MustHave
Strength assembled by blending rather than dosed in. A juicy fruit-forward middle, noticeably heavier than the Turkish blends.
Strength from blending, not from additives
There are two ways to make a tobacco stronger. The easy one is to raise nicotine with additives. The hard one is to build the level out of the leaf itself. MustHave takes the second route: Burley varieties from seven countries go into the blend, and the final strength is a result of the blend rather than a dose.
You can taste the difference. Tobaccos with added nicotine often carry an alcohol-like sharpness and a chemical edge on the exhale. There is none here — what remains is a dense, juicy fruit base with a long aroma that holds to the end of the bowl. Do not be fooled by the word “medium” either: after blonde-leaf brands like Al Fakher or Fumari, the hit is noticeably harder.
The 125 g jar everyone copied
The format looks standard today, but MustHave is the brand that brought the sealed 125 g jar to market, and almost everyone has repeated it since. The logic was simple: 100 g is too little for a regular flavour, 250 g too much for a trial, and a sealed lid holds moisture between sessions better than a pouch.
Alongside it there is a 25 g pack for getting acquainted and a 250 g jar for the flavour that has become your staple.
Fine cut, and what that means in practice
The leaf is finely cut, which affects packing. A fine cut settles more densely in the bowl, so do not overfill — put in slightly less than feels right and do not press it down. The working setup is three coals on a phunnel with a normal warm-up; there is enough syrup that the mix is worth loosening before packing so it does not sit as a clump.
Flavours
The catalogue rests on bright fruit, berry and dessert releases — that is what MustHave built its recognition on, and the brand develops flavours with specialists in Europe, Japan and America. There is also a separate chilled series for hot weather, where the menthol effect is clean rather than chemically sharp in the throat.