Lane Limited Edgeworth Ready-Rubbed

I agree with the last post about the good one's leaving. I still have a whole tin of this in my stock.

Another fine old Burley of the likes of Granger,and Kentucky Club, though I always liked Edgeworth better than the previous two. Cube cut granules that unravel almost into a ribbon cut. This is Kentucky and Tennessee Burley, with just a very little Virginia thrown in, so as not to be one dimenional. The sweetener added is most likely molases instead of true Rum. Lights easy, nutty, sweet burley billows. Creamy, chocolatey nutty mild and delicious. Please bring this one back. It's a Burley smokers go to tobacco.

Why do they take the good ones away? I understand company mergers, the tobacco prices etc etc. But why take a classy, burley based, mild licorice cased wonder and let it die an ignoble death? Easy to light and smoke down to the very nice white ash. The various duplicates on the market, while well intentioned, don't hit the mark. Woe to us all.

I smoked this blend when I was a youngster following my fathers pipe path in '68. I smoked the heck out of it for a long time back then. Rencently over the past few months I came across several pouches in a little cigarette outlett at the shore here in Delaware. Needless to say I bought up all he had there knowing it was then discontinued. It felt really dry as I picked up the pouch, so much so that coerced the owner to sell it to me for half price since it was so dry. Took it home and hydrated some. Big mistake. It was then that I remembered that it always had been rather on the dry side. Hydrated, it was difficult to light. Those cubed absorbed moisture like crazy. I let 'er dry out again and Voila! Heaven. It's amazing how smells can really take you back. Edgeworth, tasting like the old days from what i can remember. The aroma and room note pleasant as ever. Smooooth! stuff and easy to light. It's a good breezy day smoke too as is all heavy cut tobaccos. I can't say if it's Larus blend or not but I'm darned sure happy. I'd love to smoke it really often but since it's not being made anymore I'm gonna smoke it when the time is right.

I must say though that I went back to the store and saw that more was on the shelf. This time playing the same game about the dryness and bought the remaind seveal pouches there. :~)!

Yeah man this is a FOUR STAR tobacco!

Edgeworth was one of the first tobaccos I learned to love, more than 35 years ago. I suppose the ready-rubbed was around then, but the only cut available to me was the original slices--not the version on the market today. Back then, the slices were domestically-produced and in a celophane pouch with a baby-blue wrapper. And they were by far the best burley buy on the market.

Until yesterday, it had been some years since I smoked the Edgeworth RR offering from Lane Ltd. A rather interesting discovery got me to try another can.

This stuff is still a top-of-the-line burley, albeit one slightly changed from what I remember. It seems somehow diminished, though not enough to nullify its wonderful qualities. There simply is not (and never was) anything like it. The notes of other reviewers pretty well describe the taste and aroma. But no words can do justice to this tobacco's singular character. If one runs out of Edgeworth, Prince Albert is an acceptable "make-do"...and FAR less costly, too. Kentucky Club burley cube doesn't even come close.

Love it or leave it alone; Edgeworth RR is what it is... a substantial, earthy, straightforward, classic American tobacco.

I smoke burleys during the warm months and English/Balkan blends in fall and winter...as I have since 1971. If it works,don't fix it! If you can get a can of Edgeworth RR, grab it and enjoy!

On a lark ? I spotted and purchased a 14 ounce tin of Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. I thought that I had become a bit snobbish about blends and also realized that I was really starting to enjoy Burley, despite my terrible experience with ?Crooner?, and decided ? what the heck.

Now, the results of this lark: This stuff is terrific. It is way beyond what I expected and I have smoked a considerable amount of it now to feel comfortable to write this review. In fact, I haven?t smoked anything else for a considerable time, and I have never done that before. Indeed, I?ll circle back to my rotation favorites, which include Oriental and out right Latakia blends. However this blend has given me so much enjoyment and has completely uncomplicated my experience that I?m in no rush.

In appearance, many reviewers here have described it quite well. I have spotted some broken flake in the tin as well. Mostly though, it is small cubes and shards of deep dark brown and brown tobacco. The tin moisture was just right. The aroma from the tin is that tobacco and bittersweet chocolate. Nothing that is sweet to the nose. If one tells me it?s cased, I?ll acquiesce ? if someone were to tell me it isn?t ? I?m okay with that too, because it does not change my smoking experience in the least.

Char light is two minimum for me before tamping ? sometimes three. All Burley in the first few puffs. After that it settles right away into a moderate duo of nicely aged and soft Burley and some stoved VA that pokes its head now and then. This tobacco is mild to medium in strength so it wasn?t until I smoked it in pipes the second time around that I got the extremely subtle nuance of the blend. But my perception from the onset was already pleasing. It was my experience that the third smoke in the same pipe was devoid of the alkali or acid from my other blends embedded in the cake. It really became smooth, with some complexity but most of all, satisfying. And that?s why I smoke a pipe in the first place. Satisfaction.

Once this starts humming it doesn?t stop until the bottom of the bowl. It doesn?t get hot, wet or unnecessarily strong. It is very well behaved and very kind to one?s mouth; and, at the same time very enjoyable. I never dreamed that I could load up a nice pouch and just keep smoking the same tobacco, but I did and I am.

The ash is mottled to dark gray with some really dark bits, but it burns completely down to the bottom of the bowl, with the only regret being that it?s done. I?ve packed the pipe with the pipe in the tin or pouch with one finger like something from an old movie, and I?ve carefully packed it using the Franck method. I?ve smoked it in large bowls and small bowls and it has always been satisfying.

Despite this tobaccos current pedigree (or lack thereof) I?m giving this my highest recommendation. I don?t care if the recipe changed, I don?t care who makes it, and I don?t care if it?s sold in drugstores or fancy parlors. I love this stuff and I am smoking it bowl after bowl and enjoying it very very much. Even my pipes seem to love it. The cakes in the bowls are mysteriously smoothing out. It smokes cool, dry and the extra bonus is that the room note is pleasant. Again, I don?t mean aromatic pleasant ? just plain basic smell of nutty Burley.

It was my endeavor to find a milder smoke that would still hold my interest and not be hot air. I had already started to really enjoy some basic Burley blends. This was a complete surprise and I?m very pleased. In fact, I wrote this review while enjoying a bowl of Edgeworth Ready Rubbed in a Sasieni 4 Dot Rough Root.

Cheers, VC

Sometimes things happen for a reason, like strolling through an Antique Store not expecting much as far as pipe tobacco. But then again those antique stores unviel gems from time to time. Spotting a paint can of Edgeworth RR wouldn't interest most. Finding it empty didnt surprise, but would seem the common course. Picking the can up, I realized that this was a Long lost OTC. I decided immediately that $14 wasnt bad for nostalgia. Looking back down at the table, there lay an unopened Pouch of Edgworth Ready Rubbed.( I'm not disclosing the price, some of you would puke) to buy or not to buy? The tobacco could be trash, but the price? Why not? Boy did I score. I mean I scored. 45+ year old tobacco, unopened? I got home, broke the seal, the tobacco was in fine condition. The dryness was like a brand new tin of C&D Haunted Bookshop. The leaf was dark mahogany, some tan thrown in, with the faint aroma of burley and topping. I Couldn't believe it. I need To inform, I'm not a fan of OTC's, the tobacco always comes across as cheap and tasteless. Not this stuff. This is what you always expected an old Codger Burley to taste like. Charter Hall tries to be ERR, no even in the same ballpark. Not even the same game.

The topping, for the most part, was gone. But there is a faint aroma of cocoa, rum, and molasses there. The tobacco is beautiful, earthy and spicy at times with the topping way in the background adding a pinch of sweetness on top of the exquisite Virginia's. Fairly good amount of nicotine. This is what an OTC should taste like. Damn this stuff is good. It's not complex, but would be a great all day companion. That's why I turned around and ordered some Sutlif Ready Rubbed. It's pretty damn close. Age it for 45 years and I wouldnt be surprised if it didn't taste the same. The topping on the match is what I would imagine ERR to be fresh. In other words, an all day companion found. Sometimes things do happen for a reason.

Edgeworth sits nobly in the pantheon of American greats. At the round table located in Carter Hall, presided over by Prince Albert, seated next to Sir Walter, the faithful hunting hound Granger at his heels, Lord Edgeworth is there.

The initial aroma out of the can is deceiving. Something akin to old pub floor, cat's urine and cheap white wine sitting in a jug unrefrigerated for several weaks assails the nose. However, once the flame hits, optimism is restored and we realise that this is a masterpiece of the blender's craft. The smoke has to be sipped to catch the flavour. Some call it "nutty". I would call it more like the scent of cut wood. That may just be the effect of the briar I use for it.

A good N punch, quite a lot of smoke, no bitterness 2/3 of the way down, Edgeworth just smokes and smokes. As a basic burley this one will be difficult to match, because the flavour is very subtle. I don't taste any casing, though there must be some.

The Larus brothers and their successors must have worked at this one, because to achieve that kind of flavour is no easy task. They must have started with the tobacco itself, and I have read that Larus actually had its own dedicated growers as suppliers. Whatever the case, there is nothing quite like Edgeworth -- at least not that I have sampled yet.

Well, I finally found a pouch in a shop appropriately named: TOBACCO.

I have been wanting to try this stuff for quite a long time. I started pipe smoking in 1989, and I have never found this stuff in Florida-until now.

I love rubbed out plug cut, cubed Burley, and that's precisely what this is.

Even dry as a bone, this smoked cool, and delivered a fine, nutty, grassy flavor, with hints of coffee and cocoa.

There is no art to packing or lighting this stuff. It is a completely unpretentious blend, and is a steady, reliable smoke.

I look forward to trying it in the can. Easily the best of the mass produced Burley blends. (And I have tried most of them...)

Addendum: Cup o' Joes has available an homage blend that to me is practically identical to the blend Conwood discontinued. I was skeptical, but I ordered 4 ounces to sample. When it showed up it looked right. It smelled right. It TASTES right. It may be the same stuff for all I know. I love it! Kudos to Altadis for maintaining this stuff for those who lament its tinned version passing...

ORIGINAL REVIEW 10/13/08-I grabbed this can off my shelf and finally took advantage of the discontinued Edgeworth RR.And I must say I was impressed with this tobacco.On opening the tin I noticed it was granular cut,which reminded me of SWR(Sir Walter Raleigh) and first light I noticed there is a very vague taste in the blend that's mildly sweet however the casing isn't present in the tin.In my opinion, the nuttiness wasn't noticed but was a tasty smoke.I will admit I've been smoking my personal favorites -Granger,Walnut,Prince Albert and Sir Walter Raleigh and I think I'll stick to Edgeworth and see how it goes after half of a tub,it's got potential:)

UPDATE-I am still enjoying what's left of my tub and the smoking experience has been positive.Ilet this tobacco get some air time. The sweet taste/topping I have identified as cocoa and works for this blend.I actually find myself smoking SWR mostly for it's darker spice casing(suitable for fall and winter).I must admit it's a high quality blend and I will definitely keep it in my rotation.