Butera - Kingfisher pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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Ducksbreath	07/31/2005	Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium	Tolerable
There's a good amount of Burley here I'm guessing, and the burley seems somewhat similar to the kind of Burley I've found in University Flake...strong, cool but slightly flavorless or "empty", not the nutty kind. However the VA component is much more pronounced here than in UF, so the overall smoke isn't as powerful and never gets bitter. And of course there's no Perique in UF at all. All in all this a very smooth and delectable Krumble Kake that still has that signature Germain mustines, presumably from the VA. The Perique is at about the level found in Elizabethan Mixture, in my estimation. I do believe I'll have to dedicate a pipe to this to get everything out of the experience.
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calavera	06/13/2005	Mild	None detected	Mild	Pleasant
I picked up a tin of this and forgot about it for six months. Saw it, and opened it up. Had an awesome tin aroma. Kind of an apricot like note. The krumble kake is nice also. You hardly have to roll it around to break it up into almost a powder. Pack carefully. Burns adequately. Smoke it most often in a Kirsten that I have dedicated to Va/perique combos. It has a subtle sweetness from the Virginias, a slight peppery note from the perique and a nice toastiness from the burley. If you are a fan of perique, you might not like this one as there is little of it present. The amount here lends just the right effect for me, however. This is my favorite Va/perique blend.
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Briarabbit	06/11/2005	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
I purchased a tin of Kingfisher back in July,03 and smoked some of it right away. I noted that the tobacco was a little on the damp side,so I smoked a few more bowls here and there and put it away for a while. Well just last week I got back to the old Kingfisher,and boy what a few months made! Lately, I have found myself smoking this more than any other tobacco in my stock. The Burleys are outstanding,and the Perique,oh my goodness what a great combination together.The perique adds that warm stewed fruit to the nutty round taste of the Burley. The Virgiia leaf is suttle and not to tangy,though it is there. This tobacco does have a BIG nicotene lift and I have dedicated a pipe to it.Wonderful tobacco. Update-2005 I still like this tobacco blend and if it weren't for the steep price I'd probaly smoke it on a more regular basis-( wish I could get it in bulk). The pipe that I have found best suited for this IMO is my Dunhill Cumberland group 4 size,(small bowl). The smaller chamber seems to really burst the flavour out. Sipped softly this is a great tasting tobacco.It is mellowy,and high in nicotene.The ash does turn yellow indicating to me there is old belt North Carlina Virgina leaf here. Sip-Sip- Sip. If you are one who rated this tobacco low, try it again sometime,I'll just bet your taste buds have changed,and you'll like it. Hey,it happens with me.
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DUPE.1512	05/23/2005	Medium	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Since Kingfisher is crumble cake, it smokes nice, cool and slow. However, akin to Petersons University Flake, it is for the most part tasteless, even though it contains perique.
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Lord Cavendish	03/16/2005	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
First off, because kingfisher is crumble cake it provides a very nice, cool, even smoke; and the molasses seems to have no ill effect on the experience. But i found it, overall, to be rather tasteless, despite the perique. Afterwards i was left with too much of a buzz (im a lightweight to nicotine though). I can never smell a tobacco while its in my bowl, but it was tolerable to those around me. ~Lord Cavendish~
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Joe Patterson	02/22/2005	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Wow, I thought, a Perique blend in cruble cake form. The excitement ends there folks. If you, like me, love Penzance for its flavor and cut, you'll be sorely dissapointed here. It burns well, stays lit and no bite, but the trade off is no flavor. Burley and Perique must keep this blend cool, but the VA just doesn't stand up. I'm glad I tied this blend, but before you drop the high dollars on this blend, see if you can sample some -- you coulda had better!
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	02/21/2005	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is Perique done correctly. It is cool and rich and the Perique provides a wonderful zest to the blend.It comes in krumble kake and is incredibly similar in cut and burning charateristics to Penzance (same company).I normally do not smoke flake or Perique, but this is true magic.It has a sour taste but in a good way -think ESOTERICA. I would encourage anyone who likes a different English blend to buy this, it provides a little relief from Latakia, yet yields a potent and natural flavor. 3 of 4 stars.
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The Keeper	01/13/2005	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
A medium strength va/p/burley mixture. This blend focuses more on earthy, fruity tastes than the cigar and pepper mixture normally associated with the ingredients. Smooth and well behaved, I could imagine this being a great transitional blend into the VA/P realm. There is enough Perique to create a tingle, but not so much that you run for the water bucket. The texture and aroma is reminiscient of McClelland's - but not quite so sticky and pungent. An autumnal sweetness not unlike Dorchester peaks into the smoke. This is counterbalanced by a much more defined cigarette flavor and aroma - ala Stratford. It is a quality smoke from an expert blender - but as others have noted seems to be slightly understated. However this could easily be a va/p mixture which fills the niche of easy to enjoy yet slightly earthy and rich.
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Spike	12/15/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
I don't know why people write reviews of tobacco blends they know they won't like! If you like Virginnia-Burley-Perique Flakes then I highly recommend this one. The Burley is fairly understated the Virg. and Perique dominate. The one negative is there is very little tobacco in this 50 gram tin. Seriously, there couldn't be more than 5 or 6 pipefulls in this tin! I used the gravity fill method with the very lightest tamp after first light. It smoked perfectly.
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Beer	09/01/2004	Medium to Strong	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong
Cigarettish (bitter and dull), with sour notes. Of very little interest for me, but without extremely unpleasant traits.
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Mr. Dottle	07/28/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Two observations about this tobacco previously noted: As Bobcat13 mentioned, I, too, agree that KF has a very distinct, one-dimensional, cigar-like note about it. This was not unwelcome but it was unexpected. This was prevalent for the first two-thirds of the bowl and pleasurable, especially when sipped. And as Pipestud touched upon, I found that the perique REALLY kicked in towards the bottom one-third of the bowl. But unlike Pipestud?s favorable experience, this hot and spicy perique overload was not pleasant for me. I have experienced this ?bottom-of-the-bowl perique overload? with a few other VA/Per blends. Because of this latter characteristic, I am not enamored with this blend. I will cellar some and revisit it. I rate this tobacco 6.0 out of 10
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OSR	07/28/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A couple of notes - others here have done good jobs describing this blend. 1. I've determined that I do NOT like "krumble kake" as a cut of tobacco. The ashes end up everywhere, it's a mess. 2. This tobacco just tastes bad. The leaf quality is (as all Germain/Esoterica blends) excellent, this has nothing to do with quality. It's a personal thing and I just don't like this blend. 3. I've tried old Kingfisher, new Kingfisher.. big pipes, small pipes.. all with the same results. The tobacco tastes bad, it's not a blend that is for me. I may be enticed to try this again ONE MORE TIME but I honestly think not. I wanted to like this blend. The quality is good! However, life is too precious short to smoke pipe tobacco that doesn't agree with your tastebuds. It's a preference thing. I can't think of another blend with the same taste as Kingfisher so no need in attempting to compare it. Good luck!
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BriarLaw	12/12/2003	Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Full	Tolerable
Kingfisher is the VA/Burley/Perique version of Penzance. In other words, the cross-cut crumble cake that you either love or hate. I personally like the cut as it stays nice in the tin for a long time, but is easily crumbled and packed into the bowl (try running a cleaner into the bowl after packing as it helps clear out the little bits that sometime clog things). Wonderful musty, dried-fruit aroma from the Perique. I thought I was in for a treat. Sadly, the flavor was marginal. It was just too one-dimensional and strong. Now I like strong tobaccos, so don't get me wrong. It is just that this stuff was too basic, so it was only strong with nothing else to hold my interest. If you like strong flavored VA/Perique blends you might try it. It just didnt do anything for me.
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Skilling	07/28/2003	Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
A strong dark dominate Burley with a touch of Perique & Virginia. Tin aroma, IMO, was light. I had difficulty in reaching an aroma. Slight Virginia Wine. The room note gave no bad reviews. In fact, my wife liked the smell. She rated it as a very good and true "tobacco smell". Taste was definitly a dominate Burley. The Perique was there but it enhanced the Burley and did not try and over-ride. The Va was slightly noticable. Took me back to days inwhich I would smoke my step-father's Black Petes and Ibolds. Good occasional smoke. A very good change of pace from Va's................................... Burley fans, .......Try This One!
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BrittPark	06/20/2003	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
The best thing about this blend is it's tin which is lovely. As a Virginia/Perique/Other Stuff blend it's perfectly pleasant if a little dull. Quite consistent from the top to bottom of the bowl. I'm by nature lazy, and even though "crumble cake" is easy to work with, I prefer ribbon or other loose tobacco cuts. Given the plethora of fine V/P/O blends in more convenient cuts I won't put this in my to buy list. It's very much worth trying however.
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dangpipes	04/03/2003	Mild to Medium	None detected	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a nice, easy to smoke tobacco. Similar to Haddo's Delight fomr Pease, but a bit lighter and with a touch of finesse. It is good when you want something different and on the light side, but when smoked consistently it tends to lose its appeal, at least for me.
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Inquisitor	01/03/2003	Medium	None detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
(From blind tobacco tasting review) Appearance: A mottled broken flake, perhaps 15% bright, 60% brown & 25% black. Good smoking moisture level (on the dry side). Tin Aroma: A natural Virginia smell, with a mildly fermented, wine-like quality. I pick up a hint of unburned clove cigarette and a hint of non-Latakia smokiness. First Smoke: New corn cob pipe. Started on a dog-walk, ~36 F. No fear of light-up bite, has a matured tobacco smoothness and lack of bright flavors. Pleasant flavor, but no Wow! reaction here. Very nice sidestream aroma, and a nice medium taste and body. DGT for 5 hours, then smoke on front porch, ~27 F. The flavors begin to expand slowly, haltingly, with a muted top note browned marshmallow, and a ginger-like ?tang? and not-unpleasant bitterness. The middle range has a nice toasty sweetness and a subtle campfire element. The lower range is nicely creamy but muddled, and I occasionally pick up a camembert twang. The blend lacks any clear, contrasting flavors, and changes very little as the bowl progresses. The strength and flavor don?t really change during the smoke, except for a sourness that develops near the end of the smoke, overwhelming any other flavors. My guess is that this blend uses a goodly amount of matured, non-American, Red Virginias producing a creamy but dull blend. The sourness is probably "burley curse." Second Smoke: Two days later, in a perfectly-caked Comoy Silver Cloud. This smoke is almost identical to the first. Summary: I don?t want to create the impression that I dislike this flake. It is a nice, smooth, easy-smoking blend - it?s just not thrilling. If there weren?t so many tobaccos that I love, I would smoke this without much regret. Matured Virginia fans may love this. I will happily keep my sample to use for blending.
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provguy	09/26/2002	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Kingfisher is a Butera blend that is different. It is a Va/Burley/perique blend that is quite nice and easy to smoke. It is not the kind of blend that I can smoke daily. However, that being said I find it enjoyable and interesting change of pace, even from other perique blends. It comes in a Krumble Kake style and I probably will not purchase another tin of this. You might find it more enjoyable than I but is certainly worth an occaissonal puff on.
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Traeldor	09/24/2002	Mild	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Greetings and Salutations fellow imbibists. I thought I'd share my thoughts and experiences on a 'try' with Buteras's Kingfisher tobacco. tin: Rectangular, Beautiful picture on the cover Label: claims Virginia, Burley & Perique. Also proclaims "Double Cut, Krumble Kake. Opening tin: Found wrapped similar to Penzance, with white paper seemingly grease attached. Sniff test: Mild figs and raisins aroma, also deep undertones of Burley following the perique figgy smell. Color of Baccy: Dark Brown with 'spots' of light gold pieces scattered throughout. Texture: Lives up to the name of Krumble Kake. Noticed it to be slightly overmoist. with and hour or two left open, it could come down to the moisture level of MacB Navy flake. Flakes are twice the thickness of Navy Flake, But disintegrate quite well into the Krumble. Rub Out: Leaves lots of crumbles, with a few shags left for packing. Definitely NOT needed to reserve crumbs for charring. Packs: Packs tightly a little too quickly for my tastes. Smoking flavors: First Light brought the Wonderful spice of Perique, which held predominate for the first third of the bowl. Had to slow down, pack tighter to stay lit, and to have even burning. Second Light Minimal taste of perique, noticing the undertones of a darker 'chocolaty' leathery flavor building behind the fruity perique. Wondering where the sweet Virginia is at this point. Middle third of the bowl: Burley, shining in great detail here. That dark, wonderful fullness is definitely on top of the smoke here. Beautiful burn, smoking well, OH is this the zone? Listening to the raindrops hitting the porch roof, and mesmerized by the slight breeze wrestling with the clouds of smoke rising from the bowl. Aroma: Very mild, almost fruity smell. Sweet lingering after taste forming in mouth from Nostrils. Bottom third: Burley still going strong, Hmm, slight sweet VA taste. Perique makes second appearance, but still behind the burley. Bowl had to be heavy tamped at the end to facilitate even, and complete burning. Smoked clear to heel, with dark grey ash left. Bowl slightly warm in hand finished bowl, left with sweet Virginia aftertaste that reminds me that the label was correct. Pipe cleaners removed gunk similar to a heavy Latakia smoke, and took two to come clean. FYI I smoked it in a 95% broken in Sasienni 4 Dot rusticated Bent Brandy, that is reserved for VA or VA/P blends. I used a zippo to light and had no problems all the way to the heel. Trick was packing hard and tight once lit. Otherwise in the first light, she was burning in the center, and not the edges. Overall result, I like it. I'm going to be buying this tin for some stockup. Might see how she fares as an all day smoke. Hope you enjoyed reading my review... Trael
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Pipestud	07/30/2002	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I have just returned from my pipe club's monthly meeting (7/30/02) where I tried my first-ever bowl of Kingfisher. I do like virginia/burley combinations, but am hesitant about trying blends with perique added. I just am not very fond of the stuff. Having said the above, I actually found Kingfisher to be pleasant. Not a bell ringer, but certainly a quality blend. It is a krumble cake very similar to Penzance in that regard. It looked rich in the tin and had a burley smell more so than anything else. At first light (which took awhile), I did get a mild dose of the peppery perique. After several puffs however, the Louisiana product gave way to the subtle pleasures of a good burley/virginia mix. It smoked cool and mostly dry all the way to the bottom of the bowl. The perique did reappear near the end of the smoke, but not enough to turn the experience ugly. The leaf must be lined with asbestos though. I've never smoked a tobacco so hard to light and keep lit. If you can ignite the leaf, you'll find this to be a unique blend that's worth a try, IMO.
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