Smoking the Dr. Grabow Royalton today and I'm on my second pipeful of what I think is a really fantastic and underappreciated blend, Super Value Bourbon Whiskey.
I've made it a point to try every whiskey flavored blend I could get my paws on, and I'll be darned if Sutliff's Super Value version isn't far and away the best. It's not a complicated blend, just a basic burley/Virginia mix with a touch of black canvendish for sweetness, but what makes this one work so well is that instead of trying to come up with some whiskey flavored syrup topping they seem to have just dumped a whole bunch of Jack Daniels Old No. 7 on the tobacco, stirred it up, and called it good.
When opening the pouch the real bourbon whiskey aroma is so strong that you can smell it the next room away, and when smoked that's just about all you taste too. It's like smoking a shot of straight bourbon, and it leaves a really pleasant whiskey flavor on your palate. The tobacco stays lit easily, burns clean and dry down to a fine white ash and leaves no moisture in the pipe, smokes totally smooth with no harsh edges whatsoever, and the whiskey flavor persists nicely through the entire bowl without flashing off. The nicotine content is right between mild and medium and I think it makes an excellent all day smoke.
The only complaint I could really make about Super Value Bourbon Whiskey is that it doesn't cellar terribly well. After a year or so in a Ball jar the bourbon whiskey aroma and flavor fades quite a bit, so pick up a fresh pouch and give this one a go if a whiskey flavored aromatic that really tastes like honest to goodness bourbon whiskey sounds appealing to you. In spite of the cheap sounding brand name this is most certainly a top shelf blend!