Finck's Cigar Company Finck's Whiskey

The flue cured Virginia is grassy with a drop of citrus. The burley is nutty, while the black cavendish seems to be unsweetened. The whiskey topping is of medium strength as it does tone down the tobaccos, although it tastes kind of mild and lacks a little depth of flavor. The taste level is closer to mild than it is to medium. Has a hint of nicotine. Burns slow and needs some dry time, and needs to sipped a little as it can burn warm. Leaves too much moisture in the bowl if you don't dry it some. Has a pleasant after taste and room note. It gets two stars because of the drawbacks, but it’s still a decent all day smoke.

-JimInks

I try Whiskey saturated blends every now and then in a continual effort to find just the right one. The taste appeals to me but many of these blends burn either hot or gooey or both.

Stokkebye's version (Finck's Cigar Co., distributor), is quite good. It arrives just a tad too moist in a bag. Let it dry for a couple of hours or more before loading and lighting for best results. The whiskey flavoring is delicate but detectable. The blend smokes mostly cool and dry. Not a lot of strength in this one, but I revved up the blend by mixing 50/50 with Five Brothers (stout Burley that imparts a lot of bang but very little flavor), and had a whale of a delightful smoke. In fact, I'm getting ready to load up another bowl right now.

I was looking for an decent economical everyday blend and that is just what I got. With the good reviews and the cheap price I decided to take a flyer on this one and I am glad I did. I am very gun shy when ordering any blend with the dreaded black cavendish in the description but I need not worried because to my delight when the pound arrived lo and behold no sign of the black stuff. This is a straightforward fairly tasty blend that tastes and smells like whiskey all the way to the bottom of the bowl and yes there is some real tobacco taste there also. This is so much better than any of the other Danish whiskey blends that I have had.Hell its just one of the better Danish made blends that I have had : Period!!! It burns cool and never bites no matter how furiously you pull on it.I can smoke a ton of this stuff without getting bored.This probably won't do it for you nicotine freaks but that is just fine by me. Finck's Whiskey blend moves to the top of my everyday economy blends list particularly when you factor in the unbelievable low price. I will always keep a pound or so in stock as long as the price remains about the same. Thanks Finck's!!!

Update 12/06/08 Have since had Finck's Golden Cavendish which blows this out of the water. Still a good blend but now relegated to a lower place on my tobacco hierarchy.

I was looking for a blend that was mild with a slight aroma. Here it is FW has a sweet subtle aroma. This blend is a Light Cavendish not no dark as listed above. The topping of whiskey is not to heavy. Smells great in the bag the smoking aroma is not as apparent but is there none the less. Packs well but hard to keep lit so let FW dry out I have some sitting about for a while and now it is fine lites with one match. Now this blend is not a wet blend by far. But it is just hard to keep lit and drying it out makes it easier to smoke. Taste wise FW is not bad. Aroma is better for outdoors. This is a very mild blend that is good for breaking in a pipe or for a lighter smoke. I am almost 3/4 through a 1lb of it now. Good to keep some around seems that the ladies like the light scent.

Finck's sells this as a replacement for Borkum Riff Whiskey.

They should be glad I can tell the difference! Indeed, it is considerably better. Very straight forward, but pleasant. Better quality leaf makes for a much more enjoyable experience. It is not nearly as bitey as the Borkum blend. If you like BR Whiskey, (I hate it)do yourself a favor, and give this a shot. For $17.95/ lb, you don't have much to lose.

I bought a pouch of this out of curiosity after reading Finck?s description of this blend as being comparable to Borkum Riff?s Bourbon Whiskey and challenging the smoker to see if he/she can tell the difference. I like Borkum Riff?s Bourbon Whiskey anyway (contrary to most reviewers, but then I have the palate of a peasant) so I wanted to see if Finck was telling the truth or blowing smoke. I?ll be darned if he isn?t correct, this does taste enough like BR that it would be a good replacement for the more expensive Bourbon Whiskey. Actually, the tobacco leaf quality of Finck?s is much better than BR?s; it isn?t as brittle or as stem-filled. There doesn?t appear to be as much Black Cavendish as in BR and it is a little milder in taste but if you like BR?s Bourbon Whiskey you should like Finck?s Whiskey and it will save you a few bucks too.

First off, I like Peter Stokkebye's stuff for the most part and I've ordered cheap cigars from Finck's for years and have always been impressed by their service. I'll also say I hate whiskey flavored blends, but Fincks was kind enough to send me a bunch of samples when something else I had ordered was on back-order. Thats how I wound up with this stuff.

I really think Finck's does a disservice by naming this as an alternative to Borkum Riff. It's much better than the BR. But, Finck's is actually the old Wally Frank (discount) Cigar Co. so, a lot of their customer's know Borkum Riff and have never heard of Dunhill, etc.

In short, it's good stuff and has a decent bit of tobacco flavor with a nice room note. Like all of Pete's blends, there can be some bite if puffed too fast, but it's less in this one.