First Taste of War Horse Green

[mtwaller]

With high hopes I eagerly lit up my first bowl full... and all I taste is bubblegum! Anybody else experience this taste? I’m very disappointed. More so because this tobacco lights and burns like a goddamn champ right out of the tin, easiest plug I’ve ever worked with.

 

[olkofri]

Bought two tins of it so far, but haven't gotten around to try it, mostly out of fear of its high nicotine content. Guess I'll give it a whirl in the next few days and see how bubblegummy it is—or not.

 

[aldecaker]

Bubblegum?! They're not going after the vape crowd, are they? :rofl:

 

[mtwaller]

I’ve never been so put off by a tobacco that, on paper at least, I should adore. The new pipe I bought to smoke it out of turned out to be a big fat dud, I returned to smokingpipes without ever trying it, the construction was that bad. You win some, you lose some. Today I lost!

 

[mtwaller]

Olkofri I’m not really feeling the nicotine, BUT I used to smoke loads of cigarettes. And I pack pretty modest bowls, so your experience might differ entirely. The estate pipe I’m smoking out of was over reamed into bare wood and then some, I’ve not broken it in enough to get a good tasting smoke. I’ll try it out of a different pipe before I completely write this blend off.

 

[pepesdad1]

War Horse Bar (Red) uses Valerian as the casing...while War Horse Plug (Green) uses heliotrope as the casing...personally I like the red better, but bubblegum? Not to my tastebuds.

 

[renfield]

I don’t get bubblegum either.

I couldn’t figure out the green, heliotrope sounds right to me.
The red reminds me of Play-Doh. Apparently that’s what valerian smells like. Learn something every day.

 

[lawmax3]

No bubblegum taste when I smoke it.

It does seem to benefit from a few days in an occasionally opened jar.

I like the Red Much better than the Green, but the Green is not bad.

 

[mtwaller]

Huh, good to know on the casings! I’ll give it a few days and try it again, I want to love it but that first bowl was a struggle, I dumped a fair bit of it out.

 

[pepesdad1]

Give it a chance...it may take a few times but it is worth it...haven't tried the ready rubbed yet....maybe one day...

 

[hawky454]

I don’t like it at all. I don’t get bubble gum though, get Pay-Doh and Licorice. Tastes like a failed experiment to me.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The pipes I tried the War Horse blends in were institutionalized shortly after smoking.

 

[mtwaller]

Haha Embers that’s funny. I’ve honestly yet to have a tasty smoke out of this damn estate Peterson Spigot that was reamed half to death. Maybe it’s just the pipe... I usually like weird flavors. I should love this one. I’ll give it another shake before I draw battle lines and naysay this blend.

 

[craiginthecorn]

I taste licorice and like it quite a bit. It'll put hair on your chest, so a smallish chamber is best.

 

[alexnc]

Warhorse ready rubbed is a lot milder in the casing. You might like that, but it’s a similar flavor I think. It’s been a while, seems the green didn’t seem so powerful after a few bowls and I got used to it. But there the jar sits while I’ve smoked the ready rubbed and opened another. Have a red in waiting.

 

[blendtobac]

Just a note - the heliotrope/valerian/licorice are not part of the casing. They're components of the top-dressing which is applied toward the end of manufacture. Casings are generally some kind of sugar-based product and applied in the early stages or processing.
Russ

 

[alexnc]

Then I like the top-dressing on the ready rubbed quite a bit! Is the red considerable different from the Green?

 

[blendtobac]

The Green (other than the Valerian/Heliotrope difference) is topped more heavily that the red. The reason that both are so aromatic is that the base tobaccos include dark-fired Kentucky and dark air-cured leaf which would give it a flinty/earthy/peppery flavor without the top note.
Russ

 

[alexnc]

Thx. Maybe it’s time to pop that tin of red. I was less of a fan of the green than of the ready rubbed (which I love). I was only holding back because I have rr and green already jarred!

 

[condorlover1]

The War Horse Bar was designed to replicate the original version by Gallagher's. We fed Jim Inks goodness knows how many original War Horse Bars from the 1960s through to the early 1980s iteration and he and Russ felt like they had nailed it. That being said I have a box of original War Horse Bars from the early 1970s and John nearly poisoned Les Trout with one the other week. The consensus was that they should be sold in dime bags like high grade weed! The War Horse Green was meant to resemble a well known UK OTC blend but somehow emerged from Russ's lab tasting very different from what was envisioned. Its one of those blends you either love or hate without any middle ground. I have found it makes an excellent substitute for moth balls! :nana: