House of Windsor Briggs

The bourbon topping is mild, but noticeable. The burley is rather plain -barely nutty, woody and earthy - and the Virginia isn't very citrus sweet, rather hay-like and grassy, and they suffer from lack of quality. The strength and taste levels are mild. The nic-hit is very mild. It burns a little quickly, and can give a little tongue bite because it does tend to burn hot and bitey if you puff very fast. There are some cigarette notes near, and at the finish. It does have a mostly consistent flavor from top to bottom. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a short loved after taste. Sutliff's Briggs Match is a little stronger with more tobacco taste, and the burley shines in that one.

-JimInks

Having quite a bit of success with HOW blends in the past (Union Leader, Mapleton, Revelation, Country Doctor), I was pleased to find a 2 oz tin of this and eager to get into it. The best laid plans....

Very flat and anemic tasting blend of golden virginia and burley. This possessed a very musty odor in the tin that perfectly translated to the taste, and the blend fared miserably as a result. The flavor was mostly of old rubber mixed with uncooked lima beans. The good news is that the flavor was extremely mild, bordering on simple hot air. I managed to smoke 3 bowls of this before giving it away. The good news with this one is the exceptional room note. Very clean, not too sweet and refreshing. I certainly wouldn't mind being around someone who smoked this one, as long as I didn't have to smoke it myself.

One star blend, but as it's not nearly as foul as other one star blends, such as Mixture #79. In the realm of my one star blends, this is a 1.3 and #79 is a solid 0.6... just to provide a frame of reference. This one is best left in the halls of memory.

If this is how true American, pardon my French, blue-collar tobacco should taste like, well then; Hats off! This is a nice Burley blend with a certain pine-like aroma to it; It actually tastes like fresh harpic when lit. Nutty, fresh and mild.

As opposed to Union Leader and Country Doctor, this one will not burn the tongue, which is good. As opposed also to Union Leader and Country Doctor, this one does not contain any nicotine, which is bad. Therefore the two stars.

I'm off to Granger in a couple of weeks when my shipment arrives to Denmark - I have launched "Project American Drug-Store Blends", since I reckon there might be some good stuff among those products.

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark.

Bought a vintage 30 year old unopened tin on EBay.This was by the company that owned Briggs before House of Windsor,Lolliard.Opening this tin exposed the casing of Anise and Burley tobacco. Smoking this blend was a delight for I love burley leaf.I found the taste and the room note to be more pleasant than some of the current burley blends.When a feller needs a friend was a good smoke.

The tin aroma of this beautifully fabricated mixture of cube and flakey chunks is of a sweetly vegetal tobacco scent topped with something vaguely seedy: perhaps coriander or fennel.

This blend falls on the light end of the spectrum: a gently sweetened mixture of light burleys and gold VAs with a touch of dark cavendish for variance. The brightly sweet, gold VA takes the lead with the burleys quietly adding background huskiness. The sweetener smoothes any edges while the evanescent topping is virtually transparent.

Another thoughtfully and scrupulously produced House of Windsor triumph, Briggs epitomizes the best tradition of burley/bright american mixtures. It is phenomenally suited to the all-day puffer seeking elegantly flavorsome and austere simplicity. This seemed best in a narrow gauge chamber.

I bought a 2oz tin of this stuff a couple years ago. I really wanted to like this blend as its been around a long time. after opening I was disapointed with the aroma. It smelled like dried saliva/spit (**sorry thats the only way to describe it**) It was extreemly dry. It almost reminded me of clumpy GrapeNuts cereal. I loaded up a very old Dr.Grabow and began my very boring smoke. I had a hard time detecting any flavor at all, other than a weak flat flavor of...um...smoke. It did burn well, a little on the quick side. Tongue bite shouldnt be a problem either, if smoked at a reasonable pace. I know that one star seems harsh, and Im well aware that many many people love this blend,but there just isnt anything here. I will stick this away in the closet, and try again someday...perhaps that will help. its not as if it could get any drier.

Now that the House of Windsor has taken over many old classics, and now that P&T magazine's Summer 2003 has featured them, I was a sucker to purchase them all. So far, I have fallen in love with Country Doctor and have great respect for Union Leader. Briggs Mixture is right up there with those two.

Briggs Mixture looks like chunky, broken up pieces of cardboard in the tin. Very unusual presentation. Very cool burning, it is straight forward in taste with little variance in flavor as you work your way down the bowl. Though topped with something, the topping is so light it is almost undetectable, but somehow enhances the flavor and made for an enjoyable and unique smoke.

"When a Feller Needs a Friend" Briggs is a great choice!

When a "Feller" has friends like this, who needs enemies?!! Seriously this stuff was retired for a reason. It is a very boring tobacco with little taste that makes the room smell like stale cigarettes. HOW has done a marvelous job of reintroducing the old classics, but I'm afraid this sucker should have been left in its grave.

Eh. I know we are not supposed to make comments about other reviews, but Pipestud got it right when he said cardboard. I wanted to like Briggs (sort of a nostaligia kind of thing), but it was pretty marginal. Not "bad" . . . just too plain. Cubed Burley with a very light topping. Not enough there for me.

I finished off a sample of this, which I assume to be a pretty old sample. It had a similar stale, almost cardboard like, taste to it. It lacked much flavor and was quite bitey. Funny though that I tried the Sutliff Match, I did pick up on some of the flavors that were in the original. So while muted, I was able to taste some of the intended flavoring. So I had to use the match to really get the original.

The match was pretty good. The key difference between the two was the burley. I found the burley taste to be dead in the original and I really think that time gets the bulk of the blame for this. Briggs is a typical American OTC blend and, like so many of these blend, it relies on the burley to carry the blend. Without it, the blend is bland and boring and this is exactly how this tastes to me.

It leaves me at a quandary of how to proceed with a star rating. I have decided to give it two stars when my sample really demands one. The extra star is in hopes that this was much better fresh than what I tasted. I could, in no way go three though. In deference to some of the other reviewers whose tastes I respect and who, I know, have tried it fresh. It just doesn't seem like it was ever a good blend. Some disappear and are not missed and it appears this is one of those blends.