Borkum Riff Ultra Light

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.

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.

This is a Burley based tobacco, blended with Cavendish and chemically top flavored with something they called "vanilla".

Pouch aroma/room note is very nice, burley taste is strong, the flavor is not so bad, those who prefer chemical flavor would enjoy this blend since it burn clean and dry in the pipe, doesnt bite at all and will impress ladies around.

Overall, not the best drugstore tobacco. but not the worst Either

Ok lets imagine that you are stuck with no fine armotic such as Petersons Sunset Breeze to take out on the town with folks that dont like the smell of your Mephisto or Penzance or what ever it is you like by yourself or at the smoking lounge or lodge. Well this is about the least invasive I have tried it is light yet pleasent in room note so if someone still thinks your vanilla laden wife pleaser is too smoky or fills the air too much then go with this it is light generaly pleasent and effemeral. The trick here is you have to put up with the super light and flatness in general. Then on top of that you MUST only smoke the fist 2/3 of the bowl or horrible things will come of it. If this is done all is well and it is well behaved ( short smoke not a marathon blend ) that actualy doesn't have that pipe smelling like a cig. ashtray like some of the other drugstore blends. I say its not specialy blend and nothing to pine over but it has its niche use, so if thats what you are looling for then this is the tool you might want to use Oh and you can chain smoke this all night ( a bowl every half hour ( thats all you are gonna get out of it)) all night long and stillnot get the effects of one bowl of any of the Dunhill blend. This one couldn't puch its way out of a wet paper bag ( duh it's an Ultra Light )

I've returned to the pipe after 15 years of cigars; I wanted something I could smoke indoors. This was the first tobacco I tried. I'm not a big fan of nicotine, despite my history, and this caught my eye. I rather liked it, at least for starters. Seekers of bold, adventurous tobaccos ought to know better than to expect thrills from this one. It's a sweet gentle smoke with a nice room note. There's a time and place for this one; a good starter for nicotine-uninitiated or maybe a good half-way out for de-toxing. Not much to get excited about either way. Chill!

I only know the Swedish Match version of this blend.

Back in the day when i was a total beginner this was one of the few blends readily available anywhere in Austria as where the other Borkum Riff's. I had a high tolerance to really lousy blends and so i actually did like this one.

It had a very light vanilla aroma and a very nice sweetness to it. Everything about it was that mild that it actually was an excellent trainer for my palette. It taught me to find the aerial notes in my tobacco as well. I mean don't get me wrong, even back in the day this blend did not exactly had a "taste" after anything. It just was sweet and every now and then vanilly. If you had a good day you could make out some taste of the tobacco used as well but that just might have been a very active imagination.

Also this is one of few Borkum Riff's not giving me mad tongue burn. My notes from back in the day even stated "nice and smooth on the tongue".

But all in all it always was a no good blend. It was just tolerable because, with a few exceptions, i had no experience with truly good blends and i took it a challenge to smoke as much i can.

For the sentimentally above i give it two stars with a stout warning. Do not bother with this blend if you still can find the last remaining pouches left. There is a reason why this is discontinued and it is not the "Ultra Light" print on the label.

Well, I had no intention of trying this tobacco, It was 8:45 at night, and I had classes the next day from 9-4, and I just smoked my last bowl of pipe tobacco, and the local smoke shop that has a decent tobacco selection closed, but it is right next door to a rite aide, so I walked in and saw what they had. They had either captain black royal, or cherry(I can not stand the ghost cherry aromatics leave in my pipe, it makes me gag every time, and captain black royal isnt much better in this regard), and borkum riff regular(as well as the usual bulk pound value bags of god knows what). I paid my price for the borkum riff(because it did have a captain blackish smell, and im a young pipe smoker so naturally I love bland and basic vanilla aromatics). The tobacco itself reminded me of a drier, burley/virginia captain black white. The vanilla creaminess was far less noticable, and it burned a bit on the hot side. The tobacco itself in the pouch was also reminiscent of plug cut chewing tobacco(it felt quite similiar to a brick of day o work if you've ever had the pleasure/displeasure). In terms of simple drugstore aromatics though, its not too bad. Having a pouch of borkum riff regular isnt too shabby if its the only tobacco you have on you, but next time im going to stick to the local tobaccionist times, and hope next school night when i run out I make it to the smoke shop. To conclude, if im in a decent smoke shop, ill pass on the borkum for something better, but if im in the drug store and its next to cherry, ill take the borkum regular, though if your cheap and at a drug store, try to find the prince albert soft vanilla for a similiar concept at half the price.

When I first began smoking a pipe, this was my favorite blend. Now, not so much. But it smelled good, had a decent taste, and was available for purchase at a local drug store. I've found that the quality varies greatly from pouch to pouch, I've purchased maybe 5 pouches total over the years & the first 2-3 were great, but every one since has been really amazingly horrible. I know it's not my palate evolving because I had 2 pouches open at once, one at home & one at work, and the work pouch was truly horrible while the home pouch was quite good.