Borkum Riff Special Mixture No.8

(2.41)
Borkum Riff Special Mixture No. 8 is a blend of more than ten exceptional tobaccos that make for a product with a good range of colours. The rich and satisfying smoking experience is further underscored by its agreeable bouquet and complex aroma with distinct vanilla notes.

Details

Brand Borkum Riff
Blended By Swedish Match
Manufactured By Skandinavian Tobacco Group
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Burley, Cavendish, Kentucky, Maryland, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring Vanilla
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams pouch
Country Denmark
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Very Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.41 / 4
3

5

5

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 17 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 30, 2013 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Tolerable
This i a tobacco that someone needs to start with.
Easy to smoke, to light up and to fills up the pipe satisfactory.
At the start gives you a nice cool smoke without a tongue bite.
Properly taste balance in the middle of smoking sweet vanilla with a dark chocolate.
I smoke it with filter and without. Without the filter leaves your tongue sweet with a pleasant sensation. Allthough sometimes gets also boring the taste.
At the end it gives you a burnt aroma which destroys all the flavors.

I recommend it for Rookie with a corncob pipes as well for a daytime tobacco. An easy choice to find.

Pipe Used: 5
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 17, 2014 Mild Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This was recently gifted to me by a mate (many thanks) after he introduced me to BR, once again a nice reminder that he's got taste and I'm lucky with who I know. I wasn't sure what to expect but I half anticipated being in for a treat.

I found the packet aroma to have hints of honey, a very pleasant surprise. Packing and lighting are super easy. The smoke itself continues with the honey motif with hints of vanilla, I also found the odd hint of nuttiness. It's quite sweet but not overpoweringly so, it probably helps that I have a bit of a sweet. It can be prone to a waft of bite but it's no problem to ease back and take it slowly.

This is a cracking smoke and continues where Bourbon Whiskey left off. That latter is probably my personal preference but this is certainly a good brother to it. Cracking stuff.
Pipe Used: Finlay's Laureate Knobby
PurchasedFrom: Gifted
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 02, 2014 Mild Medium Medium Very Pleasant
Another fine addition to the borkum range. Very loose in the pack with just the right moisture content to load straight into your pipe. Aromas from the pack include a nutty sweetness tinged with a whisper of vanilla. Smoking this lovely tobaccobis a gift. Light fresh and sweet. It is never cloying sweet and not a hint of tongue bite. I will say this is best to sipped as i think it does have the potential to bite. Room note is one of the best i have smelled. It has a lovely fresh fruity fragrance which is sure to please even the most ardent of none smokers. Nicotine is very mild but there is just enought to refresh and revitalise. Only bad point is this blend is not available in the uk so once my pack is gone its gone.
Pipe Used: alco with apple bowl
PurchasedFrom: a small shop in heraklion centre
Age When Smoked: three months
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 02, 2015 Mild Extra Strong Overwhelming Pleasant
I received a pouch of this as part of a raffle lot that I won at the 2015 NASPC show in Columbus. I am glad that I did not spend money on it.

The description of this tobacco at the top of the page is completely different than what is printed on the pouch. The pouch description is: "The Special No. 8 recipe consists of 40% Black Cavendish from Africa and Argentina which is mixed with 60% Virginia from Brazil and Europe. Flavour: Hints of nuts and vanilla."

This blend is absolutely horrid and I would not make my worst enemy smoke this stuff. The pouch aroma smells nothing of vanilla. All you get is a very sweet smell. Honey-like, but sweeter. Upon lighting, all you get is sweet. As I smoked it, all I could taste was extreme sweetness. There was no flavor to describe, just the intense taste sensation of sweet Imagine a taste even more intensely sweet than putting a teaspoon of sugar on your tongue. Absolutely no tobacco taste could be detected. I tried to cleanse my mouth of the sweetness with mouthwash and a strong Latakia blend with no success. This blend could contain cat feces and you would not be able to tell.
Pipe Used: Cob
PurchasedFrom: 2015 NASPC show raffle prize
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 29, 2013 Mild Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Well, this one was a real surprise. I inherited this as part of a friend's estate along with many other pouches which I have never tried. I invariably smoke flakes but the pack looked nice so I thought I'd give it a go. The aroma on opening is fantastic, vanilla with clear notes of burley and Kentucky. It burns well, the flavour carrying through the whole smoke leaving a very pleasing room note. I just hope I can find some more.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 08, 2017 Very Mild Mild to Medium Very Mild Tolerable to Strong
Not an exception to B.Riff style.same bad as all other blends i tried from this brand.chemical smell and flavour,no tobacco taste,lots of tongue bite,moisture and dumbness at the end of the bowl.burns so hot i couldn't touch my pipe.the nicotine level is low.the room note was something between cheap aroma and burning grass.another disappointment forr me.NOT RECOMMENDED!
Age When Smoked: When opened
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 12, 2013 Very Mild Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Easily the best blend of Borkum Riff I've tried (and I've tried them all). Of the drug store blends, I think Special No.8 stands out as a nice go-to tobacco if you're in the mood for something simple and sweet with a delightful aroma. Reminds me a bit of Captain Black White and 1Q in having that classic "pipe" smell I remember from the days of my youth visiting my uncle's home.

Upon opening the pouch you're greeted by the scents of a nutty, vanilla concoction. Nicely cut ribbon strands of assorted black and gold. Lights up well on the first match and burns all the way down without a relight. This was quite surprising because I usually find heavily cased blends of the drug store variety to turn into a sticky mess after smoking. This one burned nice and dry, no goop or stickiness in my bowl upon finishing.

The flavor is definitely sweet but not cloyingly so. I tend to like aromatics so there may be a little bias in my review but this stuff smells amazing! Not a complex smoke by any means, just pleasant and sweet when you want to kick back and fill your surroundings with the scent of a musty bookshop. Easy all day smoke as the vitamin N level is almost non-existent. Also, no tongue bite after chugging away at it.

A definite winner from BR (finally...) on par with the ilk of CB White if you like the easy going aromatics on occasion.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 21, 2010 Mild Mild Very Mild Very Pleasant
Not so readily available in the UK, I actually got a sample 3g sachet of No.8 as an unexpected freebie with a tin of Japanese Asuka. A bit of a one-shot taster, for sure, but I just about managed to stretch it to two pipes for reviewing purposes.

The contents list reads like a dream-team of tobaccos and although visually comparable with a bog-standard cavendish, the aroma is deep and sensually alive. It makes for an interesting marriage of cherry stones, vanilla, and seasoned, dried apples - and yet it remains delicately smoky. I have to say that it's pretty evocative of seasonal niche tobaccos, and as such, reminds me of Peterson's Christmas 2009 mixture.

Much like Peterson's offering, the taste of No.8 fell way, way short of expectation: light on flavour; airy; papery - all rather insipid, really. It certainly would be a crime to cough up £8.50 of hard-earned English Sterling for a full tin. Even the Queen would appear extra-miserable on the front of the £10 note you'd have to hand over.

That said, It did scrape back kudos with a pleasing side stream of baked fruit and vanilla, but it was at messy odds with that horrendously bland taste. By the mid-bowl, it was smoking dry, with a toasty finish. And by 'dry' I don't mean dry as in the moisture content, but dry like a wine, which was an interesting positive to take from the experience. However, there was still time for a touch of chemically-induced tongue bite, which made things a little too prickly for comfort. When it came to my second pipe, things faired a little better - leading to my recommendation that you smoke this in nothing bigger than a medium sized bowl.

If 2 stars are my median, Borkum Riff Special Reserve No.8 is definitely a sub-par tobacco. It is neither delightful, nor offensive. It just is; propping up the blander end of the commercial market.

1.7 stars
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 15, 2014 Mild Medium Medium Very Pleasant
This is by far the nicest Borkum Riff mix I have tried, definitely a thumbs up for pouch tobacco aromatics. Easy to light, easy on the palate, think I will definitely buy this again for a quick go-to work around the garage, go fishing everyday smoke.
Pipe Used: Corn Cob
PurchasedFrom: wvsmokeshop.com
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 28, 2018 Mild Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
https://youtu.be/ltQDaFF9Bj8 A basic otc (over the counter) blend. Local pharmacy or specialty gas stations most likely will carry this aromatic pouch under 10 bones. Leaves a bit of an after taste, but otherwise pleasant and easy to get!
1 person found this review helpful.
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