Borkum Riff Cherry Cavendish (Ruby)

Another dreadful offering from Borkum Riff: hot, wet and horrible. I suspect that new, young pipe smokers looking for novelty are the customers who will be chiefly drawn to this; but I can't imagine even people who like heavily-cased aromatics enjoying the artificial, cheap and nasty “Cherry” flavour of Cherry Cavendish for long. Blecch!

I remember being given cough mixture as a child that tasted a little like this, only cooler. I don't know what chemical is used to create this effect, but it's nothing like any cherry I've come across. The tobacco itself is nondescript and, I suspect, not of good quality. The casing is vile and, I imagine, only there to try to cheer up a third-rate leaf.

If you want to try Cherry Cavendish, just to be broad-minded, be warned: the flavour will linger in your pipe for ages. If you're looking for an aromatic, there are plenty to choose from out there that are far superior to this: Gawith & Hoggarth Cherry & Vanilla, for example. I wouldn't wish Cherry Cavendish on my worst enemy.

I love my aromatics but this tobacco was not at all what I had expected. First off, just smelling the tobacco before lighting it, the aroma was absolutely unnatural. It smelled alot like a cherry cough drop. So I proceed to smoke it and the cherry and vanilla flavour that the description boasts is non existent! It tasted like some dry, stale, virginia without any flavour or aroma at all. What a waste of $7.00! If you are at the local drug store and you are stuck between choosing this stuff or Captain Black, make it Captain Black. I literally threw this stuff in the garbage after trying it. I didn't even finish the bowl!

This tobacco is absolutely awesome, that is, if you've somehow managed to lose 97% of your taste buds in some horrible accident.

It's a pain to get it to light, and when you finally do, you wish you hadn't. The smell in the pouch is pretty decent, though you can tell it's been laced with all sorts of chemicals. However, despite the somewhat pleasant smell in the pouch, none of it whatsoever translates to the actual smoke.

It burns hot, it bites, and most of the time it tastes like you're smoking ash.

You'd be better off crumpling a 5 dollar bill in your pipe and smoking it. I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as this.

I picked up a pouch of this as well as a pouch of Captain Black Royal mostly out of pity. I wandered into a cigar shop hoping to find some tins of something interesting and instead I found a forlorn and lonely looking guy presiding over a dismal cigar inventory and a few pouches of pipe weed. Sign of the times, I suppose. I figured, 'What the heck?' I'd never tried either brand. For that matter, I'd never even tried a pouch tobacco. I'm a Canuck living in the US and so even the highest priced tins look cheap to me.

It's entirely possible that I'm just a spoiled brat, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of the worst tobaccos on earth. It's cherry-very-cherry in the pouch but curiously mouth-drying when smoked. The leaf--a mix of yellow and black Cavendish ribbons--looks and feels second-tier. I managed to get through half a bowl at standard Virginia-smoking pace (which is pretty slow) before I had to head to the freezer for a bowl of ice cream. For me, that's reason enough to avoid it: Borkum Riff will make me fat.

If you smoke exclusively for those around you (and if you do, you are a fool) then go ahead and have at it. If price is an issue, I recommend that you smoke half as much and buy better tobacco.

I would buy it again in the same situation. That guy really looked down and downer. But I sure wouldn't smoke it.

If I hear or see any tobacco that has "cherry" in its name, I run. My tongue hasn't been the same ever since I tried this stuff.

This was one of my first reviews here, and I thought two stars were fair. But as I continue, I would say that two stars are unfair to some other tobaccos. So I down-grade it to one star.

---

I like the flavor every now and then. I might smoke it more often, but it is self-limiting. More than two pipes a day, and you will not be able to get any pleasure from smoking the day after (it hurts).

The most important problem with this tobacco is the temperature it burns at. The rest is a matter of personal taste.

Tin Aroma: Initially a very pleasant sweet cherry/vanilla tobacco but soon desecends into a sickly, noxious smell akin to cheap and nasty perfume.

Room Note: The same as the tin aroma, can be overpowering like touring a sweet factory!

Packing: A little tricky as the strands tend to stick together owing to the excessive moistute content; otherwise the riff cut would have made it easy.

Moisture: Sticky and too moist; you could almost bathe in this tobacco. It never seems to dry out, either.

Lighting: Surprisingly easy to light considering the moisture content but does need regular re-lights.

Appearance: Attractive light and dark riff cut with bright virginias and black cavendish. It only ruins things when you actually touch it; imagine running your fingers through cold spaghetti.

Smoking: Not as hot as an aromatic cherry could be but does tend to bite the tongue. The taste starts off pleasant but decends into a gloopy, sickly mess. I couldn't smoke a cherry blend for some time after smoking this mixture; the mere memory of the over sweetness could make me feel nauseous. Burns a little unevenly probably due to the wetness of the smoke which gurgles disconcertedly. Nicotine content is stronger than a lot of aromatics and can give quite a buzz. It will also taint your pipe permanently, so if you're going to try it don't use a favourite! This isn't a tobacco- it's a cherry jam!

Pros: Doesn't burn too hot with careful smoking and doesn't dry out quickly. Lights quite easily.

Cons: A sticky, gloopy mess that is difficult to pack well, burns unevenly, needs regular re-lights and burns the tongue. The sweet and sickly taste and smell seems to permeate everything including your pipe.

Score: Two out of Five. In small doses can be fragrant and doesn't totally set your mouth on fire. Too clawing to finish the pouch. You may like it if you have a VERY sweet tooth!

What do you do when your're in the back of beyond and run out of pipe weed? You turn to what's available. In my case, it was Borkum Riff's Cherry Cavendish, bought at some general store deep in the Black Forest, that didn't have anything else at the time. Since I occasionally enjoy o a bowl of SG Black Cherry for dessert, I though this might work.

It did not.

Opening the pouch, an overpowering, sweetish scent of cherries hits you, which seems totally artificial and reminds me of Cherry Coke. The tobacco comes as a dark brown and tan ribbon cut, that is rather moist and sticky. I used the Frank method to fill my pipe. Don't pack it too tightly, because it tends to expand quite a lot upon lighting, which can be done with a single charring and true light.

This tobacco is the perfect example why you find heavily cased and topped Black Cavendish in so many cheap blends. You can get away with using mediocre leafs. There's no tobacco taste whatsoever in this smoke. It's like puffing some sugary vapor, where the sweetness is all chemical. Despite the strong flavoring, there's not much of a cherry aroma and none of the promised vanilla in the smoke at all, but some bitterness at the finish. This is indeed very mild, however, anything but luxurious. Especially when smoked too quickly and too hot, it develops so much moisture, your pipe will start to bubble, and it will bite your tongue. It burns down pretty fast to some dark gray ash.

At least the room note is quite pleasant with some sweetish fruity notes.

In the future, I will rather refrain from pipe smoking than switch to this tobacco again.

I think it leaves a pleasant aroma, but I'm more of a first hand smoker. I think it leaves some serious goop. I think its a real pain to keep lit, therefore, in a effort to keep it rolling it becomes roughly the temperature of the sun and bites the ol' beaver whip fairly hard.

I wouldn't depend on this bag alone for satisfaction. Maybe I'll mix it in with something else on a rainy day when I run out of else?

I wont buy it again.