KYBURLEY

Reviews


St. Bruno - Flake 1.75oz
$25? Not in this lifetime
What exactly do you guys think you are doing charging $25 for one tin of St. Bruno? Folks this is an OTC blend in the UK. I suspect this has something to do with the tariffs now in place between both our countries. Donald Trump is an absolute moron and his policies have done nothing by but hurt regular Americans and people outside America. If you voted for or vocally supported this man I hope you got what you wanted. When this is over please return to your trailer park and leave the decisions to people who actually finished school and didn’t drop out in the 5th grade. End communication

Carter Hall - Carter Hall 14oz
Hmm
Sorry to contradict an obvious expert, but Carter Hall wasn’t introduced until the mid to late 1950s by RJ Reynolds. I also keep reading about this Bourbon topping, but I’m not too sure about that. It could be Bourbon, but if the supposed “molasses” that everyone seems to taste in all Burley, which is really licorice paste, is any indication of our collective detective work, it could be prune juice haha.

Prince Albert - Prince Albert 14oz
National Joy
The classic American Burley blend pipe tobacco. PA is a Burley first and foremost despite rumors of Virginia and whatever other nonsense people like to guess at. It and Edgeworth were probably the first blends that introduced the Burley cases in licorice format that dominated Burley blends until today. I also hate to do it but I have to take issue with another reviewer who said that OA is the same recipe as Camel cigarettes. This is simply not true, Camel cigarettes were the first American blend cigarette and despite the Egyptian imagery they are about 65-70% Virginia, with Burley and a bit of Turkish for spice. Prince Albert has always been Burley and only Burley.

Sutliff - 507C Virginia Slices
Warm Weather Staple
I, like most of you, find myself shifting towards lighter, brighter Virginia flakes in the Summer months. Especially in the humidity of the American Southeast. Virginia Slices fits the bill admirably, but is a bit youthful at first. However this is nothing 2-3 months in a sealed jar won't fix. Should age really well, and at that price you can't go wrong.

Cornell & Diehl - Redburn 2oz
Summer evening in the forest or by sea.
This is an ok blend. It took a few months in a small jar to come into its own, as do a few of the C&D blends. The rum is applied with a heavy hand for sure, and the tin speaks of a molasses topping along with the Dark rum. My question is, wouldn’t that be basically the same flavor? Dark rum pretty much gets its flavor from molasses. Unless they are using a well aged sipping rum which would have barrel characteristics. It could have used some licorice maybe, but that might have been too Edgeworth like, or at least the Murray’s and Orlik produced version which added Virginia and Dark Fired for some reason? Why would you mess with one of the greatest American blends of all time. Anyway, I digress haha. Redburn is nice in a Summer evening, especially if you bought it the winter before.

Amphora - Original Blend 1.75oz
Summer Evenings by the Sea
The first time I really fell in love with this tobacco was on a Summer trip to the seaside so it will forever be linked to that in my mind. Although I'm sure it's a fine blend all year round I save it for the warmer months. I don't get the chocolate flavor so much as a tart, red wine sauce intermingled with Burley and spice. Also present are whiffs of nutty floral Orientals and a bit of Virginia hay and bread. A classic in every sense of the word, and I would not be without it when the weather warms up.

Borkum Riff - Bourbon Whiskey 1.5oz
Summer Blend
I really don’t see the problem with this tobacco. It’s practically a Virginia blend with a bit of spicy Black Cavendish. It’s closer to Amphora and Sail than Captain Black to me. It has a nice tangy, dark fruit flavor going on with a touch of spice.

Drucquer & Sons - Inns of Court 100g
Doesn't Know Itself
This tobacco doesn't quite know what it wants to be. I get touches of Virginia, then Burley, then Perique spice, but now really in a way that the tobaccos compliment each other. I thought this blend would be more like Morley's Best, which is an excellent example of an old American style English blend. This one doesn't put the Burley out front where it needs to be in a blend like this. This is one of the very few Pease blends I don't care for. It might be a good blend for someone just starting out or trying to transition into unadorned, pure tobacco mixtures. Oh well, I suppose we can't like them all

Savinelli - Jupiter 2oz
Deja Vu
I may be wrong but this sounds suspiciously similar to HH Burley Flake. Maybe it has a different flavoring or the constituent tobaccos are in different proportion than the other blend.

Heine's - Heine's Blend 14oz
Classic Americana
This is a chunky cut Burley with a dash of Virginia and a deer tongue like topping which is not at all overdone. It smokes down completely to a powdery ash and provides a slightly sweet , cooling smoke. This tobacco is a companion to Mixture 79, but with a less intense topping and a bit chunkier cut on the Burley.

Mixture No. 79 - Mixture No. 79 1.5oz
Cool and Refreshing
This tobacco has either greatly improved or the great many hate filled reviews are greatly exaggerated. Mixture 79 is a great old chunk cut Burley blend with just a touch of what I believe to be Virginia and Cavendish. The topping, which I believe is either coumarin or assembled to mimic it and or Deertongue. The smoke is a rich chocolate Burley with hints of vanilla and mint which produces a cool sensation on the palette. Very good on a Spring afternoon with coffee.

Cornell & Diehl - Red Carpet 2oz
Summer Evenings
Red Virginia Perique blends tend to replace Balkans as the choice for evenings when the weather warms up. Especially on those humid, sultry nights in the South. This, and Escudo are both indispensable in this role. Red Carpet is also a good replacement for the lost McClelland favorites Beacon and their Virginia Flake with Perique.

Cornell & Diehl - Morley's Best
Autumn Forest in November
This blend is the perfect accompaniment to a crisp November day walk in the woods. Earthy and nutty, with a wisp of campfire and sweetness in the background. I get a slightly different experience in a briar and cob, but both are interesting. A classic, and I only wish I could have tried Blue Boar

Solani - Aged Burley Flake - 656 50g
Not Dark Fired!
I'm writing this not to heap more praise on a legendary blend. Anyone who knows Burley knows it's good. It's basically a recreation of the old Edgeworth Slices which is probably one of the best blends America ever produced, so of course they stopped making it. No, I just wanted to let anyone reading this know that this flake does not contain Dark Fired Kentucky tobacco despite the incorrect description by smokingpipes. It used to say it contained some Dark Burley from Kentucky, but that's not the same leaf. This is primarily White Burley with a touch of licorice, and probably molasses, but they are merely casings not top notes so they are very faint.

Sir Walter Raleigh - Regular 14oz
Carpet slippers for the pipe
I've recently returned to this one after smoking a lot of top shelf Burleys over the past couple years. I have to say that it seems a lot better to me now, although it wasn't bad before. Since Scandinavian Tobacco Group has taken over production this blend, and other classics have very much improved and I believe they have returned Sir Walter to its original recipe. You get a chunky ready rubbed/ cross cut blend of white and dark burley with a light molasses topping which I believe comes from dark rum. People mention licorice and or anise but I don't get that. There is mostly just the nutty, dark chocolate notes you find in any quality Burley. The tobacco also comes on the dry side but that works in its favor because it seems to taste better the drier it is. If you liked Edgeworth or Lane Limited Ready Rubbed this is very similar, maybe better.

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Blog's Commented on

Classic OTC Blends: First Impressions of Prince Albert
  • ► Inferior? You just don’t like Burley I think, or you are letting your view of PA as a drugstore blend to cloud your judgement. It is virtually identical to Aged Burley Flake in every respect except the different cuts. The large tub size was always much better than the pouches in my opinion as well. Of course now only the large amount is available.
  • ► I think a lot of these small store owners like to put these rumors out there to boost sales. They usually, conveniently, offer a match version of the tobacco as well, that they let you know about out of the goodness of their hearts haha.
  • ► They don’t grow Burley in the DR. They still use the same tobacco and process. They just moved the factory to the DR because it’s cheaper on labor costs. A sad state of affairs, but it has always been this way.
  • ► If you like PA, the large tub is the way to go. Much fresher taste and the full chocolate flavor comes through better I think.
Codger Country: Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey
  • ► I actually like this one which supreme when I tried it a few years back.Usually I’m not big on aromatics, but this has more in common with the European aromatics from the mid century period like Amphora than Captain Black. Virginias is the primary base tobacco and the whiskey works with it to give it a nice tang. I believe the Cavendish is made from dark fired or at least that’s the impression I got. A decent Summer blend. Maybe for a walk on the pier by the sea.
Codger Country: Granger
  • ► Yes you are right it was Pinkerton for some years in between the other two. I believe Pinkerton made Half & Half during that time too
Codger Country: Royal Comfort
  • ► Carter Hall was originally produced by RJ Reynolds along with Prince Albert. CH actually didn’t appear till the 1950s either surprisingly enough. This stuff is pretty easy to find guys if you’ll just take the time to look. There’s already enough misinformation out there