Bens Beginners Selection Pipe Tobacco Sampler - 40g

Date Added: Sunday 25 February, 2024 by Joe

Firstly - these smell FANTASTIC. They're all quite sweet, lightly creamy, deliciously floral, scent-wise.

Though the actual flavour of the smoke isn't as reminiscent of the smell of the tobacco as I'd hoped (though I've since come to learn this is typical of aromatic flavours overall) they are still very, very tasty smokes. I found them to be a great introduction to pipe smoking as they're very forgiving, accessible, and easy to work with in terms of moistness, texture consistency, ready-to-use, and very easy to pack and keep ignited - especially once I discovered the spiral-palm packing method, and the "breathing" method for smoking - the whole process became a breeze (excuse the pun). As long as you're not smoking your pipe too hot (another learned skill of pipe-smoking I quickly found out) there's no harshness or overpowering notes... compared to some others I tried (eg the 'Nothing But Flake' sampler) which were much more of an acquired taste (and texture).

If I had a complaint (which I don't, if I'm honest) - it's that no single flavour stuck out for me above the other three in order to have a definite favourite overall. However, the nougat blend I definitely got through the quickest, which may be a good sign :)

Can't go wrong with the price either. "Beginners Selection" couldn't be more true - though that doesn't mean they're overly simplistic and would be unappealing to a seasoned smoker either. I would certainly buy again, but I'm gonna branch out and explore a few more different flavour profiles before I do.

(Funny side-note: the smell of the raw tobacco was so distinctively aromatic and appealing that, as soon as I opened the pouch, a friend even asked for a pinch of the Gold for his hand-rolled cigarette, and surprisingly he didn't complain of any harshness despite inhaling the cigarette (FYI: you shouldn't inhale pipe tobacco lol))