Wessex Burley Slice

This is a tasty burley, but not as good as the no longer available Edgeworth flake. It is high in nicotine, but if puffed slow it is fine.It is not to moist and easy to rub out.If you like Edgeworth flake give it a try you might like it, but it is not for me.

I got a sorta large sample of this in early August '05 from RTDA at the Morial Cenvention Center in N.O.

I remember Tim and his boss Bob of payless pipes looking at me as I puffed, and I said, "Look guys, you're seeing the face of a happy man. Not as good as birth of a child, but still as happy as I can be." They stared. I had never seen such a show. Little did we know that building would turn from paradise to chaos to hell in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, I got to smoke some 20 bowls of this stuff in the following weeks in a new Rinaldo. At first I thought a straight Tenessee white burley, plain and honest. But the slight flavoring, either licorice or probably molasses I'm told, came along like the blend's shadow. Just a little sweetness mind you. Cool and some inner strength.

Yes sir, this is the replacment for the now gone Edgeworth Slices. This is supposed to be a replicant of the older version. I smoked the newer version of Edgeworth Slices off and on for the past 10 years, and I think it is fine still. Have some cellared in a dry office. While this new wessex blend may not be quite as scented (ES would lose the flavoring if you took 30 days to smoke the large tin of 100 gm), it is more easy to handle and rub out.

Mostly burley cut in flake form. I'm told the cake is painted with something (molasses), but it is not overdone. I think if you like Edgeworth Slices, you'll cotton to Burley Slice. I'm glad someone brought this old blend back to a semblance of what I think most of you burley guys will like.

I did evacuate with my Rinaldo and some Burley Slice left. Now it's gone. I hope to be getting more soon and I'll give it even more of a try. Perhaps the last of the few "luxuries" I dare afford for the time being. Give me a hand and support the incarnatin of the old Edgeworth Slices. It may grow on you. We don't want this one to disappear too.

Tin note of molasses, fermented vegetation and spices. Tobacco is a flake of a marbled dark brown and brown with tan stem spots. Moisture content is great, rubs out with a little effort. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. Flavoring is mild to medium, with notes of Licorice, that dissipates to practically nothing by the end of the first 1/3. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of mild licorice, wood, leather, musty vegetation, toasted sweet bread, mild cocoa, rich earthy, dry bitterness, mild molasses, tart/tanginess, mildly savory, a semi-sweet nutty background note, and a smooth retro. Burley is leading with Flavoring supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

JimInks noted in an update that this blend had been changed from its original incarnation as an Edgeworth Sliced replacement. This reboot features the new tin description that accounts for the licorice that recent reviewers have perceived. The flakes are wide and overlap somewhat messily in the tin. They are well formed and feature variegated shades of brown. The licorice casing is barely evident in the tin, but comes out lightly in the smoke if smoked very slowly. The tin aroma to me was woodsy, sweet, with a pleasant but faint aroma of black licorice. After the tin gets some air, a dark unsweetened cocoa aroma takes over.

The chocolate smells more in the tin than in the pipe smoke. The casings do not intrude and BS smokes quite naturally. It tastes natural and nutty. There are roasted, toasty tobacco notes on the palate that are enriched by muted swirls of coffee bean and bitter cocoa. As I often do with some burleys, I got some rare cigar like spots in a number of the bowls I smoked consuming this tin. Goes great with black coffee. Smells distinctly better and different from cigarettes. My tin was dated 1/22 per the code, so not fresh but hardly aged.

To sum it up, this a is a solid burley. Per the description by the importer this contains 100% foreign grown leaf. The burleys could come from anywhere in the world except the US, and I have no guesses as to origins. This was worth trying, but I don’t think I will buy more. 3.0

Although this medium-strength 100% Burley blend is simple in construction it is far from being commonplace. With its full, deep, mellow spicy nutty taste, coddled by a mildly sweet chocolatey aged wood undertone, you can imagine this is a treat that provides me with infinite enjoyment.

I swear WBS hosts with a very stealthy diluted licorice topping that infuses beautifully with the natural sugary molasses flavoring of the native tobacco, although the manufacturer provides no evidence towards same.

The nose of this stuff is one heady moneyed Burley-esque. It is so darn savory that the cat wants in on the game, do you believe that? It may be a stingy clowder of pipe-smoking cats that seem to keep this one on the “hard to find” list.

My #2 favorite pressed Burley flake hands down. Typical German conservatism by constitution but soulfully flamboyant to the core when the flame hits the leaf.

If you spot it, grab it while you can. It will inspire the pipey Max Ernst that lies inside you just like it does for me.

Somewhere I have read that it is enriched using licorice as flavoring, but I do not detect it. On the other hand, there is clearly an essence of Lakeland, which reminds a bit of Kendal Cream by Samuel Gawith. It is quite dry in taste, nothing to do with, for example, Mac Baren's HH Burley Flake. It's a bit flat and monotonous, so I smoke it when I'm doing something else and I'm not going to pay full attention to the pipe, as another positive aspect is that it doesn't bite the tongue and can be smoked carefree.

Considering I'm a burley fan, this one fell pretty short for me.

Two stars, with a few smokes of three, but never four...

Personally I could not get behind this one. It is just very bland. Starts of with notes of sweetened tobacco for the first half of the bowl. The second half is a little more interesting with some notes of earth, cocoa, maybe a touch of spice and that sugary sweetnesses. I like my tobacco on the dry side, so this needed a lot of dry out time for me. Needs attention in the bowl. I don't want to completely bash this blend because it is evident that it contains high quality leaf that offers a smooth sophisticated smoking experience. For me I like Burley blends that have some rough edges, strength, spice, kick, and big smoke output. In short this is a fine blend just not for me.

Burley Slice has the potential to be an excellent tobacco but the heavy addition of a humectant spoils the fun. Even when the flakes end up on the dry side, the tobacco is still hard to light up properly and remain lit. This is very unfortunate and frustrating because this flake has everything going for it, otherwise. I have noticed the same approach with all the HU Tobacco I have tried, Rattray, Mac Baren, C & D/GL Pease as well as the Solani Aged Burley Flake. A real pity!

I must state my bias up front. In my 35 years of smoking a pipe I've gone from aromatics to Virginia's and finally several years ago settled into burleys and corn cob pipes. I prefer cube cut, crushed plug and flake to ribbon cut by a very wide margin. I like the way you can codger scoop or even pour the above mentioned cubed and crushed into your bowl and I prepare flake the same way. Wessex Burley Slice is a high grade version of the other old burleys I love so well. To me there is a tread that connects all burleys that have favoring attributes of cocoa and molasses all the way back to Edgeworth so that if you love one you'll at least like the other. With all burley's I follow the advise of the late, great John Patton. Dry it a bit more than you think it needs and pack a bit lighter than you think it needs. With that in mind Burley Slice took light right away and needed no re-lights. The flavor is pecan like with some chocolate and that great old time molasses flavor. No epiphanies here. It's like a visit with an old friend, no surprises just good and relaxing. After a smoke the room note lingers and is very pleasant reminding you perhaps, if you're old enough, of something your Grandfather smoked. There's a lot of comparison of this blend to Solani Aged Burley Flake. I'm smoking both today side by side. My opinion will probably vary from most but to me they are very, very similar. My review of Wessex Burley Slice and Solani Aged Burley Flake will basically be the same. Both are great. Both are 4 star. Both could probably be offered in bulk at a more reasonable price. That's my only dig here. For some of us who smoke daily, price does matter and means the difference between a daily smoke and an occasional treat.