Sutliff Tobacco Company Barbados Plantation

---

TIN NOTE

The rum notes overwhelm most tobacco, but there are hints of burley nuttiness in the background and young Virginia breadiness. Let’s be honest you knew well this was a strong aromatic. Please .. Don’t be elitist looking down at topped tobaccos. As long as they’re not drowned in a glycol-based casing, they can actually be pleasant. This is one of the good ones.

SMOKING NOTES

Nice ..but please, dry it .. give it at least 60 minutes. Taste .. Rum at first, then the vanilla kicks in with force … but also some good Virginias, and a strong Burley base coming through. I’m not mad. The black Cavendish gives nice sweetness produces some proper amounts of smoke. The casing is present from the top to the bottom of the bowl. Please pace yourself. Sip to control the temperature, too hot and the taste will turn acrid. The best thing about it … I can smoke it around people, and no one gets mad. Nice sweetness and nuttiness on the retro.

MECHANICS

Dry it … dry it …dry it … massage the tobacco while you wait , air it out properly. It’s a must. Packed well. Took to flame without issues. It was a challenge to keep it lit, but that’s why we have lighters. Did not bite, but I can tell it wanted to …

NARRATIVE SUMMARY

La Dolce Vita
A little city in Tuscany
Sunny day, not a cloud in the sky
Busy Piazza with lots of cafes
La Dolce Vita…. You order an espresso and a little aperitivo shot of amaretto. You’re smoking your favorite pipe. The sun is scorching. People around you are talking, holding hands, laughing. You take a big puff from the pipe. You swirl the tobacco smoke in your mouth enjoying the rum and vanilla notes. You let out the smoke with your retro hale enjoying the sweetness and creaminess. The smoke drifts through the cafe and flies past a gorgeous brunette with a 70s-style pastel colour headband. She looks up at you through her Persol sunglasses and smiles. You raise your little glass of amaretto and nod. Still smiling, she raises her Aperol drink. No words are exchanged.

This tobacco is made to be smoked around people. You will make a lot of friends. It’s like vaping but for adults.

---

THREE STARS

---

Maybe it's just me but I have no luck with Sutliff aromatic blends. The day I open the tin the aroma and aromatic taste are there. After it is put in a jar and sets for a couple of days it taste of nothing but cheap, weak Burley. BP is not the only one that I have had this problem with its just the latest. I think I'm done with Sutliff aromatics. When I'm hungry for a aromatic I believe I'll stick with Boswell blends.

not big fan of all things Sutliff but some of their aromatics are second to none. really fragrant with vanilla and just a kiss of rum to taste. really good and smooth.

I’ve had my share of aromatics that go way over the top with flavoring, but though this is heavy on the rum, it’s not offensive to me. It smokes cool and doesn’t bite and is a very smooth tobacco. It is kind of wet to smoke out of the tin, but not so as it leaves much moisture the bowl. I could recommend this one to a newbie or veteran and could be an all day smoke for both.

Just about as moist as chewing tobacco, practically unsmokable. I couldn't say it's aroma and flavor were rum-like. It had the typical dark-fired black aromatic cavendish character with dark vanilla and coumarin-like notes. The color of the whole blends was almost uniformly dark to black from the casing and there was no way to discern the virginia and burley components. One can get this basic flavor in many other aromatic black cavendish blends from Sutliff. I suppose this must have been at the bottom of a production run and unfortunately it bespeaks of poor quality control verging on indifference.

At first wAs disappointed, but after airing out a tin for a week, the giving a bowls worth a good 39 min dry time, this has become a favorite aro. This is what I default to whe I can't make up my mind. Mild flavor that lasts and gets nuttier through the bowl. Good burn with no bite. Room nite is nice but fades quickly. Li e it.

Once we oldsters from the pipe smoking ranks were vaccinated, things began to happen: we actually saw each other in person, we actually smoked our pipes together and I (finally) was able to buy a collection of pipe tobaccos. In it was a single tin of Sutliff Barbados Plantation with peculiar black bumps on the tin bottom that I tested with a small probe. The biggest one went through easily on the first try and I decided to open the tin immediately. The tobacco was moist to the point of being too moist to light and I let a sample sit out all night to air out. The tin aroma was somewhat strong and reminded me of sniffing a bag of freshly roasted nuts with a little alcohol on them. I thought it was a pleasant aroma. The tobacco, itself, had a rather drab and dingy appearance of muddled brown to black and presented as a rough ribbon. Not quite four star material, smoking the blend was a better than a middle of the road experience. The peculiar, but pleasant, flavoring lasted down to the half way point of the bowl, where it gave out. From that point on it was an acceptable Va/Bur smoke. My only real complaint about this blend is how moist it comes and how long you have to let it air out to get a proper idea of what the base blend is like. So, all in all, I recommend Barbados Plantation at three stars as an interesting blend in the Private Stock line that is still in production.

A “milder” 1-Q is what comes to my mind on this blend. Needs a day or so drying time, as this one comes moist from our friends at Sutliff. THE most mild aromatic I have ever encountered. Wonderful aroma in the can or in the air as this blend will offend nobody! Vanilla and a slight fruit note to the palate, but never overbearing. As far as bite.... I loaded up a large Sherlock Holmes Watson and puffed like a freight train and could not get even a smidge of bite from this tobacco. A real smoky and tasty treat is this one folks, Sutliiff has a winner here. Would be a great starter blend for a new smoker.