Sutliff Tobacco Company Great Outdoors

An inspired mixture with a mild nutty burley taste that's delicately flavored but still quite interesting to smoke.

Great Outdoors seems to walk a fine line, simultaneously paying homage to drugstore blends of yore, as well as blends with more structure and somewhat more complicated flavor profiles. The topping is well executed, providing a hint of licorice, chocolate and honey, as well as a subtle musty note on the finish. Most important, it's light enough to allow the base tobacco flavor to come through and it does so in perfect balance.

This product is fairly moist from the tin but dries quickly. It smokes a little on the warm side but burns perfect with very little tamping, relights and almost no bite. There's not much in the way of nicotine strength but there's plenty of flavor.

Recommended.

Smoked this in a MM diplomat and a rock cob. Worked better in the diplomat. Just like Carter Hall the blend is enhanced in a corn cob pipe.

Very mild and relaxing. The burley is more forward than the Cavendish by far. A nice sweet aroma. This is an all day easy smoker. Lights easily from the tin without drying. You don't have to fight it to keep lit.

Would recommend this to anyone looking for a mild easy to smoke burley with a touch of Cavendish. Also a great beginner tobacco with a better room note than Carter Hall.

Sutliff could do better on the tin instead of describing it as 'Quality Pipe Tobacco'. They are right, but it should give a better description for those looking for certain types of pipe tobacco.

This is one of my absolute favorite blends, I replaced Carter Hall with this and I have smoked that for years. I really like the taste and the room note is quite nice.

This is a good, simple, straight forward, burley blend, the casing is used with discretion and offers some to the overall profile but does not make the tobacco overly moist or goopy. It certainly has that character of the old classic drug store blends of yesteryear but would be " top shelf". I purchased the tin because it was on a very low price clearence but have found that I have returned to it on several occasions because it is so comfortable.

Upon opening the tin you are rewarded with the sweet aroma of the topping and the tobacco, the cut is somewhat coarse and chunky. If were not for the diameter of the tin being too small the blend would certainly invite thrust and pack method of loading the pipe and I found this to work very well when the tobacco was transferred to a pouch.

The initial light does offer some sweetness but is not too sweet, as you progress in the smoke the sweetness does give way to, as others have noted, a peppery experience. Not bad! Not overly complex, and by no means hot. Just very comfortable.

The nic hit seems to be somewhat minimal.

The room note is pleasant enough, I heard no complaints but I also had no real compliments either.

I would say that even though I have returned to this current tin often enough and I have an unopened tin still I will probably not seek it out for repurchasing.

Good but not great.

12/11/18 update. I went through several tins of this and recently purchased another tin of it that i just popped, somehow it seems very different? the cut is much coarser and the casing is much heavier (even sticky). at first I was put off but after a little drying time I loaded a bowl and fired it up, it was very sweet in a casing way. the aroma was pleasant, smoke volume heavy, taste mild and sweet, and most enjoyable. the only complaint is that due to casing and cut it left a fair amount of unburned dottle in the bottom of the bowl.

i am also upgrading the rating to 4 stars because this is one of the best aromatics on the market, IMO.

Very nostalgic both at the tin and the match. Not a real F&S copy, this stands on its own as a pleasant, mellow burley blend with enough Cavendish to make it interesting.

Wife comments on the great room note, this tobacco is a good all-day smoke. Has the characteristic burley nuttiness and a pleasing amount of smoke.

Recommended for beginning smokers looking for a non-aromatic that still smells nice, but won't knock you over. No bite, easy to light, burns clean. Experienced smokers will like this for its nostalgic qualities and ease of smoking pleasure.

Boy, I'm glad I didn't read the reviews or the description before trying this blend. I don't like anise (licorice) so I wouldn't have purchased a tin of this fine tobacco. The tin note wasn't reassuring (very strong anus er anise it could knock a dog off a gut wagon). However, it is a very mild burley flavor with a pleasant vanilla topping. Leaves the best room note of any tobacco I've tried. Light easily and doesn't require too many relights. Another win for illiteracy! If you are looking for an aromatic that isn't artificial tasting or goopy then look no further. Highly recommended.

Note: Having never smoked Field and Stream, this is based entirely on my experience with Great Outdoors and is not a comparison to the blend it seeks to replicate.

I found this blend to be unremarkable. Not bad in any way, but generally not very memorable.

The tin note was promising. Sweet, nutty, with a topping of vanilla and licorice. The tobacco ranges from light tan to medium brown, course ribbon cut with a few chunks so course that they the resemble a broken flake.

At first light, the promise in the tin seems to come true. The burley stands three or four steps in front of the cavendish, the vanilla is definitely present in the tin and the licorice/anise is faintly detectable (although it's hard to tell if I'm tasting it in the smoke or in the room note). The flavoring disappears very quickly, even when the temperature of the burn and rate of the puff are well controlled. What is left behind is the typical semi-sweet nuttiness of the burley with just a bit of cavendish hiding in the background. With the burley as present as it is, I was surprised to find that the nicotine was hardly noticeable.

I had no problem with the burn - just a few relights (no more than usual), burned almost to the bottom with just a bit of dottle, and the room note was great. In fact, I think the room note is the best argument in favor of the blend - not only is it a crowd pleaser, but when the pipe is out, you leave the room and come back the lingering aroma is reminiscent of homemade oatmeal cookies.

There is nothing that Great Outdoors is doing particularly wrong. But if you're looking for a vanilla burley aromatic, there are options with a heaver dose of vanilla and/or a topping that lasts deeper into the bowl. If you're looking for a lightly topped aromatic that highlights the burley (and, theoretically, the cavendish), I think there are other blends that do that better, as well. That said, Great Outdoors does have the added benefit of being low nicotine and very resistant to bite, so it may qualify as an "all day smoke."

So, for folks looking for an inoffensive, unobtrusive, straightforward all day smoke that opts for consistency over bells and whistles, this could very easily fit the bill. For those people, I would highly recommend giving this a shot. Otherwise, I'll finish the tin I have, and I'll never refuse a bowl if offered, but I think it's unlikely that'd I'd make a repeat purchase in the future.

This is a weird tobacco for me to review. I just didn't like it. The good news is that it was free as it is what was sent to me by Sutliffe when I signed up for the free sample. I put down my preference as aromatics as I already had tried a few of the English blends and wanted to be sure that I received something I hadn't tried.

The reason I point this out is that Aromatics are not my preference, but I am not an aro hater by any means so don't be rolling your eyes. 🙂

Now to why it is weird. If I search by who is similar to me, many of those reviewers love this blend with a surprising amount of four star ratings. If I look down the reviews, many reviewers whose opinions I really treasure also really like this blend. Many of my forum buddies really like this blend and smoke it often. It is weird, because I don't like this blend. Two things save me from giving this a one star review. Reverence to those who like it and the fact that I have yet to try a vanilla aromatic that I would give four stars to.

I find this to be pretty heavy on the PG, that chemical taste that I dislike comes through heavy on this blend. The mechanical properties of it are fine. A nice mix of ribbon and some cube cut burley, pack nicely and burn easily to the bottom with usually one light and it burns pretty cool so nothing wrong there, but it lacks the body that I like in a predominately burley aromatic.

I will have to actually go out and seek a true vanilla aromatic that I like, so I can really rule out that it is not just an aversion to that particular topping that is causing me to be so hard on those blends, but I have enjoyed enough aromatics with a portion of Vanilla to know there are many better out there than this one. Some that come to mind are CAO's Moontrance, C & D's Berry Good and PS Nougat 24.

So not recommended by me, but somewhat recommended because you just might like it.

This tobacco is listed as a non-aromatic even with the vanilla. The tobacco's moisture was perfect for smoking right from the tin no drying needed. All of the Sutliff tobaccos that I have tried have been ready to smoke upon opening the tin. The tin note smelled to me like root beer. The charring light brought the nuttiness of the Burley to the front. The true light still had the nuttiness in the fore front, but the Black Cavendish join in. The vanilla was barely present. The room note was very pleasant. This is a great all day smoke; it burns well with hardly any re-lights. No tongue bite at all and it smoked all the way to the bottom of the bowl. I will be cellaring a few tins for the future.