White Burley: What Is White About It?

[mawnansmiff]

Whilst enjoying a bowl of Solani 656 Aged Burley Flake I was reading up about it on TR.com and it states...
"A skillful[sic] mixture of three aged Burley's - dark brown Burley from Kentucky, light Burley from Brazil, and white Burley from Malawi."
...so what exactly is 'white burley' and what does this leaf bring to the blend? It most certainly isn't white that's for sure.
The smoke itself by the way is a really good one, 'thick' and woody/nutty with a mild dark sugar sweetness with a hint of dark chocolate...yummy ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[randelli]

Just a guess, but maybe they grade it like tea? White tea is very young leaves, green tea is not yet full sized, and black tea is fully mature. It could be that white burley is not as developed and has a more delicate flavor?
Good question- hopefully someone will come along with the answer.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Randelli, your analogy to tea leaves makes perfect sense. Let's hope some of the home growers like Cosmic chime in but I reckon you have it chum ::
Many thanks,
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Cheers coyote. I have read about it being in other blends that I have here but their names escape me. I would be interested in what particular flavour it has if it is indeed identifiable when in a blend.
Never knew it was used in cigarettes but then they put all kinds of stuff in those
Regards,
Jay.

 

[Chasing Embers]

From Wikipedia

The origin of White Burley tobacco was credited to a Mr. Webb in 1864, who grew it near Higginsport, Ohio, from seed from Bracken County, Kentucky. He noticed it yielded a different type of light leaf shaded from white to yellow, and cured differently. By 1866, he harvested 20,000 pounds of Burley tobacco and sold it in 1867 at the St. Louis Fair for $58 per hundred pounds. By 1883, the principal market for this tobacco was Cincinnati, but it was grown throughout central Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. In 1880 Kentucky produced 36 percent of the total national tobacco production, and was first in the country, with nearly twice as much tobacco produced as by Virginia, then the second-place state.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Thanks CE for shedding that light, most, er illuminating if you excuse the pun. Any idea of how it tastes perchance?
BTW what's with this recent profusion of old sailing ships in people's posts, are you getting together an armada to invade somewhere?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I love puns! Anyway, it has a light, sweet and nutty taste, and I am speaking from smoking C&D's bulk White Burley. It can also soften harsh blends.
The ships are the result of a few members growing love for Black Frigate. :mrgreen:

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I would guess the best way to pin down the flavor of white burley, would be to order an ounce or two of bulk blending white burley and smoke it as is. It should have a bit of a nutty, and perhaps earthy flavor. I have yet to try it by itself so I can't personally comment on it, but I do plan on getting some at some point to try with blending. I'm still very new to blending. I did find find it reviewed so maybe this link will help you... http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/279/cornell-diehl-white-burley

BTW what's with this recent profusion of old sailing ships in people's posts, are you getting together an armada to invade somewhere?

The ships are the result of a few members growing love for Black Frigate.

Yep. We're just having a bit of fun. You should join the brotherhood.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It's really good straight in a cob.

 

[philobeddoe]

I very much enjoy Kentucky Club tobacco, which I believe is predominately if not entirely white Burley. It lacks the molasses like darkness of many Burleys, rather, it has a strong grassy flavor, the closest thing I can relate it to is the smell of freshly mown clover or green hay. If there was a scale for Burleys that just measured their dark-richness, something like Granger would be a 9, Edgeworth a 7, Prince Albert would be a 6, Carter Hall would be a 4 and Kentucky Club would be a 1. You really should give white Burley a try, it gives Burley a whole other dimension like a lemon Virginia as opposed to red or stoved Virginia etc..

 

[dottiewarden]

Original Kentucky Club pipe mixture. A mild blend of high grades of White Burley from Tennessee and Bright Virginias from Carolina and Georgia districts.

Kentucky Club

 

[jvnshr]

Randelli, I was thinking the same thing. Nice analogy and logical, I hope

 

[mawnansmiff]

Anthony, thanks for that link, it was most helpful. So by most accounts it's more of a blending tobacco than one smoked 'neat'.
I have discovered these last few weeks I'm quite partial to burley in all its many forms but especially as dark fired leaf.
"Yep. We're just having a bit of fun. You should join the brotherhood."
Hardly likely as sadly Black Frigate isn't available in these parts.
Many thanks for the answers chaps, much appreciated ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jitterbugdude]

White Burley was indeed discovered in 1864. It spread rapidly but since farmers of the time did not protect their seed heads from cross pollination it disappeared rather quickly. There is no White Burley that resembles the original which was " long, broad leaf, white in appearance while growing"
Today there are 2 types of Burley. White stemmed and Green stemmed. The names derive from looking at the underside of the leaf. The White Stemmed will have a very light colored, creamy stem while the Green stem will have a dark green color.
White stemmed Burley is mild while the Green stemmed version is stronger. Since there is no official, legal definition of White Burley, farmers, blenders and marketers can call any variety of Burley "White" although I would think they would reserve that name for the light colored Burleys.
Yellow Twist Bud is a White stemmed Burley while Tn90 is a Green stemmed.

 

[deathmetal]

White stemmed Burley is mild while the Green stemmed version is stronger.

I have always had a deep love for green stemmed things.