Lane Limited Edgeworth Sliced

Is there any Virginia in this?

I always thought of it as a burley blend: sun-cured Tennessee and fire-cured Kentucky, elegantly married in a beautifully elaborated flake. It has been topped with some English-style Earl Grey Tea scent.

The flavour has always seemed a bit bland to me, indeed in the Baren Navy Flake family, although the topping here is more definite, and the Kentucky gives it a mild kick which the Baren lacks totally. I am surprised some people were bitten by this: a most unBurley thing to do.

Although not a burley fancier, I cannot condemn such a beautifully worked, mild flake, and I must say that I do appreciate a blend like this when I have a cold. Nice tin, too.

An old American classic.

Edgeworth Sliced has been on the American market for over 10 years. Such a brand consistency say, to me, that there is some real success here. The blend is a burley, made of both Tennessee and Kentucky burleys leaf. The tobacco comes in a nice presentation; a nice, mottled flake which is mostly a medium brown with flecks of lighter and darker color. The aroma is nutty with a note of sweetness to it. The slices lend themselves well to being balled up and stuffed into a pipe rather than being rubbed out. Each time I first light a bowl of this tobacco I ask myself why. To me, both the charring light and the early flavor is harsh, and filled with tongue-bite demons. However, this smooths out after perhaps five to ten puffs. Once settled, the nutty flavor and subtle, edgy sweetness of the burley comes through. Deeper into the bowl the flavor is downright creamy and smooth, with the nutty overtones playing softly with an undertone of sweetness almost surprising for a burley blend. The smoke can sour is overpuffed, so smoke this one slowly and easily. The smoker should be cautioned that, like other burleys, this one has a high nicotine content. In addition to the sourness noted previously, heavy puffing will cause a nicotine high, which, to me, is rather unpleasant. However, this is avoided by a gentle smoke. In my opinion there are better burley blends. MacBaren's Navy Flake comes immediately to mind.

it's okay, no more than that. lacks depth: it's all about the nuttyness and the wee bit of added sweetness of a caramel-like sort. a tendency to harshness in the throat. very narrow flavour palette.

don't try relights.

My first impression of the tin aroma immediately upon breaking the seal is a casing reminiscent of the current production of Three Nuns. I think Three Nuns smells like bacon, but what I think I am noticing are curing sugars, such as Molasses. Hence, how the three connect in my olfactory sense. Molasses is often used to cure bacon and it has been suggested elsewhere that Molasses is involved, at least historically, with Edgeworth Slices.

In actually smoking Edgeworth, it is really unique. It really does not remind me much of anything else in pipe tobacco blends in smoking it. In the tin aroma, I also detect chocolate undertones, as I also do with Stonehaven, Royal Cavendish Perique, and Barbary Coast. I doubt cocoa has been added to any of the above mentioned (compare to Bob?s Chocolate Flake for the difference- it is added in Bob?s).

Edgeworth is a species for a method or philosophy toward processing tobacco that is more from an age past.

I do not taste the presence of flue-cured leaf. The fire-cured leaf is really a unique treat that should be respected on its own merits and for its undeniable strength.

If someone else were smoking this and I did not know they were smoking a pipe, I would say that they were puffing on a mild cigar with Indonesian or Dominican leaf, perhaps with a flavor-enhanced wrapper that is ever so lightly imbued.

I do not recommend rubbing this out for reasons of maintaining the reasonably cool smoking quality inherent, though careless puffing is not advised. I also only pack one flake for best burning.

I cannot say that I have fallen in love with this, but it is worthy to keep around when the mood arises. I am going to play with blending this flake with other leaf to add what is missing for my tastes.

October 2004

Like several of the above reviewers, I am a not-usuually-a-Burley-guy smoker who makes an exception for ES. It has a mellow-sweet, nutty, straightforward flavor, largely without the "soapiness" that I sometimes associate with Burley tobacco--perhaps this is a function of the added Virginias? The light brownish/yellow flakes look and load terrific(ally). I would have rated it higher, but I am not an all-day smoker and this is simply too light as a regular evening smoke for me.

Very nice tin.

Very nice olfactory presentation....smells like sweet grass.

Nicely cut flakes....rubs out well.

Nicotine content is considerable.

This is not a straight burley....but mixed with some VA I believe.

Packs well....smokes ok....clean light and burn but less volume of smoke than I prefer.

I love Virginias but love the Burleys too....Id rather smoke Peterson's University flake....I like this flake since it reminds me of some cigar characteristics, UF that is....this flake is just ok.

I smoke cigs now but plan on leaving them behind come Oct 2004...I like to have a few tins to fall back on and unfortunately this is not one...I like it but just does not have enough complexity of flavor or fullness of smoke volume for me.....I will rotate between University Flake and Dunhill's Light Flake.

But everyone has different taste..give it a try...I found this at JRs for 9 bucks..shipping included..for a 100g tin.

A very high quality flake that has clearly undergone a well-honed aging process. Mottled bright/brown in color. A bit on the dryer side. A strong clean natural tobacco smell.

The flavor when smoked, however, was a bit much for me. Not for the faint of heart or new pipe smokers. Fairly serious nicotine content. This tobacco is all Burley, but in a strong sort-of-way. Not drug store Burley by any means.

Perhaps a good tobacco for a veteran Latakia smoker looking for something without the Latakia. Just too strong for me.

In my opinion this is a medium to strong burley, with a marked grassy undertone, difficult to smoke. It is a very popular brand. I have tried the flake version a number of times. Personally, it is not the type of tobacco I like, but I do acknowledge the quality of the blend. I find the flakes difficult to rub out and to pack. They are rather stiff, as if glued together by some kind of dried resin. It is a flavoursome smoke, but I find it a bit dry and hot and a number of times I have felt it has scalded my tongue.

Pure Burley has always seem to me a difficult weed to deal with. I very much like Larsen?s Kentucky Gold, Pease?s Barbary Coast, and every now and then Haunted Bookshop or even Prince Albert. ES, I believe, is better than the latter but not as good as the former. Not a bad room aroma, it is a smoke I enjoy with a bit of bourbon, as a change of pace regarding Va. or English mixtures.

I recieved a free sample of these slices from a far more seasoned pipe man when I bought my last new pipe. The sample was enough for 4 bowlfulls. The slices are visually very attractive, with a subtle tobacco aroma. I was personally quite surprised by the amount of nicotine strength in this blend, and was pleased by the relaxing effect that smoking provided. The smoke itself, however, was quite dull. I enjoyed the flavor, but lost interest after about the halfway point down the bowl. I did not taste a nuttiness from the burley, but instead a creamy almost butter flavor. Toward the end this became quite sour for me, and the last third of the bowl was very unpleasant. This will bite if one does not respect it, but if smoked slowly bite was never a problem for me. I may, in the future, purchase some of this, but I'm not in any hurry.