D & R Tobacco Ramback Gold

Ah, pure smoking delight, Ramback Gold is good enough for a sultan but priced for us paupers. The smoke tastes like rubber and roses, like old books, country fields, leather and cream, and it will satisfy all day or with a single bowl. It doesn’t bite too bad, can burn a little hot, but the taste and quality of the leaf is really something else for a tobacco that costs less than 2 dollars an ounce.

I truly love the taste and strength of the Turkish leaf, and the flavor of this blend is overwhelmed by the fragrant and musky spice of Izmir. The only problem is, Turkish tobacco gives me a headache if I smoke it alone - this blend has just enough of that Bright Virginia candy sweetness smokers of Wind Sail might recognize, making the heavy Izmir flavor more palatable. I will actually blend this 50/50 with Wind Sail, as my daily smoke on occasions, but I keep a tin of pure Ramback Gold on my bedside table. For a good, clean, and tasty smoke, it doesn’t get much better. Now, I have only smoked it out of cobs and briars, but it’s just cigarette tobacco, that’s what I’ve heard. That’s a lie, but somehow it feels like I must implore you to believe it - cosmic balance and all. Maybe I just like seeing it in stock. On second thought, there’s better cigarette tobacco out there.

Back in my days of cigarette smoking (1990s) I was a big fan of Camel cigarettes. They were always advertised (Joe Camel anyone) as being made with Turkish tobacco.

I picked up a bag of Ramback Gold trying to recreate the experience which I had back then. The lead in this blend to me are the orientals which give it a spicy smoke, there is some sweetness in the background which I'm attributing to the Virginia's which are added to the gold version. The tobacco is dryer than normal (similar to the other D&R blends I've tried) which I believe is to make it suitable for RYO cigs. I find that a few breathes into the bowl before lighting gives it enough moisture to burn a little slower. Produces a decent amount of moisture while smoking, I use a few pipe cleaners during a bowl to keep it down.

If sipped slowly, its a very spicy/sweet treat which does carry a decent dose of nicotine which has snuck up on me a few times. The ribbon cut means that it will burn well in most bowl shapes and it seems to really do well in my radiators and cobs.

This is more of a 2.5 blend for me but I’m rounding up since all my other D&R reviews are on the low side, and also because I got good use out of this as a blender. Smoked as is I find it a bit more roughhewn than I care for in a VA-TUR, but it does have its interesting nuances. I get earthy dried grass, a baked orange peel note, some sourdough, and a wilted flower ambient note. Tastes more like my own minimally process Izmir than C&Ds version, and I wonder if from the raw (untoasted) sunflower seed note if little Samsun snuck its way into the blend. I like the cut, and ended up adding some Sutliff 707 to smooth out the earthy predominance. Some enjoyment in a Comoy prince, maybe a little sweeter but less nuanced in a cob.

I’ve bought Ramback Gold a few times over the last 5 years or so, but I’ve only had it in bulk prior to recently buying it in a 16 oz bag. My past impression of it was that it was a pretty blah and slightly bland tobacco, but now that I have a fresh bag I can finally taste what people have been saying about this one.

In bulk this, as well as pretty much every other D&R tobacco, comes dryer than Death Valley in August, which I think has a tendency of diminishing the potential of what, in my experience, has been some fairly top notch tobacco when received at a more optimal moisture (fresher). Some state that this is a “dual purpose” tobacco that is emblazoned with warnings about it only being used as in pipes, which one can easily interpret as a “wink wink nudge nudge” tax dodge. In the past, this tobacco, and many other D&R offerings, may have been primarily marketed as RYO tobaccos, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from stuffing it in your favorite pipe. This is, IMO, one of the greatest and truest old-timey “dual purpose” tobaccos.

When smoked in a pipe, Ramback Gold immediately lets you know that it’s a fairly high quality Turkish blend that’s had some of its rougher edges smoothed out by the addition of some top quality bright Virginia. The Turkish in Ramback Gold tastes of a balance of a more floral “Oriental” spicy Izmir with a bit of nutty Samsun (not quite the musty/earthy of Smyrna). The VA isn’t overly sweet, but adds a lightness and a slight sweetness to the taste. The result is a cool and dry smoke with a piquant sharpness that comes from the Turkish used, with a VA sweetness that balances out the blend on the whole and takes it to all day smoke territory.

Stuffed into a “paper pipe” it has a strength of flavor that is sure not to tire even the most distinguished palates, without overpowering. Notes are similar to smoking in a pipe, but obviously a bit more cigarette-y. It reminds me of pre-fire-safe Camel, but with the quality and flavor cranked up to 11. There’s a medium floral/woody/nutty (not ashy) finish that is satisfying, without lingering too long. If you’re accustomed to smoking random bags of questionable “Turkish pipe tobacco” this stuff will blow your mind.

It’s sort of on the chunkier side of a true ribbon-cut, with some some bits and pieces mixed in, but if it’s received and kept at optimal moisture it burns slow no matter how you burn it; it requires zero relights in a pipe and takes your cigarette smoking time past American Spirit territory, even when stuffed conservatively.

3.25 stars as a pipe tobacco, 4 stars as a “paper pipe” tobacco.