Wessex Burley Slice

Please do not let the name Burley turn you off. I am a lover of Virginia tobacco. When I think of Burley with no other tobaccos blended with it, I think of tongue bite and heat, but this slice is bite free and cooler than a Colorado rain. The taste to me is extremely hard to define, unlike the usual sweet, woodsy, leathery or peppery taste it's more like a nutty tobacco taste. The word waxy comes to mind for some reason. Extremely satisfying to this VA lover. I will stock up heavily on this blend so it can be true to me for years to come.

If you like edgeworth sliced this is for you, Over the last year i had been searching for more edgeworth sliced. I hope wessex keeps this in stock. To me this is as close as it gets to getting edgeworth sliced I love it enjoy

Despite the packaging similarities, I believe this blend differs from the Solani ABF. In the tin the WBS is darker, sliced thicker, and the tobaccos in the flake are more homogenous. The ABF has lighter flecks and is more variegated. The ABF aroma may be slightly sweeter, the WBS being a bit more leathery, slightly sour (not in a bad way). The textures are noticeably different. The Wessex flake crumbles easily, and the Solani flake is more cohesive.

Side-by-side, in clay pipes, the ABF seems spicier, but the difference is slight. I'm thinking it would have been a better use of my time to load a either flake in a cob or fat briar. I like both flakes and rate them 4 stars.

This is one of the best examples of Burley currently available. It has all the oily nuttiness that burley is known for as well as pronounced cocoa notes. The flavor is big, although not broad. It does not bore like some straight burleys. The aroma is rich and room filling, but clean. Comparable to Solani's Burley Flake. A must try for burley lovers.

I never tried the apparently legendary Edgeworth, but if it really tastes like this, I´m not surprised of it´s disparition. I just don´t find what´s so good about this blend.

The appearance is very nice. The flakes seemed in my mind as chocolate flakes. Actually, don´t tell anyone but I couldn´t resist biting one. (Don´t do it yourselves, please) I had to have a bitter moment just to discover it was not chocolate.

When the proof of fire came, the enchantment was gone. This is heaviness and monotony in flake form.

But I discovered that adding a pinch of Va or VaPer it improves greatly, or also it can be used to improve dull mixtures of that kind.

It has quality, that´s undeniable, but boring quality. I bought two tins: one I ended up as an ingredient to combine and the other, destined to be smoked alone, took me 2 years to finish.

What can I say? It's burley; 100% unadulterated burley. It looks beautiful, but is difficult to light and keep lit. It lacks even the basic flavors found in Symphony, itself a rather mundane though pleasant burley (though not 100%). I know that there are a lot of burley fans out there; don't know that I would call those folks 'afficianados', as anyone who enjoys straight burley wouldn't really qualify for such a grand moniker. For burley fans, I guess this would be right up your alley. For the rest of us, not. It's burley; 100% unadulterated burley. What more can I say?

Presentation in the tin is outstanding! Small strips about 1/2 in tall by 3 in long. Varying colors of brown, light brown. The strips are lined up like a package of bacon. Very mild fruitcake-like aroma. I smoked it as rubbed out, broken flake, and cut up into cubes....all three methods tasted the same. The tobacco is difficult to light; requiring several false lights. It burns well once lit, with minimal gurgling. It has a nice burley room aroma. However, being that it is 100% burley, I expected a much stronger nutty taste than what this delivers. Plus it really tastes like burning ashes on the bottom 1/3 of the bowl. Too bad it doesn't taste as good as it looks. I give it only 2-stars because of the weak burley flavor.

An excellent diversion for the burley afficianado. Warm, toasty,and rich are the flavors. It is very pleasing to the palate and the olfactory senses of those within whiffing range. It is though a rather bland slice. Nothing like Peretti's treatment of burley or even UNIVERSITY FLAKE by Peterson.Were it not for th very high nicotine content I would smoke it more often. As I said at the beginning - An excellent diversion for the burley afficianado. 3 0f 4 stars.

This is supposed to be the reincarnation of the original, which I have never tasted. All I have are 10 yr. old tins of the Edgeworth Slices. Compared to those, this blend left me a little flat. Rather than go into my usual detail, all I will say is that this needs age! It ended a bit too ashy and a little bitter.I will finish my opened tin, but the rest will go in the cellar for at least 5 years before trying again. It looks like it has quality components, we shall see in 5 years...