Borkum Riff Cherry Liqueur

Dastardly, despicable and a downright abomination.

Shame on me. I knew better.

I bought this on a whim, knowing full well its bad reputation. Can a brand that has survived decades really be so bad? Yes it can.

There are probably low production cost issues that keep this sort of tobacco on shelves while esteemed brands disappear. Ribbon cut virginias predominate here, and these tobaccos, prior to casing, might well end up in cigarettes as well. Certainly this tobacco burns very hot and very fast. I would never risk a pipe trying it, but I have little doubt you could light up a bowl of this stuff, come back in 25 minutes and find it all burnt to a white ash.

So what is happening with this tobacco? Who smokes it and why? I think the answer is special occasion smokers and newcomers to the pipe. It stays lit by itself, pumps out a huge amount of cherry scented smoke to tell the world a pipe is alight, and is mercifully short. For the life of me I couldn't get a bowl to last longer than 30 minutes. I honestly believe the label tells no lies here. I think some nasty cherry liqueur HAS been sprayed abundantly on this tobacco, and the sugars and alcohol function as accelerants.

Admittedly, it has been many years since I tried this but I remember it clearly. A mixture of light and dark tobaccos, ribbon cut, quite dry. Strong aroma of artificial cherry. Lights easily and burns like paper. Also tastes like shredded cardboard infused with cherry flavouring.

Don't smoke in a pipe you ever intend to use for anything else.

This was my first tobacco. I bought a Dr. Grabow "Duke" and a pouch of this stuff in the spring of 1984.

The pouch smelled really good, at the time. Smoking it was another matter entirely. It was really wet, so it was steamy. The charring light offered the only time that I could actually detect a cherry-like flavor. After that my tastebuds were too burned by the steam to taste anything.

I now understand that the steam oozing out of the bit of the heavily- varnished cheap pipe was a blessing in disguise. If I had been able to taste anything, my pallette would have been subjected to the flavor of burning cherry-flavored plastic. Just imagine taking some cherry cough drops and burning them in a cast iron skillet. I remember having a terrible cough just from the tiny amount that I accidentally inhaled.

This is the kind of product that turns people away from pipe smoking. Unfortunately many first-time smokers start off with something like this, and the pipe ends up in a drawer for a year before finally making it to the trashcan.

Most foul tasting product I have ever smoked. Would never bother with this brand again even if it was free. The smoke was full of chemical, and the taste before and after was very bad. Could not even finish a full bowl.

After a 20 year hiatus from this blend, I just, groan, endured a bowl of this junk. After half a bowl I gave up and lit a cigarette just to try to restore my palette.....didn't work!

While this stuff smells rather nice in the pouch, once lit in the bowl it stinks and as far as taste goes, I haven't a clue....it turned my tongue into leather from the very first puff. Burns very hot in the bowl and there's lots of gurgle in the bottom of the bowl.

I found this strong and offensive. The room note is what I consider just tolerable.

Getting the junk out of my bowl was a chore. It wanted to glue itself in there.

Now I remember why I used to mix this with Amphora Regular 20 years ago. I would have thought BR would have got this one right by now.

Believe me....STAY AWAY from this stuff!!!

Oct.3 2009 Update:

I've found a way to make this horrible stuff at least tolerable: Mix it 50/50 with Amphora Mellow (yes I know, what a terrible waste of Amphora Mellow) and let it air dry for a week. It will bite a lot less once all the volatile oils have evaporated and I actually found it improved the room aroma a wee bit. Sure, it burned a bit faster but no hotter....how could it get any hotter? Besides, short to tossing it in the bin, what better way to use up a costly, but crappy tobacco quickly!

WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING ? ... all the negative reviews and I thought I could potentially find some redeeming qualities that others might have missed from "Bark-n-Ruff" ... well it didn't happen. After smoking this mess ... I shred the tobacco pouch and loaded it into my pipe ... it smoked much better than the tobacco !!!

Do yourself a favor ... just don't do it !

There is a very good reason why there a so many negative reviews. I've only been smoking for about a year and i decided to pick this up at a head shop instead of going to a proper tobacconist. Big mistake.

It burned so hot my bowl was radiating with heat and burned my fingers. The cherry flavoring is very artificial, very unpleasantly so even for a guy who likes sweet tobacco. On the pouch it says half of the blend is made of virginia's and cheap virginias too. I've heard the taste of them compared to pencil shavings and its bang on. It also gets very wet in the bowl and gurgles a lot.

For newbies who think this would be a good starter: go to your local, proper, tobacconist and pick up a house blend aromatic. Its from them where i started loving pipes. I'm sure you will too.

Well after a 50 g pouch there's my opinion.when you open it you get cherry in a bad way.more moist than should,it needs a bit drying.when light you can feel the moist through the puffs.bites a lot even if you go easy.burns the bowl a lot.and destroys your aftertaste.the nicotine is really low here and you don't taste the virginias or burleys as a result of chemically blended.