Butera Kingfisher

I am happy to have smoked this fine blend. It has a gentle and also full creamy taste. The tobacco leafs mixed in this blend are of the best quality. A nice natural tobacco aroma comes out when the tin is opened. This combination of Virginia, Burley and Perique is a very nice one. The taste is mostly a nutty one comes from the Burley and keeps in a very great harmony with the Virginia's sweetness and Perique's peppery touch. Easy to pack and light it and there is no tongue bite, just a fine smoking experience. Goes so well while drinking a coffee. It has a medium nicotine level. The crumble cake flakes of Kingfisher are giving a complex smoking experience that gives pleasure to the pipe smoker who will smoke it slowly and calm. Since this blend is no longer in production, I just hope one day to be back again. It is a lovely tobacco, a Kingfisher "tobacco bird" that with it's excellent and tasty pipe smoking "colors" will keep you happy while smoking your pipe with it!

Around a year has passed since I was able to find this tobacco, and my last tin has been gone about as long. I have missed it ever since.

What did I like so much about this blend?

The crumble cake - it wasn't a flake, but it came in the shape of one. The tobacco disintegrated into the bowl. It was a soft cake not unlike penzance.

The note in the tin was like none other. To me it smelled like red wine, but it wasn't flavored, just earthy tobacco. It had a tartness to it that I can't describe or find in another tobacco.

The smoke varied for me between cedar-like burley notes a la MacBaren London Blend and a spicy perique-ness. The tin note also translated nicely to the side stream.

The nicotine hit was sufficient. It was one of the most unique tobaccos around, and I will remember it fondly.

I know I sound like a wing nut but this was good s**t.

This wonderful Krumble Kake has been around for quite some time, but it is one of the more rare tobaccos to be able to find. The smell is wonderfully natural, yeast like, savory in the tin and the waxed paper was oily upon opening. This breaks apart so easily and packs very well also, loosely packed in the bowl when dried some this comes to life with flame. The amount of smoke produced is impressive and the perique makes itself known quite well in the beginning. The VAs are quite nicely on par with the perique and you have a wonderful blend that delivers full body (burley helping here) and moderate strength. I have not seen any of this online for years, so if you do by chance see some, snatch it up and I think you will be well rewarded. I did not know this was discontinued, after speaking with a shop owner I trust he indicated it is simply very hard to find and production is low. So I'm not sure if its off or on in small quantities. A very good blend to be sure, whether here or gone. TYLJFSM

The idea of a high class fisherman being cast upon the jetties of misfortune has been a curse that many have had the displeasure of encountering throughout time. This unfortunately has been the curse befallen upon myself and my crew. My name is Jeremy Waid; extreme angler, writer, adventurer and little known to the rest of the fishing community, an extreme flatulentist. It started with my trip to India to catch the legendary Serang Catfish. Upon landing in the airport I was not happily received by the locals. I began my acquisition on the Serang by interviewing the locals when I had came upon an Indian witchcraft, voodoo, gypsy shaman woman. At fist she tried to sell me her first born granddaughter but I was only interested in fish. My camera man was upset that I turned down this offer, so naturally he took her for himself. He was a bastard and I had always wished that Animals Planet would fire his arse. Besides this point she proceeded to tell me that the Serang was protected by their gibberjabber Hindu myths and that I would never be able to catch it. Fueled with rage and desire to disprove her, that's when it happened. I silently expelled wind so fowl from my nether regions that my crew and the gypsy woman took notice. "Why have you expelled this fowl stench?!" The Gypsy woman said. I immediately turned to her "Whoever smelt it, dealt it, you stupid old hag!"; the crew and I laughed, but the gypsy woman took slight to my false accusation, thus placing a curse on my head that I should forever more be he who dealt it... Soon after this we set out to the river to begin my research. I made sure to fish with only the finest bait known to fishing legends, river pizza. The local Durkadominos had been happy to oblige my journey and provided me with enough to catch enough fish to feed a small village, but at a high price. It didn't matter for the amount of money I made through this television series was enough to cover any expense, including local brothels. Fishing being my number one passion, women were my second. I hold records for monster fish size and also monster man size. People would often look at my face and think that I was a bastard. Who am I to tell them wrong. A few hours into fishing I had no bites, only the sound of starving children and water rippling. I had started to think that the old hag was correct. But I would not give up so easily. Then it happened, another flatulent event that filled the ozone with my putrid stench, must have been the saffron seasoned eggs this morning. With my camera crew nearly passing out, the fish started to jump into the air to make contact with what they thought was food. It was the curse, my flatulence had now become a dangerous weapon, but a weapon that I could use to my advantage. I quickly re-cast my line and hooked a river monster the size of a small car. This was my crowning glory, I had caught the Serang. I had landed the beast and witnessed the ugly mug upon its face, it appeared to look like my brother Jordan Waid. I hated him. I remembered how he would dangle his boy jewels in front of me whenever he would out fish me as children. May his soul rot forever. I made sure that we took as many photographs to not be forgotten. To celebrate I lit my army made Peterson pipe with some Kingfisher tobacco and enjoy the sweet mild aroma mixed with the stench of my hindquarters. So I leave it to the viewer to determine whether I am an extreme angler or now, an extreme farter. You decide. Jeremy Waid, signing off.

I have just returned from my pipe club's monthly meeting (7/30/02) where I tried my first-ever bowl of Kingfisher. I do like virginia/burley combinations, but am hesitant about trying blends with perique added.

Having said the above, I actually found Kingfisher to be an absolute knockout. A true bell ringer and it reeked of quality leaf that provided a ton of depth. It is a krumble cake very similar to Penzance in that regard. It looked rich in the tin and had a burley smell more so than anything else. At first light I did get a mild dose of the peppery perique. After several puffs however, the Louisiana product gave way to the subtle pleasures of a well aged and refined burley/Virginia mix. It smoked cool and mostly dry all the way to the bottom of the bowl. The perique did reappear near the end of the smoke, but not overwhelmingly so. One of the finest blends I've ever smoked and I bet it will age beautifully!

I have been trying to find someone with this blend in stock for over six months. Tinderbox almost sent it to me, then apologized over the phone that it was a glitch on the website. Last week I got an email from Iwan Ries that it was in stock so I had them send me three tins. The shipping was fast but I spent those two days wondering if it was worth the trouble.

Turns out it was. I could probably live a full and relatively happy life if I'm naught able to get anymore, but I'd prefer it if I were able to. I noticed a few reviewers did mention something I thought was weird too, the tin wasn't really sealed, I mean I got the lid off with my bare hands and one of them in a sling at that. Still, the tin presentation was fantastic, that figgy smell of aged Virginias, or of aged Virginias like Hal O the Wynd ( That vinegary ketchup smell of Mc Cleland Virginia always puts me off a bit) Chocaltely krumble kake flakes with flecks of gold, and all still pretty moist. I rubbed out a few flakes and let them dry. My most curious dog kept sniffing at my fingers and licking them (some tobaccos he cowers from like he cowers from Gin or Vodka. It's Va/Pers and Beer for that dog).

I smoked the first bowl in a fairly large Castello Sea Rock billiard, not usually my first choice, but the doc said rest your shoulder, so I had a long movie and only one hand to watch it with. The slightly dried krumble kake burned well and the taste stayed interesting, not complex, but interesting, more like Casablanca than Donnie Darko (sorry, be told to rest for two weeks now, watching a lot of movies) familiar and engaging, but not surprising. I half expected the burly to ruin it for me as I'm not overly fond of burly, I don't hate it, it just reminds me of hot sauce, something used to cover the poorer quality of the ingredients. No, it acted more like a Bass guitar in this trio, underlining the beat, not taking a solo.

This is the Va/Per equivalent of Special Latakia Flake from Germain and though I didn't research as the gentleman before me, if I were wagering on taste and presentation alone I'd say this blend was made by JF Germain. Not to step on any sacred cows here, but I think Special Latakia Flake may be the best latakia flake out there for combining strength and balance. Certainly the best that's hard to get a hold of. Again, not having researched as Sounds7 (who may not be a gentleman after all, I mean that in the objective sense, not as an insult) it is out of sheer optimism that I expect we haven't seen the last of this blend or the other fine blend from germain.

I'll also confess that one of my main motivations originally for hunting Kingfisher down, besides the reviews here and idle curiosity, was the tin art. Even with limited space and forcing myself not to get all pack ratty, it's a tin I'll keep.

The second bowl was smoked in a fairly narrow, tight, and small Tim West Dublin. Burned well, maintained my interest still. I have yet to find a pipe in my rotation that won't smoke this tobacco well. I'm giving it for stars, one star is for the difficulty of the routine; finding it. Although loathe to recommend solely on my tastes alone, I can't imagine anyone who enjoys a Va/per and has a curious palate regretting having this in their cellar or rotation.

"Originally blended by J.F. Germain in UK, then by McClelland in US, then now by Peter Stokkebye in Denmark." I dont know where the person that added this description gets his information but Butera as of 02/27/2011 is still being blended as it always has been in the UK by J.F. Germain. My brand new tins that came from a couple different etailers say made in Jersey, British isles on both the front and back sticker.

Ted Swearingen of Smokingpipes,com had this to add : "No reason to think that this isn't being made by Germain. Consider that of all the blends offered on Butera's own line, the two made by Germain have been consistently unavailable and one (Kingfisher) just happened to return with Esoterica and Germain offerings from the same distributor. I don't think it's a coincidence."

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To read more here is a link: http://www.puff.com/forums/vb/general-pipe- forum/285382-kingfisher-question.html

Based on this information I have requested to tobaccoreviews.com that the description be changed to reflect the truth about this fine tobacco product.Oh and speaking of the truth, yes it is still being made and all the talk of it being discontinued is just that-"talk"

As for kingfisher and my thoughts/ratings: it is a wonderfully smooth, brilliant tasting tobacco made from old tried and true processes by a British company known for such classics as Esoterica Stonehaven,Penzance and Brown flake and Special Latakia Flake. Kingfisher ranks up there with all of them IMO and is a very unique obacco experience. it is no wonder it is so rare and hard to find. 4 out of 4 stars

Tin Note: Dark brown bits and chunks (after rubbing). A lot of finer particles here too. The smell is primarily darker VAs.

Packing: I let this dry just a tad. It packs very easily. I was careful not to over pack. I left some of the chunky bits chunky.

First Impression: I was surprised by how much of the flavor is actually from the burley. It is quite nutty, with a good bit of VA flavor there too. Well balanced and very tasty. If there's perique here it's not coming through very strong.

Halfway Through Bowl: This is some real tasty stuff. It's not very complex, but there is plenty to keep me interested. Seems a perfect marriage of VA and burley. It is the platonic form of a vabur, as far as I am concerned. Maybe there is some perique, but it's contribution is as an undertone.

End of Bowl: Surprisingly, this did not get harsh at all. It is a cool smoke (thanks to the burley, no doubt). It is pleasant all the way to the finish. Typical levels of dottle, and not excessively moist dottle at that.

Room Note: Probably OK, but hard to say.

Likes: Great flavor - nutty and a little sweet. Well balanced. Burns well too. Avoids harshness.

Dislikes: I'm out of it. I need to get more with my next tobacco order, no doubt.

This has got to be my favorite pipe tobacco.

First, the cut is magnificent - the tobacco crumbles neatly into a bowl and has a supple texture that allows a few slices to simply fall into the bowl and reduce to rubble. It lights better than anything and instantly rewards with a peppery how-do-you-do from St. James Perish.

This tobacco is best smoked when well packed. On the light it will be coy and subtle - almost nutty. Then as I smoke it, the flavor dynamic darkens drastically. I find myself always tamping it down and being rewarded with ever increasing depths that are exquisite in the back draft and sinuses. Some have noted a musty character in this blend and I think that's quite accurate. I am reminded of a fine cheese when I think of KingFisher. I have always smoked this in my cheap but reliable small-bowl, well caked, bent-apple Duca Carlo. Some other reviews indicate that a well caked small pipe helps this one achieve its full potential.

It's got a satisfying smoke and a wonderful texture that keeps me coming back for more. I can not speak highly enough of this tobacco. It's the only thing I've given four stars to.