D & R Tobacco Cockstrong Premium Pipe Tobacco

(2.73)
A full bodied traditional U.S. Blend, with a robust taste reminiscent of blends from the mid-20th century. This flavorful blend contains exotic air-cured Burley, flue-cured Gold Leaf and Oriental tobaccos from around the world. A full bodied, traditional pipe blend, with a robust taste. Crafted to Satisfy Distinctive Tastes and Preferences. No chemical flavorings or casings added.

Details

Brand D & R Tobacco
Blended By Mark Ryan
Manufactured By Daughters & Ryan
Blend Type American
Contents Burley, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 40 grams tin, 3.5 ounce tin, 16 ounce bag
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.73 / 4
4

5

4

2

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 15 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 07, 2015 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Pleasant
I really like Cockstrong! It compares favorably to some of the Semois offerings in flavor and burn rate. Not as flavorful perhaps, but the Burley is indeed very strong and the Oriental component softens what would otherwise probably be a head spinner. I can certainly see how this one was crafted to emulate the old Burleys of yesterday. In your face, but with some thought. Certainly not an everyday smoke for me, but when I want a flavorful nicotine hit, I grab a small bowled pipe and Cockstrong.

Pipestud
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 28, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
The burley is the star component: toasty, woody, nutty and oat-like, with a little sharp earthiness and a touch of sweetness. The lightly floral, bready flue cured gold leaf is grassy with a touch of tart and tangy citrus plays a support role. The Orientals are dryly sour, slight sweet, woody, earthy, herbal, vegetative, and lightly smoky as an important secondary player. There are no toppings. I did encounter a few cigarette notes along the way, but it didn’t detract from the experience. You’ll notice all the flavors in every puff. Won't bite or get harsh, but it does have a few small rough edges. Burns mostly cool, very clean, and a tad fast with a consistent taste to the finish. Barely requires any relights, and leaves no moisture in the bowl. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are medium. Has a pleasing, moderately lingering after taste, and a more potent room note. Performs best when smoked slowly, and a light hydration won't hurt. Though it isn’t as strong as the name may indicate, it’s just over the all day smoke threshold.

-JimInks
18 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 23, 2014 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I have to confess that when I received about an ounce of Cockstrong from a TR friend, I honestly thought this was going to be bad from the get go. It looks like a tobacco used for RYO. The first couple of bowls started out well and the taste is pure tobacco. It may be in the top five pure tobacco blends I have tried in terms of nothing on it. Zip, nada, nothing in the casing department. Although I can say that it isn’t raw Burley as it doesn’t have the very harsh flavor that comes from untreated Burley. Given the name of this blend, I don’t think it is for its strength as Coskstrong has its fair share of Lady N, but I wouldn’t call it strong. The blend doesn’t bite, but it arrives dry and could burn hot as it didn’t take me very long to get through a bowl. I don’t pick up any sweetness from the Virginias at all. It doesn’t have the fullness of some of the other “purer” tobacco blends that I have tried, but more of a medium body smoke. Cockstrong is for pipe smokers that want a pure tobacco taste with no sweetness and a “set it and forget it” all day smoke. For that reason, I think Cockstrong hits the mark.
Age When Smoked: New
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 21, 2013 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
...Whatever the name of this tobacco implies, I'll leave up to the individual to define. My teenage sons think its a "hoot" that their "old man" smokes a blend by this name.

I like some of the D&R tobaccos and applaud M. Ryan...while this is a full bodied blend and perhaps is stout and robust, it is not overwhelming. I rather enjoy the interplay between the Burley, Virginia's and Orientals and while not complex, the "earthy" taste and aroma suit me well.

It is rather dry (I buy it in 14 oz. bags)so I do hydrate it and tend to keep it moist as I find it develops more taste and keeps the burn rate where I like it. A great blend for larger bowls and I quite enjoy this with coffee or a good sour mash whiskey.

...a pipe is to be savored...
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 26, 2018 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Nice burley flavor with a little something special from the orientals. Easily an all day blend for me. Burns quick if not hydrated. Love the aftertaste. If you're a C&D burley guy who dabbles with the lakelands, this is for you.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 02, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The tobacco is a mixed ribbon of tans and light browns. It was delivered very dry, and I tried smoking it as delivered and hydrated with the "John Patton breathe through the bowl." It may have had a little more flavor hydrated. I have been smoking it in a variety of English pots.

It is a nice combination of flavors. The burley is slightly earthy and sweet. The Virginia adds some hay and tart. The Orientals give just a little sour and some spice when snorked. It does not sound like a "knock it out of the park" combination, but it works well for me. The flavor was very consistent to the bottom of the bowl.

It was easy to keep lit and smoked quickly with no moisture in the bowl. The nicotine in this is overrated, and it may be the power of suggestion in the name. I found it to be a solid medium in the strength category.

This is easy to recommend if you are looking for "tobacco flavored" and like Orientals.

Edit 12/14/17: I have to vent about the closures on the pound bags D&R uses. I am on my 4th pound bag of D&R tobacco, and the closures on the bags fail reliably before you have smoked a half of the pound. It is no problem to transfer it to a gallon ziplock freezer bag, but they need to change bag vendors.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 25, 2016 Strong None Detected Medium Tolerable
Update 8/25/2017

I ended up smoking the second tin I had of this one. I decided I would try it as my truck blend. Meaning It stays in my truck with a dedicated pipe. It worked well in this regard. The pipe I chose was a rusticated Brebbia 624 with a bowl size between a group 3 and 4. Because this is a quick burner it was nice for short trips around town.

It seemed that by dedicating a pipe, I was able to draw out more burley sweetness from the blend than I previously experienced. Overall, I would not change my rating from two stars, but maybe it is a little closer to a three.

Original Review 7/16/2016

A friend gave me two tins of this from the Chicago Show he attended a few years ago apparently because he found the name so humorous. I decided to pop one out of curiosity's sake and I smoked a bowl of it and put it aside for a while.

I am in the process of finishing up opened containers and have not opened any new containers in almost a year. I decided to plug my way through this tin and just finished it up on vacation last week.

I am actually surprised I got through this whole tin without giving it away as it just was not to my liking. Although I did not enjoy it so much, I could see some redeeming features to this one. It is a strong one and it burns fast. I could see bringing something like this along if you were somewhere where you were forced to go outside with some cigarette smokers to enjoy a pipe. This one could probably be enjoyed in 10 minutes in a small bowl.

I couldn't get this one to go more than 30 minutes even in my largest bowled pipes. As I am seldom in a position to have a smoke like this and I prefer to sit down and enjoy a 40 minute plus smoke, I typically do not like the fast burning blends.

As to the taste, you can sense the orientals with a slight sour tang, but it is mostly Virginia and burley to my tastes and perhaps a little cigarettish in flavor. For me, it had little flavor at all early on and then developed some nice nutty sweetness in the middle third. The last third took on an almost ashy type taste.

There are just too many other blends with these components for to ever want to try this one again. I will likely trade off the other tin I have down the road.
Pipe Used: Brebbia Rusticated 624
Age When Smoked: 3yrs, 2 months
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
CTS
Mar 17, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable to Strong
Pure tobacco flavor all the way through. Although I've never smoked cigarettes (only gars and briar), the smell reminds me a bit of cigarettes. The tobacco flavor is a bit sharp/edgy and somewhat unbalanced, although the burley adds a bit of balance. Don't get much sweetness from the blend. Not as strong as Picayune. Might be a good blender for lightweight blends that need a boost. Nicotine is there, but doesn't make my head swim. Burns quickly and cleanly. 2+*.
Pipe Used: Italian Basket 35+ years old.
PurchasedFrom: P&C
Age When Smoked: Undated tin; bought 1 month ago
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 08, 2018 Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
D & R Tobacco - Cockstrong Premium.

A blend of medium size, mid-brown ribbons that's free from any twigs. I'd have preferred mine to have been a touch moister, the cellophane seal had lifted and seeing as it's stamped Jan 2018 that means it's had a few months to breath.

The Burley outweighs the other two, easily. It isn't a sweet molasses, or mildly nutty variety, it's natural, ardent and strong. The Latakia-esc Orientals give the supporting flavour, but I find the least flavour comes from the Virginia; the other two are a bit too heady to let the Va join in. A negative? Unsurprisingly it burns fast. On the plus side I get no bite.

Nicotine: quite strong. Room-note: not great.

Cockstrong? If you want a quick nic' fix with a full flavour this should do! Not my bag, though. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.
Pipe Used: Rattray's Celtic #15 Calabash
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 4 months
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 01, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable to Strong
Blonde to light tan ribbons cut very fine with a tin aroma of light orientals in top of basic tobacco... which is a good description of the taste, although not a complete one. This came dry but it seemed to perform better with a bit of hydration added. The taste was purer and more defined in its dry state but a bit rounder with some added moisture.

Although it's hard for me to believe that this isn't cigarette tobacco rebadged to avoid RYO taxes, it proclaims itself to be pipe tobacco, and indeed the cut makes it seem midway between the two. The taste is pure tobacco, with the burley front and center, the orientals next up and the Virginia (if there is any) pretty invisible save for perhaps an attempt to smooth out the blend. There was little to no sweetness or tang. This was primarily burley with a sidebar of orientals, a lot like Camel cigarettes. There was also some cigar notes, along with some mildly floral and incense-like wafts from the orientals. No casing of any kind, The nicotine was around the midpoint, perhaps slightly higher, but no head spinning. The flavor was on the strong side but thin and the mouthfeel was thin as well. Edgy...uncertain...cigarette-like. I keep coming back to cigarettes with these D&R blends, and as much as it may make me seem unreasonably critical, it just strikes me that these blends would work better in a tube than a pipe. But do try it if you like the purer tobacco blends and need a nic fix. I just feel that there are other blends more suitable to the pipe smoker who wants pipe tobacco-type flavors. I don't have much experience with D&R but everything I've smoked from them so far tells me that I have more than I'll ever need already. On to others!
4 people found this review helpful.
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