I have developed a minor obsession with C&D Dark Burley.
I'll admit first off that one of the things that I love about this tobacco is that it is gentle on the mouth. I have trouble with Virginias, orientals, and even some sweetened burleys. No matter how slowly I smoke, they make my gums hurt. I've had no problems of that kind with C&D's Dark Burley.
I also love the clean, strong, straightforward, burley-style nicotine rush this tobacco has. I smoke it as a morning pick me up. And if I've had a rough day it relaxes me--fast.
I've read lots of reviews of this tobacco, and they seem to be all over the place, which is not surprising. This is in a way an enigmatic tobacco. It's difficult to pin down, which is one of the things I like about it.
C&D's video on their white and dark burleys compares the flavor of the dark burley to burnt chocolate, cloves, and old wine. And I think this is true, not so much in that it really tastes like any of those things (it doesn't) but because something about the flavors "work" in the similar way.
This tobacco is not sweet. If it is at all like chocolate, it resembles a 93% cacao dark--or even the Baker's unsweetened chocolate my mom used to cook with when I was a kid.
If you want to compare it to wine, it is a lean, tannic almost austere high-alcohol red--like a good Spanish Toro or Ribera del Duero. There's nothing "fruity" about this one. It's a stern customer.
Think of strong black unsweetened coffee, or strong black tea (no milk, no sugar). Think of roasted chicory. These are the types of flavors this tobacco has.
While I wouldn't say this tobacco tastes anything like clove, it has that hot-cool quality of cloves or even some mints or ginger.
And there's a funky note here and there. In a good way. I struggle to think of what to compare it to....
It can be a touch medicinal at times. This I admit. I don't mind it, but it's not for everybody.
According to what I've read and watched, this burley is taken from the mid to upper leaves of the plant. The leaves are then air dried in the burley way. They are then piled and re-piled like cigar tobacco. That said, I have smoked C&D's chopped cigar leaf and found it much, much darker than this burley (and not nearly as good). My guess is it's not fermented nearly as much as a cigar leaf, but enough to take the hard edges off.
Speaking of hard edges, the only other straight, dark, unflavored hi-nic burley that I know about is Five Brothers. C&Ds's Dark Burley is not as harsh as Five Brothers. It's not quite as strong, nicotine-wise, as Five Brothers. This may be because the shag cut and those bird's eyes really make for a nicotine blast. I find the flavor to be very different from Five Brothers. Flavorwise, C&D's dark burley is more robust. Five Brother's give me tongue bite (not burn, bite). C&D's Dark Burley does not.
Other tobaccos you might compare this to are C&D's Big n Burley and Old Joe Krantz. I personally prefer Dark Burley to both of those. This is partly because I'm not crazy about the perique in Old Joe, or the touches of oriental/virginia(?) in Big n' Burley. But I think it's also because both of those blends rely to some extent on C&D's white burley, I was playing around with mixing C&D's white burley and dark burley in various proportions. In the end, I gave up. I personally prefer the dark burley on its own, and if I were going to blend it with anything, I'd go light. This is not one of those burleys that takes on the flavors of whatever you mix it with. You know this dark burley is there. It's almost like using dark fired, the way it can dominate, though it is very different from dark fired too.
That's another thing I like about this tobacco. I was getting tired of the heavy smoke flavors of latakia and dark fired used in so many blends. This has a lot of intensity of flavor, but it's not the flavor of wood smoke. It's quite different.
I've carried on so much about the intensity of flavor, maybe it sounds overwhelming. It isn't. It's a very versatile tobacco. I can smoke it without thinking too much about it while I'm doing something, and it fades into the background. If I sit down and focus on the smoke, it can have a lot nuance, so much so that I feel like I'm still getting to know it, even though I've gone through several ounces of the stuff in as many weeks.
It's an easy-pack ribbon. Smells pleasant and sweeter than it is in the bag. To my surprise it has none of that barnyard odor that some C&D burley blends sometimes have. I've gotten it slightly dry and slightly moist. I personally prefer it a little dry.
I give it as many stars as I'm allowed.
I'll admit first off that one of the things that I love about this tobacco is that it is gentle on the mouth. I have trouble with Virginias, orientals, and even some sweetened burleys. No matter how slowly I smoke, they make my gums hurt. I've had no problems of that kind with C&D's Dark Burley.
I also love the clean, strong, straightforward, burley-style nicotine rush this tobacco has. I smoke it as a morning pick me up. And if I've had a rough day it relaxes me--fast.
I've read lots of reviews of this tobacco, and they seem to be all over the place, which is not surprising. This is in a way an enigmatic tobacco. It's difficult to pin down, which is one of the things I like about it.
C&D's video on their white and dark burleys compares the flavor of the dark burley to burnt chocolate, cloves, and old wine. And I think this is true, not so much in that it really tastes like any of those things (it doesn't) but because something about the flavors "work" in the similar way.
This tobacco is not sweet. If it is at all like chocolate, it resembles a 93% cacao dark--or even the Baker's unsweetened chocolate my mom used to cook with when I was a kid.
If you want to compare it to wine, it is a lean, tannic almost austere high-alcohol red--like a good Spanish Toro or Ribera del Duero. There's nothing "fruity" about this one. It's a stern customer.
Think of strong black unsweetened coffee, or strong black tea (no milk, no sugar). Think of roasted chicory. These are the types of flavors this tobacco has.
While I wouldn't say this tobacco tastes anything like clove, it has that hot-cool quality of cloves or even some mints or ginger.
And there's a funky note here and there. In a good way. I struggle to think of what to compare it to....
It can be a touch medicinal at times. This I admit. I don't mind it, but it's not for everybody.
According to what I've read and watched, this burley is taken from the mid to upper leaves of the plant. The leaves are then air dried in the burley way. They are then piled and re-piled like cigar tobacco. That said, I have smoked C&D's chopped cigar leaf and found it much, much darker than this burley (and not nearly as good). My guess is it's not fermented nearly as much as a cigar leaf, but enough to take the hard edges off.
Speaking of hard edges, the only other straight, dark, unflavored hi-nic burley that I know about is Five Brothers. C&Ds's Dark Burley is not as harsh as Five Brothers. It's not quite as strong, nicotine-wise, as Five Brothers. This may be because the shag cut and those bird's eyes really make for a nicotine blast. I find the flavor to be very different from Five Brothers. Flavorwise, C&D's dark burley is more robust. Five Brother's give me tongue bite (not burn, bite). C&D's Dark Burley does not.
Other tobaccos you might compare this to are C&D's Big n Burley and Old Joe Krantz. I personally prefer Dark Burley to both of those. This is partly because I'm not crazy about the perique in Old Joe, or the touches of oriental/virginia(?) in Big n' Burley. But I think it's also because both of those blends rely to some extent on C&D's white burley, I was playing around with mixing C&D's white burley and dark burley in various proportions. In the end, I gave up. I personally prefer the dark burley on its own, and if I were going to blend it with anything, I'd go light. This is not one of those burleys that takes on the flavors of whatever you mix it with. You know this dark burley is there. It's almost like using dark fired, the way it can dominate, though it is very different from dark fired too.
That's another thing I like about this tobacco. I was getting tired of the heavy smoke flavors of latakia and dark fired used in so many blends. This has a lot of intensity of flavor, but it's not the flavor of wood smoke. It's quite different.
I've carried on so much about the intensity of flavor, maybe it sounds overwhelming. It isn't. It's a very versatile tobacco. I can smoke it without thinking too much about it while I'm doing something, and it fades into the background. If I sit down and focus on the smoke, it can have a lot nuance, so much so that I feel like I'm still getting to know it, even though I've gone through several ounces of the stuff in as many weeks.
It's an easy-pack ribbon. Smells pleasant and sweeter than it is in the bag. To my surprise it has none of that barnyard odor that some C&D burley blends sometimes have. I've gotten it slightly dry and slightly moist. I personally prefer it a little dry.
I give it as many stars as I'm allowed.
