Burley Confuses Me

[nathaniel]

I've been smoking a pipe for 15yrs now. I enjoy mostly lat blends but also smoke the occasional straight Va, Va/Per, and codger blends like Carter Hall and its imitations. I can recognize Latakia, Va, Perique, Cavs, KDF, (orientals are more subtle for me). But for me Burley is the nuttiness in codger blends. I feel like I'm missing something though. I guess the mouth feel changes when i smoke lat/burley blends. It seems "more", like body or something. But what does burley actually taste like? What are some other representations of it in blends other than codger types that taste nutty, smoke hot and quick, and end ashy? The codgers are the only burley representations I know of but it just tastes nutty to me. However I read of other descriptors I'm not aware of having tasted. Educate me.

 

[Waning Embers]

 

[kschatey]

The two blends that helped me understand Burley are Uhle's Crushed White Burley and Watch City Slices. Lately I have smoking a lot of Watch City Elf Dandruff that is a Burley-based aromatic. Hope this helps!

 

[kcghost]

Burley doesn't confuse me at all.

 

[Grangerous]

Two flavors dominate burley depending on the blend.

Either Cocoa or Nuttiness. Sometimes both.

Cocoa, baker’s chocolate, dark chocolate, maybe sweeter milk chocolate are a signature of the Dane’s twist on Burley — MacBarren’s Burly London Blend, Norwood, Golden Extra. American OTC Prince Albert all present a cocoa flavor as does Edgeworth.

Nutty, Earthy blends are most of CD’s Burleys. —Pegasus, for example, has a walnut hull, tannic quality with a ginger-snap sweetness. Carter Hall, Granger, Half n Half are in this category of nuttiness with a mildly sweet taste.

SWR regular has a nuttiness with an added sweet spiciness.

Of course tastes are subjective.

I used to associate Cocoa with Burley and looked for that in my blends. Norwood (rest in peace) was once a favorite with a dark chocolate that developed richness through the bowl. — I no longer enjoy cocoa in my blends.

Today I like a gentle, molasses sweetness and nuttiness. That would be Granger—in a nutshell.

 

[anotherbob]

burly is a pretty broad catagory. I think more then anything I see it as darker and earthier then VA. And yes it has more body and the mouth feel is heavier. But just like VAs the range it covers is actually very broad and depends not only on the plant but then how it's processed. One way to look at it, it's the grandpa of tobaccos.

 

[Streeper541]

Burley is pretty straightforward for me and one of the least confusing. However, as the saying goes... YMMV

 

[mso489]

I don't want to get lost in word choice, but with the nuttiness in burley I get a distinct woodsy flavor, maybe that is what an earlier post called tannic, that gives the nuttiness a gentle edge. I think burley has a complexity that is often lost in the milder codger blends, although I like them too.

Blends that bring up the facets of burley for me, in addition to ones already mentioned, are C&D Tuggle Hall, Stratfordshire, Bayou Night, and Billy Budd, as well as Peterson 3-P and Irish Flake, and Amphora Burley, to mention a few.

 

[Grangerous]

[QUOTE
Blends that bring up the facets of burley for me, in addition to ones already mentioned, are C&D Tuggle Hall, Stratfordshire, Bayou Night, and Billy Budd, as well as Peterson 3-P and Irish Flake, and Amphora Burley, to mention a few.
[/QUOTE]




Thanks, MSO. You’ve given me a few more CD blends to explore.

 

[Alex.Jr]

View attachment 134484

Yes, yes and yes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Burley has many flavors, as there are many varieties of it. From nutty to earthy, cigary, barnyard-ish, etc... Virginias actually have many different flavors also, but maybe the sweetness makes it easier to pick out.

 

[kola]

My favorite Burley was Old Joe Kranz (the original) On a full stomach and sip it slow.

 

[SmokeRings79]

Solani Aged Burley Flake, Amphora Burley Blend and HH Burley Flake will give you a good idea. I would also recommend trying some Kentucky Dark Fired (especially HH Old Fark Fired). For me as well, Burley loses some of its standalone taste when blended, where it mostly provide body and an earthy baseline.

 

[mso489]

The burley based GLP blend Barbary coast has the burley cube cut, with Virginia and Perique as condiments, and light brandy flavoring. It is definitely tobacco forward. It's my St. Patrick's Day smoke ... in a Peterson "Around the World" series pipe dedicated to Ireland, a slightly bent bulldog finished in a deep red stain with a wide band engraved with the Celtic cross. This is a creative burley based aromatic, done with the usual GLP artistry.

 

[judcole]

Grangerous pretty much summed it up. I would suggest Mac Baren Golden Extra for a good example of how the Danes handle it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Today I like a gentle, molasses sweetness and nuttiness.

As Jeremy Reeves has pointed out, there is no inherent sweetness in burleys. The sweetness would come from casings. If you like casings and the additives, then enjoy those, but they are not flavors coming from the natural leaf. Nutty and cocoa is nice. I enjoy those flavors also, but there are more flavors that burley can take on, as I posted above. I really like the cigary flavors as well, and the barnyard-ish ones also. Semois would be an excellent example of those, but you can pick up notes of those in many C&D burley blends as well. Two Timer by D&R is also an excellent example of some of those earthier flavors, and it is very smooth.

 

[Grangerous]

As Jeremy Reeves has pointed out, there is no inherent sweetness in burleys. The sweetness would come from casings. If you like casings and the additives, then enjoy those, but they are not flavors coming from the natural leaf. Nutty and cocoa is nice. I enjoy those flavors also, but there are more flavors that burley can take on, as I posted above. I really like the cigary flavors as well, and the barnyard-ish ones also. Semois would be an excellent example of those, but you can pick up notes of those in many C&D burley blends as well. Two Timer by D&R is also an excellent example of some of those earthier flavors, and it is very smooth.

“Gentle” is the operative word. Burley always needs a little something, a gentle sweetness, for me —whether that comes from the addition of Virginia or from a simple casing of sugar water (I doubt anyone uses molasses). The key for me is that “something” is either obtained from the interplay of the leaf or as in the case of Granger, with a light casing.

Artificial toppings that sublimate the tobacco are not to my liking and I’ll know within a New York minute that they’re there. Instant turn off.

I’ve never had Two Timer

 

[cosmicfolklore]

(I doubt anyone uses molasses)

I'm curious as to why you believe that no one would use molasses. Seems like if cut with an alcohol or even water, it could easily be sprayed on. I've seen people offer up recipes for casing whole leaf with it at home. Never wanted to try myself, but... I was just curious as to why you thought this.

 

[newbroom]

One of only a few really memorable first bowls involved C&D's Big 'n Burley.
I almost got much more than I bargained for and now I give it the respect it deserves.
So nice and smooth you don't notice the nic till BOOM! Too late! (or for me, luckily, just in time)

 

[Grangerous]

I'm curious as to why you believe that no one would use molasses. Seems like if cut with an alcohol or even water, it could easily be sprayed on. I've seen people offer up recipes for casing whole leaf with it at home. Never wanted to try myself, but... I was just curious as to why you thought this.

Cost. Expense. Sugar water more likely. I hope I’m wrong. Whatever they do to make Granger, it’s a flavor that registers with me.