If you like Cavendish tobaccos, then you must read on. I recently smoked 3 of the 5 versions and enjoyed them all immensely. I smoked Captain Black Regular (white package), Captain Black Gold (gold package) and Captain Black Royal (dark blue package). The other two versions that I didn’t smoke are Captain Black Light (light blue package) and Captain Black Cherry (red package). You usually find Captain Black at various chain stores that sell pipe tobacco such as CVS Drug Stores, Walmart and other chains. Don’t let the chosen distribution chain for Captain Black fool you.
It’s really hard to find anything bad to say about Captain Black Regular. Many “drug store” tobaccos and aromatic tobaccos get panned by reviewers as being too sweet, artificial tasting, tongue-biting, hot burning, tasteless disasters. Captain Black has that pipe tobacco smell that instantly brings you back to simpler times.
All flavored tobacco and cigars are now banned in Massachusetts. That includes all flavored cigars, Pipe Tobacco, and Hookah Tobacco etc. Any orders containing Flavored Tobacco will have those products removed and refunded. Again, please direct all complaints to Governor Charlie Baker’s administration. Captain Black has stuck to a basic look for the last seven decades, a solid color background which indicates which blend it is, with a black silhouette of a tall ship. It’s an iconic package that is easy to recognize for anyone who has been in the hobby for awhile.
I have to admit, I am not going to win a slow smoking contest anytime soon. I usually have to re-light about 4 – 6 times, sometimes more when I smoke a pipe. I re-lit Captain Black 3 times, and the first time was after it was half gone, about 25 minutes into it. The room note is as enjoyable as the pouch aroma and the flavor is a nice mellow vanilla and roasted marshmallow flavor. It almost tastes like whipped-cream, which goes quite well with the Van Gogh Espresso.
However I’ve not had a bowl yet of any of these tobaccos without having to nurse a burnt tongue for a day or two. On top of that both the Original and Red required numerous relights to coax the fire along. The Gold if anything burned too well, which added to the tongue bite I’m sure. I can’t tell if the nip on my tongue is pepper from the Virginia or tongue bite. It sweetens up with more salt and a strong lemon zest. Some toast comes in about halfway, but it is otherwise sweet, salty, lemon, strawberry, vanilla through most of the bowl.
Simply put, how pronounced is the tobacco’s scent to those around you? Is it light and unassuming, or bold and pronounced? The more apparent and prominent the scent of your tobacco, the more intensive the room note. Similar to wine or beer, tobacco body refers to the depth and fullness of flavor. The types of tobacco leaves used determine the body of a blend. A low bodied blend (like Cavendish) could be compared to a Pilsner while an intensive bodied blend (such as Latakia) could be peterson pipes compared to a Stout.
Pipemaker Eric E. Christie has been hand making pipes for over three decades, learning his trade from one of America’s great pipemakers in the 1980’s, Richard C. Johnson. Mr. Johnson started making Pipes in 1939 for Weber Pipe Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey, although he eventually left Jersey City for rural Pennsylvania he continued to do specialty work for Weber Pipe Co. from his small farm. Mr. Johnson opened his own tobacco store, Johnson’s Pipe Shop, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where he made his own line of handmade pipes, Johnson Pipes. The standard samples were used to evaluate the method of analysis. Before the analysis of the nicotine samples which were extracted from different brands of cigarette, the method was evaluated. Calibration curve were constructed by plotting peak height ratios of nicotine to internal standard against the respective concentrations.
All brands were filter cigarettes except for one domestic brand which was non-filter cigarette. Furthermore, three available and popular imported pipe tobaccos (Captain Black Cherry, Captain Black Royal, Captain Black Gold) were also investigated for their nicotine contents. All the cigarette and tobacco samples were obtained from the market. Fourteen popular imported brands and nine popular domestic brands of cigarettes and three available brands of tobaccos were investigated for the amounts of nicotine content.
Captain Black Royal is a good middle ground between the two other versions. Captain Black Gold is great for when you are in the mood for a sweet VA, but watch the bite, smoke slow. Captain Black Regular (White) is great when you want a sweet black Cavendish that doesn’t bite, and Captain Black Royal is slightly toned-down on the sweetness, great for smoking all day. In the photo and chacom tobacco pipes descriptions above, you can see a side by side comparison of the different tobaccos that make up each blend, how they look and taste different.
A selection of cigars and cigarillos are also produced under the Captain Black name. The best-selling pipe tobacco in the world is Captain Black Regular (White). A Beloved blend enjoyed by almost everyone who considers themselves a pipe smoker.