Borkum Riff Ultra Light

I bought this one at the recommendation of a co-worker (a long-time pipe smoker), and honestly, it was a mild disappointment. It's not so much that it's a bad smoke as much as the flavor is just extremely mild, which is basically what it advertises itself to be ('Ultra Light'). The room note is nice enough, not overpowering, as it does have a nice aromatic quality, and it burns fairly well, but there's just not much to it aside from that.

Well, this was my very first pouch I had when I bought my first pipe. Well, I've had worse. It is a mild tobacco, but with lots of aroma in the room. My wife loved it. I didn't know how to pack properly at the time, so there were many re-lights. It did taste well, and that's all I can remember.

Mostly dark tobacco, strong pouch aroma of vanilla / truffle / walnut, something like that. Long cut.

Very mild in strength, but over cased because it was biting like crazy right from the start. The lack of strength incitates one to puff harder, which increases the bite attack.

And, for one of the rare occasions known to me, the girlfriend of the time - and check this, we were in a café, and not a small one- asked me to stop smoking it because you could smell it overwhelmingly about 35 feet away!

So, it stopped there, with my full agreement.

Let me recommend this to anyone wanting to try a Borkum Riff pipe tobacco. It is the only product this company makes that I have ever truly liked . I tried this for a while in my early days of pipe smoking and just recently tried a bowl full at a neighbors house who's late husband smoked it exclusively for years...I obliged her when she offered and it took me back. Wild Turkey and water and a bowl full of this in my younger days, fantastic!..The only one I ever liked...Borkum Riff tobacco's just plain suck, other than this one.

This is a better tobacco than its black brother.

The flavours are more subtle, but nicer IMO, and the tobacco isnt TOO cased, as Borkum often does.

I was smoking this all the time until I knew better, but its not really my style anymore.....

I would recommend this to someone starting out, or someone who wants to reminiss those early days, mucking about, briar in mouth...

Ahhhh,. those were the days!

This is the first tobacco I've ever tried and my first review on Tobaccoreviews.com

I bought this because I've tried a number of tobaccos that my friends have offered, and, upon purchasing my first pipe, I wanted to try a smooth, light smoke. This is fairly smooth and also rather light, but the tongue bite is just aweful. My friends, who are a bit more experienced than I, have commented that I am a rather slow smoker for a beginner, but I still got mad tongue bite from this blend. The flavor wasn't bad, but the tongue bite was enough to convince me that I won't be trying it again for a loooong time.

I think just about every tobacco company has a blend with vanilla in it. Some are better than others, mostly they are pretty similar. Borkum-Riff?s version is quite different however but the end result is that it isn?t bad but it isn?t great either. The pouch has a mild vanilla aroma combined with the usual sour Borkum-Riff odor. It?s a bizarre recipe, kind of a sweet and sour mix. I was a little off put when I first opened the pouch and I wasn?t sure if I would like it. Upon smoking I decided that it was okay. The vanilla itself isn?t overwhelming but this blend tasted really sweet. This blend could supplement dessert after a meal. It smokes a little hot so smoke slowly. The tobacco quality was pretty poor; it had numerous stems and was rather brittle to the touch. Overall, I enjoyed this as a change of pace and I will probably smoke this on the rare occasion. This is mostly for those who enjoy that unique taste and smell that is found in all Borkum-Riff tobaccos. If all you are looking for is a vanilla blend you should try elsewhere.

Update: I've downgraded my review because I doubt that I will buy this again unless desperate. There is just too much good tobacco out there to waste money on this unless you can't get to your tobacconist.