Lane Limited Lane Limited Ready Rubbed

The burley is nutty with a light molasses and deeper cocoa taste. The Virginia is far in the background, and is sweet with some grassiness. The toppings amplify the cocoa much more than they do the molasses. Has little nicotine. Won't bite or get harsh. Burns slightly fast, even and cool with a smooth consistent flavor that lasts to the finish. Very few relights needed. No dottle, and hardly any moisture is left in the bowl. Has a very pleasant after taste. Is an all day smoke.

Comparing this to the original and the Sutliff ERR Match, I note a few differences. Sutliff's is more of a coarse cut. The original was a cube cut, and Lane’s version is small cut ribbon flakes, all of which will effect the blends’ respective burn rates. All have the same flavors, though I notice the molasses in Sutliff's is slightly less deeper in taste than the original. The molasses in Lane's does not have the same depth of flavor as the ERR. Lane states that they are using the original recipe, but after spending a few days smoking all three incarnations, my perception is that Lane’s has more cocoa and less molasses than the original does, which of course, lessens the effect of the molasses that was fairly prominent in ERR. It also has a little more PG than the original, but that mostly disappears by the half way point.

The Sutliff ERR Match is closer than the Lane version is to the original. It has less cocoa than the Lane product, with more molasses, and the Match could fool some smokers into thinking it was the original in a blind taste test, except for the cut of the tobacco. Lane’s version is in the ball park, though the much deeper cocoa notes would give it away even in a blind taste test. This blend reminds me more of Chatham Manor than it does Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. Because of the differences, it gets three stars, not four.

Edit: 1-22-2017: I have been smoking the Lane RR from a freshly opened tub this past week, and I see the cut has been changed. It's a little closer to the original than what I had smoked, which was from a tub I bought the first week of its release. Also, the molasses was as prominent as the chocolate, instead of playing second fiddle as in the earlier tub. Obviously, somebody at Lane paid attention to the criticism. As of now, I will say this version is much closer to the original. The only differences now is that the molasses in the original was a little deeper and took a little more of the lead than this Lane version. The very mild sharp note of the original, which I did not find in my first go-around is now present, though slightly less so than the original. Overall, this is now a better, more faithful copy of the original. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks