Schermerhorn Bestoval

A fellow reviewer sent me a baggie of Bestoval to try about six months ago. I am just now getting around to reviewing it as I just smoked the last little chunk. Cubed white Burley that is certainly a quality tobacco. It packs some punch and has a very typical white Burley "nutty" type of flavor. It was bone dry and burned quickly but not hot.

Would I ever purchase a tin of this (even if I could find it anywhere)? Probably not. Would I smoke more if offered? Yep.

This is a tobacco that I bought in 1995 or so that I recently opened. It seems to be hard to find these days. Mine came in a metal 14 oz can and I guess now it comes in a plastic jar with a screw-top lid. Now THAT'S quality, folks!

This stuff is a hoot, and actually fun to smoke if you're into nostalgia. Cube cut burley but the cut is kind of a mess. A mish-mash of cuts in there along with the cubed burley. The taste is reasonably clean with the traditional burley nuttiness but with a bit of an odd sour flavor which rears its head at the match and occasionally down the bowl. This stuff came dry even though the tin was well sealed, so it burned pretty quickly. Still, it could be puffed with a fair amount of vigor.

I did an internet search and this tobacco is a bit hard to find. I couldn't find anything on the actual company so I don't know much about them. But Bestoval (Best Of All - get it??? lol) is a decent smoke that transports me back to a time when a tobacco salesman was viewed as an honorable job to the public. I can somewhat recommend this but I'm not sure if many people would find this in their rotation. Worth a try, though - if you can find it. Plastic jar - screwtop lid... it's the Boone's Farm of tobaccos!

Schermahorn's Bestoval is another of those old time American tobaccos that come in the big 14oz can.

I bought a can a few years back and was pleasently surprised: Golden brown cubes (about the size of a match head)of pure burley with no detectable flavourings. It packs wonderfully and upon lighting, the smoke is rich smooth and full of natural burley flavour. It burns fairly quick though, but the flavour is consistent from top to bottom and is gentle on the tongue.

Unfortunately the can I had developed a bad case of tobacco fungus after several months and I had to toss it out. However, I have a renewed interest in burleys, and my fond memories of this tobacco prompted me to order another can just last night..so something to look forward to.

This tobacco appears to be one of those sleepers enjoyed by those in the know, which might account for why it's still on the market even though nobody seems to smoke it.

This is an old blend . Not realy a blend . Little nuggets of burley and thats it . Burley taste that can get a little bitter toward the end depending on how ya smoke . Smokes cool and I find if smoked at a relaxed pace , quite nice . The room note is true pure burley . The neat thing is you don't pack this stuff ... ya pretty much pour it in . Neat old product !