Borkum Riff Mixture with Bourbon Whiskey (Bronze)

Hmm...One of the most popular baccys in the world I'm told. Dad smoked it so I had to check it out. Now I want to check out. The one positive is that it is low maintenance except for the goopy residue. Otherwise, two words - blow torch. If I wanted to expose myself to this much hot air, I would sleep through another staff meeting. Try it if you will - heck, millions of people can't be wrong - right?

I thank this tobacco for one thing and only. It made me realize the guy in the tobacco shop i used to get my tobacco, was as ignorant as a 3 year old in a brothel. I remember him describing how tasty the bourbon was and all the honey undertones that arise during the finishing of the bowl. Unfortunately that was not the case at all.

Medium strength tobacco. Medium to low nicotine content. The flavoring is that of plain swetness (not overwhelming) and some low hints of cheap whiskey. The taste is very strange actually cause while you cannot really taste any particular topping, you definetely cannot taste the virginia, maybe some cavedish due to the swetness. Its bland with no body. Just a mildly sweet tobacco with no personality.

It doesnt necessarily bite the tongue as many reviews suggest, if packed correctly of course. What is true though, is that it burns inconsisently with many relights and a progressively ash-like ( or ass-like) taste which eventually comes to the taste of pure coal during the finishing of the bowl.

The room note is torelable. The wife suggests it leaves the aroma of a more ''serious'' aromatic, meaning that it doesnt bother her at all, but doesnt prefer it compared to the rest of the aromatics i use.

I purchased a pack of Borkum Riff-Bourbon Whiskey 2 months ago and it is still half full. I only use it sometimes at night with a glass of whiskey (preferably cheap, to match the flavoring) cause the absence of an actual taste leaves the actual whiskey to do the job this tobacco failed to.

Dr.Leonidas

I am reviewing the BR Whiskey -- which is what was printed on the pouch, btw, NOT Bourbon Whiskey. Got it for a buck on a manufacturer's coupon, totally dried out and crunchy (the only pipe tobacco that filthy Winn Dixie had). Rehydrated with the old wet-paper-towel-over-a-bowl trick, which brought back the moisture. I'm not convinced that rehydration of really, really dry tobacco restores its pre-dried out character, but this stuff is rough.

Choose any of the negative reviews and it will be correct. Harsh, lacking in presence, character, taste -- and really cheap tobacco. The contempt this company has for its customers is appalling, worse than the tobacco. Didn't taste any whiskey, either. This will bite you like a rattler unless you puff easy. The room note is better than the taste.

But, I almost never throw tobacco away. It goes into the Everything Goes jar, so one day I will have my dollar's worth of pleasure many times over. On the other hand, the other leaf in the jar may not want to meld with this stuff. We will see.

One star, because that's the least I can give it.

Did not like this at all. Tobacco has a very unpleasant aftertaste that is hard to figure out what causes it. I will not smoke again.

Bought this and Captain Black regular as my very first pipe tobaccos. The Black is inoffensive, this on the other hand is.

First off, it smells wonderful, thats why I bought it, I figured if it smells this wonderful, it has to taste wonderful too! Well I've learned quickly that's not always going to be the case when it comes to pipe tobacco (Hell even cigars for that matter!)

Its flavor, is sour, like whiskey, but that's all I get when I smoke it. Its not pleasant. I know I bought cheap tobacco and I am still learning the ropes of pipe smoking. However I'll take another pack of the Captain Black over this stuff again. I'd recommend that brand over this one to one learning pipe smoking.

So I bought this on a whim when I saw it. Sounded interesting so I grabbed a 1.5oz pouch.

It went something like this. The first time I tried it, I was not a fan. It tasted like carboard, literally. I got no bourbon flavor, or any flavor for that matter. It burned super quick and hot to the point I ditched it about 1.2 way through. I honestly thought about throwing all of it away, but then figured maybe someone I know likes it and, not wanting to waste tobacco i thought I'd hang on to it just in case. I then thought that perhaps this was a pouch that sat on the shelf for a long time and maybe just needed to be rejuvenated. So I out it in a mason jar with a humidipak in it and let it sit for two days.

I tried it again today and I did notice an improvement. I now taste a very subtle hint of bourbon and also noticed it burned a bit slower. I still think this stuff is pretty sub-par but not to the point where I want to chuck it into the trash. It's a light smoke with hardly any room note and to be honest, has somewhat of a Marlboro Light taste... which is off-putting. In the end, I still think this stuff is trash but maybe I'll keep it around and store it for a while to see if it continues to improve. That being said, I'd pass on this stuff

Update: Yeah it still sucks and I ended up adding it to the campfire we had last night.

When I started smoking pipes many years ago I took on a few blends: Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey, Captain Black Original, CAO Eileen's Dream, and Peterson Sherlock Holmes.

I decided to get back too all of these and review them after all these years. See if they bring any memories, do I recommend them or not now that I got more experience.

Here's my #1 review: Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey.

The pouch note is of some kind of topping. To me it doesn't really smell like bourbon per say, but it is of slightly sweet and alcoholic note.

Right at the beginning of the smoke, however, this flavor disappears. What we're left with is an extremely mild blend of Virginia and Black Cavendish, and not of a high quality.

Somewhere at the half point I sometimes get tiny notes of mint, for some reason. Otherwise, it's a very mild sweet note. Not really getting anything else out of it. It too often just feels like I'm getting hot air and nothing more.

For someone that enjoys fuller and stronger blends, the mildness means that I automatically try to get more out of it by having a faster cadence, which can cause it to get a bit too hot. It's a ribbon cut which packs easily. Requires couple of relights. Moisture is good in the pouch and stays good for awhile.

This is for someone who likes them mild. Very mild. However, this blend is just too expensive for what you're getting. I simply can't recommend it.

I bought a 50g pouch as my local tobbacconist only stocks erinmore mixture and borkum riff blends and i wanted to find a tobacco that was local available rather than trekking into the city or waiting on mail order. I chose the bourbon as I like bourbon and other sweet whiskies. I liked the cool mouth feel but the blend lacks flavor. If you're primarily a cigarette smoker I think you would like this blend. There is very little bourbon flavor.

First of all it triggers strong chemical reactions in the mouth. Not a good one.

One day i started to feel really pleasant taste, while having cool burn with small sips. However, just after that it kicked my mouth and that sweet taste never came back again from this blend.

The bad thing is, I still have more than half a kilogram of this. Probably I am not going to open the boxes(!) for years. Then we'll see.