Prince Albert or Carter Hall?

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jj1015

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Just curious -- do you prefer one of these OTC tobaccos over the other, or do you find them both wanting? Why?

While they're both classic burley mixtures, over the past six months I've come to greatly prefer Carter Hall.

Prince Albert is a darker, less sweet blend with a little more nicotine and, perhaps, a faint hint of chocolate casing (but I'm by no means sure that any flavoring agent is used). The flavor is simple to describe: burley, burley, and more burley, with an occasional hint of nuttiness or sweetness. The burning qualities are legendary. PA tastes pleasant enough to me, but it bites me on occasion and simply fails to hold my attention through the course of a bowl -- I find myself wanting to switch to something else halfway through. As in CH, there's some PG here, but I'm not as bothered by its presence as some smokers.

The precise components of Carter Hall elude me. I believe it's probably 90 percent burley with a little bright Va. thrown in (it comes out in the room note sometimes), topped with some kind of mild flavoring agent that evokes raisins, prunes, etc. It burns as well as PA, and I've yet to get this mixture to bite unless I deliberately abuse it. I find it to be a little more complex, a little easier on the mouth, and simply more interesting than its cousin. I sometimes smoke this all day without growing bored.
 
I keep both on hand, but Prince Albert slightly wins out as my favorite. The reasons are given in your description: its darker, less sweet, with a little more nicotine..

LtMac
 
I'm with jj: I prefer Carter Hall to Prince Albert, though I like both. CH has a "brighter" and certainly sweeter flavor, and the taste gets going right away, whereas PA is mellower and sometimes takes half a bowl for those nutty burley notes to emerge. I've gone a week with CH and a cob and been happy as a clam.

(One theory of my impression is that I smoke classic burleys almost exclusively walking about outside, because of their outstanding burning qualities. So I lose a lot of what's added by the room aroma, and the stronger/sweeter top note of CH comes through better.)
 
i think both are really good blends but i find my self smoking carterhall more than prince albert right now i have about 8 14oz tubs of carter hall and 3 14oz tubs of prince albert and both are really good blends and you can't beat the price on it
 
Being a burley fan from way, way back CH is first then PA and now I've
added Butternut burley for an aeromatic blend.

I can puff CH all day long but when I stop and rest I want my PA for
a friendly smoke. The BB is working it's way up to be my favorite after
dinner or visit with friends tobacco.

Oh, life is sooooooooooo good. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
I have to go with CH, though honestly its mostly because it was my grandpa's blend of choice. Both are great with black coffee in the morning.
 
Wow, that's a tough one. I like both. If pressed I would say CH as it is a good mixer with other blends. But I like to start my day with PA. Another good one is Five Brothers, I usually end my day with it.
 
Six months ago, I would have said the Prince. Lately, however it's been the Carter. What about the Sir?
 
I've never seen any of them up here. When Rich gets his big tubs back in stock at 4noggins, I think I'm going to have to start stocking up on some bulk purchases, and these would definitely be on the list.
 
PA is the current winner of the 2 for me, but just by a nose. Both great OTC blends...

-Andrew
 
Man that is a tough call there. I like both. Carter Hall is a tad sweeter to my taste. I always have a tub of both on hand. I am smoking alot of PA right now. I go in cycles between the two.

My favorite thing to do with PA is I take a tin of McClelland #27 and rub it out fully and mix it 60% McClelland and 40% PA. I jar it and let it sit for a month then fire it up. That is such a good smoke!!
 
You know I have never smoked either but I have smoked quite a bit of Sugar Barrel which like CH is made by Middleton. It must be very similar to CH but maybe a little sweeter. It is not however as sweet as the name suggests. After you open the tub up let it sit for awhile and the sweetness will subside quite a bit and the smoke will become buttery and yummy! Sugar Barrel is still my favorite Burley. I bought a pound of Butternut Burley recently and I still like the SB better.
 
Funny. Every WalMart, supermarket and cigarette joint in town carries PA but none carry Carter Hall. I'm going to have to wait until I put in an order with an online vendor, but I will try it as soon as I can.
 
SailorJack":g8ujxhru said:
You know I have never smoked either but I have smoked quite a bit of Sugar Barrel which like CH is made by Middleton. It must be very similar to CH but maybe a little sweeter. It is not however as sweet as the name suggests. After you open the tub up let it sit for awhile and the sweetness will subside quite a bit and the smoke will become buttery and yummy! Sugar Barrel is still my favorite Burley. I bought a pound of Butternut Burley recently and I still like the SB better.
Wow.....never had Sugar Barrel. I have never seen it. I had to google it.
 
Puff Daddy":98xrovpi said:
Funny. Every WalMart, supermarket and cigarette joint in town carries PA but none carry Carter Hall. I'm going to have to wait until I put in an order with an online vendor, but I will try it as soon as I can.
Same here in the Denver area.
 
Bah,

I want to try some! No luck in Europe, haven't found either here, anywhere. Pretty much ABF and Mac Baren London Burley only here. I could order across the pond but don't want the inevitable hassle with customs :|
 
J_Rock":zylli9pm said:
My favorite thing to do with PA is I take a tin of McClelland #27 and rub it out fully and mix it 60% McClelland and 40% PA. I jar it and let it sit for a month then fire it up. That is such a good smoke!!
PA gets the nod here, but not by much. A mix I have had great luck with is PA and 5100 mixed 50/50.
 
Highstump":p3jmgxss said:
J_Rock":p3jmgxss said:
My favorite thing to do with PA is I take a tin of McClelland #27 and rub it out fully and mix it 60% McClelland and 40% PA. I jar it and let it sit for a month then fire it up. That is such a good smoke!!
PA gets the nod here, but not by much. A mix I have had great luck with is PA and 5100 mixed 50/50.
I will have to try that!!!!

Thanks
 
How do you pick a favorite child? Really. Each has their unique moments in the smoker's pantheon. Middleton does a fine job in meeting every-one's needs. I prefer PA every day, CH when I want lighter and a little flavor, Sugar Barrel when I want sweet and not aromatic (i.e.CH) but still a fine burley base, and Walnut when I want a smoke w/ spine and flavor. A favorite these days is 1 PA and 2 Walnut by weight, which makes the Walnut a bit easier if I want to smoke all day, like when I am driving distances (actually riding distances). I believe that if suddenly I was forced to only smoke Middleton products (and I do value my C&D stash), I would survive quite nicely. BTW, I hope that there are no disparaging words for Cherry Blend because at 4PA and 1 Cherry Blend, there is a most pleasant smoke.
 

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