me tobaccos to try and genres to explore. I already knew I liked latakia but would never have tried scented Gawiths if I hadn't read their reviews. They wrote well and were pleasant to read. I'm sorry there aren't reviewers of their ilk any more.
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I just hate the reviews that read like the new online cooking sites. I wondered once upon a time how long to cook a turkey. "First gently rub the butter on the bird, ah butter, reminds me of growing up on the dairy farms of Wisconsin with my ill sister, Myrtle."
Or the reviewers that think they are damn poets, "The latakia lightly dances on my tongue like such smoldered ballerinas of yesteryear, calling forth scenes of such great contentment a tear falls."
Thats why I have my caveman reviews saved on my phone. Before I order anything, I check the caveman log.
Or the reviewers that think they are damn poets, "The latakia lightly dances on my tongue like such smoldered ballerinas of yesteryear, calling forth scenes of such great contentment a tear falls."
Thats why I have my caveman reviews saved on my phone. Before I order anything, I check the caveman log.
On the other hand, sometimes a negative review really drives home that I'll love a blend.Black licorice is delicious, especially the salty stuff from the Nordic countries. Its sweet, its salty, its just fantastic!! Pair that with a cold Dr Pepper, and you have absolute bliss.
If you take my review here and try these splendid delicacies, about 70% will hate me because of the licorice. Another 15%-20% will be disgusted by the Dr Pepper. Thats 85%-90% of you that wasted money due to my objective review of this delightful snack.
Reviews are mostly worthless, unless you trust the reviewer because you have similar tastes. But then you would already know what types of blends you like.
Anything more than moisture level, price, and quality of leaf is subjective and of little help, especially to new pipers. Ive heard SOOOOO many pipers say they avoided a blend for years because of reviews on TR. And now kick themselves because they absolutely love the blend.
In my opinion.
You'll just love salty black licorice and Dr Pepper!!On the other hand, sometimes a negative review really drives home that I'll love a blend.
The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Yeah... I tend to feel the same way. I'm like, "gee... it tastes like tobacco..."The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Now that reminds me of the crap that gets written about wines. A while ago there was a Food and Drink TV programme in UK, on which a highly lyrical wine taster, Gilly Goulden, once described a New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon white as "Cat's pee on a gooseberry bush." (in other words, she found it insipid and acidic, and she didn't like it). The winery retaliated by relabelling their entire stock as Cat's Pee On A Gooseberry Bush, with a cartoon of (you guessed it) a cat peeing on a gooseberry bush. Many UK wine drinkers who thought Gilly Goulden a pretentious snob (me included), promptly went out and bought the stuff by the case. Now if any tobacco manufacturer followed their example and renamed a blend after a graphically bad reviewer's description, I'm pretty sure I'd have to buy and try some. (Except, of course, for Sam Gawith's 1792 and what I had to say about it).The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Pork? Bahahahahah! That’s classic!The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Mmmm . . . pork.The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Indeed!! There are paid-professionals, self-declared experts, & "tasters/smellers" for perfume, wine, tobacco, every food recipe under the sun, that drone on & on. I might suggest they go get some hay, dirt, cardamom, etc, etc, & put it in their pipe instead of tobacco.The ones that really get me are the ones who taste 75 different things, completely unrelated to tobacco....and 1,000,000,000% subjective and useless.
"This blend tastes of freshly laundered curtains hung to dry on a breezy Summer day, and the contents of an old cedar chest in grandmothers attic ."
Or the extremely subjective listers.
"This tastes of cinnamon, roses, chi tea, oranges, earth, grass, olives, pine, granola, peaches, grains, pork..."
But the all time best are the constant contradictions.
One reviewer says, "this cherry blend is extremely and cloyingly sweet, with an overpowering flavor of cherry."
The very next reviewer says.
"How can they call this a cherry aromatic? It has ZERO cherry flavor and absolutely NO sweetness."
Tried it, didn't like it. Actually it was a match I think and one of the few I threw out. (surprise right now at this moment I wish I still had that 1/2 pint jar just to try it again!) Tasted mostly like ash to me.
Half n half on the other hand I get strong licorice
Gawith north star is very similar to HnH
Followed by my favorite but slightly less licorice- the mighty Warhorse
I recently tried bengal slices but failed to pull any licorice (despite the reviews)
Now- as you can tell I have a thing for licorice. My number one on my hunt list is gawith "licorice twist" or "aniseed twist" which I have a mind are the same thing. Rachel Gawith told me they import it to the states but to what supplier, gods only know.
I also wish I could get some esoterica ramsgate, but I also wanted to walk on the moon as a child.
A tobacco review appears to be a tricky thing. A tobacco review is entirely subjective. Compare that to say a review of lumber. With lumber you can check if the lumber is warped, has a bunch of knots and so forth. Another example would be a gallon of milk. You can choose a gallon that is fresher based upon the experation date on the carton; the fresher one should be better than the older one. So on some things there is a kind of objective criteria. Tobacco reviews are different there is no objective criteria available so the review is based upon what the author "likes". For myself I find it better to smell the tobacco, if I like it buy some; if I like the smoke I had with it buy some more.
aniseed twist is available from smoking pipes. its just out of stock at the moment. i got some in nov 24'. it was available for quite awhile IIRC.
Aniseed Twist - Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Pipe Tobacco
Gawith, Hoggarth & Co.'s Aniseed Twist is a rope tobacco spun from Indian Dark air-cured Virginia leaf and other strong Virginias, and flavored with aniseed.
www.smokingpipes.com
@JimInks does meaningfull,objective reviews.Tad Gage did some good ones,too.I use them to get an idea of what I may be getting into with a mixture I’m interested in.