John Middleton, Inc - Sugar Barrel pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 44 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
Buster Bluth	04/28/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Although I have never met a Burley I didnt like, the fact is that most OTC's lack in a key aspect. It is mouth feel, whereby the smoke lacks a fullness or density found in more complex smokes. Sometimes this lightness is refreshing, other times it becomes boring. I find Sugar Barrel to be more than the sum of its parts. The flavoring is lightly added but adds a wholeness to this blend not found in other OTC's. It is hard to put a finger on. For me it is like cinnamon and brown sugar. Not overly sweet. Like an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. This sounds odd but this cookie like essence just jives perfectly with Burley. While smoking, it tastes as if this subtle flavoring props up and enhances the tobacco, rather than overtaking it. Overall, this is a mild experience and perfect for warmer weather, the car, and outdoors. It's not an everyday for me, but have been enjoying a few bowls a week. Moisture content is perfect. There is no stickiness one would associate with an aromatic. Burns without fuss. No bite unless pushed and it gets bitter. Serviceable in a briar, but heaven in a cob. If your tastes lean to stuff like PipesandCigars Burley Cake, Boswell Premium Burley, etc. - you may like this.
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Shoog	03/13/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
My sample came to me at a good moisture level. The smell of the bag put me off a bit smelling strongly of brown sugar??? After loading up my pipe and lighting it I was pleasantly surprised. The strong sweet bag smell translated into a mild sweet tobacco forward flavor. It burned good like most OTC's with minimal relights and would only bite if pushed. It held its flavor all the way to the bottom. The only real negative I can think of is it did give me a very ashy feel / aftertaste on my tongue.
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Perique	01/25/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
One of the better OTCs, but that's not saying much. Superior to PA, but far inferior to Angler's Dream or other burley blends in this price range. That chemical taste is always in the background. My 2oz sample was well aged and on the pleasantly dry side, so can't speak to the moisture level in the tub. The Virginias are muted, and the sugar casing is light. Nice, sweet flavoring that lasts from the charring light through about half way through the bowl. Burley is predominant, with that unfortunate chemical OTC taste lurking in the background. An uninspiring though not completely unpleasant tobacco.
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JimInks	01/04/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I never thought I'd ever like this tobacco. Just goes to show you can't always judge a tobacco by it's name. It's not sugary as the name implies, though it is sweet in a Carter Hall way. It's not so sweet as to cause diabetes. The nuttiness of the burley comes through and works well with the Virginia component. It's less cased than some other OTCs like PA and Half and Half. It burns well and as long as you don't puff hard, will taste the same through the smoke; no bite. It's not complex, but then again, few OTCs are. It's a pleasant all day or after dinner dessert smoke. I give it three stars because it's a good OTC.
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Elwin	10/07/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Sweet, but still letting the mainly burley tobacco come through. Not a stellar blend by any means, but still better than so many others out there.
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Blue Bayou	10/03/2012	Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A high standard of standardness...
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Puffingthebriar	08/13/2012	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Well what a great OTC blend this is, could be a all day smoker, jumped straight in at the deep end and bought a 12oz tin, no regrets well worth the money,but dont think it will be in my regular rotation.
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Mac	07/07/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant
A great American Drug Store Blend.Right up there with PA,CH ,SWR and Walnut.I wish we had these blends readily available here.
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Wriggles	07/30/2011	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Sugar Barrel is another tobacco I never tried when it was available everywhere. I ordered a tub online recently. Objectively, I find this tobacco having very little flavor or taste. I cannot taste the sugar cookie type flavor others have described. This also has to be one of the mildest tobaccos I've ever smoked. I've smoked it in cobs, Kaywoodies, a Dunhill, and a Nording freehand. Not an offensive tobacco, just no flavor. I slightly recommend it as it is smokeable. Not a tobacco to throw away. Good quality. I think I'll try mixing it with Five Brothers to jazz it up. I won't buy it again.
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Young Piper	07/11/2011	Medium	Medium	Full	Very Pleasant
Ah Sugar Barrel. This blend is so simple and yet so enjoyable when the summer temps keep me from smoking heavier blends. I am not sure who to believe regarding the ingredients as a 1949 advertisement states: "Bourbon Burley was accidentally stored in sugar barrels which had damp sugar in them." So has the blend changed to a mostly virginia blend as one reviewer states? Well whatever the ingredients are, Sugar Barrel creates lots of Brown Sugar aromatic smoke without being overbearing or too heavy. Think Carter Hall with a Brown Sugar/Maple-ish dressing. Burns clean with no goop. Fine ash and no dottle in my cobs. Inexpensive and delightful room note which everyone will love.
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TK Pipe	07/04/2011	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
Sugar Barrel … Don’t let the name fool you, it is not (IMHO) an aromatic as most would define an aromatic. Its dominate taste is very much tobacco, with a slight sweetness that waifs in and out, really quite good. Very easy to control, mild, stays lit and from my experience, bite free. Most of Sugar Barrels attributes have already been covered in the many earlier reviews, but I found this tobacco so pleasant I just had to add my two cents. Wonderful straight, and really shines as a blender, it seems to blend nicely with just about anything, adding another dimension of taste (and mildness) to many of my favorites. This stuff is fun. I would recommend this blend to just about anyone. My personal rating, 4/5
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DrT999	04/15/2011	Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Easy pack, easy light (one match), lots of smoke. However, to me, not a lot of taste and just a hint of tongue burn. A somewhat boring smoke, but it's mild enough you could use it to cut any blends of similar cut that might strike you as too strong. Still, to me, meh.
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Thwarp	03/03/2011	Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I see a few people boistering this is a burley when in fact it just aint so. Its a burely virginia blend and it tastes nothing like a burely. It doesn't even come close. Sir walter Raleigh and Prince Albert come alot closer to the flavor of a burley. Prince Albert being the more accurate representation. Not even Carter Hall is a burely. Its a Virginia Burely blend with dominance of virginia in flavor. Its quite good too. This resembles C&D Crooner (w/deer tongue) very dry and stale flavor not at all pleasing. SB is quite stale indeed. Sugar barrel is by far the worst of the more popular OTC blends. Yes there is a mild sweetness to it but the poor quality of the tobacco simply ruins any chance of enjoyment. Especially when you're able to buy other OTC's and compare all of them. You will most certainly note that Sugar barrel is a royal let down. If this were the last tobacco on the the planet I would throw away my pipes and simply quit. I cannot recommend SB at this time when there are much better tobaccos on the shelf right next to it.
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yinyang	01/23/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Normally, when I want a simple OTC burley, Carter Hall is my choice...tasty, cheap and available, I have umpteen pouches put back just for these times. Well, a fellow forumite gifted me six or so ounces of Sugar Barrel recently, and in so doing has put a total monkey wrench in my plans. Sugar Barrel is good. Real good. Sweeter and more pleasant smelling than CH, my normal thought would be it would suck. I don't think much of aromatics, in particular the way the tobacco loses its' identity drowned in them. SB doesn't come off like an aromatic though, but a 'sugared' burley that's still burley. (I know, duh!) May be a subjective thing, I realize, but it is the best American style OTC I've pleasure to burn so far. Actually, the only complaints I can attribute to it are it's ability to bite if pushed (but in a mild form even then), and the usual 'bitters' at the end of the bowl. However, smoking at even a moderate pace eliminates both. I'm pleasantly surprised by SB, so much so, that I think most of my CH money will start being spent on SB tubs shortly. (Luckily for me, it is available locally too.) As someone who usually gravitates towards Virginias, I admit I could name quite a few blends that I prefer over Sugar Barrel, but when you factor cost, availability and taste, I think it fair to rate it highly...and especially so if comparing it to other store brands. Four (slightly conditional) stars.
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IMA_Redneck	01/22/2011	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
This tobacco is slightly sweet yet not over the top. The flavor in the tub is like oatmeal cookies and the smoke is somewhat like a sugar cookie however not quite that sweet. The wife likes the room note alot but not on the same level as Smokers Pride Black Cavendish. Update after a few weeks. I no longer think of sugar cookie when smoking this, its more of a brown sugar taste which i quite like. I belive there may be some Perique in this mix as I can detect a slightly spice like flavor in the smoke. With wonderful blends like this available OTC why go shopping for the pricy stuff.
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Taylor3006	10/20/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Received my canister today and am enjoying this tobacco. Mine was a bit on the dry side and the odor in the tin was very very mild. Smells very much like "Half & Half" for obvious reasons. This smokes better than "Half & Half" though, I suppose the "sugar" makes the difference. The casing is slight, you can really enjoy the tobacco taste so I agree, aromatic smokers will be a tad disappointed. I look forward to using this as a blender with some of the stronger aromatics though but on its own, it smokes very nicely. Definitely recommend this for novice smokers for sure. A bit of a tongue bite if quickly smoked though.
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apipeareyouserious?	09/25/2010	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I'm in love with this stuff...just got 2 oz. from 4Noggins & will probably order a can, it's amazing! Everything I expected from Carter Hall but without the chemical flavoring, everything I love about Prince Albert but just that extra bit more that makes it totally satisfying to me. First light, it's nice & simple but still has a nice "full" taste, a tad sweet with a nutty flavor. About half-way through the bowl the nutty flavor becomes more pronounced. Burned down to white ash with very little at the bottom of the bowl. This will be my go-to smoke, no doubt about it.
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Room Note Professor	09/16/2010	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
To me, this is Rum & Maple Light. My taste buds definitely pick up the same kind of topping (as do my nose, when catching the side stream), just less of it. The taste is quite mild. I much prefer Rum & Maple with its fuller taste. I was surprised at the scalding my gums took with this blend! I ordered a tub on the strength of the recommendations here. It will last me a long, long time. I'd recommend that burley lovers give this blend a try; I doubt if other smokers will find much to rave about.
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Txspurgeon	08/27/2010	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
What can I say, I love Burley! And on top of that, I love Sugar Barrel! Sweet, goopy, and/or bitter aromatics arent my bag. I prefer a more natural blend. That being said, when I want an occasional "sweet" smoke, I reach for Sugar Barrel. Pouch smell reminds me of oatmeal cookies. It tastes of burley, with a hint of sweetnes like brown sugar. It iskind of like a rich, brown sugary prince albert. It is great for after dinner, and AWESOME in a cob. Don't let the name fool you, it isn't a really sweet tobacco like you might think, so you aromatic smokers might be disappointed. The price is good, It is a classic, and if you are a Prince Albert/Carter Hall lover like me, you will like Sugar Barrel if you get a sweet tooth. If you are an aromatic/ or black cavendish lover, this is good if you want more of a straight tobacco taste.
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The Commoner	07/29/2010	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I am as of late a latakia head and but have found myself mixing in some plain Jane burley blends here and there sort of as a reset button to break a slump when nothing seems to taste or smoke quite right. A good bowl of PA or Carter Hall in a cob seems to make everything good again. So, like Chet below I've seen a few good reviews of Sugar Barrel lately and decided to give it a whirl. In short I love it. It's sort of like PA, with pinch of sugar. It's interesting that it really does translate to me just as sweet and not flavored. It doesn't taste like vanilla or cherry it's just got a sweetness to it that I find exceptionally enjoyable. For the last couple weeks I'm finding it's what I grab as a first smoke of the day. I pass up a whole shelf full of decent briars and drawers full of high end English blends and fill a cob Diplomat with some Sugar Barrel and just catch a good smoke. No fuss no muss. You light it and pretty much forget it. I absent mindedly puff it when checking email and stuff like that and have yet to be bitten. For my tastes this is the best OTC codger burley type blend out there. With all due respect to the Prince, Carter Hall, Walnut, et al. This one just tastes best to me. A joy to smoke. 4 stars in its category and 3 against the field. I can recommend this to just about anyone who smokes a pipe. I can't imagine you would despise it. Maybe find it a bit too pedestrian. But not offensive. It certainly has found a pretty secure place among my regular smoking stock.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 44 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >