Leather tongued tobacco reviews

[Thomas Tkach]

Tastes do change over time, which isn't a bad thing. But the older I get the more I like mild to moderate blends, moving away from Vitamin N heavy rockers. Might be because it took me a decade or three to fully get the hang of s l o o o o w sipping, controlled breathing and the benefits of small- to medium-size bowls. But re: TR -- I don't go much for the lyrical narratives or the wiseguy hatchet jobs. To ID a new tobak to try, I look at the numbers -- i.e., pipeweed that has a critical mass of reviews plus a high average score. Then I look at what the reviewers say, watching for phrases that I consider "good" -- nutty, slightly sweet, but natural tasting, dry, low maintenance . . . Just reading a few reviews of the same blend demonstrates how subjective the senses of taste and smell are, but paying attention to the numbers has been generally very helpful to me.

I operate pretty similarly to this. If a blend averages 2 stars, or anything less than 3, I'm probably not buying it. If it get 3.5+ and it sounds interesting, it goes on my list. There are always exceptions, though. Dark Navy Flake only gets a 3.0, but I bought it and like it just as well as red cake.

The great thing is looking at individual reviewers. If you favorite them, their reviews will appear on top. I think that's a great feature.

Something I wish people did more often is compare things to other blends in a similar category. Those negative reviews would be better if they said 'it's trying to be blend X, but doesn't do as good a job.' Even positive reviews could do similarly: 'It's like FVF, but slightly brighter and grassier.'