Butera Kingfisher

A strong dark dominate Burley with a touch of Perique & Virginia.

Tin aroma, IMO, was light. I had difficulty in reaching an aroma. Slight Virginia Wine.

The room note gave no bad reviews. In fact, my wife liked the smell. She rated it as a very good and true "tobacco smell".

Taste was definitly a dominate Burley. The Perique was there but it enhanced the Burley and did not try and over-ride. The Va was slightly noticable.

Took me back to days inwhich I would smoke my step-father's Black Petes and Ibolds.

Good occasional smoke. A very good change of pace from Va's

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Burley fans, .......Try This One!

The best thing about this blend is it's tin which is lovely. As a Virginia/Perique/Other Stuff blend it's perfectly pleasant if a little dull. Quite consistent from the top to bottom of the bowl. I'm by nature lazy, and even though "crumble cake" is easy to work with, I prefer ribbon or other loose tobacco cuts. Given the plethora of fine V/P/O blends in more convenient cuts I won't put this in my to buy list. It's very much worth trying however.

This is a nice, easy to smoke tobacco. Similar to Haddo's Delight fomr Pease, but a bit lighter and with a touch of finesse. It is good when you want something different and on the light side, but when smoked consistently it tends to lose its appeal, at least for me.

Kingfisher is a Butera blend that is different. It is a Va/Burley/perique blend that is quite nice and easy to smoke. It is not the kind of blend that I can smoke daily. However, that being said I find it enjoyable and interesting change of pace, even from other perique blends. It comes in a Krumble Kake style and I probably will not purchase another tin of this. You might find it more enjoyable than I but is certainly worth an occaissonal puff on.

I have smoked this natural blend periodically since it was introduced into the market several years ago. I have several English and Italian pipes dedicated to it, including a small McArris (originally made for McCranie by Bill Taylor), a smallish Costello (kkk), a medium small Spanu, and a medium Ashton (XXX). Each has several ounces of the blend in the cake. This blend is a masterpiece, but is not for everyone.

This is a Krumble Kake, meaning it is packed in flakes in a tin, but the flakes easily break upon removing them. It is good to break them up a little more than a push down (or stop) of a flake in the bowl. It burns better that way. Don't rub the flakes too much, as the perique will produce a sharper flavor then. Also secure the tin in a wrapper after opening, or else the tobacco will start to dry out within two weeks. If too dry, the blend will smoke somewhat harshly.

Upon first smoking this in the McArris several years ago, it was obvously a natural, seemingly mild, but didn't seem like it had much flavor. The flavor crept in after several more bowlfulls. After a little more experience with it, the perique was definitely there, giving a charming spicy note to a straight tobacco blend. In fact, to me this is one of the first perique blends that you can taste the perique edge without the blend being either harsh or sharpe. Other scented va./perique blends may mask the perique.

I was told by one Texas tobacco proprietor back then that Mike Butera was trying to capture in this blend the tradition, not exact flavor or strength, of the then extinct Escudo. Having tried several tins of the re-introduced Escudo since then, I believe that is a fair statement (the newer Escudo to me is sweeter with more virginias and only slightly spicy with a perique note).

Kingfisher has burley too, so it has more heft but not the sweetness of a straight virginia blend. If you don't react well with burley, this blend may not be for you. Once you get the flavor in your pipe, this blend seems as natural with perique as can be. The perique is not at all overwhelming as C&D's Exclusive mixture can be, but to me the perique flavor comes through in every puff of Kingfisher. Being from Louisiana, I like it. But I admit the overall flavor is not as complex as Pease's Haddo's Delight. It doesn't have to be, especially if aged a wee bit.

To me, it is spicier than Edgeworth flake, stronger than MacBaren's sweeter Navy Flake, competitive with Orlik's Dark Strong Kentucky, and just plain different from Peterson's University Flake, all of which have varous degrees of burley in them.

I am smoking a tin of Kingfisher which has aged for several years now (with more in cellar). About the same but, as expected, with more of a perique nose and taste and a little bit more strength. Just slightly fuller overall. I would say a new tin would be more of a medium, so if you like a straight tobacco and want a note of perique there, try a tin of this. It's dry smoking, biteless, and cool. It is spicy, more bitter than sweet, but has a very interesing natural taste. It goes best in a small pipe, especially if aged some. Not all like the indoor aroma.

My first experience with "crumble cake" since Bengal Slices, which would not stay lit worth a damn. This one lights well, stays lit well and provides a steady flavor, although the flavor is more Burley than Virginia or Perique. In short, just a bit disappointing. The quality is very high, but it simply lacks enough taste to keep me coming back.

Tin Aroma: The combination of Burley and Perique in this blend combine to form a rather odd smell. It took me some time to be able to pin down anything that this smells like, and the best I can come up with; soured fruit, is a poor attempt. There is a dusky heady scent that is almost impossible to quantify, but is very intriguing.

Physical Characteristics: This is called, on the tin, "double cut krumble kake", and that may just be the best way to describe it, unless you want something more blunt, in which case, "pressed cube cut" would do. Smallish flakes, packed in a 2oz tin, these rub out to a nice cube at the slightest provocation. Once rubbed out, they pack nicely, easily filling a bowl in such a manner as to provide a nice even burn throughout.

Notes: If there is a continium of Burley/Perique blends, Edgeworth Slices is at one end (bright and lively) and this is at the other end (dark and strong). I enjoy both, and would probably enjoy any Burley blend, given half a chance. As with any cube cut blend, the possibility to pack too tightly is greatly enhanced, as is your chance of accidentaly inhaling a small globule of flaming tobacco, but once the avoidance of these two situations is mastered, this is a delightful blend. I find myself smoking this more in the evening than in the morning, as I find it's heavier character more appealing then. This is also a good Autumn blend for those of us living in climates warm enough to make our beloved Latakia uncomfortable to smoke in Summer.

Verdict: A solid additio nto tthe smoking repetoire of any Burley/Perique fan, and one I heartily endorse!

A krumble kake-style cut blend of virginias, burleys, and perique. It's a fairly light blend that is generous on the burley, which gives it a slightly nutty, musty taste at first. The virginias add a bit of sweetness from the first light, but as you pass the one-third point the virginias build strength and (when combined with the burley flavors) create a noticeable toasted-almonds and raspberry-honey flavor and complementary aroma, like a nice aged champagne. The perique keeps the virginia's acidity under control and provides a balancing sourness to add additional complexity.



Like most burley blends, Kingfisher really responds well if you dedicate a pipe to it -- burley is so mild that the constant seasoning the pipe receives really helps bring out the flavor and complexity, while smoking anything else in the pipe can easily overwhelm the burley's flavors. Kingfisher's toasted-almond and raspberry-and-honey flavors really started jumping out at me after I'd run about a tin through my Radice kingfisher pipe.



This blend is a wonderful summer smoke (I'm in Houston where "summer" means 100+ degF), and is mild enough for all-day smoking.



WARNING! Do not smoke this in a latakia pipe as the resulting flavor is pretty nasty. Dedicate a pipe to it, or smoke it in a fresh cob.

Kingfisher was my favorite tobacco for about two months a few years back. I love the lemon-like musty smell in the tin. It is sold under the Butera name but is made by Germain in the British Isles, the same factory as Penzance and is similar in it's krumble cake form which is very fill friendly and compact. the taste is very elusive and can be somewhat addictive at first. It is a good Burley-Perique smoke but make sure you smoke it fresh, because the taste gets very harsh when it drys out. A good change of pace for the English smoker that needs a break from Latakia for a while. And I cannot say that Kingfisher reminds me of anything else, except maybe a milder version of Three Nuns. Recommended. Arnold Smith