Amphora: Special Reserve Black Cavendish 1.75oz Pipe Tobacco

I used to smoke the original Douwe Egbert's. The remakes are not good at all. This particular blend didn't exist back then, but thought I'd give it a try. It's very mild and quite tasty! Just ordered another pouch. Even mixed well with a bit of Latakia as an alternative. No bite at all.

Package note of sugar, peaty vegetation and spices. Tobacco is a ribbon and ready rub cut of dark brown, tan and black. Moisture content is great. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. Flavoring is mild, with notes of vanilla and licorice. Both flavors tend to show up in the first 1/3 and remain in the background. Taste is medium and moderately consistent, with notes of cocoa, peaty herbal vegetation, tangy dark fruit, vanilla, wood, dry earth, sweet grass, citrus, spice, floral, toast, molasses, orange peel, acidic, a spicy licorice and nutty background note, and a peppery retro. The double fermented Virginias are leading with Burley, Kentucky, Oriental/Turkish and Flavoring supporting. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is good....Read More

This is a mild cavendish with a pleasant room note and some mild, fruity flavors. Smokes well and is not too wet. Solid smoke for the price and brand.

Definitely a smooth black cavindish with some fruity sweet notes to it. I'd buy more.

There is tobacco to be tasted here and a little body as well, but that bland, steamy, character of Cavendish is there in spades. My stem was a swamp and had to be blown clear and swabbed multiple times. Bottom line here is, I expected nothing, but still found something here to enjoy. A testament to the quality of the Amphora line. If you don't particularly enjoy Cavendish, spend your money on another pouch of your favourite Amphora blend. If you dig the black stuff, give this a try....Read More

This blend you’ll enjoy! All I can say is give this a try. Absolutely no bite if pushed. Takes a few re-lights if moist. This Amphora blend smokes best if air dried for about 45 minutes. The burley nuttiness is there but for me no citrus. Needs a bit of aging to bring out more of the citrus. Definitely worth trying a pouch. I just ordered 2 more from Smokingpipes....Read More

Every now and then I get to try something someone else shared with me that I'm glad I didn't buy for myself. I don't think this will hurt any feelings, I'm pretty sure my friend didn't think it was all that special either. I know it claims to have Virginia and Burley, but all I could taste was the Black Cavendish most of the time. As for it being “double-fermented”, it made no discernible difference to me. This has a similar problem I see with a lot of aromatics and that is it's unbalanced and Black Cavendish heavy. I like many BC blends and aromatics in general, but just adding a ton of BC to a small percentage VA/Burley base is not a recipe for a good aromatic. I'd rather have a really good VA/Burley blend making up a large portion of the mixture with just a sprinkling of Black Cavendish to help punch up the already present natural sweetness of the VA and smooth out the Burley bite. Otherwise, just smoke blending Black Cavendish straight, right? The only Burley I tasted here was unpleasant and bitter. I didn't detect any artificial flavors, but there was definitely something chemical tasting that I felt in the back of my throat. It's called a “Special Reserve”? Words mean something, and anything mass produced is nothing special. It's like Red Delicious apples...what a great ad campaign to name the most bitter skinned apple “delicious”. Some aromatics also lose their aroma quickly and then taste like nothing really; just bland, which was ultimately why this didn't work for me. If you want to try this, I'd suggest a little drying time to help get it lit, but I doubt aging would help....Read More

I love Black Cavendish and Virginia. Burley is not one of those things I care for. Still, it can compliment a blend, and for that reason, I continue to try blends with it. When I saw the chance of the aforementioned and citrus, I thought this might be a fine mixture to ponder. Unfortunately, the burley didn't seem to work for me this time. I am currently cellaring this, in hopes it well mellow. So far, it has been about three months. I will revisit if something changes....Read More

This one on - the other hand - is pretty close to what it supposed to be. Not as perfect as I tested it in the past but.. acceptable. Comparing to Amphora Original Bland (the same shipment) this one is really not bad. Nice room note. I should have ordered 5 of these and one of Original Blend instead. Well.., bad luck happens... Thanks again gentlemen....Read More

I smoked Amphora in my pipe smoking youth on a regular basis. I looked forward to the reintroduction of the Regular only to be disappointed. Nothing like I remembered it. Then they advertised this Special Reserve Black Cavendish. I am so glad I decided to give it a chance. It's a wonderful smoke for lovers of Black Cavendish. No bite, easy to pack and while a little finicky getting lit, smokes great. The flavor of the dark fired Kentucky is great and the Virginias and Burley do just what they claim. A touch sweeter and a little fruity. I didn't notice the fruit tones until the bowl had burnt down some but they were there. I love this stuff and have already ordered more. Enjoy!...Read More