Borkum Riff Vanilla Cavendish (Sungold)

Stay away from this one guys, It buns fast, it kills the tongue and tastes more ash than vanilla. The only positive comment I can give is that the room note is very pleasant. It is a better blend to smell rather than smoke.

They say one of the toppings is whiskey, but I only get an alcohol, chemical taste from that. The vanilla is watered down, no richness. A hint of grassy, tart and tangy citrusy Virginia arises if you smoke it slowly. The Kentucky offers hints of wood, earth, and nuts as a secondary player. The lightly nutty, toasty, earthy, woody burley is noticeable, but doesn’t jump out a lot. The strength and taste levels are mild. Has little nicotine. It burns well, and will bite unless sipped slowly. Has a mostly consistent flavor to the finish. Doesn't leave much moisture at the bottom of the bowl, and requires few relights. The after taste and room notes are very short lived.

-JimInks

Please, stay away from this one. Spend a few more bucks on a tin, or pouch, of almost anything else. While it has an excellent aroma that lasts for quite a while, the taste is nothing like they describe. There's a strong chemical taste, bite, that you cannot shake no matter how you smoke this mixture. I was left wanting and felt cheated that I spent money on this one... Bummed.

I felt the vanilla only when I opened the pouch. The vanilla taste is not present on the smoke. Unfortunately bite the tongue like a hungry snake, from the start to the end!

First things first. I smoke aromatics seldom, last time before this was few years ago. Got few pouches OTC blends from a corner shop as a gift. Borkum Riff with Bourbon topping was decent but not my cup of tea. This mild whiskey &vanilla cased burley dominated blend is ok...not top notch but smokable. The casing is quite light...with slower cadence whiskey is overpowering vanilla...burley plays dominance over the Virginia's...sipping it slow,no bite...needs to be packed with firm hand...quite pace changer from my regulars like 1792, Irish Flake, Commonwealth and Golden Blend...basic smoke,not bad as everyone is saying in this forum and yes been almost 30 years in this pipe puffing business and have noticed that certain blends are send down to Hades just because it's a correct way . . like everyone with self esteem should love Dunhills blends and dislike certain OTC.

As far as I could find out, this is the one now known as "Sungold".

I wanted to compare the Sungold with the "Mac Baren - Vanilla Cream Loose Cut", which I smoke regularly.

I was disappointed when I opened the bag. The scent was not really pleasant. The tobacco is easy to light. Smoking is unspectacular. I stay with Mac Baren.

Well the only thing i got from this blend was chemical aroma,chemical flavours while smoking,tomgue bite and bad room note.i didn't get any tobacco flavours unfortunatelly.i just can't get how this tobacco is processed to be that bad...my advise to co-smokers is not to waste their money in this blend.

The aging time has melded the tobacco into a brick. It broke apart easily into a nice mix of multicolored strands of tobacco. The pipe loaded well, and I headed outside to light it up! I got the char light done and began to enjoy this gifted jewel of the grocery store! Well… that’s about as far the enjoyment went. My tongue went numb almost immediately. I couldn’t pick up a note of anything, save a little vanilla and a bit of chemical. On the positive side, it did burn, and it did make smoke! The smoke was of a good consistency.

A few short words of advice with this tobacco.

1. Let it dry a little. 2. Be gentle, smoke slowly. 3. Churchwardens (the longer the better)

Follow this and you will have a lovely smoke. Break these instructions and you will not taste anything for a week...

Yuk. No. Absolutely not. This is filthy stuff - don't waste your money on it. I haven't yet come across a Borkum Riff tobacco that wasn't loathsome. I wonder if it's just me? As far as I'm concerned, this horrible dreck is hot and tasteless and decidedly not recommended. Clearly there's a market out there for it, though; somebody must love it. I, however, would gnaw off my own fingers before smoking it again.