Borkum Riff Mixture with Bourbon Whiskey (Bronze)

(1.65)
Selected quality, bright aromatic Virginia and rich, cool smoking burley tobaccos are blended to give an exquisite taste and aroma, enhanced by the finest Kentucky bourbon whiskey traditionally matured for over eight years to develop its full complex flavour. Serious yet dynamic, Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey has a unique, captivating taste and aroma. Infused with eight year old Kentucky Bourbon, it combines the natural flavour of the tobacco with a distinctive aroma that is both traditional and discreetly masculine.
Notes: Used to be Virginia and burley. Now is Virginia and black cavendish. The new pouch description relates: The Bourbon Whiskey recipe consists of 35% black cavendish from Africa, Europe and the Philippines mixed with 65% Virginia from Brazil and Africa. And as a final treat genuine Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey is added. Due to EU regulations this is now known as "Bronze".

Details

Brand Borkum Riff
Blended By Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Manufactured By Lane Limited
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Virginia
Flavoring Bourbon
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 42.5 grams (US) 50 g (Canada) pouch, 250 grams tin
Country Denmark
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

1.65 / 4
18

42

67

187

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 314 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 06, 2014 Mild to Medium Medium Medium to Full Pleasant
Well, you have to let it breed for a little and will become quite tasty and pleasant... but there are many other blends with the same qualifications, some cheaper some more expensive. Anyway, it's not a disappointment so you should try at least once. Burn evenly and fair, no tong bite, no strange pipe heating... it's good enough and that's all.
Pipe Used: always Peterson
PurchasedFrom: online
Age When Smoked: 1-2 yrs
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 04, 2013 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
I smoked this in the 1970's. Something changed and it turned to garbage in my opinion. So I dropped it. Back in the 1970's, it was both mine and my grandfather's favorite smoke. Today i bought a new pouch of Bourbon Whiskey mixture. Package is not the black and white but the new brown and beige color. It says Scandinavian Tobacco Group. This stuff changed back and it tastes like it did in the 1970's. It is smooth, great taste - not too overpowering, not too mild. Just a bit of the whiskey and a great flavor. Not too sweet, not sticky and goopy. I'm buying it up before another MBA genius thinks it's a good idea to ruin the taste in order to increase profits. hehehe. Buy some - it is very pleasant.
30 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 30, 2014 Mild to Medium Mild Mild Pleasant
I'd never really considered Borkum Riff before, given the plethora of hardly complementary reviews on here for their offerings. However, a recent chat with a friend and discovering that Stephen King apparently smokes this stuff led me to try Bourbon Whiskey, just on the off chance that it might surprise me.

The gold and brown design of the packet, upon receipt, impressed me some, I'm not sure why, it's not something I normally notice much less comment on, but this looked contentedly well designed. The packet aroma upon opening is very nice, something mellow, possibly whiskey but doesn't obviously stand out as such. There's also something a little sweet in there, possibly vanilla. The tobacco itself is a fine ribbon strewn with blends of lighter and darker brown flecked with some odd hints of gold. Packing is easy and the lighting is much the same, this works easily on one light. Initial smokes were nice enough, much like the packet aroma, it's one of mild whiskey with hints of vanilla. As I have progressed down to the bottom of the packet, it has grown on me and now thoroughly enjoy it. This one does bite occasionally if pushed a little hard, but stepping off the throttle and smoking a little slower usually helps. One thing I've noticed with this is the way the smoke from bowl and mouth has a pleasant way of hanging around a little before drifting up and away as if it wants to enjoy being smoked a little longer.

I have to say, I have been bowled over by how much I've enjoyed this, it may not be the best tobacco out there but it's a hugely enjoyable smoke in it's own right. Sometimes it's hard not to sit back while smoking it and start thinking of Frannie Goldsmith's father in the Stand smoking some rendition of Borkum Riff in his garden as his daughter tells him she's pregnant. This is nowhere near that dramatic but that "Glow of Discovery" buzz phrase printed on the packet seems to fit admirably.
Pipe Used: Finlay's Laureate Knobby
PurchasedFrom: mysmokingshop.co.uk
Age When Smoked: Unknown
24 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 14, 2013 Mild Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I did not like this at first, in fact I hated it and found myself wishing I had not thrown away thirty Canadian dollars on this crap. That's right thirty and change for this, and pretty much any "cheap" tobacco, in the true north and not at all free.

However, after cleaning my pipe with rum and letting it dry out (the pipe and the tobacco) for a couple of weeks this tobacco has done a 180 and is actually quite good. I have also tried it in a barely used pipe and it has worked really well in that too. THe taste is decent, it creates a lot of smoke which I like but it burns too fast although it does burn fairly clean with little tongue bite. I would likely buy it again.

Cheers
23 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 01, 2010 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Tolerable
Ahh, Borkum Riff.

I'm old enough to actually remember when this tobacco was introduced to the US market and, oh boy, was it the whip! It quickly developed a very loyal following and I know men who have been smoking this tobcco since 1968 and will not budge from it.

It won't kill you to smoke this blend and it does have a very distinctive room note (you can immediately tell if a pipe smoker is puffing Borkum Riff) which is not unpleasant. There is absolutely no flavour of eight year-old Kentucky Bourbon whiskey at all; you're going to have to crack open a bottle of Wild Turkey to get that. This tobacco simply has no discernable taste. As other reviewers have also cautioned, you need to smoke this blend slowly to avoid t/b. Don't smoke this blend in your best pipes either.

Over the years, as tobacco blenders became more skillful and varied, more sophisticated blends began to proliferate in the marketplace. This reduced Borkum Riff to a common "drugstore" status in the pipe tobacco world but, as we all know, smokers of drugstore blends can be militantly loyal.

"Borkum Riff"? I don't know how that translates in English, if at all. "Bore'em Stiff" maybe? Smoke half a pouch and you'll probably throw the rest away.
23 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 16, 2012 Mild Medium Mild Pleasant
The whisky flavor is not as deep as the Bourbon Whiskey version, and weakens some after the half way point, exposing the dullness of the grassy, tartly citrusy Virginia and toasted, nutty, earthy, woody burley. The strength and taste levels are mild. Has little nicotine. Burns fast, hot, and scorches the tongue even when puffed slowly. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Hardly has much of an after taste outside of a little sweetness.

This review is for the BR Whiskey blend, which was not the same as the Bourbon Whiskey version that this review is now under. Some congenital, uninformed moron condensed the two blends into one listing.

-JimInks
22 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 05, 2014 Mild to Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Looks like I still have a bit to learn. The pouch I purchased says 65% Virginia, and 35% black Cavendish. Here, instead of black cavendish, it says Burley. I have smoked this tobacco in briars, about 3 times so far...

The more I smoke this blend, the more I like it. I like the amount of Virginia(65%), because it doesn't remind me of a lot of the black Cavendish heavy blends. In other words, it's not like other aromatics I've smoked. Virginias tend to bite me, but this one has enough black Cavendish(35%) to balance that out for me. Then again, not too much BC, IMHO. The tobacco proportions are just right, with a whiskey flavor that I would say compliments the Virginia, as opposed to being an in your face OTC casing, where the intensity is reminiscent of Captain Black Cherry, or some of the Super Value tobaccos. Tobacco Reviews.com made me avoid this blend for a while, but it is surprising to me the bad rep it gets. Me and this tobacco just get along.

Final thoughts: Without the amount of black Cavendish in this blend, I doubt Borkum Riff could have pulled this one off. The black Cavendish is there in the background as a mentor. A deceptively simple blend. I can't rate it just yet, but unless this tobacco disappears, I'm buying more. If you were disappointed by Highland Whiskey, try this blend instead. If you like Virginias, try it. If you want simplicity, try this blend.

For what it's worth: I like flakes, Latakia blends, Virginias, and am REALLY picky with aromatics. Aros seem to take more getting used to for me. My main smokes are Latakia blends. I've been smoking a pipe for about 3 years or so, and feel that I have a good enough grasp on taste to know what I like, whereas when I first started smoking, I thought Super Value Cherry Cavendish was the best blend in existence, just because I had one bowl, that included one puff of cherry turnover flavor. At that point in time, I think I had smoked no more than ten or 15 blends. I've lost count of all the blends I've tried now, but it's got to be at least 60. Maybe more. I'm only including this last bit to give an idea of what else I like, in hopes of helping you decide whether or not you should try this blend.
Pipe Used: Savinelli Orient, Erik Nording Jack
PurchasedFrom: Some tobacco shop in Grass Valley CA
Age When Smoked: 6mos
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 21, 2009 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
I tried this a long time ago and I remembered that it wasn't anything special, but I got suckered into buying another pouch just recently because of the whiskey flavoring. Once again I wasn't impressed. I can't taste the whiskey and it tends to bite the tongue. This coupled with the high price makes me recommend that you pass on this tobacco.
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 13, 2006 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Very Pleasant
yikes! This was also my first tobacco when I started. Picked it up at the local CVS along with a Dr Grabow pipe. What a mistake. Still on the organ transplant waiting list for a tongue.
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 13, 2013 Mild Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Tolerable
I've been trying various OTC's and so A Borkum Riff was on my list. It was a pouch of the Whiskey that I unfortunately ended up with. The pouch note was a little boozy, but not much. The first few puff give a light whiskey taste and then it was downhill from there, way downhill. The stuff burned hot despite various efforts to slow way down and it was all I could do to keep it from biting. The aftertaste was ashy and nasty. Even the room note, for an aromatic, was just not that good. There are better, much better OTC's. In fact it makes other OTC's positively shine. After a two bowls I ended up disposing with the package in the round file. I do not recommend this at all, unless you want to stop smoking.
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 29, 2012 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Tolerable
Horrible; awful. Period. Burns like hell, tastes like your sister's sandals and smells like a wet dog. The pope should anathematise it. If there were any justice, the blenders at Borkum Riff would be doing penance in chains. Or being forced to smoke it.
11 people found this review helpful.
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