Prince Albert like Fire

[smokertruck]

just bought some prince albert - always smoked it on off for years till now - burned the hell out of my mouth - never before - smoking on off 60 years - for about a year i didnt buy any - they seem to have added some red virginia which is a no go for me - red virginia also burns horribly.

i smoke other burleys - no issue - have about a dozen tins of mac barren burley london blend bought when it was discontinued - no burn -

hate to say it but i am off the prince albert what ever they did with it. too bad

 

[aldecaker]

Well, that's the worst news I've heard for a while. I wonder why they'd change it with the deeming regulations looming?

 

[smokertruck]

me again - just lit up a bowl of pa - fire - lit up a bowl of aromatic molto dolce in same pipe - no fire.

has to be something.

 

[mso489]

I remember PA as a lively burley blend with pleasing flavor, but the last pouch I bought had the opposite problem to the originating post here, in that mine was incredibly bland, with no tobacco nor aromatic flavor. I was disappointed. i hope the current blenders take note and bring the blend back to its former flavor profile.

 

[sparroa]

I saw rumours of a reformulation on TobaccoReviews but I haven't smoked PA in years so I can't say for certain...

 

[seacaptain]

It's funny how people are different. I always get bit with Burley blends but VA's are smooth. I only smoke VA's and some English.

 

[mso489]

Just a thought, that until about ten years ago, codger blends were the major showcase for burley, good or less good. With many of the premium pipe tobacco blenders now using burley -- I especially think of Cornell & Diehl, but others too -- both the taste for burley and the bar for being considered a great tasting burley blend have both risen higher. I also think of the burley variant Semois Tabac-Manil. Burley, it's not just for mowing the lawn anymore.

 

[condorlover1]

Funny old blend PA. I was always amazed that it was sold for both pipe and cigarettes and probably explains the large number of tins of the stuff still kicking around.

 

[cortezattic]

The original formula used Virginia Brights, a flavored Burley, and 10% Oriental(s) -- the same as the original formula for Camel cigarettes, though the balance was probably different. This info was published in The Tobacco Timeline by Gene Borio.

 

[condorlover1]

That doesn't surprise me Cortez. I have rolled the odd cigarette out of the stuff in the past ages ago but it seemed very difficult to get it to burn evenly. In a pipe it just burned too hot for my tastes but some people love the blend. As they say 'different horses for different courses' although I have often wondered when they stopped selling the stuff in those great red tins with the flip lid. Anyone know?

 

[badbeard]

I am glad I saw this thread. I thought I was going a bit crazy there for a while. I bought the last 3 pouches of PA at a local shop a while back, and they ordered in more. It was in a new fancy box, not the old generic looking red PA box. I notice the stuff in the new box tastes very different, and I was getting a serious tingle of the chemical burn variety that I never experienced before with PA. As an aside, I also noticed my last two pouches of CH tasted really weird, and gives me the same chemical tingle. What is the world coming to..

 

[pipestud]

R.J. Reynolds was the original producer of Prince Albert until somewhere in the mid to late 1980's. A beautiful crimp cut blend that displayed Burley along with Orientals and Virginia and had some kick to it. I really liked it... a lot. The 1990's Middleton version was also quite good, but no Oriental components and seemed to have the humectants ramped up a bit. Never had an issue with bite. In fact, I thought it was one of the most biteless blends I ever smoked. I guess I could go out and get a fresh pouch to see what the difference is, but after reading this thread, I've been scared away!