Sutliff Tobacco Company BRG Mixture

The Virginias are citrusy with some grass and a hay note, and creates a solid base for the nutty, earthy light molasses sweet burleys to shine as they are the more obvious component. Having recently smoked Briggs, I can say they have quite a bit in common, but the burley is just slightly more earthier and sweeter in this recreation. The vanilla note is extremely mild with a slight plum hit, and I'm not sure what the fruity topping is, but I think it's a bourbon. The nic-hit is very mild. Won't bite or get harsh. It's an all day cool, smooth smoking mild to medium blend that burns at a reasonable pace with a very consistent flavor. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a nice after taste. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

My first reaction to the tin of this blend that I opened was - What? What was Sutliff thinking when they prepared this batch of BRG Mixture? My tin was not just moist, not just damp but sopping wet! Then there was the aroma - a foul odor of one half licorice and one half vanilla and very, very dense and overly strong. The odor of my tin was so strong that it was repelling in nature. My thought was that somewhere down there in the tin was a tobacco but I had no idea what it's nature was. There simply was no way you could detect the tobacco - none, zip, nada! I didn't want to wait for God knows how long it would take to air this mess out to smoke, so I put a bowl full on a piece of paper and gave it some time in the microwave. After a short while I had something that was drier and had lost about eighty percent of it's obnoxious topping. I lit up and discovered there was a nice and descent tobacco blend underneath all of the mess that Sutliff had given to me. I let the tin sit open all night - not good enough - a second night - not good enough. It took an incredible THREE nights and days of airing out to get this tin to a moisture and topping level that was tolerable! Now, once you get this tobacco to a dried out state it isn't bad. I actually enjoyed smoking this blend and have been using it successfully in microblending. The aroma and other smoking qualities of this blend are warm and friendly and remind me of the fifties and early sixties. The burley is toasty and the Virginia gives it a toned-down nature and, heck, I don't even mind the remainder of the topping. On this basis I would be willing to give the actual tobacco in the tin three stars, but the presentation stinks (literally and figuratively) and merits no more than one star. So, I am going to compromise and give it a two star rating.

This tobacco gets mixed reviews here on TR, and so I was not sure what to expect. I found a very pleasant mild VaBur on the Bur end of the spectrum. By very pleasant, my rating is really a 3+. It does not quite rise to a 4, but really is quite good for me. Imagine Carter Hall with no topping and without the bitter edge - that is pretty much the experience. The smoke is mild and my daughter told me it has a pleasant room note - "just a plain tobacco smell but a little sweet."

I smoked nine bowls of this in codger mode today - two pipes I rotated while on a long drive. It worked very well smoked like this, and I did not do anything but pack the bowl with one hand. The third bowl in the same pipe was better than the first, so maybe it benefits from a dedicated pipe. I am not claiming the blend is Stonehaven, but I also did not have to dry it or rub it out. The price point is an appealing one. It is in stock.

I think I smelled a little alcohol in the tin note and I asked my daughter what she thought. She said maybe it was dried fruit. I did not taste any topping.

It's not that this is a bad tobacco or anything. It's just that there are so many out there like it that are better. I'd buy some if I were in a pinch but that's about it.

All I can say is, I had worse VA and Burley blends, rather boring, s nice, moister is perfect from the tin. This could be just my tast, but it is what it is, nothing to write home about, no room note to take you away. Nic is light, no bit, i would not purchase this blend again, perhaps it may have ageing potential, but why bother, not bad, but with the tin I have I will probly finish with a blend. 2 stars

---

Well,...skip that last line, I had to give this one to the to the wast can, had to dump it, O'well, as I have stated before there is no bias with us pipe smokers,Smoke what you like, and like what you smoke. No like here, not even an attempt to blend,...Im sure it will find a home to a "Gent of the pipe",.

Based on a gifted 5 bowl sample. Basic browns in a mostly ribbon cut, at least in the baggie I was gifted. Bag aroma was of an earthy burley - it smelled nice! As I was completely put off by the embarrassingly bad original HoW blend, I wasn't too anxious to smoke this but I eventually put on my brave face. First, I smoked a half-bowl of the original which I thought I had tossed out (I guess I hate to waste even the worst blends!) and it was as awful as I remembered.

This one and the other Sutliff matches of HoW blends I've smoked make me wonder if Sutliff ever actually smoked these blends or if they just found a recipe rolodex. This one, along with their "matches" of Revelation, Barking Dog and others was not very close to the original. Usually that's a bad thing. In this case, it was an improvement. That horrible vegetal/burnt rubber taste that Briggs has going on was completely absent here. This one tasted like a standard burley with a Virginia trailer. Not great, but not bad at all, and a decidedly better example of a codger blend. If match blends are designed to be as close to identical as possible, Sutliff needs to go back to the drawing board. Actually smoking the blends they're trying to clone would certainly help. Like their other HoW matches, fans of the original Briggs will likely not be pleased with this one. If, however, matches are merely to conjure up the memory of the original in a respectful and "sorta close" way, Sutliff did Briggs a huge favor here. Try it if this sort of thing appeals to you, but don't expect Briggs - just accept it for what it is.

All I can say about this blend is... DECAYING HAY MEETS VANILLA. This is by far the worst tasting tobacco I've had. This even beats the drugstore cherry flavored tobacco I smoked the first time I picked up the pipe. I don't like wasting anything. However, I had to discard the entire can as it tasted like embalming fluid (not that I've had the pleasure). This is how much I abhor this lousy excuse for a tobacco.

Is there a rating lower than One (1) star? How about "0" star (*) or a negative star (-*)? I think "0" star (*) or negative star (-*) is the proper rating for this tobacco.

WORD TO THE WISE: If a loved one (wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, "friend", or any family member) gives you a tin of this, RUN FOR THE HILLS! It means they want you to die a pain-twisting, agonizing and horrific death.

A cross between SAIL YELLOW and VELVET. A smoker's delight for the non-aromatic patrons out there. I keep reading how "there's nothing special" in this blend in some of these reviews, but I think that IS what makes BRG special. It's good home cookin'. Slightly fruity with a slighlty peppery undertone-reminds one of mince meat pie. Very pleasant room note-warm and inviting. Best way to describe it, it's that same old-fashioned pipe smell you get when you walk into your dad or grandpa's study. Leaves a nice after4taste that makes one smile from ear to ear. Just remember with any good non-aromatic that it is meant for sipping. Like the tin's slogan says "when you need a friend"..UPDATE 4-23-17 Just pulled out an unsealed tin which had a fourth of BRG mixture left. Same flavor profile as before, but when I rubbed the tobacco inbetween my fingers and lit up a bowl the pepperiness was somewhat subdued. In fact, the Virginias seemed less sweet and the burleys had a pronounced nuttiness.Together, and with sipping, the blend took on a richer flavor with just the right hint of smokiness. Also noticed a slower burn rate. I still maintain this a four star experience. If you like aromatics this may not excite you, but if you're looking to venture out to a non-aro you can't go wrong here.

Very mild, earthy taste. I found it worth exploring but may not purchase again.

By far the best I have tried love the mild smoke I get from it and the taste is excellent.Everyone should give it a try!