Sutliff Tobacco Company Great Outdoors

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.

Sutliff Tobacco Co. - Great Outdoors (Sutliff Private Stock).

The mixture contains a few exceedingly coarse pieces, some look like HUGE cubes of tobacco. Sadly it contains twigs, too. In the aroma I get no vanilla, at all, the smell's consumed by sharpness. Out of the tobaccos there's far more Burley and plain Cavendish than black Cavendish. Because of the roomy tin the moisture's spot on.

The main tobacco flavour comes from the Burley and Virginia Cavendish: nutty, honey-sweet, and slightly sharp. The black Cavendish only lends a TINY amount of character. The vanilla gives a touch of taste, there's far more anisette and this causes a sharpness which I don't find too agreeable. On the positive side after half a bowl the smoke takes on sort of a fondant-fruitiness. I find the burn a decent feature and it refrains from biting.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Great Outdoors? Sure, many folks will love it, but I can't rate it any higher than two stars:

Somewhat recommended.

In my search for trying Field & Stream I discovered the Great Outdoors. Originally, I think I was just looking for a licorice/anise flavored tobacco and this does evoke that flavor profile at least somewhat. The tobacco was nice and dry when I cracked open the tin. There is definitely a distinct smell of licorice in the tin as well as vanilla. It lights quickly and stays lit as well as burns fairly quickly, maybe in part because it was dry to begin with. The flavor is quite mild though and the burley takes the show for the most part. The anise/vanilla flavor wears out pretty quickly and the nutty burley flavor kicks in at about a quarter of the bowl.

I guess I was kind of hoping that more of the sweeter flavors would hang around a little longer. It starts out nice enough but becomes a bit bland toward the end. Room note is quite pleasant though and reminds me of camping trips with my father. It burns nice and evenly down to a fine ash but beware the tongue bite as this guy will quickly scorch your tongue if you don't sip it.

A nice burley/aromatic fusion blend leaning more toward the burley. This is the first of the Sutliff Private Stock blends I've tried and I am curious to try more of them.

Got a 1.5 oz tin of this free from Altadis' website ... very cool ... I think this is better than feild and stream . It's burley flavor that dosen't drown out the vanilla and maybe whiskey ? the flavorings are mild . It's been a one pipe cleaner blend so far. It's a good blend and could be an all day smoker . I'll try it in more pipes .I wish it were a bit stronger .passed the wife test .....O.K. ... tried it in more pipes and finished it off and have to give it 2.5 stars if I could . Smoked alittle " steamy " and didn't quite give a mouthfull of smoke . Needs more punch and smoke .

I received a sample bag in my July TinSociety box. I've never tried Field and Stream so I'm basing the comments just on this by itself.

The tobacco in the baggy was quite moist. Its dark with a few bigger pieces in it. I let it dry out for 1/2 hour before packing.

The flavor was mostly a warm vanilla that didn't completely overpower the tobacco flavor. As I smoked this again in a smaller bowl, I picked up more of the anise flavors. It didn't bite and the flavor was consistent beginning to end

It left some moisture in the bottom of the radiator but smoked pretty easily without requiring relights.

Decent taste but not something I'd buy on my own.

A friend of mine raved about this blend for several weeks before I finally tried it. I remember really liking it my first few times. The blend has a light finish if any at all, and tastes clean and fresh. The burleys are slightly reminiscent of fresh chestnuts. Both my friend and I have since our first experience with Great Outdoors favored stronger, more complex English blends. After a few months of using this blend as a sort of palette cleanser between stronger blends, I noticed that the white burleys lend an slightly sour note that clashes with the fresh, clean taste of the rest of the blend. I haven't smoked this for the greater part of the year, and I could easily name twenty blends I like better.

I opened the tin and the smell in the tin was that of Vanilla and Black Licorice, I thought it would be awesome, i loved the smell in the tin. Got it lit up, My Wife said that smells like crap, i said funny it don't taste all that great, about half way thru the bowl it has a sweet taste but then it starts to kind of go sour, it was a little wet for my liking, had to puff hard to keep it lit. next time will try to dry it out some before i smoke

Picked up a tin of this a year ago. I didn't want to review it then because I felt it was too new and needed age. Aging has improved it somewhat. It still bites, but not as badly. It still gurgles and wets up my pipe like a stickier aromatic.

All in all I give it 2 stars. I've seen much worse for the money. What I have will age further, possibly decades. I'll update my review in 20 years.