Natural American Spirit (Organic)

All bags of American Spirit weigh the same, come with papers and yield a bit more than 40 100mm cigarettes.  This was very dry tobacco.  I spent an additional dollar for a Water Pillow, soaked it, and left it in overnight.  It did no good whatsoever.  Ended up doing the damp paper towel trick again.  This worked and revealed that this is probably the best tasting variety NAS has to offer.

Stockholm Blend - London Export

I'm able to do a side by side comparison with these two pouches.  They are touted as having the fullest flavor of the Stokkebye products.  The London Export is extremely finely cut per Drum, Bali Shag, and a few of the other Stokkebye tobaccos; I am able to grab a handful of the tobacco, shake it and pack my machine with what drops onto the tabletop.  The Stockholm Blend isn't cut as fine and needs to be pinched off into small bits then stretched out to pack the roller.  The London Export seems to be somewhat of a cross between the Amsterdam Shag and the Turkish Export - it is smooth and flavorful through and through.  The Stockholm Blend packs a decent wallop and is probably my favorite of the six varieties pictured above.  I found a convenience store that offers these for $6.89 + tax = $7.50.  Another variety I'm aware of is Late Harvest but I'm unable to find it at any of the local smoke shops.  I will eventually revisit these varieties and update previous reviews as some were less than glowing per "soapy taste". 

Drum Halfzware Shag Cigarette Tobacco

$9.00.  Came with a pack of Job rolling papers.  Made about 34 100mm smokes.  Overrated - smelled weird,  like socks in a hamper or Vietnamese food - this is pretty much Bali Shag sans the ball of shit in the bottom the bag.

Amsterdam Shag

33 well packed 100mm smokes.  Taste was very smooth

American Spirit Perique Blend Cigarette Tobacco

Made about 2 packs with this bag.  Tobacco was extremely dry to the point of crumbling into dust.  Covered the last five smokes worth with a damp bandana overnight - this smoothed out the taste a bit.  Can't really write up a fair review at this time.  Will try again in the future when I run out of new products to sample and begin revisiting the ones already reviewed here.

Bali Shag (Halfzware Shag Cigarette Tobacco)

Blue pouch comes with 50 cigarette papers - cost after taxes was around $8.00.  Yield was in the neighborhood of 2 packs.  Tobacco had a strange smell to it; best description is "sour".  Taste was smooth with a strange undertaste I can't nail.  Toward the bottom of the bad I found a ball of feces smaller than a pea, bigger than a BB.  I'm wondering if the odor/off taste is rat piss.  I might try again in the future from another store.

Turkish Export

Back in the late 80s/early 90s I bought a pack of cigarettes imported from Turkey.  The smokes were rolled kind of oblong.  The first initial draws were smooth and mellow gradually becoming more robust before the full flavor kicked in; I was unable to smoke more than 2/3s of any of them.  Peter Stokkbye's Turkish Export starts of similiarly but its finish is nowhere near as overwhelming as the prepackaged cigarettes I smoked last millenium.  I got about 2 packs of 100mm cigarettes from this pouch.  They were okay but not my cup of tea.  I'm not slagging the product - it's fine - it's just not what I'm looking for in a smoke.

Traffic Pipe Tobacco (Classic Virginia)

I picked up an entire pound of this yesterday for $10.99+ tax.  Tobacco is long cut per cigarette tobacco.  Product is fresh and moist; don't pack too tight else let dry out for a couple of hours.  Taste has the slightest bit of harshness but for the price I'm not going to complain; this is going to be my new mainstay. 

American Spirit (Original Blend vs 100% U.S. Grown)

I've smoked almost all that American Spirit has to offer in either RYO form or in prepackaged cigarettes and have no complaints whatsoever.  I purchased a pouch of the 100% U.S. Grown tobacco last week for a  little over $9.00.  Net weight was 1.41 oz. and yielded 44 100 mm cigarettes.  A guy I know buys the original blend by the can and I did a side by side comparison between the two.  Both were excellent but I'll have to give the edge to the U.S. grown product.  (The guy that supplied the sample of Original gives Original the edge.)  Original is around 15 cents less expensive per pouch than the U.S. product.  At $4.50 (+ tubes)  per pack this is not economical but both were so good that it was difficult to go back to Gambler...