It's obviously high quality tobacco, just not for me, probably. Keep in mind that the tin is not very good at keeping the tobacco fresh and moist, so transfer into a jar if you won't smoke it within 1-2 weeks after opening

I like having a burley on hand for when I've destroyed my VA palate with latakia. Makes for a nice change of pace. ABF is expensive, though. I don't know if I'll be buying any more.

ABF arrives in a square tin containing 18 or so chewing-gum sized flakes of tobacco, each perfect for a pipe full. The tin aroma is of deep, aged tobacco with cocoa overtones. I've been told that the aging process for tobacco can cause a natural chocolate aroma. That may be true. But I'd still wager that ABF is cased with cocoa to some degree.

Fresh, this blend burns well after being fully rubbed out. Smoking a folded up flake can be more problematic, since it does arrive fairly moist fresh from the tin. Drying time removes some of the chocolate note and optimizes the blend's burn qualities.

This is a Burley, clearly. But there's none of the bitter edge that other predominantly Burley blends exhibit. ABF is smooth and refined, even almost sweet at times. But unlike VAs where sweetness can often mean airy, ephemeral smokes, ABF burns heartily and carries plenty of Vitamin N. It's a joy to smoke. Easy to work with, difficult to overheat. And supremely satisfying.

tobacco tin smell: smells like chocolate...wonderful. sweet chocolate.

Perfect moisture right out of the tin, into the bowl. Fold, twist and pack...that easy.

after lightning: The smoke is smooth smoother the smoothest. Very subtle sweetness, subtle nuttiness, and boy....i taste some chocolate.

Conclusion: A very elegant tobacco, honest,pure in flavor...overall dark-flavors. It's hard to describe, what do i mean with dark-flavors?!....transformed into musical terms: minor-flavors. little tart-flavour, earthy, humus-flavor. Natural...fantastic if you like this kind of blends!

give it a try.

****Update***** Another baccy, which made in on my Hall-Of-Fame-List!!! ABF is like Nate King Cole's voice: smooth & entertaining

i dont wanna miss this anymore...THANK YOU MR. SOLANI!!!

****update*** i did some research. There is a very gentle chocolate-casing. me love chocolate!!! ...just smell the tobacco...if you dont smell chocolate...i dont know, give your nose a salt-treatment ;)

***another update**** January 9th, 2010 this blend is marvelous! Thank you Mr. Ruediger!!! Enjoy this blend accompanied with a nice mellow redwine. Fits together, just like Mike Tyson and a some red boxing gloves...5 Stars.

Let it begin, then. Opening the tin, the slices resemble the cut of University Flake in compactness and packaging. The tin aroma is completely different, though: Burley is immediately identified by its inherent cocoa-ish note with traces of brown cane sugar and good coffee. A hint of fruitiness makes it more interesting.

Just like UF, this blend is pressed very tightly; it's nigh impossible to light folded; rubbed out it takes to the match readily and burns slowly and smoothly right down to the very bottom of the bowl.

The taste is not nearly as flamboyant as my favourite VAs, nor as sweet. There is the cocoa note typical of Burley, together with the accompanying dry room note which is not bad at all; as in the tin aroma, traces of sugar and coffee are in there, too. The smoke is remarkably cool, though.

Overall, a pretty good smoke; for a pure Burley, it is purely excellent. Alas, I cannot give four stars to a blend this expensive that has so little excitement on the palate to offer compared to, e.g., Marlin Flake or many pure VA flakes, which are also much more affordable. Recommended because it is truly exceptional for a Burley, and it handles very well.

The body is very nice. The smoke is silky and smooth, not harsh and hot like most other burleys that I have experienced in the past. The maker here is clearly a very skilled and careful craftsman. There is truly a nut-like quality that has eluded me with earlier burley attempts. And a level of sweetness that is light but tasty. There are NO rough edges here.

This one pairs nicely with a strong cup of coffee in the morning, or whenever you need a refreshing break. Easily an all day tobacco, except for the price. But I am not one to mark a great tobacco down for the price. No matter what my pocketbook says, this is great stuff.

Update 09/2011- The stock of tins I have are smoking perfectly after the 2 year mark. This is the one Burley that I truly enjoy everytime I smoke it. Air time is needed with this one. I think the latest reviews are from people trying this without properly airing it. Two weeks of jar time with the occasional opening is the ticket. 15 more tins in storage, will try again at 3 years. Cheers!

People talk about "nutty" flavors, and I agree, but to me it's the earthy kind of nuts like brazil nuts and a hint of filberts. The first half of the bowl was pure earth, like fresh garden dirt. It warmed up to a combination of nuttiness and earthiness and was just plain good all the way down. To be honest I've forgotten what it tastes like fresh, but I can vouch that it's good even when crispy dry.

I have more tins, and hopefully I'll be trying some soon that's fresher. Regardless, this is a really good, tasty blend. For me it's meant for sipping. It is not overly complex, but it has enough variation and nuance to keep it interesting to the bottom if you slow down and enjoy it. Easily a four star burley.

As far as the smoking experience, they both were smoke-able right out of the tin. No problem with packing or lighting for me. In both cases re-lights were minimal for flakes that were so fresh. What I did find after several smokes of each is that the BS has more in the way of molasses flavoring, not at all cloying, whereas ABF was more sour/bittersweet. There was no detectable molasses flavoring with ABF and it had more body. Its nicotine content I judged higher than BS as it tended to produce a fullness in my throat. The sour/bittersweet flavor was apparent with ABF and not with BS. Neither produced any moisture in the heel of my pipe. I conclude after many bowls of each that ABF and WBS are definitively different from one another, but both provided an excellent smoking experience. They both use high quality Burley leaf. I am glad the two are different as switching from one to the other adds variety to the smoking experience. ABF is a solid smoking experience for those who favor high quality Burley. Compared to the legendary Edgeworth Sliced, I find ABF far superior and one of the best Burley tobaccos that I have ever smoked. 5+ stars and one of my favorites.

UPDATE 10-1-10: For those interested in such things, my last 4 ABF were arranged differently in the tin. My first half dozen tins had the tobacco slices stacked atop one another in 3 rows, side by side. My last 4 tins have the slices lying side by side as bacon in a package - identical to the way K&H packages their Wessex Burley Slice.

I would also add that ABF improves even more so with aging as it brings out a very nice champagne-like taste to the smoke. Best smoked when dried out totally to the touch.

The tin aroma is magnificent--hints of fruit and chocolate. The flake is beautifully packed and ready to go in terms of moisture content.

It rubs out nicely, burns even and cool, and tastes of a great blend of dark chocolate, nuts, and coffee. The bitter finish was unexpected but reminiscent of a good strong coffee--not too overpowering and complementary to the rich tobacco taste.

A very nice change of pace from my usual virginia leaf. Very nice! Five stars.

Lights easily. It has a cool, very dry and very delicious smoke. It also burns very slow. You can enjoy a relaxing and long lasting real tobacco taste with it. It is not very sweet. With a slow and relaxed puffing you will taste its less sweetness rounded with the pure tobacco bitterness. This natural flavor is catched at the beginning with the very first puffs and lasts till the end of the bowl.

Just perfect for the true tobacco taste lovers!

The initial flavor is mildly nutty and unprepossessing. The aroma is pointed, though light. There is the barest hint of toasty sweetness without any evidence of either VAs or added sugars. Aged Burley Flake exhibits no grassiness, sourness, or harshness but revels only in an ever-deepening richness. As the bowl progresses, the profile develops into a staid and austere crescendo of black walnut, leather, and coffee. The aftertaste is clean and fleeting.

A tightly focused study in richness sans nuance, Aged Burley Flake achieves a profound depth. It is a definitive icon for the serious burley aesthete.

Chamber Gauge: Narrow to Medium

Here are my cased and not so cased comparators (ranked):

-- Classic Samsun Grand Oriental (McClelland)

-- Balkan Sasieni or Balkan Supreme

-- Full Virginia Flake

-- Frog Morton, OT Town

-- Frog Morton, AT Pond

-- Butternut Barley

-- Westwinster (Pease)

-- Sunday Picnic

-- Golden Extra

-- Opening Night (C&D)

-- Balkan Flake

-- Vanilla Black Cavendish

-- Odyssey (Pease)

-- Galway Treasures of Ireland

-- Mixture 79

-- Black Velvet

On a scale of 10 being the bset, and 1 the least, only Black Velvet plunges beneath a 5

_____

I reviewed this a few days ago, but it never got posted. Here goes again.

This is my first review here. Thank you all for this satisfying resource.

My review of this Solani, a sensational smoke, should be taken in the context of my history (1.) Who would of thought that my appreciation of pipe tobacco could elevate to the stature of that of the gourmand? It is true. Wine, music and food: make way for something as wonderful.

Solani first and foremost engages the tongue. There is a broad swath of mild sweetness that bathes the side of the tongue. It is so wonderful, that one wishes it could be swallowed, to be completely savored.(2) Next, one realizes that it otherwise smokes as pretty uncoated/unflavored/uncased. Some might consider this boring. I obviously do not. I am getting a nice amount of smoke, which well  tastes like a full smoke with maybe a hint of a nuts (as in granola?). Those who say this is a boring smoke, must have developed a high threshold to subtlety, or have a greater scale upon which to opine. To me, the smoke dances and swirls within the palate, revealing a dynamic vitality: dark, then lightly smoked nuts and sweets, but never bitter.

I already know bite  tongue, palate, and cheek. I do not like bite; I now do not see any reason to smoke a tobacco that bites. (3) I am not yet knowledgeable enough to classify Burleys vs. other contents, However, as this is a Burley  I love this Burley.(4)

To me this Solani is like impressionistic music (Debussy, Sati); not Beethoven; not Bach, nor Mozart; certainly not heavy metal! This is smooth, serene, but full, friendly and well  comforting? Now if someone could make this at half the price . . .

All my best, Pipetype

NOTES: 1) I was a cigarette smoker for 50 years (now completely abstinent for 6 years), who only early-on occasionally smoked a pipe. My pipe tobacco at that time was limited to drug store brands. Of these I favored Balkan Sobranie, Mixture 79, and sometimes Half and half; never had been to a tobacconist. Recently, after watching a Sherlock Holmes episode (w/ Jeremy Brett) it occurred to me that I might be able to smoke a pipe with little risk of re-addiction to cigarettes. My current over-the-top enthusiasm for my New World of pipe tobacco is tempered by modest concerns about the health implications of pipe tobacco. To get this far, Ive had to endure emotionally loaded humiliations by fanatical anti-smoking kin and friends; must smoke in my own cave or outdoors. Ive looked at available very good epidemiological data on the health risks of pipe tobacco on those around me, and myself. Of all the risks, I am somewhat concerned about oral (and distantly: esophogeal, liver, and bladder cancers) due to tars which are powerfully delivered by side stream pipe smoke, saliva etc. I wish there could be a place where we could share information on this unemotionally. There must be a way to rinse away oral tar after smoking. I cannot find any scientific data on the efficacy of Medico and other filter systems in removing tar. However, what is that really awful smelly gunk in the filter, if not tar? So purely empirically and with speculation, I started using Medico filters, and if inserted correctly (i.e. to the bowel end) do not seem to mar the heavenly experience of a great tobacco. Suffice it to say, at this time for me the pleasures of pipe tobacco smoking outweigh any risks, fool that I am in the minds of those around me.

2) Indeed, I had the terrible tendency while smoking this brand to swallow as much wonderful tobacco tinged saliva as I could produce. This is probably the reason (passage of large amount of tar directly into the upper esophagus) why the risk of upper esophageal carcinoma is more frequent in pipe smokers than normals or cig smokers. So, Ive stopped doing it as much as possible.

3) I have a suspicion that an unpleasant bite of a tobacco (as differentiated from a wall of flavor) signals a health risk. I get bite form some tobaccos, no matter how I smoke them. (4) In order to understand whether I like other Burleys or just this one. Maybe because I was a cigarette smoker, Burley is just familiar to me. Perhaps the air curing increases the nicotine level. But that does not explain the sugary first taste which must be added. I can say I am also in love with Butternut Burley. My investigations continue.

Highly recommended.

A companion infusion: a cappuccino...or two.