Gatlin-Burlier Black Jack Bourbon

The nutty, toasty, lightly earthy burley also has slight molasses note. I think the hint of vanilla comes from the black cavendish, and not a topping. The bourbon topping lacks depth and mildly tones down the tobaccos. Has almost no nicotine. Won’t bite, but can burn warm if puffed fast. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and needs an average numbers of relights. Has a short lived, kind of plain after taste. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I bought 2 oz. of this last summer while visiting Gatlinburg. I smoked about half of it, jarred the rest and just forgot about it until I decided to reduce the number of jars I have in my desk drawer.

As others have noted, this is not an exceptional pipe tobacco but it's not a bad blend either. There is some nuttiness and a hint of molasses but the bourbon is barely noticeable. Basically reminds me of the old joke about the guy ordering a martini and telling the bartender to just whisper the world vermouth over the glass. In other words, I think the bourbon is there because it's in the name and not in the tobacco. It was stronger when I first bought it.

As I smoked it today, I kept thinking it reminded me of something else. As I got to the bottom of the bowl, I reached the conclusion that it reminded my of the George Washington I have in my cellar.

The Gatlinburlier Smoke Shop in Tennessee got a lot of play in the 90s in the old Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris as a go to shop for terrific tobacco. I remember calling in and placing an order for a half dozen of their house blends after reading about some of them. Black Jack Bourbon was indeed one of those nondescript whiskey flavored tobaccos that burned a little on the warm side. I was impressed by the way the compilation was put together and the smoke was uniform and the tobacco easy to keep lit. I just personally did not gravitate toward the flavoring.

Pipestud

I had been looking for a good bourbon flavored smoke when I wondered across the Gatlin Burlier while on vacation. The guys in the shop pointed my in this direction. The tobacco smokes great and is really smooth in the flavoring, the bourbon is fairly weak. There is some bite in there if you smoke fast. While I wont smoke it everyday, it will do for an occasional smoke.

Honest Abe Lincoln once professed that those of us who are without vices are also without virtue. Hey if the great emancipator said it then it must be golden, so need say no more! Since I am such a virtuous soul, allow me to take a pipe smoking arm’s-length of liberty on this one. Stealing from John Lee Hooker’s bluesy refrain, my sense tells me that,” I need one bourbon blend, one cob, and one lighter”, (queue the mocking guitar line).

From deep within the hollows of mountainous Tennessee I absconded with a saucy bourbon-infused and vanilla sweetened melody of abundant mixed Cavendish and complementing Burley, all blended in the spirit of fashionable Danish conventions. Preferred vice of note on this fine Friday morning, Gatlin-Burlier’s Black Jack’s Bourbon. No reference to the cheesy actor, no sir, nor to that sour mashed elixir of Mr. Daniel’s fame. This is straight-up belly-warming southern bourbon folks juicing up a tasteful aromatic swill kindly made down in The Great Smoky Mountains.

Black Jack’s Bourbon is a mixed coarse cut ensemble colored by a visage of variegated brown hues lowlighted with a scanting of blackened leafy morsels to boot. Emitting a pouch nose that smacks of genuine southern hospitality, one is welcomed by a fragrance of gentile vanilla sweetness, salty bitter anise, and proper boozy spice. Underneath this accommodating nose spring floats a distance air of sugared nuttiness laced by a bite of sour tart. From practical appearances, I surmise that residing Cavendish is a combination of Virginia and Burley varietals as they sit comfortably in a strawed bed of White grainy Burley.

This mild strength mixture projects a relaxed and indisputably cozy overall flavorsomeness. Foremost is the spirited resonance of the applied bourbon. It’s featured charter eases forward rather gracefully and mellow more so than with a bold punch to be accurate. Nonetheless the bourbon registration is filled by a pleasantly sweet, distilled whiskey note further characterized with a distinct malty quality and some qualified cedar-like accenting. Wholesome top noting comes in the form bittersweet anise/darker molasses influences that are well cultured by a sugary chase of peaceful obliging vanilla. As with the pouch nose the intensity is standardly composed in its effects. Not an overly forceful aromatic rendering in simple terms but plenty tasteful all the same.

One does, however, experience the flair of the native strains with each and every drawl. Mainly a buttery Burley nuttiness harmonized elegantly with a bit of sugared zest and reduced sourness emitting from the Burley-based Cavendish component. I did just recognize a trace of aged citrus notes as what little Virginia danced freely on the bottom line. Yet it is the presence of the earthy Cavendish tones that run most of the primary course and flavor This recognized overall taste profile holds for the better half of the bowl but tended to peter-off during the later leaving a meld of darker natural tobacco flavoring, still not too shabby.

As one should expect this mixture tends to be very smoky and thick in texture producing voluminous columns of dense thick bodied smoke. The smoking room is made complete by a lighter spicy sweet aroma of cooked spirits, buttered seasoned sugar, and weighty earthen relish. Black Jack’s comes without bite nor aggravation to the palate as it best captures the blissful spirit of the Smokies. Not half bad when all said and smoked.

On one final thought, the Marque De Sade proclaimed something to the effect that to truly understand virtue we must first expose our senses to vice. This from an upstanding man of forgone society, the model of modesty and admiration, ha! Yet, enjoying a smoking bowl of a bourbon sweltered tobacco is a reasonable start in my opinion, so you’re up to it take a shot or two. I’m hoping you and Monday’s otherworldly companions find agreement with the sensibility of my twisted but impassioned piper’s logic. By the way I ain’t afraid of no ghosts, are you? 2.9 Pipes