Burley Tobacco » Carter Hall Tobacco Reviews

A pleasant companion

Some pipe tobaccos can elicit strong reactions from smokers. Some are delighted while others are disgusted.
It's difficult to imagine a pipe smoker loving or hating Carter Hall. It's not that kind of smoke.
Like its Middleton cousin, the famous Prince Albert, CH is a venerable "drug store" blend that has been pleasing generations of American pipe smokers.
It burns cool, smokes dry and produces a subtle room note that is likekly to appeal to many but certainly won't offend those nearby.
If you're looking for a bold, complex taste, look elsewhere.
However, if you enjoy a mild, bite-free smoke dip into a pouch of CH.
In fact, it's so mild CH can comfortably become an all-day smoke, equally suited to accompany your morning coffee or favorite late-night adult beverage.
My personal preference is for the slightly more flavorful Prince Albert, but I have never had a bowl of CH that I didn't enjoy. And there have been
days when it has been my pleasant companion from dawn to dusk.
Like many pipe smokers, I enjoy sampling a variety of blends. But invariably I find myself returning to PA and CH.
CH, in particular, is consistently satisfying pouch after pouch. While it doesn't have quite the full-tobacco flavor of the Prince, CH is no less an enjoyable smoke.
It's easy to understand its enduring popularity.   
   
 

Codger Burley

Carter Hall is a benchmark for OTC tobacco. Ribbon cut, it's easy to pack and light. This tobacco provides a slightly sweet nutty flavor from first light to the bottom of the bowl and could easily be an all day blend. No tongue bite is to be found and it produces volumes of smoke. CH is not a complex blend, there's no surprises here, but when you want a bowl of basic mild burley tobacco it shines. CH is also great as a base for blending.   

A Solid Blend

Upon opening the pouch, I was quite surprised. I was expecting a straight burley tobacco with no aroma other than a tobacco smell. It had an aroma, which to me, smelled like wine. It was not a bad thing, just unexpected. Actually, it was quite pleasant and I kind of like it. The moisture level was perfect right out of the pouch and required no drying time at all before smoking.

The lightly sweet wine flavor fleeted in and out during the first half of the bowl. It tasted pretty nice and was not overpowering. I am a little confused by this because I have never heard, or read, of this flavor or aroma by anyone who has smoked Carter Hall. There was also a slight nuttiness that intermingled with the sweet wine taste. The second half of the bowl produced a more straight tobacco flavor with a little bit of the nuttiness poking in and out. This tobacco never bit, even when I pushed it.

All in all, this was a pretty solid blend. It was not mind blowing but it was not bad either. It is not very complex, so you don’t have to pay a lot of attention to it. It burned pretty well and didn’t require a lot of attention to keep it going. I guess you could kind of call this a comfort blend, a blend where you don’t have to pay much attention to it and puff away while doing something else or when you just want to relax with a blend that is simple. I don’t regret buying this and I have actually smoked a few bowls of it already. It is one of the better drugstore blends that I have tried. I am pleasantly surprised by this blend.

I Recommend it.

OTC Standard fare

Carter Hall is a no frills burley blend. This is my go to OTC, now that ERR is no longer available. It smokes best in a cob for whatever reason. As already mentioned, it is a blend that you can smoke and not worry about the nuances of the blend. Gets the job done. I havent tried all of the OTC burleys, but this is my favorite. Just dont leave it in the pouch too long as it develops a plastic taste. I found a pouch about a year or so after opening it, and it had a plastic taste when I smoked it.

Good OTC

I reach for CH often, it availability helps. It is a smooth smoke, with a nice taste. As others mentioned it is not complex, and provides a smooth taste with no bite. Good for on the go! 

Great Tobacco, no pretense

I should preface this review by noting taht I am typically somewhat of a tobacco snob (not so much anymore, thankfully). I still enjoy fine (and usually strong) tobacco's from GH, SG, Rattray's, Dunhill, C&D, etc; however, I have made a concious effort to revisit some of the classic "OTC" or "Codger Burley" blends- I'm happy to say that I've been rewarded for taking the time and opening my mind.
Carter Hall, of course, is one of the great OTC burley blends, and I must say it holds it's own quite nicely. I find that the sweetness of CH is not overthe top, the taste (to my palate) is very much tobacco first.  I have never experienced bite wtih this blend (even when smoking in the midst of work crisis as one would a cigarette).  The tobacco burns well and remains consistent/cool throughout the bowl.  I have smoked this in a variety of pipes but usually come back to a MM cob or hardwood- just seems to work.

Another note, CH and its peers (PA, Granger etc) are great to keep around for breaking in new pipes.  Also, I find that with pipes that aren't quite sour but are possibly starting to ghost or get a little funky I am able to straighten things out by smoking a couple/few bowls of one of these Codger Burleys, it works for me.

I definitely recommend picking up a pouch of CH, it's a great, classic blend that every pipe smoker should experience.  I have taken to keeping a pouch of this around all the time!

Gool ole Carter Hall

Codger Burly ? .............. I like how these kids put it. I got my first pipe for my 21st birthday and I am 59 now. Back in the "Old Days" when we all had to walk 20 miles every day to school up hill both ways and it snowed from September till June, we didn't have the wonder of the internet to shop all over the world for anything we wanted. so us "Old Codgers" in the small towns didn't have a real big selection to pick from. We had Carter Hall. Prince albert, Half and Half, and Borkum Riff. If you rolled your own cigarettes you had Bugler, Kite, Top, and Bull durham. So in our limited supply of pipe tobaccos Carter Hall ended up being one of my favorites. Now we can get whatever we want. I have one mix that I get at a tobacco shop in Waco Texas that I have been smoking for at least 25 years but I still enjoy the pure and natural flavor that CH has. And yes, I am smoking a bowl of it as I type. A lot can come and go with fancy names and Neiman Marcus price tags but you have to notice how the old stables just hang in there. And I guess this Old "Codger" will just keep on enjoying it.

Have a great day "Kiddies"