D & R Tobacco Ryback

Last week I was watching a video where a pipe smoker was discussing D&R and how they were originally a RYO company and changed their tobacco classification to “pipe tobacco” when cigarette tobacco taxes went through the roof many years ago. He also mentioned this blend was a fairly good substitute for DRUM rolling tobacco. I have never been a cigarette smoker but decades ago I dabbled in RYO with Bugler and DRUM and though my experiment did not last long I do remember liking the taste of DRUM. I bought a pound of this and also Ryback Gold as it was economically cheaper since they were on sale. I also got a pound of Picayune previously as it is no longer in production. A friend of mine told me there were some manufacturing changes going on. I received my two huge pounds of tobacco; you really get a lot if the tobacco is shag and light weight which this was as it had little to no moisture. I got a really nice smell out of the bag but I just can’t put my finger on it. This one does have a mild casing or topping from the description. It smokes nice and cool with no bite for me and was equally good in a corn cob and meerschaum. Not sure if it is some weird nostalgia but I really liked the natural taste of the tobacco and I guess the nicotine was around medium but I built up a strong tolerance over the years. For a cig tobacco in a pipe I will give this a 3 star. Be minded this somewhat dry shag does burn fast, maybe that is why I smoked about a dozen bowls over several days because though good does not last long. In about a week I will try the Ryback Gold.

I've been trying D&R tobaccos of late and I have yet to find one I don't like. All the ones I've tried have been flavorful and easy to smoke. They come rather dry, so I hydrate them. I moistened a pound of Ryback with two tablespoons of distilled water and let it sit for about ten days. That gave it a perfect moisture content for a pipe and slowed down the burn rate of the shag considerably. Please note that I don't smoke very often any more, so my tolerance for nicotine is lower than it once was. So what seems like a fairly strong tobacco to me may not to someone who smokes regularly.

Ryback reminds me a lot of GH Kendal Dark, both in flavor and strength. Aroma-wise, it is smokey with hint of the sweet ketchup scent that McClelland is famous (infamous?) for. The taste of dark fired leaf is prevalent throughout the smoke, a bit more so at the beginning than at the end. The Virginia tobacco is in the background, lending just enough sweetness to be noticeable. TBH, I don't taste the burley very much, but what I do get is a lot of spiciness and occasionally a bit of a floral taste, as if it contained some oriental tobacco. All in all, the taste is complex enough to hold the interest of a pipe tobacco aficionado. There is no bite and it burns to a dark ash, leaving no dottle in the bowl.

I think anybody who enjoys the pure taste of tobacco and especially dark fired leaf would enjoy Ryback. I also imagine it would make a fine RYO tobacco, as the shag cut would make it easy to roll and smoke in a cigarette paper. I agree with the reviewer who said it reminded him of Gauloises (which was always one of my favorite cigarettes, too).

I highly recommend D&R products. Not only are they made from obviously high quality tobacco, they deliver a lot of flavor at a modest price.

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!

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.