Sutliff Tobacco Company Man's Best Friend Blend

This is more or less a replacement for Barking Dog. The Cyprian latakia is smoky and woody sweet, and often competes for attention with the earthy, nutty white burley. The lemon Virginia that adds some tangy cirtus and a little grass. The mild rum topping is assisted by a complimentary raisin/stewed fruit note or two as well, none of which tones the tobaccos much. Has a mild to medium nic-hit. Won't bite, but does have a rough edge or two along the way. Mildly complex and well balanced, it burns a little slow with a slight inconsistency in the flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and needs some relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste. Smoking it in a pipe with a wide bowl will enhance the experience, but any pipe will work for this mixture. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

This is a simple blend of lemon virginia, cubed white burley and latakia and is alleged to be topped with a bit of some non-descript rum. Few here - and I am one - don't find the rum; if it's there it's very, very modest. The tobacco can benefit from a bit of rubbing out - particularly the chunks of latakia. It both lit and burned well with minimal relights with Frank pack in my MM Cob.

So far so good. The blend is extremely well balanced with no one element dominating, but to the point that I find Man's Best Friend bordering on non-descript. Based on the cut, it's possible to get occasional whiffs of one element or another, but the modest latakia is always there. The light virgina seems mostly on retrohale. You are tempted to work harder to get something, but you risk a bit of burn. A bit more going on near the end of the bowl, but too little, too late for me.

Mind you, I'm a big fan of a balanced blend, but not to the point that the elements merge into a kind of sameness throughout the smoke. It's certainly not bad, it's actually quite pleasant, but it is not remarkable. I'd call this an understated pleasant all day smoke, comfortable and likeable but not particularly exciting. This tin will certainly be finished, but I don't see buying another at this time.

An internet pipe buddy who knew I enjoyed some of the old House of Windsor blends sent me a couple of Sutliff match blends to try. This one is supposed to be "perfect for fans of Barking Dog". As I was extremely underwhelmed by a similar claim for a Dunhill 965 clone, I was cautious, but then again, Sutliff did nail the old Edgeworth. So off I went! As luck would have it, I still have some of the HoW Barking Dog for comparison. Both had the mishmosh chop cut and the sprinkling of black among the woodchip color.

As a match blend, this one is a failure. The topping is too heavy, the latakia too faint. Didn't taste much like Barking Dog, which is a very tasty blend. This one was pretty bland by comparison and contained a somewhat chemical taste the HoW version did not have. As a standalone blend, this one was fine. No highs or lows, just a decent middle of the road American English. But there was no pizzaz. Perhaps that's the point. This one was ok but nothing I felt I needed to spend money on.

Quality-wise, the tobaccos, particularly the burley, in this one seemed to be higher up the ladder than Barking Dog. Then again, I'm more impressed with a blender that can create more from less. This one seemed like a creation of less from more. I'll take the Barking Dog any day.

This is a winner in my book. Never had Barking Dog so I can't compare. I get all three components contributing near equal amounts of flavor. Earthy, sweet, smoky, woody, fruity and all with a wonderful creamy texture. Can only pick up the rum on occasion and mostly in the first half of the bowl. I've really been enjoying this one.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in flavor. No burn issues at all. Woof! Woof!

Presentation in the tin is cubed burley, fish flakes of light colored Virginia and ribbons of latakia. The tin smells of latakia and something slightly sweet. There is no smell of rum or chemicals others have noted. Moisture level is excellent - maybe a little drier than some might like. It is just right for me. Due to the cubed burley, I gravity fed to fill and tamped lightly.

I found the blend easy to light and a smooth, tasty smoke. The lemon Virginia was more prominent in the first half of the bowl. The burley came into its own with some depth after that. Throughout the bowl I found the latakia to be present,tasty and there without being dominant.

I found this to be an enjoyable medium strength blend that is not especially complex. It only hits a few notes but it hits them pretty well. This one is easy to recommend.

I did not like this blend and really can't think of any reason to recommend it thus the one star review. It is an American English type blend the is soaked in humectants like many of the sutliffe blends. My tin that is essentially of cardboard composition with a snug plastic cap lasted me two years. In that time the tobacco never got any drier than the day I received it. That said, it was never really moist rather the moisture content was right where I would want it.

I would say the fact that it is cheap would be a reason to purchase it, but even Sutliffe's own Fox & Hound is a more pleasurable experience than this and is just as cheap.

I would rather spend my time smoking on the 20 or so blends that C & D offers in this vein than this one. I will say that it was bite free like advertised on the tin, but many blends with these components are.

I know this blend was created to imitate the flavors of the old Barking Dog blend. Frankly, this one is better due to the strength (which I appreciated). It has been years since I smoked Barking Dog but I sure don't remember that blend being as sweet as this one and the rum flavoring is easily detected. The content's cut also makes for an easy pack/smoke. Hey folks, I believe this one is a blue ribbon doggie!

I should have known that something was up with this blend when two of my long term pipe smoking buds dismissed it on sight; one with a wave of his hand and a "yech" utterance and the other with the exclamation "it says its Barking Dog, but it isn't". So, I put the poor pup on my table this last August at our NASPC show and nobody paid any attention to it at all. Searching for a rum laced mixture for blending purposes, I ripped it open. Now, I have some positive things to say about this blend; however, they have to be said upfront as that is where they all are. One, I like the tin art with the attractive red-headed retriever. Two, I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful tin appearance of this blend. With a color range from lemon yellow to black, it's roughish appearance and an aroma of an aromatic English: I was impressed. That impression, unfortunately, did not translate to the smoke and was short lived. Not tepid or weak, but, practically unobtainable is how I am describing the smoking quality in the top half of the bowl. I couldn't get enough out of M'sBF to even understand what this tobacco was all about. As to the rum flavoring, I couldn't identify my tin's aroma as such. It was, however, present in the smoke to some extent. At the half way point of the bowl, a very small amount of backbone began to appear and I craved more of it in the smoke, but, to no avail. These very sentiments, and more, are in reviewer Capn Jimbo's review of 2014-12-14. His second paragraph sums up my feelings about Man's Best Friend. Just as I was contemplating a one star review, I decided to use M'sBF in blending and was pleasantly surprised by how positively it worked with the other tobaccos in use. This emboldened me to go to two stars.

This blend is almost like a mild English blend. It has some light flavor of umm....well I don't know exactly. Perhaps smoke (Latakia) and perhaps a whiff of dark rum. This is simply a nice smoke that does not overwhelm in either room note or taste. It is most enjoyable to smoke. Just don't expect a lot of taste. It says discontinued but this is still available at a lot of web stores at this date.

This is a pretty simple blend. It is a full flavored, all day blend. Mild, but flavorful. A little sweetness combined with some smokiness that makes an interesting combination. The rum flavoring adds a nice shade of flavor. This could easily be smoked all day with no ill-effects. If you don't like latakia, this blend may not be for you. A nice, middle-of-the-road tobacco that should please most pipe smokers...