Wrong about burley

TaylorJDutton

has anyone else had a skewed view of burley in the past? I had a couple of burley blends that knocked my socks off, so i stopped ordering anything with burley in it.  I love country squire blends so i ordered northwest trek and hunting creek, unbeknownst to me northwest trek is more Burley based, turns out i loved that one and preferred it over the hunting creek blend( very similar, with more Virginia’s and less burley). Turns out burley is something i really appreciate and love, i just didn’t know it. I was wrong about burley. Bag end and white rose also have burley in them and i love those blends as well.  Thanks to Jon David, I’ve got this sorted and can now open up to a new world of blends that contain burley (knowingly anyhow) 

Woodsman

Most of the "Codger" blends are mainly Burley and tend toward harshness and seem to be high in the "Nic."department. A good blender can soften that considerably.

motie2

@TaylorJDutton - Almost everything I've smoked since the summer of 2016 has been a blend of Virginia, Burley, and Black Cavendish. 
Anyway, here's a quick course on Burley......

http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/06/burley-more-to-it-than-youd-think/

<<Burley is one of the most loved, and yet one of the most disrespected types of tobacco. One of the reasons for the scorn is that Burley is ubiquitous. It’s used in virtually all ways tobacco can be used. It’s found in cigarettes, pipe tobacco, chew, snuff, snus and even cigars. But one of the common misconceptions is that Burley is Burley…not by a long shot. Burley is a fairly large-leafed tobacco that grows in a fairly-well spread out area of the United States, but it’s also grown extensively in Africa and in Mexico. I’m sure that it’s also raised elsewhere, but I’m not aware of large commercial amounts grown outside the areas above.

Burley is characterized by being high in natural oils, but low in sugar, making it the yin to Virginia’s yang. But there’s more than one type of Burley, which is where things can get confusing. Most of the commercial Burley is loosely lumped into the type called white Burley. Actually, true white Burley isn’t grown anymore, but this type is fairly neutral in flavor, even though it still has a decent nicotine punch. Its flavor is nutty (think walnuts and pecans), without a lot of sweetness. It’s neutrality is one of its strengths, however. It can be used to lighten the flavor of a blend, and the fact that it doesn’t have a strong flavor makes it perfect for aromatics because it absorbs casings and top-dressings readily. Because it’s not very sweet, it is often combined with Virginias to keep a blend from becoming too bland or sour.

There’s another type of Burley, often called dark Burley. It is darker in color, but the big difference is in the flavor. It’s bold and spicy, and packs even more of a punch than white Burley. For practical purposes, some people use the terms dark Burley and dark air-cured interchangeably, but the tobacco farmers see them as distinctly different. The main use of dark Burley is to add body and spice to a blend. It’s also used extensively in the Italian-style stogies, most notably those from De Nobili and Parodi. Here’s where another issue arises. Some folks refer to dark-fired Kentucky as dark-fired Kentucky Burley. In common usage, it’s not far off, but once again, the farmers would disagree.

Because of its high nicotine content, it’s understandable why it would be used in chew and snuff. It’s also part of the reason that both of these forms of tobacco are heavily flavored or scented, to cover up dark Burley’s otherwise strong flavor. Many other tobaccos began as Burley, but have evolved into something else over the years. Most cigar leaf shares some roots with Burley, and the unique Semois, grown in valleys in Belgium came from Burley seeds initially. Oriental and Turkish tobaccos may have started as Burley seeds as well, but the evidence is anecdotal at best. I make this conjecture based upon an experiment that was done decades ago. One of the cigarette companies wanted to save money by growing Oriental varietals here in the US, so they brought seeds over here and planted them. In the space of a few generations, the plants were more like Burley than Orientals.

So, despite what many people believe, Burley isn’t just the base for heavily-flavored aromatics or “codger blends”, and it doesn’t have to be tame in flavor. It can be all those things, but it can be much more. I’ve used it in blends that you wouldn’t suspect contained any Burley, and companies like Cornell & Diehl have turned them into an art form. So the next time that you see that there’s Burley in a blend, don’t just write it off. Burley is a very versatile leaf.>>

motie2

http://popvox0.tripod.com/pipes/guide.html

Excerpt from Guide to Pipe Tobacco by Randolph Tracy:

<<Burley (used for most Aromatic tobaccos.) This is a "mutant" strain of tobacco, first emerging in 1868, that has come to dominate today's tobacco market. The plants and leaves are at least twice as large as other varieties and the leaves are a very pale green that cures to a pale beige. The nicotine content is high, around 3% - 3.5%, and the sugars are very low, around 0.2%.

The plant is robust and the crop yields are high and as a result, Burley is the mainstay of the American cigarette manufacturers, although small amounts of Orientals are often added to improve burning characteristics and flavor. It burns very cool with very little "bite," but it burns somewhat poorly and also with very little flavor (somewhat reminiscent of cardboard.) However, it has the property of "accepting" added flavorings beautifully, so this is the single most popular tobacco for "aromatic" blends, soaking up and holding just about any flavor you care to add. As a result, it dominates the pipe tobacco market as well as the cigarette market, since most pipe tobaccos sold are aromatics.

There are a few "straight" Burley blends around that use high-grade pressed, matured leaf carefully blended, and they are exceptionally "dry," very cool smoking and much appreciated by some pipe-smokers.

Kentucky Burley -- Burley from Kentucky that has been fire cured. It darkens the leaf and intensifies the flavor. The African version is Malawi leaf, darker and very spicy. >>

judandhispipe

Lane Ready Rubbed is the current version of the "codger" classic Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. (Lane was making it when it ceased production; they brought it back, but couldn't get licensing for the Edgeworth name.)  It is a staple in my rotation.

Oddjob27

Just ordered some Lane RR, excited to try it.

pipeman83

Lane Limited is in my regular rotation as well.

Kmhartle

LL Ready Rub is in my rotation too.  As is Carter Hall. Both great OTC burleys in my opinion. 

Woobie

I didn't care for burley initially. I had to smoke a lot of Virginias and Latakia before I acquired a taste for it. The first time I enjoyed it was a bowl of Bald Headed Teacher. Then I tried some Haunted Bookshop and really liked that. It's still not a favorite, but sometimes I just find myself wanting burley.

Captain

I used to be a cigarette smoker and for me I just can’t mentally overcome the notion that it’s the same thing. If I see burley in the description, especially right up front, I’ll skip it every time. Yet I know it’s in several of the blends I smoke. 

xDutchx

Burley is used often by blenders, for one reason, because it tends to absorb flavors from other tobaccos it is blended with, making it an ideal blending tobacco. If a pipe smoker were to find out they were allergic to burley, it would be a sad day indeed. Like I have stated in other threads on various subjects, you never know for sure what your experience will be with a particular tobacco or blend, until you put it in your pipe and smoke it.

Woodsman

I didn't do Burley (Except Carter Hall ) till I won some Bald Headed Teacher, I was surprised and pleased so much that I tried Haunted Bookshop, I've added these and others to my cellar since.

Woobie

@Woodsman Bald Headed Teacher is good stuff. I went to my brother's last night and he was smoking that while I was enjoying some Pebblecut. I had one of my best smokes ever a few months back with some BHT.

Haunted Bookshop is really good too. That stuff scratches the occasional Burley itch that comes along.

Charles

Absolutely love Haunted Bookshop!  Very pleasing and satisfying smoke. 

writingrav

If you like Haunted Bookshop and want to try something with even more kick, try Old Joe Krantz. Beware.