Peter Stokkebye Toasted Burley (No. 312)

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.

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.

Ah . . . this taste. Prince Albert can stay in his can! Tangy and citrusy, nutty and leathery, full-bodied and completely satisfying without beating up your lungs and throat in the process, Stokkebye’s 312 is a clean burning and bite free broken flake that also won’t empty out your wallet. It doesn’t leave a chemically taste in your mouth, either. I could’ve cried when P&C brought this stuff back.

Newminster has a similar offering, but it does not age as well as this one (their Light Burley tends to acquire a stale taste after a few months of aging.) The better aging might be due to the toasting process - 312 also has a deeper, richer flavor profile when it’s fresh. Yeah, this is a one-note blend. Briar Fox has more flavor dimensions. Two-Timer smokes better, but this broken flake smokes longer. Give it a try, your budget won’t notice any difference.