Tin Description

Fully matured Virginias, Ready Rubbed Burleys, Latakia and a touch of Fire-cured Cavendish is the recipe. We added one of the world's finest 30 year old Scotch whiskies, Glenfarclas. The natural flavors from the tobacco and the delightful taste of the Scotch marry perfectly, so when smoked you experience the mellow taste and subtle smoky note of the tobaccos combined with the overtone of a fine scotch.

This has a very interesting taste at first light. It is a very familiar almost caramel candy-like flavor that I believe forms from the combination of the tobaccos and Scotch whisky, certainly not any aromatic component. Aside from the whisky this is straightforward tobacco. Once the ember is going this unique taste slides behind the expected flavors of the tobacco.

Be careful to take your time lighting this one. This is not a blend you want to burn hot. I have to really watch my smoking cadence with Mac Baren blends else I wind up bitten. With Highland Blend’s inviting but reserved character I can easily get carried away puffing a little too greedily, chasing more of the flavors.

My guess is this blend will appeal more to those who generally steer clear of the heavier Latakia-laden blends. While an English or Balkan lover may like this in his rotation as a change of pace, it bares little resemblance to the typical English blend in character and body.

The taste from the component tobaccos throughout the bowl is very dry, crisp, and almost sharp. While I detect the sweetness from the Virginias I cannot think of this as a sweet blend.

The Latakia is also always present but applied very delicately. Highland Blend is a textbook example of the blender using Latakia as a condiment rather than a component. The way the Latakia coaxes the sweetness of the Virginias out from behind their tang and zest is artful. It plays well with the whisky too.

The Burley and Cavendish has a welcome but fairly nondescript role in the Highland Blend, especially early in the bowl. Maybe the Burley is what brings the crispness to the blend’s character. As the bowl passes the halfway point the Burley begins to stand out more and contributes an increasing amount of body and depth. Very nice.

Mac Baren is a must-try if you are comfortable with the disciplined and observant smoking. For me, the strength of the blend is in the complexities. I cannot fully enjoy it as an all-day smoke. It needs too much attention. Anyone willing to give this tobacco enough attention will be rewarded an incredibly interesting experience.

Video Review of Mac Baren Highland Blend

Tin Description

“A combination of Virginia ribbon, Brown Virginia, Burley, and Perique.”

I noticed a couple things about this blend as I investigated background information on it. For starters, as you can see, C&D no longer mentions any reference to Three Nuns. At one point they may have included some verbiage in the official description with something like “reminiscent of Three Nuns” but they don’t now - at least not on their web site. It does continue to show up on some retailers and tobaccoreviews.com that way.

My advice is to let the Three Friars stand on their own feet. Consider this blend exactly what it is - a combination of Virginias, Burley, and Perique.

Another comparison made rather often is to another C&D blend - Haunted Bookshop. Haunted Bookshop is more of a Burley blend with Virginia and Perique, where Three Friars is a Virginia blend with Burley and Perique. While I don’t doubt that if you like one you may very likely enjoy the other I think its a mistake to categorize them too closely together.

I say all that because I have learned it is important not to bring too much to blend. Too many presumptions lead to unfair expectations which lead to unnecessary disappointment.

There’s a Zen story about a professor who visited a master to learn about Buddhism. The Zen master poured him tea but did not stop pouring when the professor’s cup was full. The tea overflowed and went everywhere.

"The cup is full!" said the professor. "No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," said the master, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

If you want Three Friars or any other pipe tobacco to “show you Zen” come to the blend with an open mind.

Now on to the actual tobacco review...

Like I said, this is a Virginia blend. The Virginias are primarily bright and a litttle grassy, with lemon zest-like flavors. The Brown Virginias pull in a little more sweetness and add body. A modest amount of Burley modulates the sharp edges without adding heaviness but helps bring up the bottom with more structure and body.

Cornell & Diehl can tend to be heavy handed with the Perique. This is not the case with Three Friars. While the pepper is readily apparent they certainly did not overdo it. With a blend like this it would have been easy to obliterate the nuances in the high notes with an overdose of Perique. To my tastes, they got it just right. Perfect.

The tobacco is ribbon cut, mostly loose, and soft and springy to the touch. My tin came at the perfect moisture level. The tin I smoked from for this review was only a few months old. A couple years in the cellar would no-doubt do wonderful things for the blend but don’t hesitate to pop a relatively fresh tin.

C&D Virginias hold a soft spot in my heart because they are very easy on my tongue. Three Friars is no exception. The ribbon cut also burns very nicely and requires no preparation before filling the pipe.

If I were forced to squeeze in one negative thing about the blend I would say that it falls just a little behind in complexity. There are no breathtaking transformations between the first light and the bottom of the bowl but it does deepen as the bowl progresses. And while the blend would not be wasted on absent minded all-day sipping while you work Sudoku puzzles there are those interesting nuances I mentioned earlier you can watch for. As the bowl progresses look for those delicate flavor variations to give way to deeper, sweeter, more melded flavors.

Of course I could turn those cons into pros very easily by pointing out that this is a very comfortable, pain-free, user-friendly, and unpretentious smoke that will fill the bill perfectly if you are looking for an anytime VA/Per that falls on the lighter and brighter side.

If you’ve tried this please let me know what you think of it in the comments.

This is by no means a sweet blend...oh no. Those of you used to Burley flakes such as Solani Aged Burley or even Peterson's University Flake will find something altogether different in Burley Flake #4.

Matching the stronger flavor is the stronger nicotine content. This flake will put hair on your chest and your wife or girlfriend out of the room. Go ahead and enjoy a beverage with this one, it will stand up to anything.

I am very pleased overall with this and eager to try the rest of the series, especially those featuring the Dark Burley. Those preferring to fold and stuff should find the flakes in good enough shape for some careful folding. I like these rubbed out and filled.

Tin Description: A mild easy smoking blend of fine Virginia and Burley tobaccos, made the traditional way.

A light berry essence melds nicely with the Virginia and what I believe is likely some dark fired Kentucky Burley. Whether you crumble Peterson University Flake out or fold and stuff, I find it burns evenly enough even fresh from the tin. The Burley makes it a fairly hearty blend with a few robust moments coming throughout the smoke. I experience no tongue bite from University Flake.

Peterson University Flake has become somewhat of a classic pipe tobacco. While being unique, it also sets a standard for Virginia and Burley Flake pipe tobacco. Try smoking Peterson University Flake with the air pocket method.

Blended with just the right prportion of Golden Virginia and Burley`s, the basic blend of Toasted Cavendish tobaccos takes on a zesty dimension. This mixture gets better as you smoke it all day long

This ubiquitous industrial bulk aromatic goes by almost as many names as there are shops selling pipe tobacco across North America. Pipe smokers who dislike bulk aromatics of this sort may find they dislike this one the least.

RLP-6 packs and smokes very nicely, has a clean flavor and finish, and I can't get it to bite my tongue. Many compare it to its over-the-counter cousin, Captain Black White. It has been a while since I've sampled Captain Black, but I can say my memories of it are not as fond as my appreciation for the bowl of RLP-6 I smoke as I write this. I'm pretty sure there are differences between the two.

This is no boutique blend by any stretch of the imagination, but it never pretended to be. There is a reason this has been around for ages upon ages and outsells more refined pipe tobaccos pound for pound.

I make out a good deal of the underlying heavily processed tobacco flavor and its not in the least unpleasant, nor is the top flavor applied more subtly to this blend than most other aromatics of this caliber. Its pleasantly sweet but won't make you worry about cavities as you smoke it.

You've likely smoked this before. What were your thoughts on it? Please add them to the comments below. Just for fun, if you know, I'd be interested to know what your local B&M names this blend.

A light, naturally sweet blend created for renowned pipemaker, Lannes Johnson, who selected this mixture to send as a sample to his pipe customers. Two diff- erent types of nutty Burley are laced with an unusual cube cut Virginia and a Burley-based natural toasted Black Cavendish for a splash of non-flavored sweetness. Now available to the general public for the very first time. If you're looking for an all-day blend that isn't wet or overly sugary, give this one a try.

Expect this tobacco to arrive well on the dry side. I recommend leaving it as is before smoking. The overall taste is slightly sweet with a healthy tang. Maybe its my imagination but I'd swear I taste a little Perique, but the blend description doesn't mention it.

The base of burley is easy on the tongue but deserves a careful smoking cadence to keep off any bitterness. This is a clean medium bodied that won't win any rewards for complexity and likely never sought any. The blend was created for an all-day pipe smoker, and an all-day blend it is if you share LJ's preference for a straightforward tangy smoke.

Blender's description:

Classic Burley Kake is a new blend that pays homage to old-time Burley flakes and cakes. Using Tennessee and Kentucky Burleys, ranging from lighter white to darker mahogany, and a bit of matured red Virginia, this sliced cake tobacco is a traditional American-style blend.

We start with four different types of Burley, the aforementioned Tennessee and Kentucky, plus two different premium white Burleys. Then we add a red Virginia for a maple-like sweetness. Then we use all-natural flavors- cocoa, rum and anise and steam the tobaccos with the flavorings and firmly press and slice it. The aroma is mellow and pleasant, and the taste is lightly sweet with a large volume of smoke.

Hearken back to a simpler time when the sight of a pipe in someone’s mouth while walking down the street was common, and the scent of pipe tobacco was everywhere. Give Classic Burley Kake a try and go back in time.

The new Classic Burley Kake is a similar type of tobacco to Edgeworth Sliced. We're not attempting to to copy Edgeworth, but rather provide smokers with a blend that is similar to yet still unique.

I try to maintain a certain objectivity when I review tobaccos - it shouldn't be important to you how much I like this or that blend, you probably just want to know what's in it and whatever other facts I can relay to you.

That said, I'm going to have to make an exception with Hearth and Home's Classic Burley Kake. I'm very excited about this blend. For starters, it fits exactly what I've been looking for in a Burley blend - just a little sweetness, a little flavor, and I wanted all the rough edges knocked off. That is exactly what Russ Oullette has done with Classic Burley Kake.

In the pouch, the smell is cocoa and a little black licorice. The cakes rub out to medium semi-course cut at the ideal moisture level that makes gravity filling a pipe very easy. I fill this blend rather loose.

First light kicks off the rum, anise, and cocoa flavors. The first quarter of the bowl they seem to mingle back and forth allowing me to easily make out each separate flavor. By the 1/3 mark, they seem to meld together and do a perfect job of accompanying the clean base tobacco flavor from the burleys.

The mellow natural-tasting sweetness and soft flavors remain throughout the bowl. The tobacco is as well behaved and easy to smoke as any aromatic, but has the mouth-feel, flavor, fullness, and strength of a regular non-aromatic blend.

I'm not one to make a point out of smoking to the bottom on one light, but it seems to almost come natural with this blend. It is full enough I'm not tempted to puff greedily, but easy going without causing fatigue so I can easily maintain a steady and gentle smoking cadence that keeps the ember hot and me in heaven on earth.

This blend will likely appeal to aromatic smokers wishing to explore their boundaries, definitely the Burley lover, and any other pipe smoker looking for a change of pace with a quality blend.

If you have tried this blend too, let me know what you thought about it in the comments below.

Composed of Burleys, two cuts of Virginia, Latakia and Perique. For those who enjoy true natural tobacco flavor, one of my most popular lighter English blends.

Here is an example of a blend that truly uses Latakia as a condiment. This rounds out and touches up the earthy burleys and leaves the pepper from the Perique to deal with the tang and sweetness from the Virginia.

No. 72 has lots of high notes and a clean dry finish. The proportion of Perique here is pushing the envelope but doesn't quite step out of bounds. Those who like Virginia/Perique blends and burley should not be off put by the amount of Latakia here and enjoy this approach to what I'd call a classic American blend.

This will work great in warm weather or as a spicy all day smoke. Try this one in a variety of pipes as the bowl size and pipe engineering makes all the difference.

In the pouch, the tobacco is soft to the touch, mostly medium with flecks of black. The pouch aroma is slightly sweet with maybe just a hint of Vanilla. This is another tobacco that is a joy to fill, light, and smoke.

The flavor while smoking is very smooth and mellow. There are much stouter burley blends out there, but this is just right for starting the day with a cup of coffee or enjoying in warm weather. I can barely detect any added flavor and the sweetness is subdued. Whatever processing this tobacco underwent has driven out any hint of harshness or capacity to nip the tongue.

As the bowl progresses the burley flavor deepens without going bitter and the sweetness subsides even further. The most serious burley aficionados may find this lacking in the body and strength department, but those looking for a well behaved, neutral flavored, straightforward burley smoke will likely find a keeper.

Blender's description:

One of the oldest Wilke recipes. Virginia and Burleys are mixed with a non-aromatic Black Cavendish tobacco and topped with a generous amount of superior Latakia creating a traditional medium strength English blend. A rich mellow blend in the true British tradition.

This blend has a medium amount of Latakia. I wouldn't want any more in this blend because I might miss the tangy sweetness from the Virginia or that faint toastiness from the unflavored black cavendish. The burley is applied just enough to round it out with some body.

This blend is well behaved and well balanced.