El día de hoy ha tocado una labor con Carter Hall en una pipa española marca Ena de shape Bent Bulldog. Este aromático está compuesto de burley, virginia, chocolate y bourbon, suave, semidulce, de corte Ribbon algo mas delgado que un Ready Rubbed, ideal para todo el día, huele rico y nos es agresivo al paladar, si no se lo apura se mantiene indemne de principio a fin. Para aquellos que deseen saber mas, aquí un review:
40 years ago I tried this blend and hated it. I wasn't ready for burley blends. Except for my occasional SWRA forays, my reluctance for smoking OTCs since then was hard to break. Recently, I decided to try it again. It's a bit nutty, with a mild chocolate, and a little molasses, along with a light bourbon topping. The toppings do weaken a tad toward the finish, and the natural tobacco flavors become more obvious. The nic-hit is mild. It burns cool and evenly, doesn't need to be relit much, packs very easily, with a very pleasant after taste. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl. It goes well with any drink you choose. Some people kind of look askance at the thought of smoking an OTC. Don't expect more from it than it's meant to be, and you will enjoy it. There are more expensive burley blends and some of them are better than this, but for the price and convenience and taste, it's worth being in your rotation if you like burleys.
Mild Mild Medium Tolerable
My 90 year old pipesmoking mentor smokes this blend exclusively. He will accept tins of the high-dollar tobacco that I sometimes bring him, and smoke them, but a few months later when I stop by for a visit, there's a can of Carter Hall sitting beside his easy chair, open and ready for the next fill of the pipe.
My friend is a pipesmoker like the old men I remember from my youth. He gets his pipes from Wal Mart and smokes them till they "wear out," and then buys some more. No fancy tobacco jars, no special packing technique, just a dip, a push of the thumb and light 'er up, tamp once and relax.
And so I like this blend. Not only because my pipesmoking friend smokes it, but I like the way CH packs, lights, burns steady and without too much fuss. I inhale occasionally and the draw feels good. This blend is just steady and unpretentious, like my friend, and I know I'll always have a tub of this on hand. Whenever I leave after a visit, the old pipesmoker says, "Load up a bowl before you go." That's the way I think of Carter Hall, easy-going and always ready with a kind offer of a good smoke.
Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is an affordable gem. Carter Hall has a slighty nutty, faintly sweet taste that stays consistent throughout the bowl. There is nothing complex about this tobacco, which is a good thing. Sometimes simple is good. A bowl of CH in a cob is one of life's simple treasures.
Mild to Medium None Detected Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
Let me start off by saying that when I first started smoking a pipe when I was 18 I tried to get things that 'smelled good'. You know the stuff, cherries, vanilla, etc. Later, I found my way to more tobacco-tasting tobaccos and by the time I was 19 I was working in the local tobacconist/pipeshop and dismissed the 'drugstore' blends from which I had graduated as cheap stuff, not worthy of my pipes.
Well, I'm older now and I hope that I am more mature. I am willing to confess my errors. Coming back to the pipe after 20 years of cigarettes, I just couldn't find my way back to an English type, tobacco tasting, all day, every day kinda smoke. Then I read the reviews here for Carter Hall. My smoking life has changed and I have learned something in the process.
Carter Hall is not fancy. It is about as 'plain-Jane' as you can get. It is just burley with a sprinkling of virginia flake. It is monochromatic; doesn't change much as you smoke it. But it burns to the bottom of the bowl without too much fuss and it burns to a fine white ash with no bits of charcoal left in the bottom of the pipe. It provides enough nicotine for this one to kick the cigs. And, while not an aromatic, no one seems to run away screaming because of the malodorous fumes emanating from the general direction of my smoldering Peterson. By itself, this is a good quality 'baccy' and its simplicity and straightforwardness are to be appreciated as such.
It is, as has been mentioned, probably the best pipeweed for breaking in a new pipe. Even smoking 1/2 pipes full initially, I have always had a difficult time caking up the bottom of the bowl. Not with Carter Hall. A good 4-6 smokes at half full and you are on your way to a nice cake down there.
Because of its rather neutral character, it is wonderful for taming down a blend that just isn't right, somehow. The addition of a little CH doesn't change the tast much and tones down strong flavors and bitey-ness. It is also great for working the ghosts of other blends out of your pipes.
Having said that this blend is great on its own, and it is, I have also experiemted using it as a base for some blending. Because of its nice easy, gentle burning qualities, it proves a good base for other things so as to give me a bit of variety. Variety is necessary in some things. (You don't eat the same thing for dinner every night do you?)
I can't say enough good things about this tobacco. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's plain and simple, true. But, there is value in the plain and simple. Give it a go.
I am often asked if I have a favorite "Drug Store" type blend. I always answer quickly that "yes, I do and it's Carter Hall." In fact, Carter Hall is a blend I smoke at least twice a day and is a wonderful tobacco to smoke late in the evening before calling it quits. Carter Hall is probably the most impressive of all the "drug store" blends I have tried because it tastes like tobacco without fruity casing, and has some strength to it. The Burley is top-shelf and provides a no-nonsense tobacco taste.
This tobacco is bite free and I doubt that even Thomas the Tank Engine could puff this stuff up into the hot zone. It also has some kind of component that makes the ash adhere to the walls of your pipe, thus, aids the caking process in new pipes.
