None of these are necessarily bad - everything tastes like quality leaf - it just doesn't come together in any interesting way. It's the difference between looking at a great painting, and the discrete blobs on the artist's palate. Based on the description, it's a bit of a disappointment.

Update: Ok. I think I get what they're going for. I just needed to take some time with this one. Still nothing more than an occasional hint of latakia, but if you're patient and slow, this does turn out to be a little more interesting. I'd give it an extra 1/2 star if I could (or, if it were a 5-star rating system, I'd give it 3). Not bad at all, but I can't find a reason to recommend this over any number of blends out there.

Brandywine is an interesting blend. It supposedly has Latakia in it - but I found it to be undetectable in both flavor and room note. There is a good bit of Burley, and the added flavoring is present through most of the smoke. The Turkish/Orientals dominate through the first 2/3 of the bowl, with the flavored Burley in support. The underlying flavor is almost like a dark red wine, or grape juice. Toward the end, it's straight Burley. And at no time did it taste like that horrid 'Dolphin'. Though it isn't mentioned, I thought I tasted some virginia from time to time.

Moisture content looked good right from the bag, no preparation needed to smoke it. Pack it up and light it off. The burn is even and cool. Best of all - No Goop.

I wouldn't say that Brandywine is on a par with Barbary Coast (GL Pease), but it is something that the BC lover could enjoy as an all-day smoke when working in the yard, etc. I might even buy some more of it some day.

This is a very nice smoke. There is some flavoring agent added, but quite sparingly. Predominantly rich, smooth burley flavor, mellowed out by the other tobaccos. I don't really pick up on the latakia that is supposed to be here, but never the less, I like this stuff. It reminds me of something from long past, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

All in all, this would make a great all dayer- light,but full flavored, with a very pleasant room note.

The base of this blend is I think Edwards "base 88", a mostly cube cut mixture of virginia and burley with some latakia (about 10% in original base) and a little toasted cavendish. You can buy that and smoke it as is for an American classic.

In this blend, to that base is added some more burley or virginia, some other rounding out condiments perhaps, and surely a good ounce of their "G" essence (for grape). This is more of a robust blend than a sweet blend, but it does have a wine-like taste to a semi-full mixture.

Don't be confused with wet or gooey aromatics here. The essence or fragrance is light but steady throughout. (It is not a spray but fragrant or essence to which they simply expose small batches of burley to over time and then blend those essence tobaccos into a blend. They marry within weeks.) The hearty somewhat wine-like flavor doesn't give out over the fairly rich base tobaccos. The taste is consistent throughout the smoke. You don't taste much turkish, etc. though, but there is a hint of darkness. The is an honest and dry alternative to the wetter spirit influenced tobccos, like Esoterica's Pembroke.

In the older days, this was considered one of the most aromatic tobaccos in their line -- but not as sweet as their Bowl of Cherries, Rum Toddy, or the delightful Honey Cavendish which is still available off the shelf, etc. Buccaneer replaced Brandywine as their most aromatic blend in the 1980's. Since then Edwards has jumped more on the aromatic wagon a good bit.

This blend is quite cool, dry, robust, tasty but not delicut, easy packing, and it has good, steady burning characterestics. The room fragrance is quite nice too. I'm glad its been noted again around the New year (2003), as it's like an old friend I shouldn't forget. I, like many of you, are drawn off the tried and true track of my old favorites by the legion of new and varied pipe tobaccos available to us in recent years. This blend compares quite favorably to Pembroke (but it is much drier), Peterson's Irish Wiskey (but is milder), CAO's Malthouse (but is cooler), etc. Recommended to mostly natural smokers who occasionally like a little fragrance or scent but no goo.