KZM, I've had Bear Blend before, and think that as far as fruity aromatic blends go, there's none better!
When I first started smoking a pipe, all I had was aromatics. I found Boswells to be by far the best aromatic blenders out there. Bear blend is a little lighter and the "syrup" type flavors, but still gives everything you look for in that type of tobacco.
Another of their aromatics is Boswell's Best. I love this stuff. Nice, mellow, a bit of vanilla, very easy to puff away on.
Their Sweet Tea blend tastes more like orangy citrus with sugar than tea, which I guess was their intent. That one's good too, but I would put it at #3 out of those.
Had Penn Dutch Treat, and as far as cherry tobacco goes, it's described as the cherry tobacco by which all others are judged. Very good stuff, just a bit too much cherry for me.
I've also had Northwoods, which is an english blend. If you want an easy introduction to english, this is the blend to try. It gives just the right amount of english tobacco for you to get familiar with, without knocking you on your ass, as some others tend to do. Very smooth, easy smoking, but remember it is an english blend, and even the mild english blends are, well, english! Think smoking the smell of a campfire.
I haven't tried any of their virginias yet, simply because I have sooo much VA and VaPer that I thoroughly love, I couldn't imagine getting another.
Hope this helps. Been following your pipe journey from the start, enjoy every bit of it KZM!!
WWhermit
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