I made it to the local pipe club meet Thursday for the first time in forever.
Our prez (pylorns/James) handed out pouches of this tobacco, along with evaluation forms he had been sent. Seems the manufacturer or distributor is doing some focused research.
I've been getting into burley flakes lately. HH Burley Flake, C&D #3, some old, discontinued LJ Peretti Somerset Flake. I'm familiar enough with the genre to know what I like and give a halfway informed opinion by now.
My childhood memories of Amphora were of pinching some from my parents' landlord. He actually let me use one of his pipes when I helped him do house repairs in my mid teens. I think he enjoyed observing my suffering.
At that time, I had a cigarette habit and no income, so choosy I was not. I remember it as stringy, rather unpleasant, but still "free" and something to smoke. With these memories coming back, I opened the pouch with trepidation.
I saw not the stringy mess I recall, but a rather attractive broken flake.
My sniffer does poorly with tin notes, but I got the good burley smell. Paired with the unexpected visual treat, my outlook was improving.
It felt near perfect in moisture but I decided that 20 minutes of airing wouldn't hurt. No tactile clues of humectant. Another concern dismissed.
My go to burley pipe lately is a BriarWorks Poker, so I stuck with the program. Coffee on the side.
Made in Denmark by MacBaren and imported by Sutliff, Burley Blend contains Burley, some Virginia and a touch of Dark Fired.
Perusing the reviews, it currently has 7 posted, with 6 of them being 4 stars (including Jim's). Another notch up in my enthusiasm...
A couple of lights to get it going and off to the races. Burley. It's definitely lots of burley, and good burley. If you like the afore-referenced flakes, this will fit in your range.
There's a deep sweetness to it that I'm struggling to name. Jim gets some of the grassy and citrus tones. I can't say that I do. I get the wonderful nutty/cocoa notes paired with a deep, maybe molasses like scant sweetness that accentuated the burley without making it a trip to the candy store.
My first bowl at the pipe club had me searching for the Dark Fired influence. I had just finished some Newminster Norway in that pipe, which may have obscured some of the Amphora's traits. Today, I think I get it. It adds a "dry" note to the smoke, a little spice that refuses to override the balance of the burley and Virginia. It's seemingly the perfect amount. My hat's off to the blender.
As claimed, no evidence of a topping is revealed. Still no sign of the usual pouch chemicals. This Amphora is punching above its weight class. You may have to worry about it drying if you take too long to consume the pouch but you won't be stuck with something that NEVER dries due to additives.
Going through the bowl, it is insanely smooth and well behaved. With a good cadence, it doesn't extinguish. No thermal overload. Light tamps, dump the ash once at the 2/3 mark. No sticky flake remnants on the wall to chisel and scrape down like my beloved Old Dark Fired. Just an orderly and rewarding slow burn, like when you're half drunk on a nice day and the Weber grill chugs that perfect stream of mesquite smoke from the lid vents.
Restating the obvious, I am very pleasantly surprised. It's nice to have a pouch option that aspires to tin level quality. Approaching the end, maintaining the cadence, no ciggy notes creeping in. The taste profile, in fact, is very steady through to the dottle. Nic is present by the end of the bowl at a comforting level. You won't find any chromatic swings in taste or mouth feel. Where you start is very close to where you end. In this case, that's a very good thing.
Verdict: GET SOME!
Our prez (pylorns/James) handed out pouches of this tobacco, along with evaluation forms he had been sent. Seems the manufacturer or distributor is doing some focused research.
I've been getting into burley flakes lately. HH Burley Flake, C&D #3, some old, discontinued LJ Peretti Somerset Flake. I'm familiar enough with the genre to know what I like and give a halfway informed opinion by now.
My childhood memories of Amphora were of pinching some from my parents' landlord. He actually let me use one of his pipes when I helped him do house repairs in my mid teens. I think he enjoyed observing my suffering.
At that time, I had a cigarette habit and no income, so choosy I was not. I remember it as stringy, rather unpleasant, but still "free" and something to smoke. With these memories coming back, I opened the pouch with trepidation.
I saw not the stringy mess I recall, but a rather attractive broken flake.
My sniffer does poorly with tin notes, but I got the good burley smell. Paired with the unexpected visual treat, my outlook was improving.
It felt near perfect in moisture but I decided that 20 minutes of airing wouldn't hurt. No tactile clues of humectant. Another concern dismissed.
My go to burley pipe lately is a BriarWorks Poker, so I stuck with the program. Coffee on the side.
Made in Denmark by MacBaren and imported by Sutliff, Burley Blend contains Burley, some Virginia and a touch of Dark Fired.
Perusing the reviews, it currently has 7 posted, with 6 of them being 4 stars (including Jim's). Another notch up in my enthusiasm...
A couple of lights to get it going and off to the races. Burley. It's definitely lots of burley, and good burley. If you like the afore-referenced flakes, this will fit in your range.
There's a deep sweetness to it that I'm struggling to name. Jim gets some of the grassy and citrus tones. I can't say that I do. I get the wonderful nutty/cocoa notes paired with a deep, maybe molasses like scant sweetness that accentuated the burley without making it a trip to the candy store.
My first bowl at the pipe club had me searching for the Dark Fired influence. I had just finished some Newminster Norway in that pipe, which may have obscured some of the Amphora's traits. Today, I think I get it. It adds a "dry" note to the smoke, a little spice that refuses to override the balance of the burley and Virginia. It's seemingly the perfect amount. My hat's off to the blender.
As claimed, no evidence of a topping is revealed. Still no sign of the usual pouch chemicals. This Amphora is punching above its weight class. You may have to worry about it drying if you take too long to consume the pouch but you won't be stuck with something that NEVER dries due to additives.
Going through the bowl, it is insanely smooth and well behaved. With a good cadence, it doesn't extinguish. No thermal overload. Light tamps, dump the ash once at the 2/3 mark. No sticky flake remnants on the wall to chisel and scrape down like my beloved Old Dark Fired. Just an orderly and rewarding slow burn, like when you're half drunk on a nice day and the Weber grill chugs that perfect stream of mesquite smoke from the lid vents.
Restating the obvious, I am very pleasantly surprised. It's nice to have a pouch option that aspires to tin level quality. Approaching the end, maintaining the cadence, no ciggy notes creeping in. The taste profile, in fact, is very steady through to the dottle. Nic is present by the end of the bowl at a comforting level. You won't find any chromatic swings in taste or mouth feel. Where you start is very close to where you end. In this case, that's a very good thing.
Verdict: GET SOME!