Park-Lane Tobacconist Fireside

I'm not usually much of a Burley smoker, but as it's a genre that has been growing on me, I thought I'd dip into something I hadn't tried before. To be honest, I was expecting to be unimpressed (though not disappointed). As it turns out, I was very happily surprised and I've enjoyed it much more than I'd expected.

Fireside is a good, honest, straightforward burley that behaves itself in the bowl. The cut is a thin ribbon (though not shag), and the tin note is that simple, natural nutty-sweetness that most burleys tend to have (not too far from Carter Hall, in a way).

The tobacco took the flame very nicely, burned evenly, and required very little maintenance - I don't generally count how often I have to tamp and/or relight, but - anecdotally speaking - Fireside seemed to require few enough that it struck me as being VERY user-friendly. The tobacco did seem just a hair on the dry side which, combined with the cut, resulted in a burn was a bit faster than I might have hoped, but never so hot that it was unruly or affected the taste. It smokes clean a dry, leaving very little dottle and virtually no sogginess in the bottom of the bowl.

The smoke itself was very, very pleasing. Naturally sweet and nutty for the first two thirds of the bowl, it become just a bit spicy towards the end. It tastes like it should - unadulterated burley tobacco. I couldn't pick up any sort of topping or added flavor, but the room note was generally neutral with just a bit of vanilla-like sweetness. Having smoked about an ounce and a half, I've found Fireside to be consistent from bowl-to-bowl, reliable, and among the better straightforward burley blends.

Burley lovers might find it to lack strength (particularly in terms of nicotine) - the upside to that is that this could very easily be an "all day smoke" for those searching for that sort of thing. If it's not strong enough for burley diehards, but those who are more like me and only dabble with burley blends will probably be quite impressed.