Sutliff Tobacco Company Academy

A mild aromatic. The black cavendish has a mild vanilla flavor, and the Cyprian latakia gives a lightly smokey, woody sweet hit. It's a small, but important addition. The topping is sweet, and I get a slight plum note from it. The nutty, molasses sweet, lightly earthy burley flavor is crowded out a little, but does offer a little support. The burley is a little more noticeable if you give it a little drying time. Won't bite or get harsh. Has a very mild nic-hit. Burns at a reasonable rate, cool, clean and smooth with a consistent taste. Requires few relights and leaves just a little moisture in the bowl. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

This is a vanilla black cavendish with some condimental latakia and enough burly to give it a little depth. The label says the latakia is spicy, but I found it to be mildly "smokey" as I would expect.

It is an unusual blend for me to smoke, and I am not sure how I feel about the black cavendish/latakia combo for my palate. The burley is a little more evident in the last half of the bowl, and I liked it more as the bowl progressed. I like it more than Captain Black, and it does not have the slightly musty taste black cavendish does for me sometimes. It has a fairly pleasant room note.

If you like a vanilla black cavendish and want to try a variation on the theme, you should try this. The latakia is a light touch.

Academy is a typical sweet aromatic with a vanilla note along with another flavor I can’t quite put my finger on. The tin scent is sweet and has somewhat of a chemical scent. It’s wet so sufficient dry time is needed. The Latakia offers just a touch of added flavor. I enjoy an occasional aromatic and this one is kind of middle of the road. Adding a small amount of Latakia doesn’t make this an aromatic English blend and those seeking such should look elsewhere. Nor do I think it is a good introduction to Latakia to those seeking to explore the flavors of Latakia. There are much better aromatic blends like Silliam’s Black for a full on aromatic, Latakia experience. Or a blend like Britt’s Balkan from 4 Noggins that has an aromatic component, but leans more toward the English side of things. Both would better serve those seeking to “cross over.” Judged as a pure aromatic, it’s not bad and at its price point, even better. But in the end, even as a straight aromatic, there are far better ones out there with less of an artificial flavor.

After smoking exclusively aromatic blends for 35+ years, just this year I have been "dipping my toe" into the waters of English and VAPer blends. The Mason Jars of (more than a few) aromatic blends, in my tobacco cellar, have become quite lonely for the past several months. I have found more and more blends with Latakias and Orientals as well as (my current blend family of) Virginias and Perique nearly completely taking over in my rotation. Recently, while chatting with John Schone of Sutliff Tobacco via email he offered to send me some samples of their Non-Aromatic blends to try. Well, yesterday I received a nice sized box via UPS from John. It contained several of the Sutliff Private Stock blends and one of them was "Academy" When I opened this tin I was very pleasantly surprised by the rich, creamy aroma of Black Cavendish, with that unmistakable earthy (or whatever) of Latakia tobacco. I thought to myself, this is gonna be either a complete train wreck or it would be a splendid smoking experience. To be honest, it somewhat reminds me of the Frog Morton Cellar blend manufactured by McClelland.... just a tad sweeter. So, this afternoon I pried myself away from my brand new Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls long enough to fill an old favorite briar of mine with the Sutliff Academy blend. I used "Frank's Method" to fill the medium sized bowl and charred it with a match. IMHO this is NO train wreck! The thick, rich, creamy white smoke filled my mouth and nostrils with the taste of the Cavendish. Then I noticed the Latakia dancing on my taste buds like little twinkly faries. Well, enough of 'my attempt at' flowery speech. Suffice it to say that this is one of the most excellent tasting "Aromatic Tobacco Blends" I've ever smoked. I believe that if you are a smoker of aromatic blends, and have any interest At All in trying the English side of pipe tobaccos, you should try Sutliff's Private Stock Academy. Academy is a great place to cross that bridge and your taste buds will definitely thank you for it!

Are you a fan of sticky, black cavendish in the vein of Captain Black? Do live in a desert and need a tobacco that will never dry out? If you answered yes to both of those questions then Academy might be for you.

For me this kinda stuff always start with a bitterness that leads into an incessant, sickening sweetness. Smokes cool but the PG, or whatever it is, tends to irritate my tongue and throat. Leaves my mouth feeling not ashy but filthy none the less. Once I smoke even a little of this the scent gets trapped in my nose and facial hair and there is no escaping it for hours...even the next morning I detect and despise it. Leaves pipes bitter, funky and rancid.

This tin has been open for at least 2 years and even after being left in the hot and freezing conditions of my garage it's still perfectly moist.

Absolutely "Not Recommend" to English or straight Virginia purist or anyone that has reactions to PG laden blends. "Somewhat Recommend" on the grounds you enjoy Captain Black, Maple Street and their ilk.

A very generic vanilla cavendish with just hints of burley and latakia. If you happen to enjoy vanilla cavendish tobacco (and many do), this would be a good one to try (I likely would have loved this 30-35 years ago). These days, it's too sweet for my taste and slightly bitey. Although smoked without any drying, I didn't get any gurgle or leftover dottle, so I would say it's a good example of general type. If that slight bite hadn't been in every bowl, I would have given three stars.

If you want to see what happens when a little bit of latakia is introduced to mildly aromatic blend, then this is a good place to start. I have purchased two tins over time. Since I do like a lot of English/Latakia blends (SG Commonwealth, SG Squadron Leader, Ashton Artisan's blend and several others are among my favorite tobaccos) I would recommend this for a novice who wants to get into latakia blends. I currently have twelve latakia blends in tins, one in bulk and three that I made myself in stock. So, understand that I am reviewing this from the standpoint of someone who really likes blends that include latakia.

I would give this blend only one star if Sutliff tobacco tins were not so inexpensive. I must admit that I do not like the majority of Sutliff blends. My friends and I use "sutliffy" as an adjective to describe blends that have too much PG, leave a weird topping/casing flavor on the palate, and bite the tongue if not sipped in a baby-like fashion. This one is not quite as bad as the others. I have actually come up with a mixture of 50/50 Academy/Molto Dulce (another Sutliff product) that is interesting from time to time.

This one would get 3 stars from me if the PG was taken down a bit and the review was only for novice smokers or people who I felt should give latakia blends a try. I hate to say it this way, but I must be honest: This is fairly good for a Sutliff blend... and I will leave it at that.

I am uncomfortable with the concepts of "crossover" or "appeals to both aromatic and English smokers." It's like running a business called "Everything And More!" After all, making an aromatic- English mix is pretty easy to do yourself, especially if you don't dedicate pipes to certain flavors.

That being said, this is not a bad tobacco. Purposely mixing Black Cavendish with Latakia works, to my surprise. But there is very little Latakia here. The casing is average - I only had to leave this in a sunny window for one day, but the PG content must be high because it rehydrated on its own and consistently gurgled, leaving 25% dottle.

It burns like burley, but it surprised me it offered me no tongue bite at all. (Burley bites me like a cobra.) All in all, a nice offering, but I won't be buying any more.

I only started pipe smoking a couple of years ago, having never been a smoker before. For me it's just a hobby (I only smoke a couple of bowls a month) so my experience is quiet limited and my palette isn't too refined. Having said that, I've sampled about 16-18 different tobaccos ranging from OTC to fancier blends and so far Academy is the hands down favorite of all the blends I've tried. Really enjoyed it! I'm bummed it's no longer in production.

I bought this blend a long time ago. And it vanished into the mystery pile of tobaccos which didn't appeal to me at the time of purchase. I found it once again, and decided to give it another go. Now I find that it is no longer in production. So I'm currently smoking the last 2/3rds of the tin. Still not my cup of tea, but overall it's pretty good. A medium bodied blend. Strong when first lit up, then tames down to a pleasant smoke. Just enough latakia to make it interesting, but not over powering. I think this would be a tad better with a bit more sweetness. Still others might like this. Too bad it's no longer available...