Borkum Riff Ultra Light

The vanilla is barely present. The nutty, toasty, earthy, woody burley is noticeable, but flat. Same goes for the grassy, lightly tart and tangy citrusy Virginia. The strength and taste levels are extremely mild. Has little nicotine. Will bite if puffed even at a moderate pace. Has a consistent flavor to the finish. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. The after taste and room notes are flat.

-JimInks

My review is, apparently, going to be more positive than almost all of the others before it. I bought three seven ounce tins on ebay (this mixture is out of production) because I thought the price was right to put them on my table at the 2013 NASPC show. From 9 am to 5 pm I got a total of one person who payed any attention to them at all, and he complained that the blend was just too light for his tastes! By the way, these are the earlier Swedish tins.

So, I decided - what the hell - I'm going to open one and find out what this tobacco is. Here is what I found: a darkish colored narrowly shagged blend, rather dry, with the aroma of - are you ready- chewing tobacco! That's right - chewing tobacco. It reminded me of Mail Pouch or Red Man or Day's Work and not a hint of the vanilla topping mentioned in the tin description. My next thought was that this is going to be a farce, but here goes. I gave this blend a real treat and loaded up a Larry Roush medium thick-walled lovat and had at it. Not bad; not bad at all. It reminded me of some of the blends I smoked back when I was just starting out. Possibly some virginia but definitely burley, it smoked with an earthy and natural tobacco taste. I thought of working class guys puffing away in denim work shirts while making school buses - I worked summers at the Superior Coach Corporation to help pay for college. Nothing fancy; just working class guys sweating it out for a weekly paycheck - good honest tobacco aroma. What a pleasant surprise!

I blended BRUL up to an english mixture with several englishes I had available and they were good too. I'm still blending with it as we go to press. A very solid three stars.

This tobacco is very light in strength and flavor and tasted like Burley with some Virginia and flavored black Cavendish that was certainly on the sweet side. I can see where those in the pipe smoking community who light up a lot of bowls a day can enjoy this one as it has no bite whatsoever and is certainly light on the palate.

I don't know what is supposed to be "light" about this stuff. It was goopy and wet with lots of chemicals. There wasn't much tobacco flavor, because the toxic waste topping dominated the experience. It was hell-fire hot, with absolutely ferocious tongue bite. Makes my mouth sore just thinking about it.

I do not like this tobacco. Probably someone like, but I never met anyone who decided by it. No matter if it is smoked slowly, It bites too much and it burns hot. I do not recommend since you can find better options by the same price.

This is a mixture of Gold Virginia and Burley Tobaccos, treated in order to obtain a mixture with very low ammount of Nicotine. Is a ultra mild tobacco, very good for begginers, for people thart desire, want or need a low Nicotine Tobacco. Is also excelent for making personal mixtures, because it is inexpensive and "neutral", useful for reduce Tobaccos thar were considered "too strong" by the smoker. Also, Pipe experts that like neutral tobaccos may apreciate this. Their flavour ant taste? Very Mild, flavour and taste of... Tobacco... Recommended.

smells great. tastes good. one that i like to smoke indoors, very minimal bite. just a bit too weak for me though. i would sincerely like to find one that is just a stronger version of this one.

Inside the plastic pouch we find a pleasant Vanilla scent, with a background air of artificial coconut. It sort of reminds me the old Hawaiian Tropic sun tan lotion I used to rub on the girls back in my glory days. The faint hint of burley tries to exert itself, no hint from the pouch of Virginia. Like the pouch scent, the room note is pleasant-ish.

Packs and lights easy, Vanilla leads the way through the first quarter bowl. This stuff is so light, it produces clouds of smoke with very little to show for it. After the first quarter, the casing fades a little, revealing the slightly sweetened Burley. Again the Virginia is barely noticeable. (Classic “Burley Curse” - the tendency of Burley to take over a blend if overused.)

As others have noted, the last third of the bowl can turn nasty. Chemical tastes and unpleasant sour notes rule the day. The Burley goes downhill quickly. The flavors at the end are disappointing, yet they are the most memorable flavors this blend has to offer.

On a positive note it did smoke cool (non-existent), and everyone liked the room note.

However, good or bad, life's too short for drugstore tobacco. Support your local (or online) tobacconist, and do yourself a favor.

This might be a good blend for someone who is just beginning to smoke pipes. It is forgiving if it is packed incorrectly, puffed too hard, etc. The vanilla casing is relatively subtle and the leaf used in blending is decent quality. It is extremely mild and it does have a better flavor than most OTC blends such as Prince Albert, Captain Black and the Laynes candied stuff.

I was once stuck in a part of New York where it was either this or Borkum Riff Whiskey. I chose this, it was so light that it did take some getting used too, however, perserverance pays andin the end I got quite used to it.

Needless to say, I was glad to leave that part of NY and find something a little stronger. As an American friend once told me "It beats a poke in the eye with a pointed stick" but only just.