Peter Stokkebye Toasted Burley (No. 312)

The burley is very nutty and earthy with a little cocoa and a touch of molasses. I think a judicious casing of sugar is present to smooth out potential rough edges. The strength and taste levels are in the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is a hair past mild. No chance of bite or harshness is present. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a one dimensional, consistent flavor. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasant after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke, and a very good mixer as it won’t wear out your taste buds.

-JimInks

This is as fine of a Burley as I've ever had in my pipes including Solani. The toasting process must make a significant impact. Not a trace of bitterness and no rough edges. The flavor profile is nutty as in almonds and coconut. There is also a wonderful robust syrupy sweetness that coats the palate. No tongue bite here and an excellent room note. Highly recommended

Peter Stokkebye - Toasted Burley (No. 312).

It's quite a well rubbed flake, mainly robust ribbons, but one or two chunkier pieces of flake. Medium brown in colour, the moisture's good, and other than hay, the pouch-note only implies a very mild sweetness.

No. 312 would make a great 'any time of day' smoke. It's nothing fancy, or flashy, but a decent, steady, blend. Right from the start it burns well, giving a cool smoke. To me, the flavour's one of nuts, with a subtle sweetness, and a gentle chocolate note appearing after about a third. Yes, it's nothing flashy, but I guess that's the nature of the beast: it's still as good a Burley as any I've piped!

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: although it's simple, I think it's lovely.

No. 312: An top quality Burley. Four stars:

Highly recommended.

This tobacco is presented in a very nice and tidy broken flake cut very similar to some of Mac Baren's. The room-note evokes molasses and caramelized sugar whereas the tin-note has a very pronounced smell of twelve night bread and candied fruit. The smoking experience is quite pleasing with zesty undertones from the virginia leaf and nutty hints from the burley. This blend might surprise you as it is sweater than you would've expected from a burley based tobacco. I think it is best described as a platypus in between dark fired and air cured burley leaf. With all due caution, it somewhat reminds me of Solani's Burley Flake. On the downside, I'd say It does not seem to evolve as you progress with your smoke, the topping is quite noticeable and it kind of nips at your tongue at times. Nice smoke though it is, I am not quite sure I can give it a four stars rating because of this.

Edit 19/12/2017

I am upgrading this to 4 stars. I have been smoking this tobacco for over a week now and my appreciation of it has changed.

My pouch of Toasted Burley appears to be more of a ready rubbed than a broken flake, although that could simply be from the bulk storage. The pouch scent is very mild and a little sweet and a little earthy. It needed some dry time and I didn’t rub it out any further for the bowls that I smoked. In the pipe is lightly sweet, with a little cocoa, but that is likely more from the Burley and not added cocoa flavoring. I can’t say what the added flavor is but it doesn’t overpower the blend. In the pouch is appeared to be a good quality and I find that in the smoke too. There are none of the negatives that can be associated with some Burley’s. There is no harshness and no bitterness at all. It’s much more nutty than earthy in flavor. There is no complexity, but I didn’t expect that there would be. There is just some added strength as each bowl progresses, but overall this is mild to medium in strength. I also like the fact that it doesn’t burn hot. This is the third bulk Stokkebye blend that I have tried recently (the others being Dutch Cavendish and Turkish Export) and I have been impressed with each one thus far. This is great on its own as an all-day smoke for Burley lovers, and would also be a great blend to add some body and sweetness to a blend.

This bulk blend comes as a sort of fine broken flake, light brown in color. A pretty nice and fairly mild maple syrup and hay scent.

I have been smoking this stuff on and off for over a year, but never gave it much thought, other than that it hit the spot once in a while. It's lightly sweet, burns without a fuss, and has a moderate nicotine content. As such, I usually smoked it when I was in a rush or active, on the mower, cutting wood, walking around, and almost always smoked it in one of my cobs that sometimes doesn't quite make it out of the weather, occasionally gets a fresh filter, and is well ghosted by all manner of Virginias, English, OTC blends, and various aromatics. In other words I don't give it much of chance.

But back to the smoke. A fairly light but consistent sweetness and a lightly toasted component. It never seems to really hit the nuttiness of some burleys but maybe a hint of coconut sometimes. You hit it a little harder and anise pops up, as does some propylene glycol even though moisture content always seems spot on. At times it seems like a rich cigarette, which is little surprise given that this is burley. The smoke quality is pretty decent, probably due to PG, but it is fairly smooth.

What is this then? I think ultimately it is really a scaled up version of some of the OTC blends made better through the quality of the tobacco and less reliance on the chemistry set. I guess ulitmately it is probably closest to a Prince Albert but lacks the nutty and cocoa notes of that tobacco. This is just good enough to maybe rate 2.5 stars, but suffers from the synthetic burn and a rather one note profile.

This blend comes in the form of a ready-rubbed Burley flake which has been lightly toasted and soaked in something with coconut, vanilla, and possibly cocoa flavorings, but they are very light influences on what is basically a sugar syrup. It reminds me of an Agave syrup I once tried to cook with in that it is just a tad too sweet. The Burley gives off its usual roasted almonds flavor, and the additional topping after at first biting nastily settles down into an aftertaste to that. This is a great blend that despite being very light on the sauce, needs to be even lighter on the sauce, and then it will be truly top-notch.

PS Toasted Burley is pretty much as described above. It's a broken flake burley that has a mild to medium nicotine hit. The aroma of the unlit tobacco is typical of burleys. It lights easily and burns slowly, requiring few relights. So, how does it taste?

Let me begin by stating that I'm not a fan of straight burley tobacco. Most that I have tried are rather one dimensional. The better ones deliver some cocoa notes and a little sweetness. PSTB is, IMO, not one of the better ones. Instead of cocoa, I get burnt coffee and acrid wood smoke. There is some sweetness, but I believe it is in the casing rather than the tobacco. There is also an underlying bitterness that the casing does not completely disguise.

I can imagine that PSTB would make a good base tobacco if blended with some sweet Virginias and an even sweeter topping. However, as a straight smoke, i can't recommend it to anyone but a burley lover. To me, it's just too bitter and uninteresting.

UPDATE: I've smoked this tobacco in several different pipes and learned that this has a significant effect on the quality of the smoke. It tastes best in a narrow, deep bowl. It's also important to control one's smoking tempo. If pushed, it tends to taste bitter but, smoked slowly, it's much sweeter and better tasting. I still don't taste the cocoa flavor that burleys often display. Rather, it reminds me more of a cavendish tobacco. I've also blended it with some other tobaccos. Mixed 1:1 with PS Luxury Navy Flake, its makes for a great smoking experience. Based on this, I've upped my rating to Recommended.

A no regret smoke that is easy on palate and pocketbook. The initial sweet top note gives way to the burley undercarriage and the non temperamental burn rate delivers a satisfying smoke filling my pipe at least twice a day.

Toasty and nutty with hints of cocoa, some earth, and a light molasses sweetness. This is a very nice smoke, and if you’re a Burley smoker this could very well be your new all day blend. 3.4 stars.