Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Five Brothers

Five Brothers. The one and only Five Brothers I have heard so much about. The ass kicker! The one that makes on pass out! The evil weed!

Well, I picked one of my old well caked Kaywoodies for the occation, sat out on the dock so I would not bother anybody, and filled my pipe and lit up. Expected a mule kick! Expected to double over and get dizzy! But..........damn, I like it! I mean a lot!!

So I sat there and smoked the whole bowl right down to the bottom getting ash in my mouth, and I really love it! No tongue bite, no "n" attack, no sore throat, nothing but pleasure. If this is an ass kicking, then I'll take another. In fact, I am going to smoke this for a few days and that case of it on SF classified might get taken. I mean, I was disappointed when I got to the bottom, I wanted more! I get a nice, rich, smooth smoke that stays lit and has a sweet note and aftertaste. Kind of like Granger on steriods! But I like Granger. I like this. Maybe I really am an old codger because I see why they liked it. I wonder why I never have seen it down here in S. Texas?

This is a very useful blend. It is not some flavor bomb to sit back and relax with while contemplating world peace, but it has an appeal of its own. It is plain, unadulterated burley with a nice complement of nicotine. It burns fast, but I use the method proposed by fr_tom (breathing out through the loaded pipe) to add some moisture, which does slow down the burn a bit. These attributes are useful when time is a factor.

Five Brothers excels as an addition to weak or overly-sauced blends. The shag cut that some reviewers have likened to a bird's nest makes it difficult to mix with other blends. I have found it better to cut the shag into shorter pieces, making it easier to mix.

Also valuable is the "parfait" technique suggested by another reviewer. Sutliff's Frosty Mint is a refreshing smoke in this neck of the woods in the summertime, but there is no nicotine in it. I'll pack a pipe with about 1/3 of the bottom of the bowl with Five Brothers and then fill it with Frosty Mint. Quite tasty and satisfying since the flavor of the Frosty Mint permeates the Five Brothers, so by the time you reach it, the taste is augmented by strength.

As I said, very useful stuff.

Recommended.

I was lucky that a UK-pipe friend did send me (both nicely aged) a bag (about 150g) as well as a 1,25oz pouch of this to me about 1 year ago. Since then I regularly came back to the Five Brothers blend!

This is plain and simple, yet honest and flavorful pipe tobacco - nothing more, but also nothing less! Great, natural and vegetative, almost horse-stable-ish pouch note, with only very mild sweetness underlying to the earthy, woodsy and nutty foundation.

In the smoke it's monochromatic, yet still enjoyable in every puff to me. Very toasty and earthy, richly nutty, and by times almost a bit bready, with a slight sharp edge which I like. The Shag burns great, even, albeit due to the nature of this cut a bit fast (yet never hot!). I love this in smaller bowls, or even a shag pipe! 10-20minutes of pure, unadulterated Burley goodness, and then proceed to the everyday-madness! 😉

Honest, natural, delicious and stout... Burley-Lovers-Bliss!

|| Personal rating: 4-stars | Attempt of an 'obective rating' : 4-stars ||

This review is a work in progress... much like myself as a pipe smoker.

As I thumb type this, smoking my first full bowl of Five Brothers in the early morning hours, I find this a very agreeable, easy smoking tobacco.

I must be impervious to nicotine, judging from other reviews of this product. In my opinion, it’s almost strong enough.

Flavor-wise, it’s pleasant. Certainly more inviting than either of the other “drugstore blends” that I’ve sampled. It’s not overwhelming or complex. But it’s an approachable, appealing and most importantly (to me), satisfying.

I’ll be sure to update this as I get to know it a little better. But my first impression is that this is an ideal “bookend” smoke: a tobacco with which to both start and finish a day.

I don’t see it being my primary go-to blend, but it’s likely to be ONE of my go-to blends. While I’m more of a VaPer guy, this definitely has a substantial place in my present and future as a pipe smoker.

Edit: after an additional two weeks of having a couple bowls of five brothers every day, I simply find it a good staple of my smoking day. Think of every smoke-filled day as a meal. Five brothers is the side of potatoes. It’s not the star of the show, but it helps round out — and fill — the meal.

And, for me at least, that makes it just as important in its way.

I smoke a bowl of it near the beginning and at the end of each day. And along the way, I’m somewhat likely to mix it with something like superior navy flake to help beef that particular blend (and subsequently sweeten the five brothers a bit).

To my taste at least, Five Brothers is more aligned with the savory side of the pipe tobacco flavor spectrum. Now, it’s not as savory as, say, a Dark Kentucky or what have you. But it’s closer to that than it is the sugary sweet (to me) goodness of a SG Best Brown.

So, in that context, I consider Five Brothers one of my two main “savory” smokes (along with Kendal Dark), to help break the monotony of my sweet Virginia laden smoking days.

If someone wants to bum a cigarette from you, always have one of these ready rolls handy. Better yet, have some Picayune ready rolls on hand. Not likely they'll come back for another but then again, they might want to tough it out if they have a comfortable chair to sit down in.

This is some strong, straight Burley & is good to stoke in a pipe or RYO. I rather like very strong tobaccos on occasion as well as a strong cigar since I don't inhale anything. I like to keep my lungs free of "asphalt." This doesn't have any flavor to offer other than just plain old Burley tobacco taste which is sufficient if you're just after a Vitamin N blast.

This is simply a no frills, straight up Kentucky Burley that only takes a few puffs to get you going but when you get there, you may not remember where you came from. Excellent blend for what it is with a good price tag. I liked it & sometimes use it to top off a wimpy blend. Warning: Smoke only on a full stomach if you're not used to strong stuff like Five Brothers or you might be headed to Barf City to toss your cookies.

Scandinavian Tobacco - Five Brothers. Interesting to look at, a fine shag that contains many birds-eye pieces. This pouch has great hydration to smoke straight away. This is a great blend for a quick nicotine fix! Easy packing, easy lighting, lots of nicotine! It can burn a little fast due to the shag-cut, so I don't force my puffs. The flavours very bold and rustic; Burley. I don\\'t get any tongue-bite. A basic review for a basic blend! Recommended: Three stars.

dI'm going against the usual two ounce sampling before you review mantra oft spoken of here, because this tobacco is an easy read. If you like burley, try it. If you need a nicotine rush on the cheap, try it. If you need a blending agent to toughen up a wimpy blend, try it. Just try it!

To be fair, I didn't like the first bowl. Now somewhere north of ten bowls, I can say I've changed my mind. Yeah, it's a bit harsh, but it's a shag-cut burley, unsauced...I wasn't expecting a leisurely contemplative smoke. Monochromatic...you betcha! Five Bros. is what it is...an American 'old school' 'baccy. Smoke it in a smaller bowl and enjoy. Smoke it in a large bowl, and...well, it depends on your tolerance. This 'baccy is an excellent '10 minute smoke break' blend. It burns fast and hits hard. Perfect for the workplace.

I should add-I'm also currently smoking SG's Black Rope, and I can say, for me, the 'Rope' is much more nic laden than Five Bros., FWIW.

Update 11 May, 2011...I still can't give this a forth star, but after finding a source locally have been smoking it daily. This has become a rotational blend for me. I often get subtle VA/Lake District notes from it...odd for a burley, I would normally think. I'm finding I enjoy this when nothing else will hit the mark, to. I've bought fifteen pouches in the last month... I think I've eight left. Even Irish Flake had taken a back seat lately. All said, I think my snobbish attitude just got put in check by a handful of pencil shavings. Interesting.

Absolutely have to do a review of the venerable Five Brothers. When I was a mere lad, this used to come in an interesting sort of cardboard tube, and it was made by the Finzer Brothers. Along with Granger ("A pointer on tobacco" with a picture of, you guessed it, a pointer hound, according to the old lithographed tin), Velvet, Prince Albert and Half and Half, Five Brothers was the epitome of old fart tobacco... and Five Brothers was considered "working class" compared to the other ones, since it came in a cardboard tube versus a fancy tin. I seem to remember the codgers mostly leaning towards Granger here in the South, which is basically a straight burley, as is Five Brothers, although Five Brothers uses a bird's eye cut. Granger is still a pretty decent smoke, the only negative there is the fact that's got quite a bit of humectant in it. Currently, Five Brothers is made by STG, but it really hasn't changed much. I've seen it described as American Semois, which is pretty apt. Five Brothers is a little more straightforward, and it's certainly has a higher nicotine kick than Semois. Being fairly mild in terms of flavor, it makes a good addition to a straight Cavendish aromatic, or whatever smoke you might feel needs a little more oomph. In fact, on the nicotine scale, this tobacco is right under the infamous Cotton Boll (another legendary tobacco from the South, which may or may not have been intended to be smoked, versus chewed, and is still available in finer rural convenience stores in the Deep South) and the Irish ropes like Brown Bogie. A pipe full of straight St James Perique will put you on your rump with Vitamin N too... the only time I ever had to put a pipe down is when I loaded a big Nording with some straight Perique...and Five Brothers is not for the faint hearted.

Five Brothers is minimally cased, fairly dry, and finely cut in the cellophane wrapped package. Definitely requires a solid packing, and I've never found that it would bite, but it really is a tobacco to be respected, freight train puffing is liable to put you DOWN, coughing and wheezing a bit. It gives me a feeling of late summer agriculture, drying hay, soil, a hot dirt road right after the rain, very straightforward flavor. Does not have the complexity of Semois, but it stays absolutely consistent throughout the bowl, and like Semois, will burn straight down to fine white ash. Room note is probably just slightly on the other side of a cigarette, although I don't really get a cigarette flavor in the pipe. It's supposed to make a pretty good hand roll too.

This is a tobacco that I always have around because I use it to break in pipes... I don't think there's a better tobacco out there for building up good carbonaceous cake, and is generally $4 a pack so you can burn as much as you like... or can take. Note the package clearly states "Pipe Tobacco!", that exclamation point at the end is there for a reason.

This stuff is nothing to be afraid of. I just smoked 3 bowls of it for breakfast and I'm 90% sure I'm not going to vomit. Quit being a girl and try it!