Orlik Tobacco Company A/S Dark Strong Kentucky

(3.26)
Virginias with dark fired Kentucky tobacco. Tobacco selection: Blending fine black cavendish with the irresistible qualities of Kentucky burley gives this flake a look, taste and feel uniquely its own.

Details

Brand Orlik Tobacco Company A/S
Blended By Orlik Tobacco Company
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Virginia/Burley
Contents Black Cavendish, Kentucky, Virginia
Flavoring Licorice, Molasses
Cut Flake
Packaging 50 grams pouch, 50 grams tin
Country Denmark
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.26 / 4
70

65

20

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 159 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 07, 2012 Medium Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Original review: It came in a medium wide strips that were very easy to rub out or fold and stuff depending on your preference. I tried it both ways and noticed no flavor difference. There was some natural sweetness that complimented the deep Kentucky taste, but I would not label this a sweet tobacco, per se'. It did have some nuttiness, earth, wood, spice and a floral note from the Kentucky, though it was not as bold as other Kentuckys I have smoked. The Red Virginia was tangy dark fruit sweet with wood and earth as a supporting player. The bright Virginia offered tart citrus, slightly grass and mild floralness in a secondary role. The sugary black cavendish is mostly a condiment. The licorice topping conjoined with a hint of molasses to moderately sublimate the tobaccos. No bite or harshness. The nic-hit was a step past the center of mild to medium. The strength and taste levels were medium. Burned cool, clean and slowly with a very consistent sweet flavor, and left just a little moisture in the bowl. Needed some relights. Had a nice after taste that pleasantly lingered. Not an all day smoke.

Peter Heinrichs Dark Strong is a good substitute, but I thought it not quite as complex as the Orlik, though it looks exactly the same. I doubt I'd have noticed much difference at all, except that I taste tested back in the day. Orlik's blend was just a tad more complex, slightly nuttier, and very barely sweeter than the Heinrichs' mixture, and had a touch less molasses. Also had just a shade more red Virginia and licorice.

Updated review 7-10-2015: The new version of Dark Strong Kentucky is different than what I used to smoke in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The flakes are shorter and not as wide as they had been. This version has virtually no red Virginia that I can see or really taste. There is a hint of tangy dark fruit, earth and wood that may come from it, but if it is present, it's certainly well hidden. I don't think it's here. There's much more tart and tangy citrusy, grassy, floral, bright Virginia in here, probably to replace the red Virginia content. The amount of Kentucky is just slightly less than before, though it has the same flavors I attributed to it in my earlier review. The sugary black cavendish is mostly a condiment. The licorice topping is stronger, and sublimates the tobaccos much more so than in the earlier incarnation. Can't really taste any molasses in this one either. No bite. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. The strength is almost medium and the taste is medium. Burns the same, and the after taste is stronger due to the toppings. Needs some relights, and leaves little moisture in the bowl. The pleasant after taste is short lived. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran.

Peter Heinrich's version has changed, too, and in the same way the Orlik has, except the topping is mostly molasses with a touch of licorice.

Due to the changes in ODSK, I've changed my rating. Four stars for the older version and two and a half for the new, which I rounded up to three.

-JimInks
48 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 25, 2015 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant
I anxiously awaited the arrival of this popular flake that was discontinued by Orlik some time ago. By special arrangement, it will be available exclusively through pipesandcigars.com until early summer. After that, it will be made available to other US vendors.

There have been many reviews stating the similarities to Peter Heinrich's Dark Strong Flake. Apparently, both flakes are produced by Orlik. I have a 200 gm tin of Heinrich's and after the arrival of DSK I compared the two. The visible appearance in every way is identical - size/thickness/texture of flake, color, the way the two different tobaccos (Va and Kentucky) are merged together producing a very nice striated pattern. The major difference to me is the tin note. Heinrich's has a strong presence of black licorice, and as I noted in my review of same, translates into the smoke. Orlik's lacks the licorice aroma. Instead, it is a brown sugar like tin note, which also translates into the smoke. I am sure the same identical leaf type is used with both variations, but it is with the casing (or top note) that separates them at first whiff. The smoking experience is slightly different as well. Heinrich's smokes a bit hotter with the licorice taste getting bitter toward the last third of the bowl and tastes a little artificial. It also has a tendency to leave the room note a bit cigarette like. All in all, still a good smoke. Orlik's DSK smokes sweeter from the get go, smokes less hot (although it can nip at the tongue if puffed too vigorously), and leaves a more pleasant room note - not cigarette like at all. I prefer the Orlik's DSK over Heinrich's hands down and rate it at 4 stars.
Pipe Used: Peterson Tankard
PurchasedFrom: pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh from tin
36 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 01, 2015 Medium Mild Medium Tolerable
No doubt this is the same flake as Heinrich's with a different topping. I get the DFK predominantly with the Virginias in the background. Heinrich's flavors are molasses and licorice, Orlik's is more like a milder molasses with no licorice and a touch sweeter. A little more natural tobacco flavor is evident here. This version isn't as finicky about moisture content as Heinrich's and has a better burn. I suspect that it's due to the lighter topping. This is very tasty and satisfying. Although I prefer the flavors in the Heinrich's version by a small margin, the better burning characteristics of this one earns it 4 stars as opposed to the 3 I gave Heinrich's. This is a great smoke. I guess I'll have to keep both of them around. Variety is the spice of life.

Medium in body. Medium in flavor. Burn is not great, but it burns well enough.
Pipe Used: MM General, MM Country Gentleman, MM Mark Twain
PurchasedFrom: pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
29 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 07, 2011 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
Just finished a 3.5 oz tin from 2002, so consideration must be given to its age when reading this review. On the other hand, I didn't notice this tasting much if at all different from my tin of Peter Heinrichs blend of similar name.

Both were dark colored flakes with a deep, rich aroma and fairly moist in the tin. I dried this out slightly, but not as much as most flakes. The flavor was also deep and rich but interestingly enough, not strong. The flavors were of various spices and nuts, with a nice dark molasses background. It was lightly sweet but leaned heavily toward the spicy side. No problems keeping it lit and it wasn't overly heavy on the nicotine. As for strenth, don't let the "Kentucky" fool you. This is not a robust-tasting tobacco as some are that have a high concentration of kentucky leaf. Some casing appears to have been added but it was not intrusive.

This is not readily available in this country but don't despair -the above mentioned PH blend is, and I doubt I could tell the difference in a blind taste test.
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 25, 2003 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
First-rate fire-cured Kentucky burley, baptised with a little Virginia to keep it from being wholly back-roads wild. Robust, plain, clean and honest.

VERY nice.
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 09, 2015 Strong Mild Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This stuff is fantastic. And you will know it as soon as you open the tin. The tin note on this one is heavenly. Very sweet molasses/anise type scent mixed with the earthy smell of the component tobaccos. It doesn't stop there. The flakes are very cool looking. The dark and light striped flakes are quite attractive and will look like something you have never seen before. That is, assuming you have never seen Peter Heinrich's Dark Strong Flake which looks identical.

Looks and tin notes are one thing, but the performance of this leaf will also not let you down. The flakes rub out very easily and pack just as easily in the bowl. Also, no issue with light up nor does it require any abnormal amounts of relights.

And the taste, oh the taste. This one is for the burley lovers and the nicotine lovers. It is rich earthy, nutty and chocolatey; and it is strong. The topping will stay with you for awhile, and if you have a mustache or beard, this blend continues to satisfy long after you are finished.

Four stars all the way.
17 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 05, 2002 Strong Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
The name says it all folks...this is dark, strong Kentucky burley and is it ever powerful! If you are concerned that this is just a more powerful version of Prince Albert or Sir Walter, relax, this is a much finer class of burley than what is packed into the pouches of Albert and Walter.

I rubbed this blend out a bit further after opening the tin because the chunks were, well, too chunky for me. The smell was just like you would figure a burley smell to be like, but, there is the hint of some sort of casing in this brew that I could not place my finger on.

As for the smoke itself, pretty even all the way thru the bowl with little variance--typical of burley--but the flavor was certainly big enough. And just like a champ, DSK did not get bitter near the bottom of the bowl which is a problem with cheaper burley.

So, if you like burley and nothing else,(if there's virginia in the tin, I couldn't find it), get a batch. If you are like me and enjoy a nice burley every now and then, buy three or four tins. This stuff is worth it!
17 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 05, 2017 Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
Orlik - Dark Strong Kentucky.

This has surprised me, I didn't expect to find it so nice! I'd prepared myself for a strong, fiery, almost toxic smoke, but this holds a few laid back traits, too.

The flakes are presented neatly in the tin, and their appearance is quite unique: dark Kentucky outer with a stripe of golden Virginia through the middle. There's nothing drastic about the tin-note, there's maybe something sweet, but nothing that screams 'added flavour'. The moisture content's good, making rubbing a doddle.

It lights easily, and gives a fabulous taste. To be fair, it was the idea of Kentucky and liquorice together that drew me to the assumption of this being acrid, but first light blew that idea away. Indeed, there is a clear and easy taste of the Kentucky, but the liquorice isn't anywhere near as strong as I'd expected. There's a slight liquorice taste, but a lot more of a molasses flavour; it's this that makes it more laid back. In all fairness, the liquorice develops strength as the bowl burns, but never domineers the smoke... NEVER; it's always mild. A bowl of D.S.K burns brilliantly, needing hardly any re-lights. Bite? Not even a tiny peck.

The nicotine's about medium, and although the room-note's quite heavy, I like it.

An easy rating:

Highly recommended.
Pipe Used: Peterson Sherlock Holmes Milverton P'Lip
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: New
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 13, 2015 Medium Mild Medium Tolerable
I must say that Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky is an enticing blend that is in my opinion deserving of more than four stars. This is one of my favorite blends in my collection and the tins seem to go fast. First let me say that the presentation of this tobacco is one of the best that I have seen to date, with the flakes neatly piled in the tin, resembling thick slices of bacon with dark edges of the Dark Fired flanking a strip of light Virginia. Not only do the flakes look like bacon, to me, they smell like bacon as well. This may be a mental thing, but to me at least, there is a smoky character from the Dark Fired Kentucky, a natural sweetness from the Virginias, and there is a maple or brown sugar like topping that has been applied before the tobacco was pressed and sliced, thus giving it the aroma and appearance of you guessed it, bacon. Now, you may be asking yourself why someone would want to smoke something that looks like and smells like bacon, and to me the answer is simple, because everything in life is better with bacon. OK, Now that we have got presentation and tin note out of the way, let’s delve into the tobacco a little deeper. The tobacco is of high quality and due to the cut, you will not find any twiggy or woody bits mixed in with the tobacco. The flakes are all uniform in size and thickness, and the moisture level of the tobacco is spot on perfect fresh from the tin. I have learned that between one and a half flakes to two flakes will fill the average sized bowl, but for me at least, I have been rubbing out only one flake at a time and smoke a bowl three quarters to half full so that I can get all of the flavors out of the tobacco from the top to the bottom of the bowl. Rubbing the tobacco out is a simple enough task and my method has been to take one flake and fold it up and then simply spin the tobacco in the palm of my hand until it forms a ball of ribbons that are easy enough to pack and take a light well. Once the pipe is packed and the bowl lit, the first flavors that I get from the tobacco is a combination of a smokiness and nuttiness from the Dark Fired Kentucky, and then a hint of sweetness from the Virginia and the topping. As for the topping I can’t quite decide if it is a molasses or brown sugar note that I get, but it definitely remains mildly sweet for the duration of the smoke. Burn characteristics are alright, but I often find myself having to tamp every so often, and then relight with this blend. Although it seems to be a little more work to keep this tobacco going, it always burns down to a fine white or gray ash, making it easy enough to clean the pipe when I am done, simply just running a pipe cleaner through the stem and around the inside of the bowl to remove any moisture that may have collected. The topping does not leave a goopy mess in the bowl that must be reamed or scraped out. As for the room note, those around me have mentioned that it is a sweet smelling tobacco, so I take that as meaning it is tolerable to most, although I’m sure there are those that would disagree. Overall, this is a great blend that I have deemed my breakfast blend, and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys you guessed it, bacon.
Pipe Used: various briars
PurchasedFrom: PipesandCigars.com
Age When Smoked: fresh from tin
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 28, 2009 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
I would not classify this as a burley though it does contain some. It still has the hay like VA note in it and a very sweet one. The tobacco has a sweet/musky oder to it and is absolutely beautiful to look at in it's broken flake state. some strands are very dark brown and some at a light to medium brown. Reminds me some of the barber pole cigars out there. I let mine dry overnight in a tray and rubbed it out somewhat and loaded it in my old large Peterson billiard. It took a couple of light, tamp, light rituals but one fired up, it only need one relight. It has a very sweet and rich taste and I think the room note is very pleasant. I sipped this with my morning tea and it was a very enjoyable hour of sweet tobacco flavor but with no bite at all. I find that a lot of VA based blends can bite if not aged, and as I did not age this before trying, I was very pleased with how gentle is is. It burned all the way down to a grey and black dottle and left no moisture in the bottom of my pipe. Only reason I did not rate a four is that it does not have a lot of phases to it, same flavor from start to finish with no increase in flavor as it burned down. Not that this is really a bad thing as the flavor is very nice.
9 people found this review helpful.
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