Iwan Ries Three Star Blue

Three Star Blue has been in continuous production and a top seller since the 1950s, and until now, it was only available at Iwan Ries. Sutliff, who has produced the blend for many years, is now nationally distributing it in order to reach a wider audience. I was asked to review it. As I have been smoking a freshly manufactured production, I’ve rewritten my previous review to reflect my latest thoughts on this tobacco.

The lightly fruity, grassy, citrusy sweet Virginia is the base of the blend. The very nutty, earthy, woody, toasty burleys are the most noticeable component, and also provide a drop or two of molasses. The properties of the fire cured black cavendish are a smoothing brown sugar along with a touch of smokiness as a supporting player. There’s a minute amount of Cyprian Latakia that offers a mild smokey, woody, earthy sweet push to the blend. In a minor role is some plum and a faint spice hit from the perique. The mildly applied vanilla topping has a light richness. I also observe a small amount of licorice, which has a hint of soap and floral perfume quality. The toppings do tone down the tobaccos a little as they work in concert to create a very consistent, harmonious flavor from start to finish. It won’t bite or get harsh, but I recommend a moderate puffing cadence to allow the various aspects of the mixture to shine. The strength and taste are just shy of being in the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is mild. Burns clean and dry at a reasonable pace, and requires few relights as it easily burns to ash. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl. The after taste pleasantly lingers, and the room note is rather sweet. An easy going all day smoke that kind of leans in the direction of an aromatic English without reaching that level.

-JimInks

Iwan Ries says this is the most popular private label brand in the country and is their store's most popular tobacco. Well, I demand an audit!

I first tried Blue as a teenager in the early 70's. I have given the stuff a whirl a half dozen times since then and get the same results. This stuff burns like the dickens, tastes terrible, and smells weird. If you don't mind spending a few weeks with your tongue in a sling, then go ahead a light up with this stuff, otherwise, avoid at all costs!

I received a complimentary pouch of this with an order I recently placed with Iwan Ries, which seems to be the predominant means of procurement. Does anyone actually buy this blend on purpose? I certainly intend to. Opinions regarding Three Star Blue are all over the board. Many of the reviews here seem to describe something quite different from what I'm smoking: a VERY mildly aromatic, rough cut blend. The burleys are at the forefront, with the latakias and periques adding just the right amount of character. The cavendish provides a subtle sweetness to round things out. My tastes tend towards strongly flavored tobaccos and I will smoke anything form Lakeland blends to the goopiest aromatics; however I tend to enjoy this when I need a break from all the flavoring. This blend is best smoked in a small bowl and SLOWLY. Although it has yet to bite me, all tobacco has that potential. Three Star Blue goes well with coffee in the morning or bourbon in the afternoon or with some smooth jazz and good French brandy in the evening.

Three Star Blue is a classic American style blend. It comes in an attractive foil pouch. Visually, it is one of the prettiest blends I've seen. Very light tan, brown,rough cut, with a few black flakes. I believe the black flakes are stoved Virginia. This is an aromatic, but it is not in the wet, heavily cased black Cavendish style which dominates today. The pouch aroma is fruity and cool. It takes a bit to get this going, but then it is easy to maintain. Go slow with this, or you will hurt yourself! I wouldn't smoke this one mindlessly, I have to have some time on my hands to be able to appreciate this. The bite and heat are definitely the flaws of this blend. The flavor is fruity, a little sweet, a little sour, with a toasty tobacco undertone. I would recommend smoking this in a long stemmed billiard, or Canadian, to help cool things down.

If you like mildly fruity aromatics, and are patient enough to master the technique required for this blend, It could make a good smoke. It finishes clean and dry, and although it will leave a ghost, it's nothing compared to some of the goopier aromatics out there. If you love these old-fashioned blends, its well worth a try. I've never had anything else like it.

Greetings ladies and gents, yet here is more of my babbling. Three Star Blue is a debated subject. And in fact i must agree that this a very tempramental blend. However I have enjoyed it for many years. Its aroma a p***y magnent and worth the heat! Nice blend of burly, virginia, and I do detect oriantials. Now to the facts....hot as hell. As I have posted earlier, I bore out pipes.....every one of them. After the advice of Laars Iverson, I have tamed the wildest of tobaccos. Being a machinist, with extensive flow training has taught me a great deal in pipe smoking. People, all pipes have tiny draft holes for purposes of strenght. The taste, burn qualitys, ash formation is caused by this draft. The smoke we enjoy is made available by its clinging to water dropletes. NO turbalance can be involved, nor small draft holes. A pipe is a chimmney and needs to breath. TSB has become now one of my all time favorites. Cool smoking, Superb flavor and has all the desired qualitys we search for. Yes it ghosts a pipe....all tobacco does in fact!!!! Most recent is a Canadian bored to 7/32". An absolutly marvolus smoke, as compaired to years gone by with stock bores. Lets take a second and examine our equipment, even the dunhill guys, before we pass judgement on an old and trusted blend from our great friends at Iwan Ries. Thanks Pipestud for your postings and renouned experiance.. (PS the vintage meer smokes like a dream!!!) Best regards to all

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This is an easy one to review. It came dry enough in the pouch that I could smoke it without further fuss. One bowl was enough.

The good news is that this has a decent room aroma. The bad news is that it has no discernible tobacco flavor. Reminded me of Mac Baren roll cakes in that regard and also in its tendency to produce tongue-maligning steam. I found absolutely nothing to recommend this atrocity. Was this stuff this bad in the old days? Thankfully, I missed out on it. Probably in my bottom 10 of all pipe tobaccos. If this were all that was available, I'd grow my own because even I couldn't screw something up this badly.

Ok, I KNOW you're going to try it! Everyone does. There are plenty of in depth reviews here so don't say you weren't warned!!!

Three Star Blue is a debated subject. And in fact i must agree that this a very tempramental blend. However I have enjoyed it for many years. Nice blend of burly, virginia, latakia and perique .This mixture is a very old school. Back when pipe smoking was common place and people smoked in banks and collage lecture halls ect, this type of tobacco was the norm. Unhurried and calm, the way a pipe is to be enjoyed. TSB falls smack dab in the middle of that catagory. Smoked gently, it provides a very consistent and pleasing smoke. The room note garners praise from most everyone, even the anti-smoking nazis. Yes its an aromatic, BUT, its an aromatic of classic times, and not to be compaired to the gooped, sauced up OTC blends or even high end of present day, ie, Captain Black and his band of pirates, flavored with God knows what . We all know that a pipe is to be sipped slowly to reveal its true character, and TSB is no exception. One thing I have discovered years ago, being a collector of classic pipes is that the ghosts of every Christmas Past lurks within them. Out to the garage and out comes the retort contraption and the holy water, rum 151, and my trusty Ronsen butane torch, a can of Coke, ice and a glass, (I retort myself also during this ritual.) Having a CLEAN and ghost free pipe is key to enjoying our hobby. I dedicate my pipes to specific tobacco blends so no distant relatives emerge and spoil my fun. (I dont want cousin Eddie and his brood pulling in and staying till next month.) Also I bore out pipes.....every one of them. After the advice of Laars Iverson, I have tamed the most stubborn of terrible smoking pipes. Being a machinist, with extensive flow training, has taught me a great deal in pipe smoking. People, all pipes have tiny draft holes for purposes of strenght. The taste, burn qualitys, ash formation is caused by this draft. The smoke we enjoy is made available by its clinging to water droplettes. NO turbulence can be involved, nor small draft holes. A pipe is a chimney and needs to breathe. TSB is of my all time favorites. Cool smoking when given the respect it deserves, superb flavor, burns very clean, and no swamp left in the bottom . Most recent is an estate Ben Wade Golden Walnut Plateau Briar bored to 3/16"". An wonderful smoker now, compared to the original with a stock bore. Lets take a second and examine our equipment, even the Dunhill guys, (I own 3 and were grounds for divorce, not to mention the cost of fuel to operate them). I hope that my two cents here will assist a few and especially new pipers breaking in to our hobby. The best tobacco on the planet is the one you enjoy the most

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Well if you are ever walking down Wabash St in Chicago and see a large sign hugging a building corner next to the El that reads Iwan Ries and Company with three stars on it you know that you have arrived at 19 S Wabash. Said sign is blue, coincidence? I think not. If you venture up to the second floor and ask their most experienced employee for a tobacco suggestion, he will hand you a pouch of this if you are willing to try an aromatic. Coincidence? I think not. Not all aromatics are the same and that holds true here. Black Cavendish, Perique, and Latakia is an awesome base if you think about it and the topping is unique. Personally, I taste cherry, vanilla, and scotch which actually turns out to be pretty neat with the Perique and Latakia. I love Perique and Latakia and I can say I never smoke aromatics but I truly loved my dance with this bowl. If you like the story, if you are open to the flavors go for it because the underlying blend of tobaccos is actually really good. IRC blends have always cleared and reset my palette with their robust tobaccos and old-time toppings/casings.

De gustibus non est disputandum, and that's certainly true when it comes to tobaccos. In the old days I smoked English blends, especially the late lamented Balkan Sobranie, but recently this type of tobacco stopped working for me, and I understand that some people have or develop an intolerance for Latakia, and that turned out to be the case for me. I dug into my pouch of TSB and thought I had a rattlesnake in my bowl––it bit, and bit again, harder each time. At the same time I found that I did enjoy the taste, and family comments ranged from "extremely pleasant“to “delicious.“ Well, being an old, experienced pipe smoker I asked myself the rhetorical question “what does one do when the tobacco burns too hot?” And the answer is simple: “smoke it slower.” That turned out to be very good advice in this case, because smoked slowly, TSB turns out to be a most pleasant experience. it's not too strong at all, and when the tobacco is savored, turns out to be exactly what one wishes for in a tobacco. It now burns cool and dry to the bottom of the bowl leaving a small quantity of powdery ash. My advice to others who have found this too hot burning as I initially did: give this one a chance, smoke slowly, and you'll be rewarded with a very satisfying smoke. There’s a reason why this one has been around for the better part of a century, and if you give it a chance, you’ll see why.

Like Briarlaw, I am completely re-writing my review on this tobacco, due to a couple of things that have happened in the interim. The first was that Iwan Ries had a sale on their Peterson Emerald series pipes and I ordered a medium billiard. The other was that they sent a pouch of their Three Star Blue tobacco with it. My first inclination was to put it in an unused corner of my tobacco cabinet, but for some reason I decided to give it a second chance. The first bowl brought forth a lovely flavor of apples and burley that had me craving another one. Bear in mind this was in a brand new unsmoked, unbroken in pipe. Subsequent bowls only reinforced this first experience and the new Pete stayed dedicated to Three Star Blue. One of this tobacco's most endearing attributes is its' lighting and burn qualities. It is almost unheard of for an aromatic to be this easy to smoke. It is an easy tobacco to smoke slowly, which makes any blend more flavorful and cooler burning. My pouch of Three Star is nearly gone, so there was only one thing to do. Last night I went to the Iwan Ries site and ordered another new Peterson straight apple and a larger bag of one of my new staples.