Borkum Riff Vanilla Cavendish (Sungold)

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.

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...

It was one of the first pipe tobaccos I smoked. Unlike other opinions, I do not think this tobacco is so bad, not good but it is adjusted to its price. It is presented in a ribbon-cut form. The degree of humidity is acceptable but it's worth drying it up a bit. The smell is to vanilla with tobacco. Watch out for the filling of the cups !, Too tight will clog and too loose will burn too hot. It lights up nicely, smoke, vanilla smell, vanilla flavor. The taste is not exalted but it is not artificial either. It has to be smoked carefully not very fast and then you can appreciate the flavors. If you smoke fast, your tongue burns. During the second half of the smoked vanilla flavor disappears leaving a burley flavor that ends flat. Not bad, could serve as daily tobacco, but requires too much care in smoking to not burn the tongue. I will not repeat.

Borkum Riff's Vanilla for me falls in between their Cherry Cavendish, and their Whiskey flavoured one. The Cherry for me was the best, Vanilla second, followed by the Whiskey.

The Vanilla has less flavour and room note than the Cherry, and doesn't bite as bad or make me feel ill like the Whiskey one did.

I don't really ever smell or taste vanilla when smoking this. It's an OK smoke. Burns quickly though.

It would do in a pinch, but at nearly $60 Australian for a 50g pouch, I feel extremely dirty buying this, rather than ordering something better, for less, online.

A friend of mine, who smokes primarily Borkum blends, recommended this to me. While I pretty much enjoy smoking it, I have mixed feelings, but back to that later.

Opened on the pavement right in front of the shop, I smelled the beloved Sungold-scent, but with some kind of alcoholic topping. Comes as no surprise, it is present in the taste as well, but not overwhelmingly. Comes a bit wet, so consider some drying. I found, it works better if packed a bit loosely, and smoked in a slower pace. Interesting much, the light aromatic taste never disappears, unless you smoke it like a locomotive, which is not recommended in spite of your tounge.

The taste delivers this Sungold-y "flowers and sunshine" mood, strongly recommended for outdoor smoking, on sunlit evenings and starry nights. As of drinks, works just fine with a cherry vodka and nearly anything milder. If you tend to appear near forests, grab a Belgian beer, find a bench and enjoy.

Why say I have mixed feelings then? It is because it's peers from the Sungold pool. Because truth is, even though it is a nice one, it is not top notch quality, Stanwell's and Alsbo's just simply outshines him, and with the prices matching, it's not a good deal overall.

This tobacco does have its merits. Whereas another offering from the STG stable, Larsen Unique, fought a losing battle in de-ghosting most of my pipes after some Lakeland sauce (Grasmere flake), Borkum Riff Sungold wasted no time in returning things to normal. I am pleasantly surprised by this all-day smoke.

I bought a packet of this tobacco whilst in France. It was pretty cheap and BR make an Admiral's Vanilla Flake which has excellent reviews... so I thought I'd give this a go. I'd probably rate it at 1.5 but was pleasantly surprised after all of the dreadful reviews so have gone for a 2 !

The tobacco compresses into a brick in the packet but breaks up easily and is easy to load. It burns quickly and is probably possible to smoke with one light (no need for a false light). I can imagine that some people find it bitey... but if you smoke it steadily you shouldn't have a problem

Unburnt the tobacco smells a bit peculiar... you get the vanilla but no sweetness. When smoked the vanilla drops away and I seem to get mainly burley. I've had worse tobaccos and will probably smoke the lot, but NOT buy any more. Or it may end up in my "compost heap" jar mixed with other tobaccos that I'm not overly keen on... they seem to mature, round each other off and miraculously produce something half decent.

Jan 2017 update: I'm still smoking this and haven't tipped it into my "compost heap" of rejected tobaccos yet. However it occurs to me that this isn't great value. It's cheap to buy (in France) but burns very fast. A decent flake may be more expensive but will last at least twice as long.

I would say this is good blend for beginner, won't hurt my wallet at all. But after a while when someone introduced me to Latakia blend tobacco, my interest to smoke this tobacco started to fade away. Somehow I still keep it 1-2 pack in stock just for refreshing my memory of why I started to smoke pipe tobacco..