Half and Half Is Back!

[AJ]

When I was about 3 or 4 years old a good friend of the family came to visit and shortly after arriving he lit his pipe. It was the most delightful smell I had ever experienced. When asked he told me it was Half and Half tobacco. A few years later my Dad started smoking a pipe and he always smoked H&H and I would try to sit near him so I could smell the smoke. When I was 13 I took up the pipe. By then I had been smoking cigarettes for several years. Of course the only tobacco I would consider was H&H. I liked it from the beginning and it was the only pipe tobacco I smoked unles I was trying to impress the girls. Then I would smoke Cherry Blend or Sugar Barrel. My Dad and I smoked H&H until The American Tobacco Company that made it was sold to Pinkerton and they changed the recipe. I never knew tobacco could taste so awful. I stayed away from H&H until a couple of years ago when I gave it another go. It was ghastly. The chemical taste was over powering. I decided that I'd probably never smoke my old friend again.

Week before last I ordered an old Yello-Bole Imperial from a seller I knew because my friend Walt (pepesdad1) had been bragging about the Yello-Bole he had picked up at a junk store for just a few dollars. When the pipe arrived it was obvious to me that who ever had owned that pipe had been smoking Half and Half. The smell made me want some of the old H&H really bad so I ordered 3 pouches. When it arrived I loaded the Yello-Bole Imperial Bulldog that I had ordered with it and when I lit it I could hardly believe my good fortune. So many memories from my childhood and during the time I could sit and smoke a pipe with my Dad came flooding back. STG has apparently returned to the original recipe. It now tastes exactly as I remember it tasting back in the 60's. The nutty taste of the Burley along with the grassy sweetness of the Va. came through putting a big smile on my face. Even the subtle hint of cherry was there. The moisture was perfect and the room note as delightful as it had been when I first noticed it as a child. This issue of Half and Half is a little weak in nicotine but everything else seems to be just like the tobacco the American Tobacco Company used to make. I have smoked almost all three pouches since last Friday. Not to worry because I have 10 pouches arriving tomorrow. I was afraid to order the 12 oz can because I'm afraid the taste wouldn't be the same.

If you try it you may find your taste and mine differ but for me a long lost friend is back.

AJ

 

[Fr_Tom]

I have been trying Half and Half every 10 years or so. This was my father's goto smoke, and I always loved the smell. I have had to work to finish the pouch in decades past. The last pouch was pretty good. STG has it right...

 

[Puff Daddy]

I always wondered why one of the better blenders hasn't managed to recreate the lost glory of Half and Half from way back when. I've tried a couple of burley and bright type mixtures and it just wasn't very good. You'd think McClelland or Pease would be able to pull it off.

 

[Brewdude]

Might have to give this a try. Never had H&H before. I'll see if the local cigar store has pouches as they carry OTC pipe stuff. It'll cost more than on-line but for one pouch it won't amount to much.

Thanks for the prompt AJ.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Big G]

I don't recall ever trying the old Half and Half when I first started smoking a pipe in the late '60's.  Hadn't read much good about more recent versions so didn't try those.  This past year I received a $1-for-a-pouch coupon from STG for what apparently is the latest version of Half and Half.  Being a serious cheapskate I couldn't pass that up.  I really am enjoying the new version and have picked up a couple more pouches.  I think the stuff is terrific and recommend it highly.

 

[AJ]

I have been trying Half and Half every 10 years or so. This was my father's goto smoke, and I always loved the smell. I have had to work to finish the pouch in decades past. The last pouch was pretty good. STG has it right...

Tom,

Your confirmation about STG getting it right assures me that this isn't a fluke and not my taste buds playing tricks on me. I hope they will keep it the way it is now.

AJ

 

[AJ]

I always wondered why one of the better blenders hasn't managed to recreate the lost glory of Half and Half from way back when. I've tried a couple of burley and bright type mixtures and it just wasn't very good. You'd think McClelland or Pease would be able to pull it off.

PD I have often wondered the same thing. H&H is a very old blend and had thousands of users back before Pinkerton ruined it. One would think that some company would want to grab those cutomers. Now that STG has brought the old recipe back I would think it's too late for them to jump on the band wagon now.

AJ

 

[RobJ]

Thanks for the tip AJ. I tried H&H once or twice in the early '70s and thought it was pretty bad, I'll be giving the STG version a try for sure.

:cheers:

 

[Richard Burley]

As a child, I used to beg my uncles and grandfather to light up their pipes, just so I could smell the aroma. I don't think they ever smoked anything but Half and Half, and I will forever associate the scent with what a pipe tobacco should smell like, just as "civilians" of today might do the same with Captain Black. I shall have to try some of this iteration just to see if they got it right. A clue is its residual scent, as in a car or cab of a truck. That won't fool me, even after decades. Thanks for posting.

 

[ftrplt]

"Subtle hint of cherry." Dang, it's been roughly 50 years (Arrghh!!) since I smoked H&H. I just don't remember any cherry to it, but I do remember that room note it put off. I just may have to pick up a pouch or two and check it out!! :cheers: FTRPLT

 

[Stick]

Made up for you AJ. It seems like you've found a long lost friend. :cheers:

 

[Richard Burley]

According to a coupon mailer just received from "Half and Half Offers," P.O. Box 609, Belle Mead, NJ 08502 ( :?, H&H is "a timeless mix of loose cut Burley and Virginia tobaccos with flavorful notes of Cardamon, Coriander, and Maze." News to me. Or is this common knowledge?

Edit: I was wondering what the hell Maze was. (Also why it's capitalized.) Apparently it's nutmeg, or some species of it. Makes sense. Half and Half of yore seemed to reek of it, in the pouch. Which was cool, at least to my schnozz.

 

[Anonymous]

I tried it 3 times. I just can't dig its casing....

 

[Richard Burley]

I tried it 3 times. I just can't dig its casing....

Then burn in Hell. No, seriously, stay away from it. It will ghost. Everyone is different re flavoring agents. I just can't quite convince myself that it's the same from days gone by. Could be, but I remember an even more intense flavoring. But it's probably just advancing senility and nostalgia for the past--the only form of nostalgia I'm familiar with.

 

[kitobi]

I have some H+H I bought in spain a few years ago, I didn't care for it much.

may give it a while and see if the newer stuff seems better, just wait for stock to replenish with the newer stuff

 

[Fumus]

I'm thinking Mace is the nutmeg like spice. Maze is either indigenous people talk for corn, or some sort of construct you can get lost in. The ones with cheese at the end are popular with mice, I'm told...actually, depending on the type of cheese, could be popular with me too. Move over Mickey.

 

[thedeep]

I too have fond memories of H&H. My dad rolled his own and it was always H&H in brown zig-zags. One whiff if it takes me back. I've tried it two or three times since I've been smoking a pipe and it was just never quite the same. I may have to try the new version.

 

[artvandelay]

I tried H&H about 10 years ago and it was the most putrid tobacco this side of Mixture 79. I'll have to give it another go sometime.

 

[AJ]

I tried H&H about 10 years ago and it was the most putrid tobacco this side of Mixture 79. I'll have to give it another go sometime.

10 years ago it wasn't just putrid it was NASTY.

AJ