Sutliff Tobacco Company Crumble Kake Red Virginia

Crumble Kake Red Virginia (CKRV) comes in the form of two thick slabs off pressed tobacco. Very pleasing to look at and hold. The tobacco breaks off easily and fills/settles in the bowl very well. Takes a few lights to get it really going, but after that it stays lit well. The sour, vinegar- like taste is noticeable very early on in the smoke, but burns off quickly. The sweetness is present almost immediately, but builds intensity throughout the bowl and is very pleasing/almost addicting in nature. Very nice taste. The tobacco itself is earthy, a little tangy, figgy, sweet and dark ripened fruit-like at times as well. It's very easy to smoke. A set it and forget it type of blend. Dunhill Flake and CKRV are the two blends I smoke while fishing because of their smooth taste and easy smoking qualities. Give this one a try and remember to try different pipes to see which combination works the best. It is a very very good blend and one that I have well stocked. Aging should make this blend even more amazing given the high sugar content so pick up a few tins to cellar if you decide to pull the trigger. 👍

Upon tin opening,you are met with an aroma of earth, sweet hay, and a load of vinegar. Despite the hay tin aroma and visible additions of brights added in the blend, you taste very little evidence of them. This blend is certainly all about tangy, fruity, earthy, and slightly spice, Red Virginas. As the smoke continues, the flavor deepens.

Truly one of the better straight Virginia blends I have smoked. I would also add that it is a solid candidate for newer pipe smokers dipping their toes into straight Virginia blends. I found it more forgiving and cooler than your average Virginia. 7.5/10

A mild, slightly tangy Red Virginia, but for me (after trying on and off for nearly a year) actually rather boring on its own. Nice to have around to round out some other blends that need a RV boost, or to tone down a blend on days when you want something less forward.

This may be my favorite tobacco so far. Just like many novice to intermediate pipe smokers out there I have been trying to find the "ONE" and I have found many tobaccos that I liked and some that I didn't care for (not a Latakia or Kentucky dark fired fan) like Blockhouse and White knight...I wanted to like these but I was highly disappointed once I tried them. I started like most (2016 timeframe) with aromatics because they smelled great, however the taste of many of these (not all) left something to be desired. I then tried blends like Frog Morton's "On the bayou" and "Cellar" as well as Seattle Pipe Club's Mississippi River and Plum pudding and loved the Tangy-sour element these provided. I also tried Orlik golden Sliced and learned I really like Virginias which led me to try others like Peter Stokkebye's twist flake, bullseye flake and Navy deluxe twist. I loved the hay-like smell out of the tin, the retro hale as well as the natural sweetness you get when its smoked slowly.

So getting to back to Sutliff's Crumble Kake Red Virginia. I already knew that I liked Virginias and that I liked the tangy-sour element of Mississippi River, Plum Pudding and the Frog Morton series but little did I know that I would get all those elements from this can of Red Virginia. If I had to pick which tobacco I had to choose from if stuck on a desert island it would be this one! I love this stuff!

This tobacco has been a very pleasant surprise! It definitely helps fill some of the void that was left by our dearly departed McClelland tobaccos. In fact, as some have already mentioned, it's very close to MC 5100. It's mild with a nice tangy sweetness that reminds me of marshmallow. Like all fine Virginias, it's subtle and nuanced. Smoke slowly for maximum enjoyment!

Once you get over the tin note (Very Strong Vinegar Aroma with Hay and Grass), and once you get past the charring light (also a peculiar taste of something like vinegar without the zestiness of vinegar, mingled with grassy, and slightly figgy), this tobacco settles down to a pleasant Virginia that slowly builds in depth. If you change your cadence, you will be rewarded by various subtle flavors that mingle nicely. The last third of the bowl is what keeps me coming back. It is deeper and richer and has a nice calm finish. In the tin, the tobacco has the consistency of thick compressed saw dust like tobacco that breaks up well. You will find that from the tin there is considerable moisture and if not dried out for an hour or so, you will be needing to relight several times. All in all, this is a pleasant tobacco and worth a try.

I actually appreciate this blend because it lets me compare it with the Virginia-Perique blend also in the series so I can isolate the Virginia leaf. I like the VaPer better, but this is a great straight Virginia blend. The cake is a bit stiff and harder to dry and difficult to light, but I really like the fermented, sour and sweet flavor. Sutliff is doing a real favor by offering these blends. It's amazing how much variety in natural flavor can be accomplished in the leaf of a single plant.

This tobacco smells great in the tin -- and comes as others have mentioned, in two large cakes that are very easy to break apart and fill your pipe with.

For me it was a very sour and sweet smoke, leaving quite a bit of aftertaste, almost a mouth-coating. It burned well, but was damp from the tin, and even after drying it burned wet.

No matter what pipe I tried, smoking cadence or even lighting method, I couldn't ever really enjoy this. After smoking a little more than half a tin, I gave up.

The tin was a gift from a pipe club member, as he didn't like it. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'd give this away too. After smoking this I felt I had to shave my tongue, eat or drink anything else or at the least smoke something good.

Look elsewhere for better Virginias that aren't so citrus (sour) laden, damp or one-dimensional.

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to possess a world class palate when it comes to tobacco. I simply know what I like.

This tobacco, I like. I’ve noted several reviews that report a strong vinegar aroma. Personally, I detected nothing of the sort. After reading the reviews, I checked again and detect something there, nestled into a really zesty, inviting tobacco aroma. Power of suggestion, perhaps?

Anyway, I’m currently in exploratory mode when it comes to Virginias. Coming off a relatively long pipe hiatus, I sampled Black X and a couple other strong rope tobaccos I enjoyed, but that was years ago.

And the Virginias I’m sampling currently bear very little resemblance to THOSE Virginias.

Flash forward to today, and the only other Virginias I have under my belt to compare to this one are C&D Virginia Flake and the one that’s probably the baseline for most smokers, SG FVF.

I find those two have more in common with each other than Crumble Kake has to either. This one seems to have a little something extra that I really haven’t found in the others.

CK has some of that Virginia sweetness, but there’s a little extra zing here. Kind of a tang, that makes my mouth water during the smoke. I can’t recall experiencing that with any other tobacco... but I like it.

It’s not overwhelming, mind you... or distracting. It just enhances everything else that’s going on.

This is a review in progress, and I’m currently penciling in 3.5 stars. But this is certainly subject to change, and likely for the better.

But I’ve only had three bowls of the stuff. And I’ve liked each one more than the last. That may be a good sign... or a flash in the pan.

Stay tuned.

Update 3/29/21 I remain quite fond of Sutliff’s approach to Red Virginia, but I personally prefer the bulk version. I can’t tell any real difference flavor-wise, and I’m a cheapskate.