So here goes my one bowl review... For what it's worth.
Pipe used - Brand new MM 5th Avenue Diplomat with included paper filter.
Drink - Big glass O' water.
Smoked on a full belly of braised short rib stew.
The smoke - C&D Burley Flake #1 dated early March of 2020. For those unaware, the components are listed as Dark Burley, Red Virginia, and Perique.
Upon opening the tin there's an overwhelming singular note of woody, leather-smelling dark Burley. It smells very dry with no casing by nose or touch. The flakes are incredible fragile, but appear the same as all other C&D flakes I've ever had.
The moisture was low so I broke up the flakes and packed up a big overflowing bowl.
This blend took to a lighter incredibly easy. Made bulk D&R look like a tin o Gawith. Little moisture, and constant puffing created that spongy expanding affect that required a good firm tamping.
A ton of smoke comes from this blend. This is not a sipping blend. It begs to be puffed hard, and that's where all the flavor is. My attempts to sip it and bring out the sweetness of the Red Virginia were fruitless - I only tasted the Virginias when I puffed it like it asked.
Initial taste was very smooth, dark, soil-like earth. There's no casing, and virtually no sweetness. It leaves the palate dry and begs to be paired with a beverage with at least some sugar. My pairing of water was not a good choice.
There's no tongue bite, but there is some acridness similar to that of a lower-priced cigar. However, only the back of my throat felt the slightest tinge of a burn, and it was minimal at that. It is smooth for a blend of this fullness.
I tried hard to pull some of the Virginia to the forefront, but there just isn't much there. I suspect that is much to do with the fact that C&D's run of that mill red virginia is not very sweet or fruity. As a side benefit, it meant that it blended seamlessly with the burley.
The perique was imperceptible except for about a ten minute period in the middle of the bowl. There it reared it spicy side - no detectable prune or fruity funk from the type of perique used.
Overall the taste is that of the earthy dark burley. And it's interesting stuff. It starts off less than medium in taste and builds to be fuller and fuller as the blend smokes on. By the end of the bowl the taste blows past the medium mark and the nicotine isn't too far behind. However, the nicotine is certainly not high nor overwhelming.
About midway through the bowl I found I was developing some palate/nasal fatigue and thought I'd cut the session short. As it turns out, the main issue I have with this blend is that, despite being a Flake, there isn't a very uniform composition of the three contributing leaves.
When the red virginia does contribute, the rays of angels shine through the clouds and dance on the tongue. Just the slight contribution of sweetness makes this blend sing earthy-nutty-cocoa-powder bread notes
Oh the BREAD. When this blend fires on all cylinders I taste more bread than I ever have, in any blend. The Burley contributes a Rye-bread earthy note, but as the bowl raced toward the finish and I lucked upon that hint of Virginia, I got the full suite of flavors. PEANUTS EARTH BREAD. Carmel? No not sweet.
SOURDOUGH. That's it.
At one point I got an amazing flavor of toasted sourdough bread with some peanut butter on top.
The bowl burned toward the end, and I could taste the dottle and shank of the Cob coming through. Time to call it quits.
The aftertaste was better than I expected, some lingering peanut and sweet earth in the throat and nose.
Throughout the bowl I was pained, in a way.
I debated with myself:
Would I like this blend better with a casing?
Or maybe with more Red Virginia? Hmmm but that would ruin the whole blend right?
Still somewhat torn.
But I'll say this, when it's firing in all cylinders, it's good. REAL good. In my experience though it was very seldom that it had it all going the right direction.
Maybe some age could pick up the Virginias and meld the flavors a bit? I don't know.
What I do know is that although I didn't immediately fall in love, I certainly will look forward to smoking the rest of the tin. It fills a void of raw full flavored earth that I crave sometimes, but when a cigar isn't the ticket.
I've been smoking burley blends on a daily basis, although many of them are not fully burley dominant (SWRA, Sutliff Field and Stream Match), with the exception of Watch City Deluxe Crumb Cut ( ?)
If all goes well (or better) with the rest of this tin of Burley Flake #1, I'll try some of the others in the series. I have a couple ounces of Chatham Manor to try for the first time as well.
Overall: A Rollercoaster of a dark burley blend. It's inconsistent, with moments of bleh, and moments of greatness. It burns, lights, and packs like a dream, and has a decent amount of Nicotine. Would be great for those wanting a fuller flavored blend without sweetness that doesn't require attention and chugs along without issue, and for those wanting some true tobacco earthy flavor.
