Strictly English Bulk Pipe Tobacco Sampler

First time with English tobaccos and this is a good way to try them. I smoked these out of clay pipes that were new. African Queen was great being mild and had a good room note. Light, medium, and majestic English were pretty much self described with Byzantium being the strongest which you can smell through the bag! I think these would be great outdoors smokes unless your really into the camp fire smell in your house. I think I need to smoke some more to come to any real decision, oh darn!:)

I will mostly comment on the sampler as a whole...I have been smoking pipes for a few years now but still don't have the language to describe many of the flavors.
My tastes do generally run to the English blends and I seek out those that are heavier in latakia (for example, Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Mixture). Normally I am not a fan of Virginia flavors however, the light and medium English blends here offered (to me) the perfect balance of Virginia and Latakia....the Virginia flavor just peeking through. Great for the nights I wanted a milder smoke. The African Queen was a surprise having a lovely English flavor without the Latakia.
I smoke out of a variety of briars and meerschaum which I rotate and clean often. I dry my tobacco to almost crispy as I find (again for me) this gives a less frustrating smoke but keeps the flavors I like. The tobaccos in this sampler smoke well with this treatment and don't bite at all whether smoked in a short-stemmed traveling pipe, meerschaum or a churchwarden.
Overall I would say this is an excellent sampler for those who like English Blends (or who want to try them) but whose taste varies day to day...sometimes we want a hit in the face and other days it's about relaxing with a nice, mild smoke. This sampler offers that in one easy purchase. In this regard I wouldn't even call it a sampler rather a regular, easy buy.

I had the Balkan sent to me instead of the African Queen, and it smokes fine except for a tiny bite, but it could have been my pipes because I worked them hard for several days without a proper rest. But the Light, Medium, Majestic were delicious. I have no strong opinion of the Byzantium at this time. Great package to Introduction of English tobaccos.