Carter Hall: Carter Hall 14oz Pipe Tobacco

Among pipe smokers we have a group of people that wear odd looking little hats and make YouTube video reviews for different tobaccos...I can't stand those people. They sit back with their pretentious narcissism and discredit all of the good ole OTC's only because that by doing so, they also know they are discrediting the traditions and culture of rural life and history...their critique of Carter Hall is just one such example. I actually grew up on a farm in North Carolina; not in Boston, or NYC, or Seattle, or some place like that. We didn't farm tobacco because we didn't have any allotments, but the farmer down the road did. My granddaddy every year would be allowed to harvest a small portion of tobacco as a barter to things we had and/or grew. He would air cure it, and shred it himself, lightly spray something like simple syrup on it (i.e., sugar water), and guess what, it tasted just like Carter Hall when we smoked it (yes, I started smoking a pipe at a young age--12 in fact). Carter Hall doesn't have "undertones of honey" or "vanilla" or anything imaginary like that...it's simply a clean, smooth, great tasting tobacco that smokes cool and tastes consistent throughout the bowl. Please don't get caught up in all of the ignorance and pretentious idiocy that comes from others on the internet about Carter Hall; if you want an excellent traditional tasting smoke, this should be the first one you try (the other may be Sir Walter Raleigh's original blend)....Read More

I am 61 and started pipe smoking at age 18 with the original Borkum Riff and Captain Black, their aromatic properties winning my allegiance. I never tried Carter Hall before. Then at our last pipe club meeting one of our senior members, threw a pouch each of Carter Hall, Half & Half, and Sir Walter Raleigh on the table and said "try out what your grandfathers smoked, boys." We did, and I found that I had given these OTC (over the counter) blends short shrift. Are we all tobacco snobs sooner or later? ;-) We get so wrapped up in our tinned blends of Balkans and Syrian Latakias, Virgians and St. James Perique, that we forget that sometimes simple is okay, and maybe even good. I've got perhaps fifty blends at home and am cellaring many good ones for even more variety, so perhaps that's why I was open now to these OTCs, of which I personally liked Carter Hall best. It is a nice blend of Burley--which I've always slighted--and Virginias. Some claim a top note--perhaps, but it is undetectable by me over the flavor of the Burley and Virginia. One large point seems worth making. It seems common knowledge that one "sips" Virginias, rather than smoking them like the pipe is a runaway locomotive on a steep downhill grade. Well, this applies to a Burley-VA blend as well, and in my further experimentation with straight Burleys of late, I suggest that Burleys are to be sipped as well. I guess my approach is this. If the flavor of a tobacco is subtle, sip it slowly and let the smoke move around in your mouth, approaching your various taste buds until it finds the ones that resound with pleasure. If you accordian the smoke in and out, your taste buds will not enjoy the tobacco. Frankly this is why so many new smokers go headfirst into heavily cased aromatics, or, lately, strong Latakia tobaccos early on. I believe they are looking for a flavor hit that engulfs their taste buds like a jalapeno. The pipe smoker with a few thousand bowls behind him comes to realize that in this way at least, smoking a pipe is like drinking a fine bourbon or single malt scotch. (Or wine, for you guys reading this and still wearing your tie). You get nothing but drunk gulping booze. That's only fun until you pass your teen years. With a pipe, smoking it like a cigarette is not fun at all, for you or your tongue--or your palate.

I bet you thought I'd never return to talking about Carter Hall. Tobaccos like this are a great treat for your palate because they are mild, yet when smoked slowly, in small puffs (sipping), they reward us with a very pleasing flavor and yet are gentle on a tongue that may have been abused by our experimentation with other blends that are not nearly as gentle. I recommend Carter Hall as an inexpensive and pleasant way to while away the hours between the next pipeful of Samuel Gawith 1792....Read More

doesnt really need a review. very straight forward burley blend. packs easy, stays lit, tastes good.

I felt compelled to write a review about this tobacco as it really surprised me! This stuff is GOOD. Like just try it. Smooth, cool smoke with no bite and a better than expected aroma and flavor. I understand why people still buy Carter Hall today. Now a part of my regular rotation.

Lighter in color than Prince Albert; Carter Hall is interspersed with brighter rough cut Virginia leaf. There's a strong anise (black licorice) topping, and I mean chewing tobacco strong, that steers the profile, though the nutty burleys are semi-cavendished, which when accompanied by the VA, contribute a natural sweetness. There's a sourness to it, but it doesn't seem like a natural tang/sour (perhaps that's the artificial bourbon flavor). Not as dark or rich in flavor as Prince Albert, and the toppings don't seem as natural tasting as they did prior to 2021. This falls behind Granger and Prince Albert on the spectrum. Nicotine is 1 out of 5. This was once a 3 to 4 star tobacco before 2021. It burns really fast so use a larger stummel. This kind of reminds me of Cornell and Diehl's Nutty Irishman, which is a far superior product and flavor. I know people state cocoa and bourbon, though I'm only getting a smidgen of cocoa and it's fake at that. There's a hazelnut note to CH which is more prominent and more qualitative in Nutty Irishman....Read More

Carter Hall has been my “daily bread” for 25+ years. It tastes great, smells fantastic (I often get people asking what I’m smoking), and the price is right at about $2.77/oz. The one and only criticism I have for this blend is it tends to burn down very quickly. Not a bid deal at all, but if you want to get a long smoke out of it, you better pack a huge bowl! All in all, an absolutely classic American OTC for all the right reasons. A true “pipe smoker’s” smoke....Read More

In my pipe smoking journey which has been a little over 20 years I never found a tobacco that I wanted every day anytime, until this one. I started out with aromatics and hated them, moved to English/Balkan and enjoyed them sometimes, then to VaPers and really enjoyed the McClelland blends but still not something I wanted everyday. I have a ton of fancy tobaccos in my cellar (BS, esoterica, GL please, McClelland, dunhill, etc), and I enjoyed all of them. But nothing relaxed me or made me want to pack another bowl as much as Carter Hall. I feel like I went in reverse - fancy to OTC, but this stuff is amazing. The HH version of Chatham Manor is also really really good, but different. Both CH and CM are my go to smokes now. Just mellow, uncomplicated, slightly sweet burly with a great room note. Will never bite you and always comforts like home cooking and warm blankets. Plus my mustache smells amazing after smoking this. Like bourbon chocolate smoke, a flavor saver for the rest of the evening. I went through quite a few OTC blends (half & half, SWR, SWRA, Captain Black, PA). Carter Hall, Chatham Manor, and Chestnut (Walnut match) are not just my favorite OTCs, but my favorite pipe tobaccos! Obviously, YMMV, but I have found my happy place after 20+ years....Read More

Remember the light touch that Carter Hall had when it was produced in the States? Many of us do. I don’t know what this is, other than the tin note, —albeit with enhanced lowtide essence, but it’s not Carter Hall. Cannot be smoked in any pipe: filtered, unfiltered, meerschaum, cob, Falcon, ad nauseam. Aired for a month. Toasted some in the oven. The future appears to be a flat circle where the only choices are going to be palatable, but unavailable; or merde, merde, and more merde. Happy piping indeed....Read More

At the risk of incurring the scorn of tobacco snobs everywhere, I like this blend. I’ve seen several reviews claiming it has no flavor. That has not been my experience. If it is sipped, as all pipe tobaccos should be, there is quite a bit of good flavor coming through. If one smokes it too fast, you lose that flavor. It smokes cool, is easy to light, and easy to keep burning. I love my PS Navy Flake, Orlik, St. Bruno, G. L. Pease Westminster, and a couple of other good tobaccos. However, I also enjoy CH a great deal. My only quibble is that the flavor, while enjoyable, is pretty much the same throughput the smoke. There’s not much variety, unlike some of the other blends I enjoy....Read More

It’s a simple, easy smoking tobacco. Mild flavor and consistent, what more can you ask for.