pipesandcigars.com Scotty's Salmon River

For the most part, I am not one that smokes many blends that are primarily burley. But I ordered this one when I ordered the other new Scotty's aromatics. What a pleasant surprise! The maple casing is the dominant flavor with the tangy Virginia and the burley in the background - but still there. Lit well, smoked well, burned to the bottom with minimal relights. The pouch note is not bad, but the taste and room note was all maple and plenty of it. Good after taste and I smelled it for hours after smoking (I have a beard). In my book, better than Autumn Evening. Caution - sip this one or you will be sporting a sore tongue!

This one is peculiar. I'm a huge maple fan and am always looking to try a new maple blend. For reference my favorite is Pipeworks & Wilke Vermont Maple Cavendish. I've also tried Autumn Evening which is at the top of my list.

The quality of the tobacco is top-notch. It could almost be the twin of Scotty's Trout Stream. The taste of the smoke has maple, no doubt about it. Probably one of the strongest maple tastes in a smoke.

But the reason I give this 3 stars instead of 4 is the smell. There's just something a bit 'off' in the smell ( to clarify I'm referring to the smell of blend before smoking it, not the room note ). It's not as pleasant smelling as other aromatic tobaccos. I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something subtle about it that I don't enjoy. Which is peculiar because I love the way this tastes. Other than that, this is a great blend.

Salmon River is smooth and sweet, but not cloyingly so. This smoke is mild to medium in taste, packs well, lights well, smokes well, and won't bite. The flavor is predominately maple, yet one will also detect a bit of nuttiness from the burleys that form the base of this blend, albeit all other tobacco tastes are nigh to negligible. I agree with W.B., this is the burley based alternative to Autumn Evening. Despite the fact that this blend is rather one dimensional, I find it to be an honest, great tasting and satisfying aromatic. Recommended. 3.2 stars.

I am giving this blend three stars inasmuch as it really accomplishes the obvious goal of providing a Burley based alternative to Autumn Evening. It certainly does this and should be enjoyed by those who favor Burley based blends. To that end, it is similar in flavor profile to AE and may even be a bit more fulsome. I love everything about Maple and this certainly delivers a full (perhaps even too much) Maple flavor with, I detect, some vanilla as well. From my perspective, it is good but not as enjoyable as Autumn Evening which, I think, is in the pantheon of truly great aromatic pipe tobaccos. I prefer Virginia based blends to Burley blends and, as a result prefer AE. However, this is a very nice tobacco. The initial light is splendid indeed and full of maple flavor in a major fashion. I was immediately ready to place a large order. However, mid- bowl became a bit dull and very mouth drying (Burley blends do this to me). I was impressed, however, that a subsequent relight provided a nice experience to the bottom of the bowl. Were Autumn Evening to go away, I would certainly smoke this blend regularly. As it stands, however, I will probably buy some more but not as much as AE.....worth trying however...

I enjoy a good maple aromatic and this is one. Good handling, great taste, mild nicotine, and a super room note. An issue I had is that I found this tobacco to burn moderately hot. Not a big deal if you are only to smoke one bowl a day but multiple bowls of Salmon River in the same day put a mild hurt on my tongue. I ended up mixing SR at 1:1 with MacBaren Symphony to calm the heat and flavor. I will agree with the previous reviewer that this blend is superior to Autumn Evening. I think this is due to the burley component lacking in the Virginia based AE.