Boswell Aromatic Sampler

1 review for Boswell Aromatic Sampler

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Eddie Teague (verified owner) – July 16, 2020

   Been coming to the site a while, mostly to get the "hard-to-find" tobaccos. I have a wide range of tastes when it comes to pipe tobacco, but I have found it difficult to break into aromatics for years. Like most, I started with aromatics but found them to be frustrating.....too hot, hard on the tongue, hard on the pipe, wet, steamy, and rarely meeting expectations you get from the tin note. There have been few exceptions to this characterization. But, I have found some English Aromatics that at least made me feel like I could be "cool" and say I was part of the "Aromatic club." But the truth is, it's been a difficult journey for me. Easier to just load up a tasty English or stuff in a good VA flake. When I do find an aromatic with excellent flavor, like Mac Baren Plumcake, there's just always something wrong. Like Plumcake making my tongue feel like it's encountered razor blades. No matter how much I baby it. So I have quite a many aromatic tins "cellaring" which is what I think we all say when we're just hoping a blend will end up working out for us sometime many years in the future when we might not have anything left to smoke.

   After all this disappointment, occasionally I'll still give aromatics a chance, hoping something different might happen. And my experience buying here has been so positive, I figured I'd click on the "Boswell" tobaccos for a change and see what's going on in here. When I'm in a curious mood it's really the names of the aromatic blends that catch my eye. I'm a fat guy, so "Pennsylvania Dutch Treat" or whatever it is called sounds wonderful to me. There's so many delicious sounding blends here, I figured the best way to check it out was just to go for a sampler. I figured I'd give it a try, burn my tongue, dirty up a cob, and cellar the rest, and maybe get something out of them when I'm 60 and Prince Albert is the last pipe tobacco you can still buy on earth.

   Of course, aromatics always smell so good. So I couldn't resist trying at least one when they came. I figured the one labeled "Best" was a good place to start. My default attitude toward any aromatic is to dry at least an hour. Then I dumped some of "Boswell's Best" in a meer and lit it up.

   Now, let me tell you, if you've ever hit one of those blends that really lit up your eyes, like maybe the first time you tried Plum Pudding or Quiet Nights, that's what happened to me with Boswell's Best. Nice, delicious, perfectly light (but not too light), wonderful aromatic smoke. So good that I knew I was pushing it a bit and just accepted I was going to get bit. Well guess what? NO BITE. Not a nip. Flavor went to the end of the bowl, got just a tad stronger which was pleasant, little ash, no gurgle, and my wife stopped by to get a nice big whiff.

   So that was late last night, but I had big hopes for today. If that one was so good, I was excited to try another. So I moved on to "Piper's Pleasure" and got stuck on that one three bowls straight. I mean this stuff is everything I ever hoped for in an aromatic tobacco. And let me tell you, I have pushed this stuff like the first time you put a pipe in your mouth. It just doesn't bite. Can get hot if you get too greedy, but it's nature is to burn cool. Wife absolutely loves the room note. She says I can smoke as much of this stuff as I want. Piper's Pleasure hit an interesting spot on my tongue in a good way...like a Burley, but you don't really taste a heavy Burley flavor. It just falls on the tongue like Burleys do. It's a tad stronger than Boswell's Best and every bit as satisfying.

   If you have struggled to find your "perfect" aromatics, I highly recommend you start here. I tried the Dutch Treat one too, and same deal. No bite, no goop, no difficulties at all. Very tasty, just like you hope it is when you open the bag. I have been drying these a bit and they seem to light easier with some dry time. But I've smoked a few bowls without drying also...still no bite. These are the best tasting, most user-friendly aromatics I have encountered anywhere. And I've tried probably 150 aromatics in my life.

   These tobaccos are beautiful, too. I'm not necessarily one of those guys who gets into the appearance of the tobacco or even the room note that much. Just have to keep the wife reasonably happy about what I'm doing in here. But these tobaccos check every box as far as expectations. The tobacco looks like you're getting "the good stuff."

   I don't know which one is my favorite yet. Thing is, there's quite a few samplers here so it might take some time to figure out which one is my favorite. I picked up a couple ounces of what appears to be Boswell's flagship English blend (Northwoods) but I haven't tried it yet. Smells great like all the rest. But right now, I'm just happy to have finally found what I've been looking for in aromatic tobacco. If anyone has any doubt where to begin, I can vouch that this sampler is a good place to start.

   Just want to emphasize this again and then I'll shut up: the three I have tried are amazingly easy on the tongue. I hit it pretty hard tonight, and at the end I went and got me a nice big pickle. I don't usually pair pickles with pipe tobacco, but I know this: if a tobacco is hard on my tongue, I feel it when I eat a pickle. And I'm telling you, I didn't get even a tiny nip. If you're like me, this is great news, because I have always dreamed of enjoying a good aromatic without having to baby it all the time and work so hard to manage the pipe to protect my tongue. I'm looking forward to the Northwoods but these aromatics are by far the best I have ever tried, and I'm looking forward to trying them all.