Iwan Ries Three Star Blue

I received a complimentary pouch of this with an order I recently placed with Iwan Ries, which seems to be the predominant means of procurement. Does anyone actually buy this blend on purpose? I certainly intend to. Opinions regarding Three Star Blue are all over the board. Many of the reviews here seem to describe something quite different from what I'm smoking: a VERY mildly aromatic, rough cut blend. The burleys are at the forefront, with the latakias and periques adding just the right amount of character. The cavendish provides a subtle sweetness to round things out. My tastes tend towards strongly flavored tobaccos and I will smoke anything form Lakeland blends to the goopiest aromatics; however I tend to enjoy this when I need a break from all the flavoring. This blend is best smoked in a small bowl and SLOWLY. Although it has yet to bite me, all tobacco has that potential. Three Star Blue goes well with coffee in the morning or bourbon in the afternoon or with some smooth jazz and good French brandy in the evening.

Like Briarlaw, I am completely re-writing my review on this tobacco, due to a couple of things that have happened in the interim. The first was that Iwan Ries had a sale on their Peterson Emerald series pipes and I ordered a medium billiard. The other was that they sent a pouch of their Three Star Blue tobacco with it. My first inclination was to put it in an unused corner of my tobacco cabinet, but for some reason I decided to give it a second chance. The first bowl brought forth a lovely flavor of apples and burley that had me craving another one. Bear in mind this was in a brand new unsmoked, unbroken in pipe. Subsequent bowls only reinforced this first experience and the new Pete stayed dedicated to Three Star Blue. One of this tobacco's most endearing attributes is its' lighting and burn qualities. It is almost unheard of for an aromatic to be this easy to smoke. It is an easy tobacco to smoke slowly, which makes any blend more flavorful and cooler burning. My pouch of Three Star is nearly gone, so there was only one thing to do. Last night I went to the Iwan Ries site and ordered another new Peterson straight apple and a larger bag of one of my new staples.

Well,

Not that it means anything to anybody, but this is my 97th review here on Tobacco Reviews. Why is that pertinent to this review you may ask? I decided (years ago) to review every blend I had in my cellar. I am coming to the end of my cellar journey, and have admittedly put off the tobaccos I don't think I will like to the end. To be curt, I saved this as one of my last, not because it was a best for last situation, but because I was kind of dreading the experience. I have heard some pretty rough things about this blend, and will say, I did a fair amount of prejudging.

An aromatic with latakia and perique? A light vanilla aromatic with those components?

It didn't start well. Opening the sample I dumped out the contents and began to inspect the product. Big pieces of burley, and a smattering of virginia. There is also some large chunks of a crumble cake type of thing. Maybe the perique? Not sure. The vanilla smell was there, as was the smell of the latakia. Packing the pipe left my fingers quite sticky, another bad omen.

I had trouble deciding on a pipe. Do I want to put a mixture with latakia in one of my aromatic pipes? Do I want to put this light aromatic in an english designated pipe that would probably have extenuating flavors that would possible hide the vanilla? I settled on an old Grabow used for aromatics and away we went.

Fire hits leaf and.....

Well, I was wrong. This is not as dreadful as I had heard about. I cannot for the life of me find the latakia, or the perique for that matter. They are evident in the smell of the blend, but cannot be picked out in the taste. I actually kinda liked this, for a vanilla aromatic that is. The vanilla note is there, not hugely evident, but very tastefully done.

It burned surprisingly well. It stayed lit, and required little attention. My whole bowl required only one pipe cleaner for gurgle, and I do remember this Grabow likes the cleaners.

This is pretty good. A great all day, non thinker of a smoke. A putter-er as I often call them. I think folks who like the captain black type of offerings might want to give this a try.

I prejudged, and was erroneous in doing so. I will not buy more of this, not my cup of tea and better things out there for me to smoke, but I have to admit, the blend I put off for 96 other blends ended up being a pleasant smoke. My bad. Live and learn. Try it!

Presentation is a ribbon of blonde to light brown tobacco. Pouch note is is pure candy: cherry, licorice, candied fruits, a touch of green apple. Non-smokers will be won over by this pouch note for sure. Three Star Blue is relatively dry for a such an overt aromatic and can be smoked immediately, though a little dry time doesn’t hurt the burn. There’s a more than a bit of floral soapiness on the charring light that ligers through the first third of the bowl. The flavors seem unrelated to the pouch note as I get a light touch of molasses and a splash of vanilla over burley that delivers parchment and toast nestled up against some grass (rather than hay) Virginia that could bite if hurried. I don’t taste the Perique at all, and whatever Latakia is in here to provide some bass notes doesn’t stand out with its own flavor profile but rather serves to enhance the overall blend. The final third of the bowl is where you’ll pick up on them with just hint of earthiness, mushroom and leather as the flavoring agents dissipate and the tobacco asserts. There’s a tiny hint of soap and candied cherry that sticks around to the end. Straining for an analogy, TSB is what you might get if you mixed Half and Half with something like Uhle’s 00. And the result is not bad.

Three Star Blue burns very well, and behaves when sipped. I tamped but did not relight this blend in a series of cobs. There’s not a lot of moisture for an aromatic and I would place this somewhere between the old school American blending house burley aromatics and today’s modern cavendish messes, in flavor profile, burning characteristics, and tobacco taste. TSB burns down to ash and leaves absolutely no mess in the bowl, a testament both the high quality tobaccos and high quality flavoring agents used in this blend.

This is a mass market attempt at one of our cherished American boutique blending house’s old school burley aromatics (think Uhle’s, Peretti, Wilke, etc). And in fact, it’s a pretty good attempt. The reviews here are wildly mixed, and I’m rather surprised that so many are unfavorable. While not one to rush out and buy, I would say it definitely deserves a try for those who enjoy the style of blends I previously referenced, or for aromatic smokers looking for an alternative that provides a more dry-smoking, subtle and tobacco-based flavor profile. Could definitely be someone’s favorite all day smoke.

This is one where the sum is greater than all the parts. This has a really sweet licorice, vanilla extract (alcohol) smell to it with a lot of light brown tobacco consisting of finely chopped up pieces and some ribbon. When I review certain aromatics, I tend to lower the bar some, not because of any inferiority but this is not Esoterica, Dunhill, McClelland etc. This is a blend that comes in a zip-lock type pouch which one normally equates to something you would buy at a drugstore or truck stop. Does not mean it is bad but just a different type of tobacco. It was really warm today in my smoking room (front porch) and I had just received this and decided that it was a perfect day for an aromatic. About the only thing I taste is the casing which reminds me if my memory serves me well of Mixture 79 which is a licorice blend. I found this actually quite good and contrary to some reviewers I did not detect hardly any bite but I did try to smoke this slower than normal. This blend has been according to the page in continuous production since the 1950’s by Iwan Ries, blended by Sutliff Tobacco Company, which is owned by Mac Baren. Go figure. According to Iwan Ries’ website, “Since 1857, Chicago has been home to the oldest family-owned tobacconists in the country. Now in our 5th generation…” I guess the reality is there aren’t that many real local tobacconists that do they’re on blending anymore, probably not commercially viable. I was not around in the 50s to try the real deal but it still is a seller which surprises me with the overall 2-star rating. I would recommend this one if you like aromatics where you taste the aro and not much tobacco. One last thing I noticed they referred to this as Old Colonial, maybe the original name?

The smell of latakia immediately hits you. I had this tobacco shipped with a lot of summery aromatics and upon opening the box I immediately smelled this blend. It put me off initially because I happened to be in the mood for a light spring smoke, however I was pleasantly suprised. Some say it is dry but it is perfect for me as I smoked the bowl fairly quickly and cooly. There are nutty notes and it stays steady through the bowl. It is a cool and refreshing smoke despite the tin note. The latakia and perique are there, but just a whisper. This is a nice all day blend for me that has just enough to make it a pleasure to smoke but not too much.

One of the few aromatics I like. A nice spiciness. Yes, it can get hot. Yes, you need to slow down and learn to smoke this.

My Savinelli, with a balsa filter, helped tame this through my learning period.

This is a great representation of a an era gone by.This tobacco represents grandpa,egg creams,and fadoras!It is actually a fine aromatic that simply has lost its place in today's world.If you want to know the burning qualities and flavor think Royal Scott by Wilke.It is like Barking Dog with a Sundae topping. Not an everyday smoke ,but it has its place. Try some and be transported back to a better time for pipe smokers and generally the rest of us. 3 of 4 aromatic stars.

I'm new to this blend but really like it. The burley and cavendish are the primary tobaccos I taste, and give a nutty taste. There's a hint of Latakia to give a little smokiness. I do not detect the vanilla topping. The perique is barely noticeable part way through the bowl. If you like American English blends you will probably like this, even though it's categorized as an aromatic. It's a very course cut blend, and seemed rather dry in the pouch. It smoked easily with few relights. The closest tobacco I've had to this might be Lane's HGL, though there's more Virginia noticeable in HGL than in Three Star Blue. I plan on stocking up on Three Star Blue. I would recommend this for the proverbial all day smoke.