Walgreens Burley and Black

A friend of mine, who decided pipe smoking wasn't for him, gave me a bag of this. He purchased it at the local Walgreens and probably smoked about 3 bowls out of it.

At first I contemplated just throwing it in the garbage. But the smell coming from the bag was actually quite nice. It reminded of how the Tinderbox at the local mall smelled when you would walk into the store back when I was a kid.

Finally curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give it a go. First and foremost, this stuff is just bathed in humectants. Out of the bag its wet and extremely sticky. I spread some paper towels on a cookie sheet, covered it in a layer of tobacco, then covered that with more paper towels. I used the top layer of paper towels to blot the tobacco and absorb as much of the polypropylene glycol as I could. I then let it sit over night. It was still fairly moist the next day, but most of the "stickiness" was gone.

I loaded up a bowl and lit up. I wont sit here and wax poetic about a cheap Walgreens blend that cost $14 for 14 ounces. Suffice to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The taste was that of any other OTC tobacco (think Velvet) and was mild and pleasant. The room note was great though. It just had that wonderful old time pipe tobacco smell, so kudos for that. It did leave the bowl wet and the gurgle didnt show till about 2/3rds into the bowel, but I have to say that it did start to get a little sour by then so I finished up and dumped the rest.

Overall, this stuff is not that bad. Now, I know full well that there are many pipe smokers who will NEVER give this tobacco a try and thats ok. This review isn't directed at them. As another poster stated, you could do far worse. Some may balk at the "prep time" just to make it "smokable" (although you could still smoke it as is, straight from the bag) and I wont argue against that. But when you factor in the price vs how much you get, its quite a bargain and a decent choice for someone who must smoke on a budget.

Burley & Black… Came in a 12oz poly bag from Walgreens. IMO the tobacco was way too wet and sticky straight from the bag, and as no surprise produced a steamy, goopy foul tasting smoke.

Drying this tobacco is a slow process; it took several days of being spread out in a large bowl to get it dry enough to be IMO smokable, then it is really not a bad smoke. Mild, bite free, burned dry and now had some pleasant tobacco taste. If you already like Burley/Cavendish blends and don't mind all the drying fuss, as said by others, you could do a lot worse than B&B. (and spend more $$ doing it)

My dryed B&B has seen a lot of duty lately in my cob pipe while working outdoors, where I prefer a low-keyed, no fuss smoke. B&B is not for everybody, being as mild and plane as this tobacco is, but I found it does blend well with various other tobaccos, in my case I add something strong like C/D Burley Flake #2 which will kick this stuff up a to whatever level suits the moment.

Walgreen's/Blenders Gold Black and Burley/Burley and Black...however it goes it's the same stuff. It's also probably sold under a different brand name for CVS and then off to the super value brands as well I'm sure.

Knowing you get what you pay for I am always willing to take something for what it is. I have no problem smoking a cheap drugstore brand if it's a decent smoke...I guess I'm still on that search and I figured I'de try this. It's way too wet to smoke right from the bag. Ater several days of drying out it's comming around to what I think and hope might be a decent cheap smoke. I have it drying out on a large cookie sheet all at once and then will place it in a jar. The aroma from the bag is actually really nice. Sweet, buttery, nutty, oatmeal raisin with a touch of vanilla and caramel is what I get from it. It's got a lot going on in the aroma but the flavor is trully one dimensional. If you go easy on it once it's dried out a bit and smoke it with the nose sniffing a whiff of your puffs here and there you get some of that sweet oatmeal raisin character. I think I can note the nutty character of the Burley and taste the tobaccos along with a mild nicotine content. It can bite if you push it and can leave the palate tasting a little ashy. I can't smoke this like I do other aromatics. I usually like to pull long full draws of smoke. Not with this one...puff puff is all you can do. I also can't really notice the room note. It's there but not overwhelming or too sweet and it doesn't linger much. That can be a good or bad thing for different smokers. The best thing about this baccy is it's aroma from the bag. Like most aromatics it smells too good to be true. It reminds me of my childhood. I used to walk down the isles of the local Walgreens where there were dozens of Dr. Grabow's on the racks and the smell of bags and bags of different Walgreens baccy on the shelves.

I want to like it...I really do. I'm going to let it dry and keep giving it a try to see how it comes around. Might make for an simple smoke while driving, working in the yard, a day out fishing, while having a couple beers...etc. Or maybe not and I'll never make it through anymore of the bag. Sometimes you just want a plain, simple smoke so I'm hoping this comes around to be that. If you're looking for complexity in a blend to savor in the moment...believe me this ain't it. But in my short time of smoking a pipe, I've defenately had worse. Take it for what it is...a cheap mass produced drug store baccy but I think underneath all the casing and humectant it wants to be a decent smoke. I'll update this review if it comes around to be something worth smoking more of. Also out of the Walgreens/Blenders Gold selection this is probably the better of them along with Toasted Cavendish and the plain Burley I would imagine.

My first pipe tobacco. An inexpensive straightforward smoke. Simple, but not unpleasant. Smokes cool and doesn't bite. Not a whole lot in the taste department, but again not bad. Still smoke it from time to time.

Taken for what it is this isn't a bad tobacco, especially for the price.It is not at all offensive. It lights easily, burns cool, does not require relighting, doesn't turn bitter toward the end of the bowl, doesn't bite unless you force it to, and does not gunk up the pipe. Thus the physical properties.

It tastes sort of like butter cookies; mildly sweet and simple. It smells very nice in the bag and has an ok smell when being smoked.

Needless to say, if you want to smoke a complex Balkan or English then don't smoke this. By the same token, don't trash a butter cookie because it's not shrimp etufee. This is one of those American sitcoms of the tobacco world. You won't gain any revelations from experiencing it, but you won't be taxed in doing so either. A bowlful can be pleasant when you really don't want to be putting your attention on the smoke.

One good use I did find for it: I had an aromatic that had an interesting taste and a good aroma but had an astringency that made smoking it less than pleasant. I took a couple of ounces of that and mixed it with about four ounces of burly and Black and the result was quite good. The sting was gone but the flavoe and aroma of the aromatic came through on a far more gentle level. I'd expect B&B to have a similar effect on most inhospitable aromatics. I would not use it to try to tone down a Balkan or an english though. I've the feeling they'd clash.

OK, Blevins started something, and since Pipestud 'fessed up, I guess I will too. This blend was vigorously defended by a few of its proponents on a message board a while back, and I started wondering about it. Next time I was near a Walgreen's, I stopped in and bought a bag.

First off, if you are on a budget, this is the stuff for you. I got a 12oz bag and change back from a ten.

When I opened the bag, I found the aroma to be pleasant. Not like tobacco, but pleasant. The apearance of the leaf was the first thing I wondered about. It isn't ribbon cut, it's barely cut. Big bag, big hunks of leaf I suppose.

I didn't bother to try to dry it - after all, I'm not *that* young - the feel of the PG told me it wasn't about to dry. I loaded up and lit.

It's a cool smoke, but if you rush it a bit, it will get all burley-ish on you and get bitter/sour tasting. The overall flavor is mild, not completely unpleasant.

Since I have turned over a new leaf (pun intended), my synopsis of this blend will be as objective as possible.

My overall impression of this blend is that it is an aromatic without the casing/topping added. For a hot day out fishing, you might like this one. One-dimensional, monochrmatic, I found it boring and cloying, but if this style of tobacco floats your boat, you could do worse.

Since I have this rather large bag of this unexceptional burley blend I think this could be used as a bedding for some Country Doctor or other tasty Burley mixture. Just be sure to stop puffing when you get to the sour taste...that will be the Burley and Black! If you want a large bag of inexpensive tobacco, try P.S. brand "Royal Guard" tobacco. The "Rum" version is o.k.

This is Altadis (formerly Consolidated) Burley and Black, packed in a big sack for Walgreens.

It really isn't that bad, as long as you take it for what it is. There aren't that many pipe smokers, so there is a good chance that the bag you buy has been in the store for a long while. The casing agents begin to go, and you end up with a rough smoke.

If fresh, it is a very mild, pleasant smelling, and incredibly cheap smoke. It is chock full of humectants, but that is to be expected.

Why did I bother? To be brutally honest, where I live there are three tobacco shops. All of them sell Altadis and Lane bulks. They might have some Dunhill or MacBaren tins for $15 dollars a pop. If they stop internet tobacco sales, I won't be able to enjoy my favorites, (Rattray's, Cornell and Diehl, etc.) so I have to keep my options open...and so I try what is available.