I don't think of myself as any sort of guru for sure, but I do love me some Tabac-Manil Semois. The three versions I've enjoyed, as I think of them, are the thick and medium cut and the Petit Robin shag cut that is a blend. The other two are single-leaf, as I understand. After these other two, I found the shag-cut blend exceeding mild, pleasant but not the same charge for me; I like other unrelated mild blends better. But the thick and medium cut are always a wonderful smoke for me, a burley variant with lots of vibrance and (to me anyway) subtle complexity. I know, some are saying, complexity, huh! But if you love burley, these may have a special appeal. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the thick cut, but by a nose. Speaking of nose, sniffing the just-opened package may be a put-off; a lot of stable sweeping smell to it, but not once it's in the bowl. It comes extra dry, but you get more tobacco smoking per ounce. It does burn quite fast, but I counteract this a little by using tall not wide-chambered bowl pipes, and this slows down the burn a little and gives you plenty of tobacco in one smoke. For this purpose, for examples, I have a MM cob freehand with a nice acrylic stem; a magnificent Ferndown smooth bent billiard generously given me by a Forums member, and a La Rocca rusticated (curly looped carving) slightly bent poker, all with the taller bowl with standard (not wide) chamber. The member who sent me my first full package of Semois said he'd tried one bowl and thrown up; not sure if that was hyperbole, but he sure didn't like it. Another member had sent me a sample, about which I raved. So it's been quite an experience with Semois. For a trial run, I suggest the thick-cut. If you like blends that are mostly or based in burley, you may find this really good. It's just plain my favorite among many.