Wessex Burley Broadcut

Wessex Burly Broadcut… Came in a coffee-can type tin.. and at only about fifteen bucks for 7 ounces of a Wessex tobacco, I could not resist at least giving this stuff a try. As it turned out, this blend is mfg. here in the U.S. after all. By the way this is not a complaint, but it did surprise me some.

The tin aroma is of sweet tobacco, which has been coarsely chopped from thicker flakes into random shapes. For my taste I found further rubbing-out of these pieces unnecessary, not to mention these larger pieces did give a nice cool and long lasting burn.

Your basic mild American style, faintly aromatic mixture, that I found provides adequate nicotine, no bite or goop and only a very slight VA tongue tingle. For my taste, I would have preferred the use of a unflavored VA. Cavendish in this blend, but that is only me knit-picking, because overall I have been enjoying it, especially when a low demand yet satisfying smoke is called for. This profile is not what I expected from Wessex, more like a Lane product, but like I said, IMHO a decent smoke.

PS.. I did allow some airing time, as I do with most freshly opened tins.

I have noted that several reviewers here are comparing this blend to Edgeworth, particularly the Ready Rubbed version. Well, I will never agree that Edgeworth Ready Rubbed was anything other than a cube cut and certainly provided a much different smoking presentation & flavor than Edgeworth Sliced - which does contain a bit of Virginia leaf while the Ready Rubbed version does not. Having said that, Wessex Burley Broadcut is nowhere close to being as tasty (IMO, of course) as either Edgeworth version.

Burley does not vary much in flavor over the course of a smoke, except the cheaper stuff does get bitter near the bottom. This one did not, and provided a pleasant enough experience but not one that warrants another purchase. Perhaps all the additional cavendish & Virginia dummied down the natural Burley nuttiness.

If an unobtrusive mild smoke is your preference, then Wessex Burley Broadcut may be worth a try.

Wessex - Burley Broadcut.

When a blend's marked Burley I often have a presupposition the smoke will be rough, crude, and rugged tasting. But, that concept couldn't be any more off the mark!

The tin-note sets the paradigm of a sweet, Burley-forward, smoke. It's cut coarsely, including all manner of shapes and sizes; from ribbons to chunks. The moisture's perfect.

As suspected, although the Burley gives a headstrong flavour, from the Virginia Cavendish comes a sweetness which softens and smooths the smoke. I find this sweetness has more alacrity and volume for the initial quarter, after this point it diminishes, somewhat. The low points with this, for me, are bite and temperature; if it isn't approached gently the smoke can become warm and a little bitey. Nothing 'major', but still a bit disquieting!

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: nice.

Burley Broadcut? After half a tin, although it can 'nip' me, I'll happily recommend it for taste:

Three stars.

I haven't yet had the Wessex Burley Flake, that's coming up. By all accounts it recreates the Edgeworth Slices of old. This piqued my curiosity: is Burley Broadcut an attempt at simulating Edgeworth Ready Rubbed?

Upon opening the pouch I would have described the aroma as sweetly boozy, not at all like "E.R.R." But, then again, I can't recall ever opening a fresh pouch of Edgeworth! The cut is different for the Wessex, as well. Some bits of leaf, some ribbon, and some huge chunks of pressed tobacco that looked for all the world like pet kibble.

Lighting brought forth a moderately familiar taste: House of Windsor burley. You may think I'm reaching too far but the label on the pouch indicates that this product is made in the U.S....I'll leave it to others to confirm or deny. As well as the straight burley flavour there came in waves the delectable taste of, yes, Edgeworth. I found the added flavour would come and go, and over all, the smoke didn't seem to possess quite the earthy quality of our old friend.

If you like Edgeworth, you'll like this. If you don't like Edgeworth, this won't appeal. I recommend it as a good smoking, good quality blend for burley lovers, or those looking to try a burley tobacco.

Here is a perfectly pleasant, old fashioned, mild aromatic. Wessex Burley Broadcut in very much in the Three Star Blue or Heine's Blend tradition of a light colored, plug and ribbon cut, predominately burley aromatic.

Mild is the word for it, so far as I am concerned. Not gutless or insipid, though; just cool, very lightly sweet, easy going smoking pleasure. I usually will go for something with a few more teeth, if you will, but, if you desire an aromatic with actual tobacco complexity and not just a liberal dousing of goopy, synthetic flavor sauce, Wessex Burley Broadcut will fit the bill.

People will love the aroma, too. I received continuous comments and compliments on account of smoking this. It's a nice, old fashioned aromatic composition of anise and vanilla and various other light, almost powdery components. When it came in the mail, the wife couldn't help but say how delightful the smell was even before I opened the package.

The Virginias and different kinds of burley used did add just a bit more complexity than what's common. Sometimes you will get a note of bracing bitterness. Not really all that off-putting, as nothing about Wessex Burley Broadcut could really be off-putting. Just another interesting note.

Its amazing how many burly blends there are out there. What is even more amazing is how they all can have the same basic composition, but all taste so very different. This one has a very basic composition of burly/black Cavendish/Virgina, with in my opinion a disproportionate amount of Cavendish. The burly really gets to little attention. I can taste the burly, but only faintly, it has a fairly cool taste but none of the nuttiness that I crave when I want a good burly mixture. I also think that the Virgina tobaccos could be toned down a bit. With that being said this is a very tasty blend, it has fair deal of vanilla and sweetness that play well to the slight earthiness of the burly. It has a fairly tolerable room note and does not gum up your pipe. I will say that my pouch came a bit wetter that I like, but dried out nicely. The tin note was of sweet vanilla, and also had some other typical burly sells too.

So why not 4 stars, I feel that there are a few better burly blends out there, some are better like Boswells burly, and many are worse.