Modern Burleys vs. Codger Burleys

[OfPipesandBlends]

My opinion is that those old school blends have their own flavors but more importantly they burn really well and behave more than most blends. If you are out walking or talking and hanging out this is something that really comes in handy. They burn evenly and don’t need many relights. I often mix CH or SWRA with blends just to make them burn better and mellow out more. Also I love the taste

 

[daveinlax]

Realistic? At what point can you have too much tobacco? Ridiculous. Of course this is the guy who has over 400 pounds.

I would love to pictures of 400lbs of tobacco! That would be a truly epic sight!

 

[daveinlax]

I don't consider the burley in the brands that are sold in tubs, pouches, or in bulk as being different from burleys used by blenders to do premium blends.

I think the machine harvested Green River Burley they cook and flavor for bulk aromatic’s including the codger blends are very different from the White Burley’s that go into the premium blends.

 

[Pipeh]

There will probably be enough left over to burn down the entire neighborhood, if not the town.

So ... no relights needed?

 

[f4phantomdriver]

This is my kind of post. I like Uhles 00 and C&D Burleys, Burley Flakes and VaBurs and all of the many wonderful modern plays on burley.

But if I had to have only one burley blend my choice is simple. At over 100 years old, it burns cool and tastes great.

I’d surely miss Pegasus, Crooner and Old Joe Blue and Burley Flake #2 and many, many others but I never tire of Granger —It’s what I grab 80 percent of the time.

On edit: I think the uniformity from year to year goes to the Codgers. My last two orders of Crooner differed in cut and in the amount of DT. Dissatisfied.

And I would take Wild Turkey 101 over the lions share of the modern “small batch” fancy bourbons. Good is Good.

I'm still the same way with Prince Albert. Pegasus, Winchester and Cowboy Coffee are my main rotation, but I always seem to go back to PA like a loyal child coming home to Dad.

 

[f4phantomdriver]

For the classic burley based "all-day smoke", it's hard to beat the American Classics. My fave of the ones still available is Prince Al. For matches to discontinued blends, Milan does a great version of Kentucky Club Mild. Sutliff Match Ready Rubbed, for the old Edgeworth RR, is certainly worth a try. These are your classic all-day blends; they won't beat you over the head with flavor or nicotine, but are interesting enough to repeat.

Just can't beat good o'l Prince Albert. I don't care what anyone says about burley not aging well. I've smoked 60 year old PA, SWR regular and 50 year old Half & Half. They were all STILL great smoking pipe tobaccos. PA beating the rest out. I opened a tub of Lane Limited Ready Rubbed a few months ago from 2018 and it was so nutty and chocolatey that my mouth waters just thinking about it.

 

[anotherbob]

I personally find codgers and “modern burleys” to be worlds apart. I much prefer the latter. My fave is C&D dark burley, straight

I feel like a lot of codger blends use burly because it takes on casing and toppings more readily. Where as the "modern" burly blends use burly because they like burly as it is. It's same ingredient but used slightly differently. Or at least that's my take on it.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I feel like a lot of codger blends use burly because it takes on casing and toppings more readily. Where as the "modern" burly blends use burly because they like burly as it is. It's same ingredient but used slightly differently. Or at least that's my take on it.

My personal theory is that the first step in making a codger blend is heat treating the burley, either by toasting or some other method. To me , most codger blends, except oddballs like 5 brothers, taste like heat treated burley with various casings and toppings. It’s the heat treatment that makes the burley mild, uniform and generally a suitable canvas for all those added flavors. Burley that has not been heat treated is wild, complex, sometimes rough, and less uniform. Even c&d piles their dark burley, giving it a slight cigar flavor, and taming it a little

 

[PLANofMAN]

I have a wide variety of tobacco cellared, and I dip into that drawer from time to time. SWR, on the other hand, lives on top of my dresser next to my pipe racks. I also keep a pipe bag with a few ziplock bags of tobacco in it for "out and about."

One of those bags is always SWR. It's an easy all day smoke that never gets old.

 

[Lumbridge]

Codger blends

My personal theory is that the first step in making a codger blend is heat treating the burley, either by toasting or some other method. To me , most codger blends, except oddballs like 5 brothers, taste like heat treated burley with various casings and toppings. It’s the heat treatment that makes the burley mild, uniform and generally a suitable canvas for all those added flavors. Burley that has not been heat treated is wild, complex, sometimes rough, and less uniform. Even c&d piles their dark burley, giving it a slight cigar flavor, and taming it a little

Hmm, almost like stoving, but less intense? Two Timer is apparently toasted, the process of which I would guess is like a dry stoving. It's a very well rounded and approachable straight burley, so something works there. Probably has a light casing as well, but no aromatic top flavor like an OTC blend would have.

Then again, toppings can drastically mute tobacco flavor, which is the case with many codger blends like Velvet and Half & Half. Heat processing may not even be needed.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Codger blends

Hmm, almost like stoving, but less intense? Two Timer is apparently toasted, the process of which I would guess is like a dry stoving. It's a very well rounded and approachable straight burley, so something works there. Probably has a light casing as well, but no aromatic top flavor like an OTC blend would have.

Then again, toppings can drastically mute tobacco flavor, which is the case with many codger blends like Velvet and Half & Half. Heat processing may not even be needed.

Heat treated burley has a particular flavor. I anyway taste it in velvet, SWR, ready rubbed, and even under all those toppings in mixture 79. I am not a fan of that flavor, which is why if I’m going to smoke something “codgerish” I prefer crooner. The burley in that one does not have that heat treated taste. I may very well be wrong. All I know is when I finally got around to trying a totally straight unadulterated heat treated burley (from WLT) it was a revelation: so that’s why all those codger blends taste like that!! I felt like I was smoking the base of all those codger blends.

 

[Hutch Piper]

This is a great question. On the whole, I prefer the modern burley blends to the codgers. I find that they are less bitey and don’t leave a film on my mouth.

However, I do love the old (non-STG) Sir Walter Raleigh recipe, as well as Granger. Those are staples in my rotation.

As for the moderns, Pegasus is probably tops for me. It has a nice natural sweetness from the unsweetened black cavendish. It mellows with a little age.

I also enjoy all the Milan codger match blends. They are really excellent.

Watch City American Cut Plug Mix and 4 Noggins Weybridge are also great codger-ish blends that I return to from time to time.

 

[Pypkė]

I've been wanting to try some Prince Albert or SWR but I was wondering: am I going to get anything our of these that I'm not already getting from PS41 Cube Cut, PS23 B&B, Sutliff J4, Pegasus, or Haunted Bookshop?

You'll get more vinegar from SWR. The burley blends you are already smoking don't have that, so if you wish to venture into a vinegary pipe tobacco experience, go for it. The only way to really answer your question is for you just to pick up a pouch and smoke some.

 

[anotherbob]

My personal theory is that the first step in making a codger blend is heat treating the burley, either by toasting or some other method. To me , most codger blends, except oddballs like 5 brothers, taste like heat treated burley with various casings and toppings. It’s the heat treatment that makes the burley mild, uniform and generally a suitable canvas for all those added flavors. Burley that has not been heat treated is wild, complex, sometimes rough, and less uniform. Even c&d piles their dark burley, giving it a slight cigar flavor, and taming it a little

I love the cigarish notes in burly. Well certain burly. I am pretty sure you're right or at least damn close to it.
Oh almost forgot. Lots mass produced consumables shot for consistency over quality. Which doesn't make it bad but it does make what you said make the most sense.

 

[anotherbob]

Heat treated burley has a particular flavor. I anyway taste it in velvet, SWR, ready rubbed, and even under all those toppings in mixture 79. I am not a fan of that flavor, which is why if I’m going to smoke something “codgerish” I prefer crooner. The burley in that one does not have that heat treated taste. I may very well be wrong. All I know is when I finally got around to trying a totally straight unadulterated heat treated burley (from WLT) it was a revelation: so that’s why all those codger blends taste like that!! I felt like I was smoking the base of all those codger blends.

it's hard to tell. Precisely what steps are most responsible for certain flavors or effects.

 

[Briar Lee]

Most men, I think miss the reason for the codger blends.

When my hair was brown and curly and I could throw eighty pound hay bales all day long I preferred Half and Half, unless the lobby of the dormitory was full of young maidens from the Conservatory of Music practicing on violins and the piano and then I found they preferred Paladin’s Blackcherry, which today is comparable to Cult Blood Red Moon, or Smoker’s Pride Cherry Cavendish.

Also, girls love the Louvin Brothers.

Don’t ask why, they just do.

The only tobaccos worth smoking are those where women approach you to ask what, you are smoking, you know?

 

[admin]

I still like Prince Albert and Carter Hall.

 

[ParkitoATL]

Well in that case, as Jimi once said ; "Let me stand next your pyre"

Come on baby, light my pyre...

 

[greatdane]

Don't discount Codger blends. I spent untold $$$ on trying various "modern" blends before realizing that I liked Prince Albert more than any if them.