Sutliff Tobacco Company Breckinridge

I was very excited to try this blend and it did not disappoint. Fans of burley seem to be few and far between these days. That's a good thing, we always have our favorite blends readily available because nobody is buying them up 🙂

The tin is a mishmash of various cuts with colors that are reminiscent of cardboard or cork boards. I was a little surprised at first to find some plume though, being that Burley is not known for naturally occurring sugars. If you inspect closely there are little sugar crystals on the leaves which probably is from a slight casing just to balance ph levels of the tobacco. It doesn't impinge on the lovely flavor of this tobacco at all, if anything, it enhances the experience.

Packing is very easy because all the varied sizes of cuts offer you to customize how you want to load up. I typically put the big chunks at the bottom of the bowl and use the smaller ones for kindling.

Lighting this up there is a faint sweetness evocative of a sugared bran cereal (Honey Chex Mix maybe?). It isn't obtrusive to the smoke but rather quite nice. The first 2/3 of the bowl provide gentle whips of an array of flavors including but not limited to; cocoa, nuts, milk chocolate, leather, honey bread and chocolate mousse. The last 1/3 of the bowl really brings out the earthy and mossy notes but it's a nice close to a wonderful smoke. I would not be surprised if the tobaccos were treated with a sugar water because that sweetness allows so many other flavors to show themselves.

If you can't tell, I love this blend. Solani ABF and Carter Hall are my two favorite burley blends but this is like a perfect marriage between the two of them. ABF has more of the low notes with some highs where CH has more sweet highs than lows. Breckenridge's range is greater than both. I've heard others make reference to PA, SWR or Half N' Half, but this tobaccos leaf is of a much higher quality IMO.

I can only hope that Sutliff decides to put this into an 8 oz can because I would absolutely buy it. Highly recommended for Burley lovers.

I have always associated the term "Kentucky" with fire cured burley. So I can only assume that Sutliff's tin description is referring to the origin of the leaf in this blend rather than use of Kentucky dark fired, as Breckinridge is not dark, stout or smoky tasting. Still, this is a lovely burley mixture with a mildly-sweet, clean and evenly-balanced flavor.

The smoke is smooth and medium bodied. It finishes with a touch of honey, chocolate and a hint of the same mustiness that I found in Sutliff's Great Outdoors. The chunky plug-cut pieces burn perfectly. I prefer to leave them intact which helps insure a slow bite-free burn that's flavorful and cool with no bitterness.

The only way to improve this blend would be 8 ounce tins.

I am a Burley fancier and although I smoke the occasional Virginia or aromatic, and not caring much for Perique or Latakia, Breckinridge was a must try for me.

Fresh from the tin you are greeting with a true plug cut - very easy to pack and light. It was of a medium brown color throughout and velvety soft to the touch. Considering the softness, it was not damp at all. Although its description says it is natural without flavorings, there is a distinctive tin note of fudge brownie batter (before baking) and that taste translated into the smoke - not over the top or cloying, but just right. While smoking, good nutty Burley flavor came through as well. Both flavors lasted throughout the smoke (I've had several bowls so far). I honestly couldn't detect the presence of Kentucky leaf per se (not very strong here), but it was a true Burley smoke; nutty and very tasty. If there was any Virginia leaf included, I could not detect it. The slightest bit of moisture found its way to the bottom of the bowl, but certainly not in any abundance to be concerned about. Breckinridge, for me, is what all codger Burleys should be. A good tasting, slow smoking, enjoyable smoke. No evidence of chemicals, didn't smoke hot or bite at all - even with vigorous puffing. Kudos to Sutliff...they have a winner!

As a final note. I smoked this in a refurbished Peterson that came in the same order from Smokingpipes.com. Sucking on its stem without any tobacco within, I could not detect any flavor of past smokes whatsoever. After lighting my first bowl, every now and then I got the distinct taste - and whiff - of a mild aftershave. I'm not talking Lakeland here at all. It smelled rather familiar, but I could not place it. The strange thing is that it came and went. It in no way remained throughout the smoke as did the chocolate and nutty Burley tastes. At first I thought perhaps the tobacco, during its preparation/packing was handled by a factory worker who had a liking to using this particular aftershave. I figured, however, that very little (if any) manual handling is done these days with all the machinery employed to do the job; plus I am sure workers wear gloves. My next thought was "a visit from beyond." Probably nothing more than the refurbished pipe...but one never knows! I'll have to try it in several other pipes to test the theory. Regardless, 4 stars and highly recommended.

Its funny in that I thought I would prefer Kentucky Planter to Breckinridge based on the reviews here but actually I preferred this since it very closely resembles Edgeworth Ready Rubbed with its light Cocoa topping and chunky cut. Just like ERR, let Breck dry out until you feel it is perfect, then dry out for another half hour. The key to these chunky Burley blends is to dry them just short of crunchy (IMHO) they smoke better with fewer relights and really don't release their flavor until you do so. No bite, cool smoking and a good value since a tin lasts almost twice as long as the ribbon equivalent. As I have stated before, Sutliff has access to very high Quality Burley and if you have put off trying their Burley Blends based off an experience with one of their Aromatics, consider giving Breckinridge a try, if you like Burley I trust you will enjoy a bowl of Breckenridge!