Sutliff Tobacco Company Count Pulaski

The base of the blend is the grassy, tart and tangy citrusy, bready, mildly sugary, vegetative Virginia. The variety of burleys provide a mix of molasses, earth, wood, nuts and a bare hint of spice. There's enough smoky, woody, earthy, musty, floral, sweet Cyprian Latakia to form an important subordinate position. The rum and anise (which you'll notice slightly more than the rum) match up well with the other components to create an English/aro that's a little off the beaten path. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is in that center. The taste barely reaches the medium mark. Won't bite or get harsh even when pushed. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a smooth, consistent, smoky, nutty sweet flavor. Leaves just a drop or two of moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a nice, short lived after taste, and pleasant room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I heartily concur with the majority of the experienced pipe smokers here who are proclaiming Count Pulaski to be one of the finest tobaccos on the planet. This tobacco explodes with a variety of delightful taste sensations with every puff. I have also found (as have most of the other esteemed reviewers here) this to be one of the coolest burning blends on the planet.

I was recently given a pouch of this complex blend by a good friend (and former professional tobacconist) who said Count Pulaski was a bell ringer. I was truly fascinated by the combination of tobaccos and addition of just a smidgen of Anise.

Why this is not a tinned tobacco, I do not know. It is truly as fine a blend (English in nature) that I have ever smoked. It was at the perfect moisture content and had a very beckoning smell in the pouch. Once packed and lit, I experienced a rush of flavors ranging from Burley to Latakia with Virginia thrown in. All were complimentary and the burn was nice and even.

Finally, check out the various cuts in this blend. Cube and shag Burley, thicker Virginia ribbon, Latakia chunks and tiny bits of who knows what made for quite a visual show.

Not just recommended, but highly recommended!

Rich flavor, anise topping, nutty burley and latakia. This is a catch all for me, and I love it! Packs well, and burns great!

This is a pretty decent blend from Sutliff and would fall into that American English/codger type blend. It is a little unique from many of the other blends in this genre with that slight licorice twang that is included in the topping.

The blend is big on burley flavor. Earthy and nutty sweet. The latakia is lightly applied but does its job of adding some smokiness to the experience. The topping is about medium applied. The topping was not too much to my liking and this is the primary influence on this receiving two stars versus three. Because of this point, I would rather reach for a C&D American English such as epiphany or Peter Stokkebye's English Luxury or Oriental supreme than this to scratch the same itch.

All in all it is still a pretty good blend and would mark a nice change up for either the Latakia smoker or the aromatic smoker.

Review is based on one ounce that I received as part of a blind test. The cut and bag aroma made me immediately think it was a C&D blend. I never did guess this one correctly.

This tasted like a budget blend, or rather, more like your prototypical bulk "pipeshop" blend. From there I guessed it was some cheap Lane's product. Wrong again. The virginias in this one seemed pretty cheesy and tasted substandard. The burleys seemed fine and the latakia was light. This is an American English with an aromatic twist. Nice idea, not so good execution. The rum and licorice taste was prominent for awhile and then those cheap-n-cheerful virginias took over. The blend started out not too bad but descended into bland territory, but with a bitter, chemical flavor. This seemed to be a middle-of-the-road affair that might be useful when you're busy and just want something to smoke. Then again, there are other, better blends for that purpose in my rotation.

I was not surprised to learn this was an Altadis offering, as I've not had much success with them. I'm not sure to whom I'd recommend this tobacco but apparently some folks like it, so it's most assuredly for them. But definitely not me.

Altadis is known for their less expensive pipe tobaccos and premium cigars. This blend definitely puts their other tobaccos to shame. If Count Pulaski was in a tin with a more prestigious label...... well, you'd probably think a lot more of it with a "known" label.

Some folks have blend bias when it comes to Altadis and while admittedly, some of their offerings are mundane, this isn't one of them. No, it's not supposed to be the second coming of Balkan Sobranie! Let the blend be what it is and you'll do much better than having a blend bias going in.

There is a mixture of cuts here that is intriguing. The tobacco arrived at the right moisture to smoke so I fired up a bowl in a trusty "latakia pipe" that never fails to tell me what is good, what is not so good.

The match to tobacco produced a nice taste of all of the ingredients, sans the anise. I didn't get much of a flavoring at all but did notice a very nice, though light spiciness of something in the flavor so I'll suspect that since there is no perique noted - this was the anise, I reckon.

The mixture of burley and VA played very nicely together with the latakia being present but not overwhelming. Could this be the Carolina Flake making the whole blend some together? There's just enough of whatever it is to keep the burleys from becoming boring.

More people have picked up on this blend. When you're looking for an English type blend with something a little different, Count Pulaski fits this bill in spades. The Count burns cool, dry and picks up a little strength towards the end but never got hot or harsh. Sublime.

I suspect the different burleys give this blend the firm, round flavor and lets the other tobaccos dance in the background but not so far back that you can't discern them. This is a fairly complicated blend that goes over quite well. I can't compare it to anything else I've tried so no sense in even going there.

Distinctly different in a good way. I can't make this tobacco smoke badly in any type of pipe. Overlook the packaging - this is a diamond in the rough for sure. Charming to think that such a quality blend is available this cheaply in bulk. Get over the Altadis bias and enjoy this medium bodied, complex blend of flavors.

*Update 11/08*

This is one of the most requested blends at our pipe club meetings. I do the buying for our tobacco bar and the group continually requests Count Pulaski. I lean to this blend in a large bowled pipe vs. smaller bowls.

If you enjoy sweeter Latakia mixtures this is one to try. Not only is Count Pulaski very affordable, it's also a darn good smoke. The course cut helps create some appreciable complexities and the flavoring adds a fair amount of sweetness that can be tasted on the tongue as well as in the side stream. The casing is somewhat sticky but the burn rate is slow, providing a cool smoke with a surprisingly low amount of excess moisture.

Count Pulaski is rich, sweet and well nuanced. The base tobaccos lend a warm, bready flavor with hints of dark fruit & spice and are balanced well with the smoky latakia. Off the bowl, I get a distinct scent of toasted grain along with subtle hints of the rum and licorice. The room note is quite nice.

As much as I enjoy smoking this fine mixture, I must admit that it leaves my tongue feeling a bit ragged. As a result, this has to be smoked very slowly. Nevertheless, I would still recommend it. For what it’s worth, Count Pulaski tasted best to me in a wider, shallower bowl.

I don't know if this is the worlds best tobacco but it seems to have something for everyone. I've heard it called a Balkan, full English, light English and American/English crossover blend. To me it is just one really, really good tobacco and it gets much better if allowed to age some...say, 6 mos. This could easily be an all day blend for many smokers. 4 big stars.

Our local pipe shop has pipe days on Saturday so its free tobacco for pipe smokers. Tried Count Pulaski described as mild english mixture with mild aromatic. Fired it up in my Savinelli Autograph. I was really, really impressed with it. I'm not normally an English fan or latakia, but this was impressive. Mild, even burning, and the smell was very pleasant. The weather was pretty nasty today but my day went great after trying this blend. I was so impressed I ordered some on the spot. Great stuff. Can't wait to try it in a meerschaum.

I am not usually an English smoker as Latakia just wears on me after awhile though i do like a little of it as a spice as in C and D Tradewinds or Middletons Walnut and others but I heard so much about this blend that I had to to try it. Well, from the moment I lit a bowl in my Peterson, I was in utter heaven from beginning to end. While I could not make this an all day smoke, I sure am making it a staple to keep around as it is simply delicious. i have a thing anyway for a touch of anise or licorice in a lot of my blends this one is a perfect marriage and I would like it at any price but at Altadis pricing it is flat out a bargain. It is easy to light, stays lit, smokes dry, and has to me a great aroma and room note. I don't see how anyone might say this one is not a perfect blend to savor even for non aromatic smokers. I highly recommend at least trying it. If it had a Gawith name on it, it would have a huge following.