Tobaccos Butera - Sweet Cavendish (Royal Vintage)

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2014-09-15		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

A black and brown sticky mess in the tin with ribbons and larger chunkier pieces. Typical aromatic smell that I can't place... caramel or nougat or some such. This was gifted to me from someone who regarded it as a huge step up from the usual Lane or Sutliff aromatics. A step up, to be sure, but not to that extent, IMHO. I smoked 5 bowls, which is plenty to figure out an aro - they tend not to hide too much.

This came pretty wet but I found I did not need to dry it out much. Naturally I did so with one bowl but it didn't smoke much dryer and what flavor it did have went AWOL. So I smoked it pretty much at tin moisture. Interestingly enough, amidst the usual candy corn casing, was some actual tobacco taste. Not a lot but it was there. And it smoked much drier than its feel between thumb and fingers would indicate. No odd chemical taste as I find with most aromatics, but just not enough overall flavor to suit me. And as is typical, it's hard to place the flavor because of its artificial nature. But this is one of the better aromatics I've smoked - not on par with those from Steve Books or the "higher quality" ones such as C&D's Autumn Evening or McClellands own #2050, but I rank those as such because of the tobacco taste they impart as well as the casing. If you love aros, this may throw you for a slight loop, but you'll recover nicely. If you just want something to please company and don't want it to be too goopy, this should be on your short list.

Age When Smoked: New

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3025)	2015-08-07		Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

The lightly grassy, toasty, citrusy Virginias can be tasted some, and have a whiff of the “vinegar” that doesn’t last. There’s some dark fruitiness from them and a touch of earth, too. The black cavendish has some sugar and vanilla and perhaps a touch of cocoa. I’m not sure where the latter note comes from. I taste some caramel in the topping as well as another sweet flavor I can’t identify. Has a very mild nic-hit. Needs some dry time, burns a bit wet and will leave moisture in the bowl, as well as some dottle if you are a wet smoker. The flavor is consistent to the finish, and it has a nice after taste and room note. Won’t bite. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Young Piper (304)	2016-03-17		Very Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

This is a very unique aromatic! The use of McClelland's Orange and Red Virginia's really make SC stand out since aromatics usually emply cheap leaf, typically black Cavendish and cheap burley but SC is heads above most Lane blends since it contains McClelland's wonderful Virginias. The casing is divine both in tin aroma and when burning, sure to entertain a room full of non smokers and throughout the tin never bit me or overwhelmed me. I am not sure what the flavoring is but perhaps vanilla and cocoa. Butera is a master at creating masterpiece blends that contain superb leaf. A great choice for someone wanting to upgrade from Lane aromatics and for new smokers skip the Captain Blacks and try this first, it's very forgiving of technique.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	musicman (131)	2013-10-13		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

I think this is a very nice aromatic. I feel its strongest point is the fact that it does not have a certain flavor tied to its name. When a tobacco is named cherry this, or chocolate that, you spend the entire time looking for the cherry and or chocolate flavors. This detracts from the experience, as sometimes they are nice tobaccos but we aren't impressed because it wasn't exactly a cherry taste.

The ambiguity of the name of this blend allows me to enjoy it without searching for some flavor I cant find. It is sweet, but has a really nice tobacco flavor. It smells great in the tin and even better in the pipe.

This is a typical aromatic in that it is sticky and will leave your pipe goopy at the bottom. This did burn remarkably well considering how moist it was. This is really nice with a decent tobacco taste underneath the casing. Would recommend to anyone, and think most people with an aromatic aversion should give this a try.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Captain Pete (83)	2007-09-18		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

If you are a non-aromatic smoker, and especially if you dislike aromatics, do not bet on this being something tolerable. It is moist, sticky, and sweet. Though certainly of superior quality to the drugstore aromatics, it is an aromatic all the same. It does have a hint of the charactaristic McClelland ketchup, which actually makes for a weird aromatic. I got this as a sample from a local B&M, the gentleman there exclaiming that it really wasn't like a typical aromatic; that even he, who hated aromatics, was enjoying it. I'm not sure if this was all a practical joke, or if he has gone completely off his nut, but this is a very typical aromatic. If you like aromatics, it will provide a little more contrast than you are used to, as it does taste more like tobacco than candy. If you detest aromatics, as I do, then you would do well to steer clear of this stuff.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2002-04-21		Very Mild	Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

With more than 20 years of aging in the tin, this tobacco was still moist upon popping the lid. Exceptional deep and rich flavor from the Virginia leaf combined with a totally saturated and pleasant casing made this an aromatic to enjoy!

I will say that if you know an aromatic fan, give him a tin of this and you will have a friend for life! It smokes cool for an aromatic, and the tobacco will no doubt remain moist for eons.

Pipe Used: Perry White Canadian

Age When Smoked: 1992 tin

Purchased From: Private

Similar Blends: Captain Black White.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-05-19		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

This is a good tobac to have on hand for those times you just need a little sweet in your bowl. This is one of the very few and far between aromatics I'll allow to touch my pipes and I enjoy it for a change of pace from my standard VA, VA/Perique and Balkan blends.

If I'm going out for an evening and am intending on enjoying a pipe in a public situation, I'll make sure to take a small pouch of Sweet Cavendish along with my everyday smoke... this comes in very handy when one needs to disarm the most anti of the anti-smoking folks. There's nothing quite like seeing one who ordinarily sneers when someone 50 feet away lights up a cigarette begin to gush and snuffle at the air like a pig locating a truffle when I fire up a bowl of this blend. Recommended... but only if it suits your taste buds.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-04-04		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Contrary to some of the reviews here, I have found this tobacco to be very nice. When I'm in the mood for an aromatic I reach for this blend. It's nothing extraordinary, but that's what I like about it. It's a reliable blend, pleasant flavor, easy to smoke. The smell in the can is more than pleasant, everyone loves it.

Not to mention that my last name is Butera, so I find it quite nostalgic :)

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Hemlock (65)	2004-12-11		Medium to Strong	Very Strong	Medium	Very Pleasant

As a relatively novice pipe tobacco enthusiast, I found this aromatic to be quite a pleasure. Maybe I am not a "purist" or a connoiseur yet, but this is my honest opinion. Recognizing that this tobacco has been blended to be a pure cavendish, I judged it based on the purported characteristics of sweetness, room note and novelty. It burns well with a caramel-chocolate nut flavour, a little smokey due to the heavy casing, but with the strong aroma of sweetness that will appeal to co-inhabitants in the room. The smoke is very light and moves quickly in the rooms-not dense or thick, without tongue-bite. Sometimes, the pleasure of a pipe is being able to enjoy gentle draws of the briar bowl with the hearty acceptance of the fairer sex and colleagues in the same room. This tobacco may be crossing the line of excessive sweetness for those purists who insist on a tobacco flavour foundation, but if judged on intent of this blend, I give it a top rating as cavendish.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-01-21		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

As opposed to many others, I've got to say that this blend is good. If you don't like aromatics, you'll hate this. If you like aromatics, this will be fairly decent.

SO, on to the review.

Tin - It smelled good on opening, but definitely cased in something that had vanilla and some sort of fruitiness. Looks really attractive.

Packing - packed well, but I needed to light twice after the charring light in order to get it tight enough. Once lit it stayed until the last 3rd of the bowl.

Room note : chocolate/nutty

Taste : First third was fairly unremarkable. The second third a definite sweetness was apparent. The final third developed a harshness, normal to most aromatics, but not as harsh as the local cherry blends.

Aftertaste : mild, not as bad as most aromatics.

So, enjoy.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-04-03		Mild	Strong	Mild	Tolerable

I am not much of an aromatic smoker, though I can appreciate them. I don't think Sweet Cavendish has much going for it though. It's best feature is the look of the tobacco in the tin. It looks very silky and luxurious. It's all downhill from there. The tin aroma smells like a cross between vanilla, cafe mocha and Pepsi cola. It's not exactly a bad aroma, though not an extremely special one either. It lights like a heavily cased aromatic - slowly and you can hear the tobacco sizzle as the casing and PG burn of. This slight sizzle continues through much of the bowl -though it seems to smoke dryer than you'd expect. The taste is very one dimensional, in fact I could go as far as to describe it as boring. The flavor is hard to describe. One reviewer described it as a caramel-ish flavor. I can buy that -though it seems a bit flat for caramel. The virginias never seem to poke their heads above the surface, they remain dominated by the flavored cavendish. As I smoked it I kind of though of the mystery casing of Frog Morton and wondered if there was not some of this flavor in the Frog. Of coruse the Frog has so much else going for it.... but I wonder, after all this is blended (I believe) by McClelland too. Anyhow, I wouldn't recommend Sweet Cavendish to anyone -not even those who like aromatics. I have smoked many aromatics which burned, tasted and smelled better than this. Why smoke this?????

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-03-26		Very Mild	Very Strong	Very Mild	Tolerable to Strong

First of all, I enjoy many aromatics. A well done, high-quality blend can be tasty when not overwhelmed by the casing. This particular aromatic, however, is not of the type I generally enjoy. It may very well be based on high-quality tobacco; I don’t know. But if you can’t taste it through the casing, why bother using the good stuff as a base? I'm somewhat surprised, on opening the tin, to note that the aroma is not very strong; I'm used to C&D-style aromatics that you can smell through two concrete walls. Though subdued, I can smell a sweet flavor, perhaps vanilla-like(?), certainly not fruity. I don't notice any tobacco aroma. The tobacco itself appeared very damp, almost translucent in the light, and is somewhat sticky, much more so than Frog Morton. It is a roughly equal mix of black and brown leaf in a medium cut. It does light fairly easily, accompanied by more snapping and sizzling than a bowl of rice crispies. I chose a 1/2 bent Edwards billiard that I often use for aromatics, and that usually smokes on the dry side. For the first 1/3 of the bowl, that flavor is sweet and mild, with little actual tobacco apparent. I also found, from the first puff, that I'd have to be careful with this one: there is some bite if I'm not careful. There's a "sharp" feeling on the tongue, not at all like the bite from Virginias, combined with a burnt-caramel flavor and odor. It also smokes fairly hot at first, and seems to require a larger then average number of relights. Into the second third of the bowl, the burnt-caramel sweetness is still going strong. I don't really notice much tobacco flavor, though the hints that I do catch through the casing are very mild. I believe that some of the sweetness is coming from the Virginias in the blend. The smoke tickles the nose when exhaling through it, though it's not an unpleasant sensation. Moving on to the last third, that biting, burnt taste on the tongue is still there, though minimized by careful puffing. The sweet caramel is still going strong, and shows no signs of burning off. There is a little additional complexity at the very bottom. Surprisingly, at the bottom there is very little moisture; I would have expected to find a puddle. The dampness in the tobacco seems to burn off in smoking. This is not a bad smoke, and the room aroma is pleasant. However, the dull, mild sweetness would get boring very quickly, and it's almost not worth the effort to avoid the bite. Overall, too mild and one-dimensional for me to use regularly, even if there was no bite problem. I would not recommend this blend to new smokers, due to the care required to smoke it. It’s OK, I suppose, as a once-in-a-while change of pace.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-04-28		Mild	Medium to Strong	Full	Strong

I love the aroma this one leaves in my living room. This tobacco is very sweet, and cool. A pleasing, non offensive aroma ensures this to be the perfect blend to smoke after coming home from a nice dinner with the wife, or when having over a lady of interest. If you love aromatics, do try!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-06-10		Mild	Medium	Mild	Pleasant

This is a perfectly pleasant mostly black cavendish aromatic blend, in the same family as Captain Cool, or Lane's BCA. If you likely strongly cased aromatic blends you'll appreciate it. If not, not. When choosing among American style aromatics of this family I'd say price will be your deciding factor.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-04-20		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

Promised a lot in the tin, and when opened the aroma felt great.

Still, didnt keep up the high expectation i had, after lighting. Tobacco came a bit too wet for my taste, causing an excessive number of relights, and a lot of sizzling. Smoked a bit too wet and needed a constant and slow draw, or self i would suffer from tongue bite for hours.

As for the taste and for the smoke itself, an almost fruity, nice sweet taste from the beggining till the end of the bowl, but nothing more than that all the way. Quite like a monocordic song that you hear and repeats itself from time to time, in your head.

Even for a newbie like me, looking for different smokes after a few years on cuban cigars, couldnt help getting a bit disapointed on what promised to be a good trip on the wings of a nice cavendish, but turned out to be a boring trip.

Just going to end this tin, and dont plan to buy it again.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tantric (321)	2003-03-17		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Pleasant

A tobacco very much along the lines of Captain Black white label and Lane Ltd. 1Q, this is a heavily cased, damp aromatic blend, a bit excessive for my tastes. I was presented with a tin of this by sister in law and as I smoked a bowlful she herself became wobbly from the aroma. It is soft and mild, but if smoked hastily it can lead to tongue bite.

A quality product, I don?t think however there is anything special to set it apart from most Viginaia/Black Cavendish blends.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-07-29		Medium	Strong	Medium	Very Pleasant

This is the kind of tobacco that you smoke around women when you want to create that special atmosphere for love. Other than that this tobacco is is foul. This may be the gooeyest tobacco I ever tried. So wet that even after leaving the tin open for a week it was still so sticky that it was hard to pack because of the syrup (I hate to call it a casing) poured on it. It is so wet that it was difficult to smoke beyond 2/3's down the bowl. Rejected.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-05-21		Strong	Medium	Full	Tolerable

This tobacco seems to be mostly cavendish and dark virginias help it burn through the heavy casing. This blend is remarkably oily (almost soggy) in the tin, and doesn't dry out much. In a briar it tastes excessively sweet and a bit musty.

Butera (who's a real meerschaum freak) designed this blend for coloring Meers, and as oily as it is it really does need the absorbency of a meerschaum. I recently bought a Bekler meershaum, and have discovered that in this pipe it is really a nice smoke. It's quite strong, but the sogginess is gone which lets the tobacco tastes come through nicely. I have seen some meerschaum pipes colored with it, and must say the results are impressive. (Edit 2010 - I should mention that within about 6 months of frequent bowls of Sweet Cavendish, this meerschaum - a Bekler egg/claw - had colored to a rich deep chocolatey purple. I haven't smoked it in years now, but the speed with which it colored was amazing, and the depth and richness of the color are something to behold. Too bad I can't post a photo of it here).

Highly recommended for meerschaum, not recommended for briars.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	craig61a (22)	2021-09-20		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

I enjoy a quality aromatic now and then, and this McClelland blend does not disappoint.

I gave it about 1/2 hour dry time at 70f/42% humidity. There's a nice sweetness on the front end, with some sweet grassy Virginia on the finish. The topping does sublimate the tobaccos in the first half of the bowl, but it's not overpowering, and it's well done, similar to a European aro.

I get a chocolate, vanilla, cherry flavor from the topping which I enjoy. Not quite as pronounced as Cult Blood Red Moon. And it also has a similarity to Sillem's Copenhagen, without the Amaretto flavor.

At the halfway mark the Virginia becomes more prominent. It has a lightly grassy, sweet, biscuit character of a bright Virginia. The topping sort of morphs into more of a caramel flavor.

Average relights, a little dampness in the bowl. I'm sipping Bourbon while I smoke this and it's a great combo.

Obviously this has been out of production for several years, but I bought a bunch of tins on a sale back then.

To recap, It's an Aromatic... with some age on it, it gets better as you smoke down the bowl.

Pipe Used: Sasieni St. Andrews

Age When Smoked: 4.5 years old

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rustedrailsmokes (293)	2019-10-14		Mild	Strong	Mild	Very Pleasant

I came across some tins at a local BM and picked it up knowing that it was produced by McClellan.

Tin was dated 2017. Tobacco is 2/3 black and about a third lighter. Tin note is sweet to me a Carmel note. Tobacco is slightly sticky from the casing.

Easy to pack. Takes the flame and seems to burn well in a variety of shapes. When lit I got a little of the traditional McC vinegar in the background. Topnote is sweet and reminds me of Holiday Spirit. It remains through the bowl.

The room note like Holiday Spirit is a crowd pleaser. I actually get compliments from the wife and non smokers at work.

Could be an all day smoke. Alas now out of production and hard to find.

Pipe Used: Cobs and a variety of briars

Age When Smoked: Tinned 2017

Purchased From: Puff n stuff

Similar Blends: McClelland - 2017 Holiday Spirit.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	donk93953 (29)	2005-09-03		Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

Ya know if u r trying to wean yourself away from the heavy flavoring and casings of Captain Black-land, this tobacco is a positive step. Its mild and very nice......I wouldnt smoke it all the time, but when I want something somewhat sweet and aromatic..I'd grab this again

Nobody has rated this review yet.