D & R Tobacco Ryback

I would put this firmly in the category of a cigarette type of flavor. Others who state that this comes dry as a bone aren't kidding. It comes to your door so dry that it nearly falls to dust if you handle it too much. It has a peculiar flavor that I can't put my finger on, because the ashy after taste is so intense. The nicotine is very high in this blend, so if you are looking for that nic kick then this is a good one. I might try and throw something in it to balance out that ashy taste, but I might not since good tobacco isn't cheap. Not horrible or even really all that bad, just not for me. I tried this in a corncob and in a briar, no difference in the after taste. 2 stars.

My tub of Daughters and Ryan Ryback says it contains, “An Extraordinary Pipe blend of Dutch style fine cut and British style flue-cured tobacco." The tobacco is a dry but still springy shag cut, with colors ranging from golden tan, to light red-brown, to medium brown. Tub note is nutty hay, very fresh and natural. It loads, lights and smokes down fine, right out of the tub. Scents are slightly smoky, musty meadow grasses and hay with very faint floral notes. Whatever particular Burleys and VAs are in it, the lot looks and tastes “toasted” to me. Tastes are sweet, sour, piquant, smoky, bitter, and slightly earthy/musty and spicy nuts and hay. It burns fairly quickly and stays pretty much the same, top to bottom. Strength is more mild than medium. Tastes build to just over medium. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is a trailing off of the smoke, and it lasts.

To sum it up, I would say Ryback is an “improved codger blend”, and it’s value priced, to boot. While some might find Ryback to be too pungent and bitter, I’m guessing plenty of regular, experienced pipe smokers would be happy (if not overjoyed) to smoke Ryback most of the time. 3 stars, no problem.

This is a full flavored tobacco, not recommended for a new pipe smoker. If this tobacco was smoked too fast it would bite me hard. Smokes very well in a MM Country Gentleman cob pipe will also smoke good in a Legend for me. This tobacco is very well with Maxwell House original roast for me, it really brought out the characteristics of the different flavors. The nicotine hit I can feel if I smoked back to back bowls on an empty stomach, for me it was not that bad but I can feel it. I purchase 4 oz from pipes and cigars. I will be making more purchases in the future. This tobacco comes very dry. For me it's smoke dry all the way to the bottom of the bowl no moisture at all. The further down the bowl the more pronounced the flavors were, not necessarily stronger. the manufacturer of this tobacco did a great job.

The tobacco is a very narrow short ribbon - not quite what I would call a shag. It came dry as a bone. Pouch note is a sweet with some molasses perhaps, and there is something else there - coffee maybe?

I hydrated it a little and packed it somewhat firmly. The sweet Virginia gives the initial flavor when lit, and the DFK provides some spice. The burley gives it a mellow fullness and a slight toasty flavor. I found the DFK to be more dominant as the bowl progressed. It got a little ashy at the bottom of the bowl.

It was an easy smoke, and it stayed lit without incident. Despite the hydration, it still burned a little fast, but I did not have problems with it tending to smoke hot.

This was good but not great. It is a 2.5 on the scale - rounded up to a 3 because it is a good value.

A pleasant (enough) smoke reminiscent of the G&H Shags. Quite natural tobacco scent from the bag with a decent sweetness. It's reminding me of half-zware tobacco somehow - but without being ashy or something, this smokes quite well!

No big flavours.. earth and wood dominate, with a slight nuttiness and some mild sweetness make for a constant and pleasurable smoke.

3 out of 4 stars, I'd recommend this to lovers of a stout shag tobacco!

A very high quality dark fire cured, additive and casing-free tobacco. Very fine cut which helps the flavor and smoothness, also allowing you to pack it a little more firmly while still giving an excellent burn. It's really a blending tobacco and mixes wonderfully with the thicker cut tobaccos, helping the blend burn better. As it's a fine cut and clean tobacco it is of course excellent for RYO/tubes as well.

I haven't encountered any bags or tubs of this that were too dry as a couple of others have mentioned. I have found a bit of variation in the moisture content with D&R's tobaccos, but just throw a couple of 72% boveda in the bag and leave it sealed up for a week and it will be perfect. I usually buy the 3.5oz tubs or 40g tins, so perhaps these are more reliable in terms of moisture content and less "shake". The difference found with most pipe tobaccos is they are drenched in casings and flavorings and oils from more exotically processed tobaccos in a blend etc. This has none of that so it will dry out much more quickly if not looked after. A bonus of packing the tobacco with a lower moisture content however is you get more weight of actual leaf for your money. Companies packing their tobacco very moist are actually bulking up the weight so they sell less tobacco for the same price.

Used in ryo cigarettes. Compared to the "real deal" Dutch style blends (I live in Denmark) the D&R Ryback has to much Burley and to little dark fired. It tastes like a real deal Half zware shag that is blended with 50% Burley and 10% very sweet Virginia. That being said, I do like the D&R Ryback and I will buy it again when it is on sale. PS. The cut is not really the same as in real Dutch blends, it is to short but still ok for ryo. All in all an somewhat okay Dutch blend that will do if you can not get the "real deal"

Ryback was a fun (and fast) smoke. The Kentucky and Virginia combination in short, shag cut style, told me that I was puffing on an RYO that was several steps up the ladder from Bull Durham (yes, I smoked that in a pipe, too, eons ago). A little on the ashy side in flavor presentation but the hints of quality and smooth Virginia came through and the tea like essence of the Burley was there as well. Think I'll take a pass on smoking anymore of this. As a matter of fact, after smoking a few bowls a couple of years or so ago I gave the rest to my youngest brother who is a RYO fanatic and he loved this stuff.

I miss Gauloises that where available before the import "nazi" ban. So I look for similar flavored tobaccos. Bless Daughters and Ryan for their work on producing exotic blends for every taste.