Sutliff Tobacco Company Mixture No. 79

OK - I am sure I am going to lose all credibility with this review, but I have tried M79 and found it better than people seem to think. In terms of flavor, I get floral, licorice, root beer, a little vanilla and maybe a little herbal/menthol. It is full flavored, but not overpowering. It has a lot of tastes in there, and they are pleasant enough. They are not what I am used to. The tobacco base is a solid burley with a little nuttiness you don't get much of since there is so much going on.

I am not going to go out of my way to buy this again, but if it were all I had, I would smoke a lot of it. It is really a 2.5 on the scale and a little underrated. It did not smoke hot or wet for me. It is different, but I did not find it as bad as legend seems to say.

I have been told by old timers that this crimp cut burley mixture was often used (in small doses) to "pep-up" cheap Virginias. Well, all I can say is that I'd sure hate to load up a bowl of any kind of tobacco that needed Mixture #79 to save it!

Yes, this blend has been around for eons, but old is not always better. I can see where some may enjoy the Anise flavoring though, so I will offer a hesitant "Somewhat Recommended" rating.

Sutliff Mixture No. 79 is one weird tobacco. It garners scads of very negative reviews. Yet it has sold well for decades while myriads of "good" pipe tobaccos have disappeared.

Mixture No. 79 is a burley blend, all burley but with some variance in color from tan to brown to dark brown. The darker colors predominate. The cut is slightly chunky. This rates about medium in terms of ease of lighting, but less than that of most OTC brands. It seldom requires a relight. Tongue bite is minimal. as is the case with most burley or dominant burley blends.

The nicotine level is medium.

The pouch aroma and taste are unique. Sutliff's description mentions vanilla, but the predominate note is licorice (or its taste twin anise). Many pipe smokers do not realize this, but the overwhelming majority of pipe tobaccos have licorice (or anise). This is a powerful sweetening agent, but in most blends it is used in an amount small enough to sweeten but not give an obvious taste of its unique flavor. The amount used in Mixture No. 79 is by no means moderate.

The room note is one of a kind. As with most aromatics, the majority of people find it pleasant. But there is a minority who find the aroma of No. 79 to be perfumey in a cheap toilet water sort of way, and not acceptable.

I find Mixture No. 79 to be a fine change of pace smoke, but not one that I enjoy smoking frequently. I prefer considerable variety in my smokes, so by change of pace I do not mean every three or four pipe fulls but every three or four days. A pouch will last me a couple of months.

One of the frequent complaints against this tobacco is very valid. It does ghost a pipe, as much so as any mixture I have smoked. This is no big deal if the several smokes it takes to eliminate the ghost is another aromatic. But with other types of pipe tobacco the ghosting is quite disconcerting.

This was the first pipe tobacco I smoked. It was what my father smoked. I almost never smoke it these days it is too mild for me and I've discovered I really enjoy the flavors of tobacco so I almost nevrr smoke any aromatics.

Having said that though, I've got to believe many of these negative reviews are written in fun. This was my favorite drugstore blend when I smoked them. It's cheap, easy to load, burns well, tastes good, has a pleasant room note and doesn't taste like cherry or apple or some other awful thing. TBH and odd as this may sound, I used to pick up a slightly soapy taste and yet it was not a bad flavor. If I could no longer get non-aeros I would go back to it. If you're stuck for tobacco some day and have to go to a drugstore or one of those cigarette stores, give it a try I bet it will be as good as anything else there, and better than most.

I'll begin with the tobacco's biggest weakness. It is burly. Burly always tastes vaguely of cigarettes to me and I am not a big burly fan. The burly made me hesitant, but what got me interested was the Anisette topping. Anise flavoring, whether in booze, black licorice, or tobacco, is a deeply divisive subject. If you hate it, don't bother. I learned to love Anisette hanging around Greeks longing for the old country while drinking Ouzo (Anisette on steroids) and Retsina (a Greek wine that is not unlike turpentine and has no connection to Anisette, but is weirdly pleasant after about the 4th glass).

Here's the catch. I don't taste anise flavoring in the tobacco. I don't smell it in the air. I dragged my wife out to the porch. She didn't smell anise either but said the room note was tangy and quite pleasant.

"Tangy" really was the perfect word. There is a definite sweetness along side the tang. The overall effect was similar to a cherry tobacco but without the cloying sweetness of cherry. (I really dislike cherry tobacco.) It had all the advantages that cherry's supposed to have without the disadvantages.

Some burly blends (what I think of as drugstore tobaccos) have a dusty flavor that screams cheap leaves and too long in the warehouse. This is certainly not my sense of No. 79. It seems like a high quality blend if burly is your thing. So, if you like smoking burly tobacco, this might be an interesting blend. If you are looking for a licorice hit or an ouzo high, I suspect you aren't going to get any of that and be disappointed like I was.

I finally got a chance to try this much maligned mixture. It was never one I tried early on and watching it repeatedly get bashed on forums made it clear that I would not be buying it. Surely, someone would try it and hate it and offer it up. Well, it took me getting my nephew into pipes and he bought a pouch and gave me a healthy sample.

So I tried with as open a mind as possible and the first bowl was a bit of a shock to the system as the topping is pretty intense. Normally, you would associate aromatic toppings with things you eat and drink. This one is more like a cheap cologne covering a bit of BO.

Well, the sample was large so it took several bowls to finish and something happened. I started to acclimate myself to the topping and it bothered me less. Note that I still can't really say I liked it, but would prefer it to say, grousemoor. The topping is really pervasive on the first third, but it does settle down and the last half of the bowl or so uncovers a very nice burley base that is pretty good.

I have been told that this base is the same used in Heine's blend. I am definitely looking forward to trying that one in the future as it may be right up my alley. So with this blend and blending the subjective and objective I am leaving at two stars. It did not repulse me and there are some people who like it. It has some good leaf under it and it can be tasted. And it is a mild smoker that will not bite.

Back in the day I once dated a woman loved black licorice. I hate the stuff, so naturally I've avoided this blend. All the negative reviews naturally made me want to try it. The pouch note reeks of anise not a good sign. I load my cob and apply fire to leaf and guess what? It didn't taste like Satan's sweaty balls. Instead I got a smooth smoke with a hint of vanilla. In fact it's kinda boring. Oh, and unlike that woman from my past it doesn't bite.

I used to smoke this in the early 70's. I haden't had any in about 30 yrs. until I broke down a bought some for old times sake just the other day. It still taste just as I remember. Several reviewers have called this a love it or hate it blend and I can't disagree. I however am in the middle on this one. It ain't the greatest tobacco I've ever smoked but neither is it the worst. I started smoking this because a friend of mines father smoked it. This gentleman was an MD and chief of surgery at a local hospital. I admired him and thought that any tobacco that was good enough for this educated, respected and prousperous man was good enough for me. The good doctor loved this stuff! I think he sprinkled it on his morning oatmeal. He never used a tobacco pouch but instead carried a good sized tin of ole' 79 around with him. I think he used it for chew as well and I'm not joking. Anyway, I can't give you a great description of the taste because it's something that much be experienced. I have wondered for years what the little bits that look like dried orange peel are. Maybe it's best I don't know. Drop a few bucks and try some! You'll always wonder what it taste like if you don't.

Hoo boy, after reading the comments below, I feel like I'm sticking my neck out saying how much I like this blend so I'm giving it 2 stars as somewhat recomended. However, my personal taste buds give it 4 stars.

First off the pouch aroma is seductive and I've never smelled anything that smelt so good. Sweet and liquorishy is all I can really say.

It loads like a crimp cut. Easy to light and stays lit throughout the bowl.

I do like strong tobacco and that is what I get at light up. I get very little flavor at first. But, the tobacco and nicotene taste is there and I like it. About 3/4 bowl, pleasant hints of liquorice and sweetness come through the full bodied smoke. I don't sense any soapy or perfumy flavors others mentioned. After I finish a bowl, I am left very satisfied.

Will this become a daily smoke? Probably not as Balkans are my go to blends. I will however keep a pouch of this around when I need something different like I do with Prince Albert. Mixture 79 seems great for innatentive smoking like when putzing with yardwork or something. It's hard to puff this stuff wrong. I've been smoking it in a cob but will dedicate a Dr Grab to it because it's liable to ghost a bowl of something else.