Sillem's Musketeer

I can't find this one anymore and believe it may have been discontinued. It was a fun smoke with curly cut black Cavendish and Burley that was discreetly misted with vanilla bean extract. The combination presented itself with some strength, sweetness, and the Burley flavor I enjoy from top-shelf Kentucky. It was also fun to look at the tin art while I smoked... a combination of smoking and admiring the art will put you in a really good mood!

Pipestud

When I noticed that this fine tobacco had not yet been reviewed I could not pass it by with out putting in my two cents. This tobacco is cube cut, so it is like hundreds of small six sided dice with each one wrapped in a vanilla cased Cavendish leaf. To my very limited knowledge this is one of the last cube cut tobaccos made, and if you have never smoked cube cut before you should it smokes like nothing else I have ever tried.

The room note is very sweet, but the taste is not overwhelming and it delivers just the right amount of nic, and makes a very nice morning bowl.

I recommend it to anyone for the smooth flavor and nice casing, but especially those among us who have to got to smoke the cube cut before. For sure an experience worth having.

Shortly after I requested a review of this tobacco on this site, and while I was anxiously awaiting my first order of Musketeer, I was pleasantly surprised by the review posted by Brother K. and I was all the more excited to try this blend.

I was not disappointed. My tobacco was very moist but not at all soggy and was composed of black and gold cubes (mostly black) - the smallest cube cut I have ever seen. I did not wait for any drying time to delay the start of my smoke. It was quite remarkable! This tobacco lit with two matches and stayed lit to the end of the bowl in a Dr. Grabow Grand Duke Billiard - no filter. Gentle tamping was all that was required. Upon lighting, I tasted but a hint of that Virginia grassy flavor which soon vanished after a minute or two. It was one of the coolest blends I have ever smoked. I tested this one with hard and fast puffing, but I could not get this one to even hint at burning hot - let alone bite. It was delightful. There was a medium strength Burley taste coming through very nicely, not at all harsh, and mildly sweet throughout the smoke. The tin aroma did not smell like vanilla to me. It certainly smelled sweet, but more like apricots/honey if I had to name something. Although I tasted none of the casing while smoking, I am sure its presence accounted for the sweet taste of the tobacco. It's very enjoyable exhaling this one through your nose. There was never a gurgle, and I was left with dry, medium gray ash at the end of the smoke. It is truly the only aromatic I have ever smoked that did not give me even the slightest of problems. Smoked it next in a Savienelli bent sandblast and it was even sweeter! I have even mixed some of this with Sillem's Black for a very satisfying experience. It added a tad more sweetness to the Black which was to my liking.

Not a typical aromatic by any means. Well tempered Burley, medium in flavor. If I had to voice one negative, it would be that it seems to be available only in 50gm tins and is a bit pricey at $10-11 a tin, but in my opinion, well worth it.

Cube cut Burley with black cavendish. This is not a bad smoke per se, it just doesn't wow me. It's cased a bit too heavily, and can smoke hot. The flavoring steps on the tobacco to an extent. In my opinion Musketeer will be a nice alternative smoke that offers a little more tobacco focus than their usual fare for aromatic smokers. For Burley smokers, it offers a more aromatic take on what we like, but it's kind of a disappointment because the tobacco takes a back seat and all the things Burley brings to the party that we love are masked. Would be much better if the topping was applied with a lighter hand, and for a Burley along those lines you need look no further than Watch City Deluxe Crumb Cut, which is a 4 star smoke 7 days a week. You'd be better served by proceeding straight to that one.

This is the only aromatic that I smoke in a non-filtered pipe. I especially enjoy smoking it an an old Danish Jarl that I restored some years ago but it has smoked nicdely in everything else that I've loaded it into. Musketeer is my tobacco pipe version of a tasty bowl of naturally sweetened granola or perhaps Grape-nuts. The toasty/nutty cubed Burley gently sweetened with the mild vanilla Cavendish is a kind of pipe smoking comfort food. No tongue bite, sparks up easily but as Burley blends often do it burns rather quickly. Musketeer goes great accompanied by a nice cup of Earl Grey tea with milk. Most Highly Recommended.

Musketeer is a rather bland, middle of the road vanilla/cavendish aromatic. To its’ credit, the blend doesn’t have an over abundance of PG or much of that chemically taste from which so many vanilla aros suffer. Unlike several other offerings from Sillems, this blend just didn’t keep my interest, the flavor of the tobacco just wasn't there, I simply tasted vanilla with no real bottom end. Not a bad tobacco, but in such a crowded field, I can see no reason to revisit this blend.

Appears to be 50% black cavendish and 50% cube cut burley. But the former only works to mute any rouch edges present in the latter, and the topping is super light.

This is a contender for the best room note in a tobacco ever. And it isn't one of those light, airy, and tasteless blends that only smells nice. I have been smoking a lot of the most complex blend I have ever had, Robert Lewis 123 mixture, a full english mixture similar to Dunhill 965, and decided to try this as it sounded like a simple blend that would be a great change of pace to give my taste buds a rest.

Well, I sure am glad I did, because this is easily the least complex blend I have ever tried. It is however, very, very rich in taste. The vanilla is so light that it burns off at the match leaving a phenomenal burley taste, bite free, super smooth, and very lightly sweet. The cavendish is just a trace (taste wise), and this blend provides an incredibly refreshing one note taste of light molasses/cocoa burley.

Another reviewier mentioned this was like grape nuts, and I must agree, because there is a distinct malty note to this that I have not tasted before in a straight burley.

The nicotine while a solid medium is one of the most gentle, because it builds slowly, never creeps up, and is very easy to handle. I almost wonder if the nicotine is different in this type of tobacco. I don't smoke for nicotine and like strong blends, but cannot see this being a problem for anyone.

The flavor stays the same to the dying ember, when a very unusual, nutty taste arrives on the last 5 or so puffs, leaving what is easily the best aftertaste I have had from not only a burley, but most any pipe tobacco save perhaps Sir Walter Raleigh which is at the other side of the burley spectrum. You won't find any bitter here!

I wish I had tried this sooner, as it is now going to be a part of my regular rotation, when I need a change of pace from complex blends.

This might be the best tinned burley that is not an OTC style in production, but the Sir Walter blends will always have a spot in my rotation on the complex side of burley.

If you are burned out on everything else and need that "one" tobacco to try you can do no wrong with this blender's masterpiece. It will be a sad day if this one is ever discontinued, as it is one of those great blends that will enter the hall of fame in my book.

This is one of the very best indoor blends available, and will get nothing but compliments even from non-smokers.

This was my first experience with both Sillem and cube cut - am fascinated by both.

Am a bit unsure as to best packing method for cube cut and, as a result, pipe required multiple lights.

While there was no bite, there was considerably gurgle at mid bowl, which eventually dissipated, but which did produce obvious (and sour) moisture in the churchwarden stem (Vauen Nobile) despite the 9mm filter.

Will dry the cubes prior to next smoke and provide an update.

I want to like this - very much - and not just because of the tin and wonderful cube cut.

This blend in my opinion does not give any sensation of taste and flavor, I find it quite devoid of personality, perhaps the quality of the tobacco used is not of great quality, or the casing has not been done better. It is very smooth, maybe too much! There's much better to choose

One of my favorite lost codger blends. What? Codger blend? This? Yes, codger blend. Originally, back in the day, this was sold in a "Prince Albert" style metal tin with a flip lid. In those days it was marketed as a "honeydew" flavored aromatic (no, not honeydew melon - honeydew honey). This new iteration is still very much like it used to be, even the codger "crimp cut" these blends were noted for. Tin note is of boozy chocolate, vanilla, and floral honey (yes, this blend is scented though only ever so lightly). The taste is a Café Du Mondé latte sweetened with honeydew, a swirl of chocolate on top, a splash of VSO Extra Smooth brandy, and a couple of shakes of Reginald's Melipone Vanilla. Heavenly, as is the room note. If you're looking for a dessert baccy that tastes as good as it smells and is a public crowd pleaser as well, look no further. Another fine aromatic from the K&K. Laissez la Bon Temps Roulette