Walgreens Burley Light

I am going to blame Rafe, the first reviewer of this blend, for costing me coin by buying this. I think it is Lane's version with a different name.

Light, cheap burley with a measurable amount of bitterness as you hit the bottom of the bowl. It won't goop up your pipe but will leave a wet heel.

I took the bag to my local pipe club's monthly meeting so as not to waste the tobacco. It remained untouched at the tobacco bar. When someone muttered, "who brought this junk to the meeting?" I looked around the room with acusing eyes and kept my mouth shut.

An inexpensive very lightly cased burley, works great for blending, but not so good on it's own.

I happened to be at a new Walgreens today, and although I knew that the pipe tobacco offerings would be sparse, I bought a 12oz bag of Golden Burley for 7.99. At least the price is right, and the tobacoo is fresh.

Very light, almost no tobacco flavor. Casing was also light and sweet. This tobacco is pleasant, but no tobacco taste. A good tobacco to keep for an emergency when there is nothing in the house to smoke.

I would swear that this is a generic version of Captain Black Gold. In the future I think I'll try the Cherry version. I'll be probably disappointed.

Very limited recommendation.

If you are looking to find Lane's BLWB for a bargain, here it is.

It's possible that only a relative newcomer such as myself would make a 3-star recommendation of a drugstore tobacco. Fact of the matter is, I only tried it myself on the recommendation of one of my "Pipe brain trust", who gave it a fair shake and had positive things to say about it.

Absolutely nothing groundbreaking here, and no pretension either. This is precisely what it appears to be: a plain, not-bad quality burley, coarse cut and bulk packed for sale in drug stores. No doubt this very product lives under different names and in different presentations in shops and online retailers across the country. Part of the problem with pedestrian drugstore tobaccos is that people usually get them (as I did) in their extreme newbie phase, likely not knowing any better and not knowing much, if anything, about how to load, pack, light and draw on a pipe (again, just like I did.) Once you know what you are doing, however, some drugstore blends can be very pleasant. Like this one.

Walgreen's Burley Light is a simple, inexpensive and lightweight burley tobacco. If there is any casing here, it's so faint as to be insignficant. It's easy to load and light and stays lit well, and won't bite the tongue off an inexperienced draw. I keep a large glass jar of this stuff on my pipe table and turn to it often for smoking while driving, or for the great outdoors, or for a quick smoke at lunchtime, or for when I have guests, or for simply putzing around the house. Its low price and ready availbility means that I won't feel bad if I don't get to finish a bowl once I've started, and it's plain-ness makes it a good choice for breaking in a pipe, whether a brand new one or an estate pipe that needs some of the previous owner's tobaccos smoked out of it. Factor in Mrs. Rafe's approval of the room note, and I've got a keeper.

My favorite use for this tobacco, though, is for (yes) any green newbies that come my way. I tell my newbie friends "get the hang of smoking with this stuff, then you'll be ready to trade up". I turned one of my younger brothers on to a bag of this and told him to smoke up a whole bag of it, until he got the hang of proper packing, lighting and puffing. It's not sophisticated or fancy at all, but it is a darn sight better, in my view, than the flavored sawdust that most new smokers pick up with their first pipes, and I'd even give it the nod over the Lane aromatics that I myself was guided towards on Day One.

If you're a veteran smoker or an elitist and are well into $300 pipes and $12-a-tin oriental or latakia blends, WBL will certainly not turn you on. If you want a simple, inexpensive all-day smoke that offers real (if mild) tobacco flavor and a pleasant room note, here you go.