Sutliff Tobacco Company Man's Best Friend Blend

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.

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.

Well, that was disappointing! I stopped by my B&M tonight and picked up a tin of MBF. Sutliffe makes one of my favorite aromatics in Molto Dolce, and I was really looking forward to trying another one of their blends. The smell in the tin was nice and I got a little of the rum in the nose. It disappeared in the smoke. It didn't bite, and that was good because I had to puff the daylights out of this to keep it lit. I gotta say, I understand MBF's place in the tobacco world, though. If you, like me, mostly smoke aromatics,but wish to make the move into more of an English blend, the maybe you'll like this. I didn't.

Maybe there is too much going on the allow anyone flavor or weed dominate. After reading about all the trouble keeping it lit, I decided to let at least four bowls air dry for a day. Smoked all four bowls in one day and the biggest problem was keeping it lit. Otherwise it was a mellow all day plain smoke that bit only when puffed too hard. ( Which with the trouble keeping it lit, seemed to bite quite a bit) If you're looking for a cross between a cased ARO and a minor English/Balken then give it a try.

Nothing special but nothing wrong with finishing the tin either.

Not my bag, too little punch, the burley can't shine because of the casing and the Latakia is too weak to come to the front for long. I was hoping for a nutty burley with some Latakia smokiness, but this puppy didn't bark for me.

Found this at a local B&M and bought it completely on a whim without having ever previously heard about it. The tin description is more than a little ambiguous. Basically there is no information on the tin even cluing you in to what is inside. It says "MAN's BEST FRIEND - NEVER BITES" underneath a picture of a dog.

Upon opening the tin you can detect the Rum casing, but the aroma is not overpowering, and definitely is not the driving force that you would expect from many aromatics. The burley cubes give this blend a unique look

Other reviewers have warned about the contents being moist, but being a new tin of something I have never tried I went for glory, stuffed the bowl, preceded to the charring light. Lighting was a bit difficult likely due to the moisture content. 5 matches were needed to get a decent start on the bowl. I am smoking this blend in a brand new block Meerschuam GBD Churchwarden style pipe. I am guessing in a briar it would be gurgling to high heaven as I am puffing vigorously to keep the bowl lit moderate success. Strangely I am not being bitten or paid back for my irresponsibility.

The initial taste was good. The burley and latakia were coming through strong with the "lemon Virginia flake" taking a back seat. Definitely something that I will go back to as I enjoy good burley and find it rather tasty. Definitely a little switcharoo from your typical English, and does not remind me much of and aromatic.

Other folks are claiming the Vitamin N to be rather strong; however; more that half way through the bowl I am not noticing anything that would prevent me from finishing the bowl purely n that basis.

Overall I am going to recommend this blend first because it is unique, and second because it tastes good. If you do not like burley you may want to steer clear of this nasal passage clearing blend.

***** The more I smoke of this tin the worse it gets. The room note is like rotten garbage, and it seems to taste nastier every time I smoke it. I have been trying to let it dry a little because it is so difficult to keep lit. I'm not giving up completely, but I may have to downgrade it again if it does not get better as it dries.*****

I dont know if i would buy this brand again purely based on my experience on this one. I found it hard to light and keep lit, the room note definitely received quite a few yells from outside of my den. The taste was a little to harsh for the average smoker. The second time i smoked it i found i had a little less problems with lighting. A friend of mine swears by it however maybe ill ask him to bring his tin over maybe something was wrong with my batch.

Received this as a sample at my pipe club meeting 09.17.10. Smoky Latakia flavor, which dominated the entire smoke in my opinion. Not terrible, but not my favorite, either. Seemed to be a bit hard to keep lit for me. Will probably finish the tin off, but won't be tempted to try another.