Peretti Blend No.333

Burley lovers rejoice! Another example of the blending masters hard at work..high quality bacci and a great smoke

Burley/Virginia blends are my favorite, and this blend is simply exquisite! From the very first pipeful of this Burley lover's delight I have been smitten.

I love everything about it. It is smooth, rich, cool, and nutty, with a hint of spice. I can smell it as I smoke, and it smells fantastic! There is just enough molasses in this to complement the superb, deep, earthy, roasted coffee flavors in the tobacco. It is pure pipe smoking pleasure to me. Try it, if you don't like it, send it to me!

I usually smoke only Balkan and English blends (Peretti Royal, Samuel Gawith Skiff Mixture). But I love 333 for a change of pace. Basically I agree with all the other positive reviews...

- smooth, no bite or bitterness -- just smooth burley taste

- the flavor remains the same all the way down, which I like

- the "chocolate" note is pronounced both during the smoke, and before lighting (I have no idea if it is native to Burley leaf, or something actually added)

The texture is almost comical -- like tiny pebbles. I just dribble it in the pipe (it barely compresses until after first light). Burns down well with maybe 1 relight.

Not quite cube cut, and not quite broken flake, 333 is chopped in the manner of Sir Walter Raleigh - granola cut. Presentation of uniform burley brown with a neutral tin note. The charring and true lights bring a hint of that Peretti soapy/floral/vanilla flavor (deer tongue?), a touch of molasses, and definitely more depth of burley flavor and strength than LJ's natural aromatic burley blends. As the flavoring burns off a bit, the body of the smoke is full, rich and satisfying with a hint of that Peretti flavoring always in the background. That distinct Peretti additive, though very lightly applied, gives this blend a unique flavor profile.

As advertised, the burn is indeed slow and cool - remarkably so given the strength of this burley blend. No bite. Top notch, old school, American tobacco. A must-try for enthusiasts of this style. If you enjoy the occasional OTC burley but appreciate quality, unadulterated tobacco, you owe it to yourself to try 333. A world class burley. You won't find the complexity in this type of blend than you would in a top notch English or Balkan, but damn is it good.

A cubed all Burley which I cannot compare to any blend I’ve come across in my 40 years as pipe smoker. Should I go very back to Edgeworth, maybe. Too far to remember.

Nice cool smoke with very faint traces of flavouring (some vanilla-y probably coming from the famous deer tongue ?). Damp earth, nuts, roasted coffee, cocoa. Exactly what one expects to get from a good Burley. Perfect medium strenght.

When craving for a good quality Burley, this one should be the choice. Period.

Delicious, that is all I can say.

The blenders at Peretti are Masters! Question: Can this be cellared and what effect will it have? Keep in unopened yellow Peretti tin or open the tin and recluse or transfer to a Mason jar and wait?

How long for optimum results? Tom

L.J. Peretti tobaccos have garnered several good reviews from me for their English blends, but I had never tried their burleys, one of their hallmarks. I decided to get some samples and see if they were as good as others have said. One of those was #333, probably one of their most popular blends.

333 is a cube cut burley made up of medium to dark brown pieces with a sweet pouch aroma that suggests some kind of topping, although it is not quite as as apparent in the taste. The cubes couldn't be easier to pack, just scoop the pipe full, tamp down slightly, and light. I usually tamp and do a second light, more out of habit than anything else. The first third of the bowl exhibits a spiciness unlike any other burley I have tried to date. There is also a typical burley nuttiness in the background that soon moves to the forefront, although the spice is still there. There is a slight bitterness that peeks in after half bowl, and gets a bit stronger as the cubes burn down. The smoke ends with gray ash in the bottom of the bowl.

I tried #333 in several pipes, including two Petersons, one bent and one straight, a Stanwell brandy blast, and a Boswell bent. It seemed to smoke about the same in all of them.

Scores for Peretti #333; taste- 17 of 20; lighting and packing-10 of 10; value- 7 of 10. That adds up to 34 points and a high **** ranking.

My wife gave me half-pound tin of this stuff for Christmas. She purchased it based on the recommendation of one of the staff at LJ Peretti whom is familiar with my tastes in tobaccos. Seeing whereas I am a little finicky about what I like to smoke, I was a little skeptical at first. I popped the lid and found cubed cuts of burley, quite dark in color and oily to the touch. The tin aroma was intoxicating. I immediately packed a panelled billiard stack with some (it did not need much packing - just filled the bowl and pressed down gently) and set flame to it. At first, the taste seemd fairly subtle but about 1/3 of the way down the bowl, a rich and savory (though not sugary sweet) flavor came to the fore. This lasted throughtout the bowl. 333 produced nary a gurgle and burned down to a sandy grey ash with no dottle and the walls of the bowl remained clean. As I smoked this, my wife poked her head in from the kitchen and exclaimed,"WOW, what is that!? It smells very nice!" The description says that there are no aromatics added to this. I am not sure how this could be true since it smells so good. But I have to take Peretti's at their word. I simply cannot get enough of this stuff. It has struck a chord in me that I cannot deny. It is unlike anything else that I smoke in that I usually smoke matured VA's, VA/Perique blends and Burley mixtures like Old Joe Krainz (C & D) or Va mixtures like Easy Times (also C & D). I don't know how many others would enjoy #333 due to it's intimidating appearnace and sweet pouch aroma. These might scare some off. But, let me say that this stuff is like catnip to a cat for me.

My German Shepherd Gretchen barks 5 times out of a possible 5 for #333.

Pretty much as advertised- a straight Burley blend, non aromatic, lots of flavor, slower burning than other burley blends I've smoked, but not as slow as a flake (no surprise there.) The nuttiness and woodiness of burley are definitely there. There is a tanginess on the tongue that I find very pleasant. It is very mellow and smooth. I have had this tin for about a week now, and it seems to have mellowed more and gotten smoother in just that short a time. A lot of reviewers have compared this to Peretti's BPC. I find a lot of similarity, but this stuff is not as harsh and has more flavor to me. BPC also seems to be more granular. While 333 is granular, the tin I received also has longer, thicker elements that I would call a "coarse ribbon." While Peretti says no flavorings are used, there does seems to be a casing in evidence. Some have said molasses. Maybe, but I'm not sure that's it. I find it very nice and pleasant and highly recommend it to those who like a straight burley.