Sillem's Blue

All of the Sillem's "Color" series are excellent aromatics. They are my personal favorites, but aromatics, perhaps even more than other styles of tobacco, are highly subjective due to the great variance in flavor and smoking characteristics that can be achieved. Among European style aromatics (more heavily flavored, heavy use of VA and cavendish, sweeter than say, an English aromatic) these blends to my taste strike the best balance between flavor and smoking characteristics.

All of the Sillem's aromatics are somewhat odd ducks, and this is no exception. Lime and maple is not a flavor combination that I would immediately imagine for pipe tobacco, and frankly it sounds more weird than pleasant. Luckily they know more than me about making a good aromatic, and this is in fact highly enjoyable and delicious.

In the tin this is a bulky ribbon cut with flecks of cavendish. It smells of lime and other sweet things,but I do not think I could pick out maple if the tin description did not say so. Like all of the Sillem's blends it is top notch leaf. As such it dries out quickly and is easy to pack into any size bowl. It takes a char more easily than many aromatics and once lit will continue to burn with modest puffing.

The flavor is sweet lime and a background of virginias. The casing is king here, and this is not one to smoke if you are looking for unadulterated tobacco flavor. As an aromatic it is perfection however. It is sweet without being overwhelming, there is no tongue bite or other mouth irritation when smoked at a proper humidity and at a reasonable pace, and the taste is delicious. That sweet lime and caramel flavor is consistent throughout the bowl and never becomes sharp or bitter. There really is no nicotine strength to speak of.

This is wonderful aromatic smoke that is easy to tend to and delicious to enjoy. As long as you accept it for what it is, which is a rich, medium bodied aromatic, it offers a very fine smoking experience. The flavor is cohesive and balanced, and It is an easygoing, tasty experience.

Sillem's - Blue.

The nose from the un-lit blend is a great example of what type of smoke this is going to be: fruity and sweet. I see no problem with the moisture, but, this was from a sample pouch so sealed tins may vary. It looks like it contains a fair amount of each variety of tobacco that are more like a coarse cut mixture than a broken flake.

Onto the smoke: The topping pretty much steals all the limelight away from the tobacco nuances but it doesn't seem that gloopy, sticky, or sickly; its a full on aromatic but it's not too much. It burns even and gives of a fairly cool smoke. Unfortunately, it's not all good; it can bite like mad. I have to sip this gently otherwise it's horrendous! The nicotine seems light in this. I'd say it's 'very mild', that suits me but N guys would feel really let down.

Another low point for me is the room note; it's like sitting in a florists! And as if the smell wasn't bad enough it creates a serious plume in the room!

I can't recommend this for a few reasons, subjective and objective:

1; objective: the sheer amount of smoke it fills the room with.

2; subjective: It bites me like crazy.

Not recommended.

Sillem's Blue is hard to review because it has some good points and some bad.

Firstly, the tobaccos are of good quality and make for a wonderful, satisfying smoke. It has a delightful lime taste sweetened by the maple/caramel flavours. Unfortunately, the lime overshadows the other flavours and tends to become a bit saturated half-way in the bowl. Also, I found that the tobacco's burn too quickly making for a hot smoke. I experienced no tongue-bite (indicative of a good aromatic), but was left with a slight chemical after-taste.

Overall, it is a fine aromatic which many will enjoy but falls short compared to Sillem's Black.

Good quality leaf, packs very easy and smokes very well when dry. It's a light and fresh smoke with very well balanced sweet caramel flavors accompanied by beautifully balanced lime or lemon like zest. When smoked slowly I get a smooth roasted marshmallow sort of sweetness that is very pleasant. I do detect the nuttiness of the Burley which again fairs very well with all the other flavors present. Smoke this one slowly and savor the richness of it. Smoke it too hot or fast and all these beautiful flavors seem to burn off. I experienced no tongue bite from this blend, there were however occasional yet subtle hints of what i might describe as a chemical taste, but only a few times throughout the bowl and not for very long. Room note is very nice as the wife can attest. Not very much nicotine present here. Burns very dry and clean. The only negative i can find is that it burns relatively fast, so pack it in a larger bowl if you want a reasonable length of a smoke. All in all a solid aromatic.

I like the Sillem's series. I love the Black, but had to try the others. This is a light, somewhat citrusy sweet aromatic blend. Great for the summer, but also nice on a cool fall day (today). Nothing too spectacular - the thing that is nice about it is it's not goopy at all. Very light.

Okay, so i tried this tobacco for the first time approximately two weeks ago, and have been smoking off and on since then. Tonight i had an early thanksgiving dinner put on by my school (Michigan Tech) and i was in line and decided to get the candied sweet potatoes. As soon as the sweet potato hit my taste buds i instantly thought of sillem's blue. It was a perfect copy cat.

This tobacco is very well done and taste great. However it arrives a little to wet to smoke right away and should be dried out a bit to get the best smoke out of it. The first time i smoked it i had received a mild tongue bite, but haven't experienced it since. Highly recommended.

Very pleasant smoke indeed. The lime flavor does predominate, but the maple is subtly there.

I smoked it slowly and experienced zero bite. Flavorful all the way through the bowl.

Will not be a regular but I plan to keep it on hand as a delightful occasional smoke.

I, for one, prefer it to Sillem's Black.

This is really good,everything is together in harmony.

Sillems makes some top notch smokey treats, so I was eager to pop this blue tin, though I can't say the idea of caramel/maple with citrus/fruit made much sense to me, but I'll keep an open mind. Well the aroma wasn't selling me any timeshares in the tropics, it reminded me of those cheap powdered-sugar fruit candies in a dollar store. It was musty and had a distorted unappealing fruity sweetness. Think lime juice on rye bread.

The cut was dry and certainly had thick pieces of broken flake, as well as plenty of loose ribbon cut pieces, evenly dark and blonde. It was all over the place, but clearly quality tobacco as the sticker upon it would suggest. The toppings however, turned me off. The citrus only made the smoke sharp and bitey, almost inflaming the taste buds like an acid peel from a sour candy. Even though the lime reminded me of the peppery kick of an Oriental in a strong English, I did not like the effect here. As far as any maple or caramel flavor, I can't tell, since my receptors are offline from fatigue.

I doubt this will appeal to many folks. If you are not a huge aromatic fan, best to avoid this one, and even aromatic fans best prepare for a polarizing flavor (akin to the soapy Lakeland flavor).

Sorry but I don't get this one. The flavor, what there is of it is kind of sour and musty. Opening tin I do get a bit of lime. On lighting there was some immediate taste of something I could not identify but it was totally sour. That sour taste came and went throughout the smoke. I guess this was supposed to be lime. Room note was just average. This was a very strange aromatic that left a very sour taste in my mouth after finishing off this blend. I know all folks are different but this is a blend I will not smoke again.