Sutliff Tobacco Company Blue Danube

As an aftermarket pipe tobacco buyer, I am currently riding a wave of selling where the explanation is "thinning down". This tin of Blue Danube came to me in such a buy recently where there were several of the Sutliff Private Stock tins. Having never smoked this blend, I ripped it open in due time. Blue Danube has two good things going for it; beautiful tin art and, an alleged, rum infusion . Then I opened it and everything changed. First of all, the verbal description on the label is of a "golden cavendish" but I didn't find anything golden in the tin. The appearance was of a relative uniformity of dark tans to very dark umber browns with a tad of black included. To the touch, this blend was damp and drying times ran in the five to ten hour range. The tin aroma was not easy to find and required close sniffing. What I did get was weak and indeterminate in character. I could not grok either the rum or the vanilla, but did get a persistent alcohol odor. A couple of days later it reversed and I could pick up both vanilla and rum in the tin. Now, for the important part; how did it smoke. Well, at first, that was a good question and it took most of the top third to find out. I couldn't get anything out of the blend in the top third and the middle third showed a weakish Burley aroma only. The bottom third attempted to show some backbone but, again, rather weak for a Burley based blend. I have now smoked ten of the Sutliff Private Stock blends and I can say this: Blue Danube is, at one and the same time, the weakest, least enjoyable and least successful of the ten. Since it isn't offensive in any way (my definition of a one star blend), I give it two stars and weakly recommend it to the reader.

This was sent entirely to moist and burned hot. The flavor is billed as Rum and Vanilla, but I found no trace of the rum. After drying it out, I found it to be a uninspired vanilla blend (still no rum) with nothing to set it apart from the expansive field of vanilla blends. Not a bad smoke, but not unique in any way. I will stick to Barbados Plantation when I want a rum topping

Give this one time to breathe coming out of the tin or it will have a bite from the alcohol sharpness. The rum flavour is more distinct after it's had a bit of time to dry (but careful not to over dry or it may lose some flavour). There are notes of sweet bread, vanilla, and even a marshmallow aftertaste. This aromatic does have some rough edges, but I prefer my aromatics not to be overly sweet. If you are like me prefer aromatics that are not sugary or fruity, then give this one a try.

3/4 scratches an itch for aromatics for the non-aromatic smoker.

Edit: This blend has a serious bite to it. I am dropping my rating down to a 2 on that factor alone. It is smokable with a filter though, but otherwise it has far too much bite for a mild aromatic.

A weak vanilla, and a touch of rum flavor is always present with this one. The very mild tobacco flavors peak through now and again, to deliver a nutty burley on the palate, and a pleasant spiciness on the retrohale. Low maintenance in the bowl, burns clean. 2- for an anemic, mild aromatic.