Solani 656: Aged Burley Flake

An absolutely elegant burley blend. Quite possibly the best this tounge has ever tasted. I have cut the flakes into 1/8 inch cubes and rubbed this one out prior to packing. Very pleasurable smoke either way. Wonderful fruit and honey essences match with nutty textures common to burley blends. No bite, cool smoke. Absolute perfection. Fruit-like textures are like that of spiced peaches and dried apricots. These fruit essences are the natural release of natural tobaccos. They are not a result of artificial toppings or additives. Beautiful. four stars all the way. I have a large peterson xl315 dedicated to it now. If you have not tried it you must.

I like wild burleys. In the wild, the burley is quite a rogue beast. It can severely bite an unsuspecting smoker or choke him by the throat. Burleys are born naturally bitter and harsh and are very hard to tame. Quite a few blenders are skillful enough to take a firm grip of them, which is why most tobacco producers would just soak wild burleys in aromatic humectants and then sell us not the living thing but just its heavily perfumed dead pelt.

Rudiger L. Will is an experienced and renowned burley-tamer. Tonight on the ring he presents us three live creatures of this kind: one from Africa, one from Kentucky and one from Brazil, all together on a single leash. It's beyond imagination how much skilled effort it took him to force these vicious predators to jump obediently through the ring of fire. They are the tamest of the tame, as much tame as it's ever possible to subdue a wild beast by beating the hell out of it, by castrating it and by pulling out its teeth and claws. It's still alive and even plays tricks on command but it's just a shadow of its real self.

That's why one star. No fraud complaints, I got exactly what I wastefully paid for: three rare live burleys. Three well-aged non-perfumed burleys. Three well-tamed burleys. Tamed to the point of complete blandness and dullness.

Aged Burley flake is simply superb. The flake feels a bit too moist out of the tin, however it burns fantastic. I have found rubbing it out and giving it a couple minutes of dry time is perfect. It burns nice and cool in the bowl, down to a fine ash. This blend presents the best of Burley based blends. With sweet flavors of carmel and coco, and molasses, along with a toasted nuttiness, earth, leather, and a a sharp pepper on the back of the palate and through the nose. There is a lot of complexity and flavor to this blend with out being overwhelmed by strength. This is a must try for fans of Burley.

Solani 656, Aged Burley Flake is a Burley lover’s dream, thick and rich yet still soft and mellow enough to really relax with. The tin comes sealed (unlike Silver Flake), and there are two rows of nicely formed flakes inside that are wrapped in white paper, with a “tobacco leaf” seal. The flakes are mottled medium brown. Though they are moist, they smoke fine straight from the tin. I fold then roll a flake between my thumbs and fore fingers, then I stuff the loose plug that results into my pipe. It lights easily and burns down fine. Back to the tin note, it’s wonderful: deep cocoa, apricots, and buttered oatmeal over the rich, fermented Burly tobaccos, and this holds through the match and the smoke, except the apricots fade quickly, and the tannins rise slowly, sharpening the blend somewhat over the course of a bowl, but it's never bitter. There is ample tobacco taste here, for sure, top to bottom. If there is KY here, I don’t taste its typical “smoke” or spices. At the end, there are faint traces of anise. ABF produces plenty of smoke, and I love to just roll my eyes back in my head and take it easy. The strength is more strong than medium. The tastes are more medium than strong. Room note is terrific. Aftertaste is best-of-the-smoke, and it lingers.

Solani’s Aged Burley Flake is a great smoke, complex but not busy, in no way demanding. It’s an easy 4 stars. Try some if you can find it.

Solani Aged Burley Flake is the first and only Burley flake I have smoked to this point in the two and a half years I have been smoking a pipe. I found some of this in a jar in my husband’s pipe room and thought I would give it a try. I smoke this by breaking the flakes into small pieces and rub a little out to get the pipe going. At first light, I get a sweet, almost honey-like flavor, although not from a casing. ABF quickly turned earthy and nutty. There is also a light cocoa undertone to it too. ABF never burned hot and I find it to be a little on the strong side. If I am not careful it makes me a little dizzy. This is a very smooth smoke though. ABF has made me want to try out more Burley flakes and I would recommend this flake. BTW, I don’t think he will miss the jar!

These unbroken flakes have an aroma which evokes a lusciously tart melange of humus and root vegetables.

The initial flavor is mildly nutty and unprepossessing. The aroma is pointed, though light. There is the barest hint of toasty sweetness without any evidence of either VAs or added sugars. Aged Burley Flake exhibits no grassiness, sourness, or harshness but revels only in an ever-deepening richness. As the bowl progresses, the profile develops into a staid and austere crescendo of black walnut, leather, and coffee. The aftertaste is clean and fleeting.

A tightly focused study in richness sans nuance, Aged Burley Flake achieves a profound depth. It is a definitive icon for the serious burley aesthete.

Chamber Gauge: Narrow to Medium

The first thing that took me is the sweetness on this one. This is, hands down, the sweetest non-aromatic I ever smoked. It took some getting used to: I set down with a strong, bitter coffee on a cloudy afternoon, expecting a heavy burley (Like 4th Generation 1931), and got a well-rounded, easy going Burley at first. This one came rather moist out the tin, and for some reason I didn't want to wait for it to dry a little. I folded the flake and packed my pipe It took me 3 matches to get it going, but it did, but the fact that it was moist influenced something else. As I sat there, trying to understand the blend, I got a tingling at the corners of my mouth. I shifted my attention there and realize I feel sweetness – actual sugars, at the sides of my tongue. The presence of the smoke in my mouth was incredible. Although sweet in my mouth, at the nose I could feel a bit of smoky smell, like the one you get from a very mild presence of Latakia (although this blend is exclusively Burley, or so it says). This smell goes away after the flake settled in my bowl. After 20 minutes, this blend gets heavy. I needed to go very slowly with it to not overwhelm my mouth (and I'm a slow smoker as it is). This blend won't change much down the bowl, which is nice. It remains nutty and sweet with a touch of cocoa flavor. It won't heat and will smoke very slowly. It will also require a few relights (although – I smoked it rather moist). It won't bite and will remain balanced.

This is truly a great blend and I think all pipers should try it.

When it comes to high Burley content blends, I'm generally not a fan. My chemistry says "bite" and a "Metallic" taste ? It's not the strength that I have a problem with. This one is somewhat different, strong-yes, but more of a Cigar note blend with slight hidden sweetness and some slight dark chocolate notes. I don't get the usual "bite or "Metallic" taste, a good thing. This leans more towards McC Dominican Glory than say Petersons Irish Flake. All in all, a quality strong dark smoke that should get 4 stars IF I was a Burley fan.

I love Burley, so I'm prejudiced, but I really enjoyed this blend. Complex notes like chocolate (but NOT chocolate flavour), floral, even incense (the best sandalwood). There are surprisingly few straight aged burleys around (this is the only one listed here); most of the burleys available locally are rather light. Leaf Only has an aged burley (which I can't review here as they are not a "blend" manufacturer) with an even more complex aroma, but this will have to do for now -- and it does, it does!

Comes as cut flake, which means you must rub it before packing your pipe. That to me is a plus: Cut or broken flake is generally stronger than other cuts, simply because it is denser, and I like the additional ceremony of rubbing.

Delicious, and particularly recommended for the experienced smoker who has grown tired of flavoured Cavendish and "English" blends with too much Latakia.