Sutliff Tobacco Company Heine's Blend

I have intended to try this for a while. A friend sent me a generous sample, and it has been good to smoke through it.

The tobacco itself is a mixed bag. There are ribbons, cubelike chunks, and flakes. There is a whiff of fruit in the "tin note." Mine came at what I consider a very good moisture level.

The smoking experience was very enjoyable for me. It smokes like a mild toasted burley with a little citrus topping. It is not especially sweet, and it has a simple tobacco flavor. I can believe that this would make an excellent "all-day" smoke.

This one is easy to recommend, but it does not have much wow factor. I liked it.

I was recently looking for that "blend that nobody seems to smoke". I received a cannister of this in the mail (along with a few other goodies) about two days ago. I was pleasantly suprised. Alas, I had found that blend. A mixture of thick coarse cut- blonde and cherry wood in color. The tin aroma's: a cross between cherry, cocoa and citrus- subtle and inviting. The blend is earthy and robust in flavor (not in the aromatic sense but in the body of the smoke). I'm reminded of green pastures, old-fashioned coffee breaks, relaxing in one's favorite armchair or tinkering on a project in the workshop (in my case that's fleshing out my next literary idea and working on music theory). Upon first light, you are hit with a soil-like richness which is slightly tangy. It funnels into hints of hazelnut, lemon and mild black coffee while maintaining the right amount of sweetness. This blend seems to be another "sleeper" type of tobacco. A quiet reminder of days gone by, which it does in a straightforward way- nature's way. If Sutliff is looking for a slogan for this little pipe smoking treasure, it should be Heine's Blend: The Honest Smoke. I give it three and half stars. This coming from a guy, who loves exploring the aromatic side of things.

Would like to meet Mr. Heine and shake his hand. A great example of 'simpler is better'. A 'codger' burley of the highest order. It is easy to confuse mild, subtle, and nuanced with bland, changing sometimes with mood or expectations. This is not an over-the-top flavor bomb, but neither should it be, and I really like what flavor there is. Room note is very nice (I'm partial to that old-time burley aroma). I was a little apprehensive about committing to a whole tub of Heine's, but I am now glad I did. The tin aroma is amazing, one of my favorites. Topping (what little I detect) is perfect, just a condiment. This is easily an all-day smoke. Aftertaste is very nice. Like many an American-style-burley, really good with a cup of coffee (or tea). Easy to light and keep lit. No bite. Good for both puttering or relaxing. Great, solid, mild, chocolate, molasses, nutty, dark fruit, tiny spice and citrus. I expect the tub will get even better with a bit of airing and time. 3.5 stars. Contentment. Recommended.

Sent to me by a friend, I found this to be a gentle and mild burley forward mixture that's easy to smoke and smells pleasant in the room. Sometimes that's all I want and personally I enjoy mixtures like this.

The tobacco flavor is light and so is the sweetness. There's a topping but I would categorize it as discreet. I mostly taste a hint of honey and a very subtle bright citrus and sharp fruit flavor. There's no bite but Heine's Blend smokes spicier and a bit tangy if puffed too hard. It also needs some dry time but not too much.

Altogether this is a good & reasonably priced, mild old school tub-mixture.

**After a month with Heine's I have to upgrade my rating to three stars. Once dried Heine's burns much easier and releases its nutty burley flavors. When I first received it I could not coax out anything but steam and it was bland but much like a Virginia flake a week with the tub cracked and allowed to breathe made Heine's a totally different animal and gained a star. A great value for a tub, an all day blend, tasty but not 4 star material, really somewhere in between 2 and three stars**

Wow totally not what I was expecting.... I truly thought Heine's Blend was going to be a Sir Walter Raleigh type cube / rough cut burley with a Cocoa type topping but upon opening I was greeted with a very subdued citrus aroma. The tobacco is comprised of soft chunks of light and dark burley with very bright yellow fish food Virginia flakes but very soft bits. I was sent a tub directly from Sutliff as I know a gentleman that works there and he sent me a fresh sample. My 14 ounce tub was recently made so I know this is the current offering. I appreciate the fact that HB is not goopy or overly topped and yet by itself HB does not have much flavor which is an extremely mild OTC Burley Mixture. Certainly nothing exciting but not terrible, just bland...

I had been wanting to try this as I am a fan of the old school Burley blends.

This is what I would call a crushed plug rather than a cube cut. There are some chunks, short ribbons, and small flakes.

It smells faintly of figs, with just a touch of molasses.

It loaded easily, and as it was a tad moist, I thought I would have a little trouble getting it going. I was wrong.

It burned a little hot for me at first, but never bit my tongue. It produced thick, creamy plumes of blue smoke, perfect for smoke rings.

The trick to this stuff is to let it dry. When it is fresh, the flavors are watery and muted. After a good airing out, it tastes of hazelnuts and black walnut. It's delightful with a cup of coffee or hot tea.

The room note is very mild and inoffensive, but not something that would please folks who don't generally like tobacco.

It burned clean and dry to a salt and pepper ash.

Its only real fault is that it is very plain. But sometimes that is what I want.

I ordered my can from the fine folks at pipesandcigars.com, who along with excellent customer service, produce some fine blends of their own.

May your troubles end in smoke...

Heine's Blend has been on my tobacco radar for years, but is one that I did not try until today. Now I am sorry that I waited so long.

This blend is described above as having a "cube cut" and so I expected to see something akin to Cornell & Diehl's Crooner (No. 104) when I opened the sturdy 14 oz. plastic container. Instead, I was greeted by a mostly dark, gently fragrant, chunky tobacco that has more of what I would describe as a "rough cut."

It was moist, but did not leave my fingers sticky when I pinched some between them. Its aroma in the container seemed almost subtle, really noticable only when I placed my nose a few inches above it. To me the smell was reminiscent of Fig Newton cookies.

Like most aromatic tobaccos this one would benefit from some drying, as initially I had a hard time keeping it lit after loading my pipe (a small briar billard that I use for testing new tobaccos) directly from the container. However, having said that, I was pleased by the fact that there was no "gurgle" in my initial bowl. Further, a pipe-cleaner applied after I dumped the dark gray ash (with almost no dottle) showed a surprisingly small amount of tar.

The smoke was blue-white and creamy, and try as I might I could not induce this blend to bite. Its taste was lightly sweet and pleasant, and left no coating on my tongue. The room note was comforting: slightly spicy, warm, and inviting.

This is a very pleasant easy-to-smoke blend that helped me to recall why I became a pipe-smoker in the first place, and I recommend it.

I remember my Dad buying this blend in the late 60's. This was his everyday turn to. You know, the kind of tobacco that you grab when you just need to get a bowl going to do yardwork or putter around the house. Since the publication of recent articles on the "Old Time" tobacco blends it seems that many of us are reaquainting ourselves with our pipesmoking roots. This one of the first blends that I smoked when I began to pickup my Dad's pipes to try. It reminds me of LJ Peretti's BPC which is a Burley Plug type of tobacco. Nothing Great here, just a Burley Plug, slightly nutty, a tinge sweet. Good for a change of pace, nothing more, nothing less. Burns clean, a puttering around the house mindlessly smoke.

I purchased a tub of this about 5 yrs ago as at the time, it was the only option. Hearing that it was the same base as Mixture 79, I was intrigued. I did not like the topping of Mixture 79, but rather enjoyed it once most of the topping flashed 2/3 through the bowl.

Heine's did not disappoint. It also did not rock my world, but it is an enjoyable Burley. It is, in character, not unlike Carter Hall, Prince Albert, SWR, et al. essentially an American OTC Burley type blend. It packs and smokes easy. It does not bite. It is exactly what one should expect from any of these types of blends. I don't think it is as good as SWR or CH, so I am keeping it at 3 stars, but this is subjective. It could easily rate four stars to someone else's taste buds.