Sutliff Tobacco Company Voodoo Queen #523

Voodoo Queen 523 is a blend comprising Burley, Latakia, Virginia and perique leaf. I had an 8 oz bag coming in the post the other day and the moist content was just about right, if only, slightly more dry than moist. The perfect combination of all the elements seem to be quite balanced, so I can't really point out any main characters in this play. The virginia leaf is sweet and hay like, the burleys nutty and bold, the latakia spicy and woodsy and the perique citrusy and slightly peppery. The tin note is very subdued and complex, and I think I can detect a topping of some sort, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Thre is this chocolatey flavour lurking in the background, which is something that shows quite more apparently in the room-note than in your smoke. The cut is some kind of a Frankenstein mixture comprising both ribbon and broken flake tobacco, but you don't need to rub it all out to be able to smoke it. As you progress with your smoke the latakia leaf becomes more creamy and silky, but not overpowering or taking over. The presence of black spots in this blend could be explained by the addition of Cavendish, not only latakia, but I am not quite sure about it. I think this tobacco is best described as a very mild aromatic English blend.

This is one of my 'go-to' blends. It hits the right notes for my daily dose of shag. The Virginias and Burley are the key players, but you know there's some Perique and Latakia leaf in there. Sutliff calls it an English blend, but I'd lean more toward an English/American Hybrid. At it's price point, it's hard to pass up on this honest tobacco.

a Virginia forward blend trying to be an English blend. The Perique is very evident, the Latakia not so much IMO. Good but just a bit of false advertising.

Unique would be the best descriptor I could use for this tobacco.

You cannot ignore the Perique, yet it's not what keeps me coming back. The thing I love about these Voodoo Queen is the subtle use of the smokey Latikia.(Stick with me here.) It taste like you're standing upwind of a morning campfire on a misty morning. You can smell the smoke and feel the warmth of this tobacco. You can almost taste the hot chocolate or coffee from the kettle. I mean I take one whiff of this and I instantly start to unwind and think of days spent on river banks or under a canopy of evergreens.

The room note has me torn. It definitely hangs around and is noticeably. BUT IT SMELLS LIKE A MORNING CAMPFIRE. I just can't imaging anybody that is into pipe smoking enough to be on this site would mind that one bit.

I really enjoy this blend. The only reason I don't give it 4 stars is the viginias don't come out in the blend for me and the perique is muted.

The smoky latakia is primary to me. The burley rests on your tongue. I get the perique if I puff a little faster but at normal cadence doesn't bring it out as much as I would like. The smoky rich taste is very good. The burley adds some sweetness to the blend. Burns extremely well without much prep time (about 5 minutes or less is what I prep this).

If you like a fuller smoky taste with some burley flavor and a no nonsense burn I think the blend would be for you.

This tobacco is a wonderful way to mix it up. And perfect for hot summer nights. I personally think that I taste more perique than Latakia, so ill add a couple pinches of a blend that is heavy on the Latakia side to give it more the smokey quality I like.(I'd love to know if anyone else noticed the lack of Latakia .) T quality of the baccy changes extremely towards the last half of the bowl. It gets sweeter and more tangy!You get a coffee/tea zang with a bitter dark chocolate vibe. Very pleasant. I can't wait to enjoy this blend on a hott July night after a great dinner , with an iced glass of sweet tea. Over all really enjoyable smoke.

I started enjoying this one several years ago and still enjoy it on an occasional basis. I generally don't care much for strong English style tobacco blends - too much latakia turns me off. But I do love perique. This blend is perfect to me for those times where I feel in the mood for the style. It is a bit coarse, but working with the tobacco to get it into form is part of the ritual that makes pipe smoking fun for me. I love the aroma, but most people I've smoked it around hate it - and some have been quite "vocal" about it. I haven't had much trouble with bite, but I do notice the distinct peppery zing of perique. For me, it seems plenty complex, and I prefer to smoke it when I can focus on it more - its not something I pick up when I'm outside doing yard work, for example. There doesn't seem to be a lot of nicotine, but I prefer tobacco that way - nicotine is not why I choose to smoke.

This one will continue to be a part of my occasional tobacco's for hopefully many more years to come.

A nice and interesting tobacco. A mixture of broken flake (which appears to be Virginia and Burley with a very slight top note of some kind), Latakia and Perique. Easy to pack and light. Good smoking characteristics.

I found the flavor to be a middle of the road English that was not too heavy on the Latakia and maybe, just maybe, a tad "Danish." By that I mean the broken flake component was not a traditional English and did have a slight sweetness to it.

Frankly I did like the flavor of this tobacco. But it did seem to bite me. For some reason, a few of the Altadis tobaccos (not all) seem to nip my tongue.

Do try it if you are a fan of lighter English fare, or like an English/Cavendish blend. If it does not give you tongue bite, you might just keep it in your rotation.

I read some of the reviews on this and finally had to break down and order it. I really enjoy this tobacco, it is the essense of why I like to smoke a pipe. A real tobacco taste with some complexity, I think of it as in the same class as Midnight Ride. It has a musty smokey latakia sweet thing going on that makes it such a pleasure from start to finish as the bowl is smoked. The slight trace of perique was a nice touch also. It has cheered me up from some bleak winter blues. My only complaint was not being able to find it locally and having to pay shipping on it.