Sutliff Tobacco Company Crumble Kake Va. Perique

Sutliff Tobacco Co. - Crumble Kake Va. Perique.

Love it!

Well, Fridays are my favourite smoking day of the week. I always use, on this day, my prized Altinok Meer', based on the model formerly owned by the actor Lee Van Cleef; I bought this as a present to myself after spending a year, ill, in hospital; so, I love smoking it! And, this is the ultimate blend to fill my best pipe with!

The tin holds two, thick, slices of dark kake, which emanate a dark-fruit aroma, have the moistness I like (a little damp), and although they're fairly thick I don't need to rub too efficaciously; a gentle hand produces the perfect consistency. I like mine to be a little chunky when I fill my pipe.

From first light, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, the smoke is heavenly. To my palate, there's a hearty amount of fruity, slightly spicy, Perique, which intertwines perfectly with the doughy, bready, Virginias. The black Cavendish is a lesser addition; this brings a euphonious, soothing quality, and prevents any rough edges becoming apparent. Because I keep my kake fairly coarse to smoke it I get a slow, cool, steady, burn, with the number of relights being a tautological and superfluous topic; it goes perfectly!

Nicotine: a little less than medium. Room-note: not bad.

Crumble Kake Va. Perique? Four stars, easily:

Highly recommended.

Opening the tin, I’m greeted by a couple of superbly crafted, handsomely hewn cakes that smelled of spice, raisins, fig, notes of bread, accompanied by a faint whisper of vinegar. The Virginias bring the tang, dark fruit, bread and hay, while the Perique delivers the pepper that tingled almost the entire tongue. It’s the addition of the Cavendish, however, that really characterizes this blend and sets it apart from the more orthodox VaPers -- those containing only Virginia and Perique. The cake itself, a Goldilocks crumble (virtually identical to that of the Red Virginia release in this series), which has a semi-soft, faintly moist, brownie-like texture. Pleasing to the touch and fun to crumble, it is indeed a cool, slow-burning blend. Lovely stuff, this crumble – highly recommended.

Upon lighting, I’m greeted with tart and tanginess. The red Virginia is sour, vinegary, sweet, tart and mouthwatering. I also sense a tingling spiciness on my tongue. The perique is slightly sweet.

The burn rate is quite slow, but consistent and even. It’s medium in strength, and the nicotine level is slightly more than mild. I’ve smoked at least a dozen bowls in various briars and cobs. It smoked well in all varieties.

I highly recommend this tobacco. It will be appreciated by both VaPer and Red Virginia aficionados. It’s excellent now and I suspect it will age magnificently.

Soft smooth and very tasty. This tobacco burns dry and slow with hardly any moisture ever. It’s a nice way to enjoy a smoke and reflect the day.

Crumble Kake Va. Perique is a winner in my book.

I’m the type of inexperienced pipe smoker who tends to try to rush through a bowl... Especially if it’s something I really like. And, as we all know, rushing a pipe can be problematic.

But man this stuff is good.

I came to pipes over a decade ago, having been a daily smoker of Cubans for a while. So, after briefly messing around with aromatics, I began searching for more flavorful (and oftentimes stronger) types of tobacco.

I still prefer flavorful tobacco. I’ll occasionally smoke something mild-medium, but my baseline is at least medium, usually with a bowl or two per day of bold/strong thrown in for a change up.

This CKVP is probably a haircut past medium, flavor-wise. I’m not going to bother going into the specifics of presentation, tin-note and what have you, as that’s been capably handled already by previous reviewers.

I just felt the need, considering the fact that there have been relatively few reviews, to help spread the word about what I consider a really good, possibly great tobacco.

I’d compare my personal smoking experience similar to St. James Flake. I’m not trying to say they taste a lot alike, but they do resemble in enough ways, particularly depth of flavor, for it to be MY current favorite replacement for the aforementioned hard-to-find SG VaPer.

CKVP certainly has more in common (per my palate) with SGSJF than it has with, say, Escudo, Fillmore or Bayou Morning.

I’m fond of those three, but I love SJF. And this Sutliff Crumble Kake Va. Perique is definitely a contender for my affection.

All this is subject to change, of course, as my palate evolves. But for now? 3 3/4 stars, rounded up to four for our purposes here.

Tin note of pungent sweet, vinegar and fruit. Tobacco is a Krumble Kake of a marbled reddish brown, dark brown and a little black and tan. Moisture content is good. Cake breaks apart and rubs out easily. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of sweet dark ripe plums, spice, tart and tangy citrus, floral, peaty hay, wood, fermented vegetation, bready, lemon grass, savory, slightly spicy, slightly acidic, a slightly sour sugared raisin background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Cavendish and Perique supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Smells dark and fruity in the jar.

Crumbles up easily without turning to powder. Packs just as easy.

Immediately tastes tangy and fruity. The fruit is something closer to a plum then to citrus, which is what I would normally expect out of a VaPer. In that same way, the pepper from the Perique is pretty muted; you really have to look for it to find it.

There’s no tongue bite to be seen here.

All in all, I’d still recommend this for the outstanding flavors, even if they’re not traditional VaPer flavors.

Red Virginia-Perique is one of my favorite blends and this one rises to the top of a list of very fine offerings by many good blenders. I’ve given all of the Va-Perique blends I’ve tried high marks and I’m partial to this one because it’s pressed into a cake. Whatever the blender has done with this tobacco they’ve managed to bring all of the complexity of sweetness, spiciness, fruitiness, smokiness, tartness, etc. This is a consummate blend that never bites, smokes cool and clean and has a mild enough nic-hit to smoke all day. This will always be part of my regular rotation as long as it’s available. I would not recommend this for newbie smokers unless they are in to blends that are not flavored or topped with sugary additives.