Sutliff Tobacco Company Tobacco Galleria - Montego Bay

Those who enjoy light, rum flavored aromatics with bunches of Burley and a smattering of Virginia leaf may find this Altadis offering to be attractive. It starts out a lot sweeter than it ends. (Guess the Burley isn't top shelf because this one does get bitter.)

With an oceanic scenescape on the pouch, this interesting aromatic comprised of Golden Virginia and Mellow White Burley being topped (officially) with both Jamaican and New England Rum, which I’ve never had, ensnared me for purchase. Produced in the steam and pressurized Cavendish style for heightened sweetening, it’s easy to detect that this one was also hit with coconut, vanilla, and I believe some other tropical additive. Makes a lot of sense given its moniker. A jumble of wet toothy dark brown ribbon cut sections intermixed with irregular variegated Cavendish flecks, the nose of this blend sings of heavy rum, vanilla, and sweet/sour earthy Burley.

With initial flaming a delectable note of posh tropical coconut hits the registration but fades off disappointingly quickly. How I wished it would have carried through; darn! What remains is a generally dark sugary/vanilla embellished nuttiness coming from the White Burley that holds consistently for the entire bowl. I could not pick up any Virginia notes at all and the spicy-sweet rum flavoring is very elusive. Namely, when it’s there it is very tasty and satisfying. The denotation of rum taste, however, seems to surface in a non-consistent pattern. Subsequent the rum flavor intensity is moderate at best unfortunately.

The room note that the mixture produces is a nice warm slightly sweet Burley essence. The mild strength-low nicotine Montego Bay does burn hot and rather hurriedly so it will bite you if you are inclined to Bogart it. Slow sips bring a more mellow and savory experience. A little disappointing in terms of what it could be but nonetheless still a reasonably enjoyable smoke overall.

The whole Tobacco Galleria line provides the cost conscious piper an entire line of OTC style blends that run the gamut from light English to heavy aromatics. Montego Bay being the rum topped blend in this series is pretty decent if you take it for what it is, a mild Burley and Virginia blend with a mild topping of Rum. I found the sweetness at the top of the bowl to be very enjoyable but it soon turned bitter as I made my way under the halfway mark. I do agree that if better leaf was used it would cut down on the bitterness but by doing that I'm sure the price would go up, defeating the purpose that these budget blends were created. If you like Rum flavored blends I would go for Sutliff's own Sunset Rum or Super Value Buttered Rum instead...

Pretty blah, but not bad as an aromatic.

As a precautionary note, this tobacco was about 5 years aged when I smoked it for this review. I have found that Virginias improve with age, and aromatics seem to become less bitey and goopey.

This blend is pretty on par with most bulk Altadis blends. Smells good in the pouch and air but does not not taste like much on your palette.

Having a wild imagination I looked at the name and though for sure I was smelling and tasting coconut. On some research in the blend I discovered that was totally contrived in my head and the coconut does not exist. Not the best aromatic I have smoked but certainly not the worst.

The first time I tried this blend, which I purchased on a whim, my palette must not have been on straight or... perhaps I needed to simply ween my psyche off all my existing favorite blends because I couldn't enjoy anything more than just... hot smoke. But the second... I was burst to life. It has always been funny to me how that thing goes. This blend does burn hot, it packs fairly easy (nice cut) and is very much mild but maturely flavored. It's not a BIG deal but... a blend I'd most likely indulge in once a week.

Some people hate Altadis blends, but I like aromatics so anytime I'm in my local tobacco shop, I pick up a different pouch. I like Rum flavored blends, like their Jamestown Tradition Rum Mixture, so Montego Bay was another Rum flavored aromatic I wanted to try. I was actually pretty disappointed with this one. It has a very subtle pouch aroma, almost weak and hard to detect. Smoking tends to be bland and rather lacking in any sort of complexity. The smoke is light, not very thick or overpowering, and I find it's difficult to keep lit, probably because of how wet it is. All in all, I'd say this is a very mild smoke, not overpowering, probably good for beginners, but those looking for a more flavorful aromatic won't be satisfied and will want to try something else.

Hi Gang, I received my free Altadis samples of different tobaccos, and I've been posting my reviews of the different brands. I really had my hopes up for this one. With the promises of Virginia and Mellow White Burley Tobaccos, and the added flavors of New England and Jamaican Rums, I was hoping for something great. On opening the packet, the smells were great, the tobacco wasn't dry, and seemed to burn well after 1 prelight. The flavor however wasn't even close to being rum flavored. It has a bit of tongue bite, if you puff too hard. It's quite moist upon coming directly from the bag, and I wonder if letting it sit out for a few hours before smoking it might help? At this moment I would give this 2 stars, and that's being generous.

6:01am. I had let a bowl of this go out, for about an hour. Came back and relit my Milano Briar. I still had about half a bowl to go. It's not exactly down right awful, but the bite gets a lot stronger towards the end of the bowl, and I wish the flavors and aromas coming from the bag, had matched the flavors upon lighting up...

Our pipe club received a few pouches of this stuff a month or so ago. I am not one to pass up free tobacco regardless of its composition. I was pleasantly surprised by this one, it was not as awful as I thought it might be. I am not a rub drinker but I can tell you that the rum taste is true to the drink, and as long as you smoke it slowly the burley stays mellow and kinda taste. I would never buy this on my own but if I got another free packet I would smoke it in my aromatic pipe, or a cob.

I found this free sample I received to be a pleasant enough aromatic. I would recommend it for beginners looking for a change from the usual vanilla fare. It is OK but nothing special. I personally do not like rum cased tobaccos so I can't rate it higher but I think those that do would really enjoy it.