JimInks
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The folks at Sutliff have asked a number of people to review their Private Stock series, and I am one of them. They understand that if I don't like a blend, I can be honest and pan it if I so choose. Once a month, they mail out six tins for review. So far, I've reviewed ten of the twelve tins for Tobacco Reviews.com, but will be posting those reviews here, too. So, here's the first ten.
Great Outdoors:
I never smoked Field and Stream, so I can't compare the two. What I can say is that this is a very good aro with mild nuttiness, vanilla, light licorice, and plum and honey flavors. It smells great out of the tin and the room note is extremely pleasant. It's sweet but not powerfully so. Burns well with consistent flavor to the end, and the burley is nutty and mildly sweet, and adds a mild nic hit. I smoked this tin faster than any other Sutliff blend I tried recently. I'll need more for the cellar.
Blend #5:
I think it's slightly stronger than Dunhill 965, and doesn't taste like it at all. The latakia is strong without being a lat-bomb or overwhelming your senses. It's the main player, taste-wise, but the light, nutty and earthy burley and the Virginia rounds out the flavor quite well. It burns well, clean, and even with no bite, no dottle, and no bitterness. It's great in briar and even better in a meer. The room note is not overly strong either. Well worth buying!
Fieldmaster:
A mild to medium English blend with high quality Virginia that is very slightly sweet. The latakia gives the proper bass notes and does not overwhelm, and the Turkish is very mild. I enjoy the flavor of the burley, which adds an earthy, mildly sweet, nutty taste, and at times, is more obvious than the Virginia. It's the kind of English that you can smoke more than once a day, and feel satisfied. Some mild English blends leave a smoker with an empty feeling, but this one doesn't partly due to how the burley enhances the experience. Burns smooth and evenly with no bite, and often leaves you wanting to smoke another bowl right away.
Blue Danube:
A terrific aro. Smells and tastes a little like sweet honey bread to the smoker, and those around him/her. M'lady wants me to smoke it all the time. Burns very evenly and well. I get a hint of molasses and brown sugar at times, and a hint of vanilla with a very light nut taste. It's sweet, but not cloyingly so, which means you can smoke it all day without getting tongue bite or diabetes. The Virginia component is not that prominent, but has a natural sweetness that adds extra flavor and evenness to how it burns when you smoke it. A delightful smoke for any time of day or night.
Molto Dulce:
A black cavendish smoker's delight. It's crackles as it burns if you don't dry it first, and can leave some goop, too. I prefer to dry it out first. There's a pleasant vanilla, carmel, slightly buttery, molasses, honey taste that is consistent throughout the smoke. The vanilla flavor is the main player here, as is usually the case in this kind of blend, and I detect a light licorice note or two. It's a little sweeter than I prefer, but if you are a BC smoker, you'll become addicted to this and forget most of the other BC blends. As for the room note, well, if you're single, you may not be for long if women smell the wonderful aroma this mixture produces.
Spinnaker:
Spinnaker is an interesting blend. The reviewer who said it smelled like Ludens Cough Drops is dead right, and it's very intense if you try to smoke it wet. You'll also be faced with goop at the bottom. However, if you dry it out, the cherry taste is still present, but in a lesser form, and you'll have no goop, too. You'll also notice a few burley notes and some fruit taste I can't identify, and when dry, those flavors become more obvious as you smoke it. Wet or dry, it won't bite your tongue, though it may burn hot if you smoke it wet. If you like cherry blends, and are looking for a step up from lighter ones, you'll like this as long as you follow my advice.
Golden Age:
This doesn't taste much like Elizabethan to me. As someone else noted, it's like Royal Yacht-light. It also reminds me of Germain's Royal Jersey with perique, though that blend is lighter on the perique than this one is. But the sweet Virginia taste is almost the same. This is lightly sweeter than RJ/wP because the light addition of unsweetened black cavendish. It burns well and even with no goop, no dottle. The perique is slightly plum and peppery, but it's a team player and not necessarily the star component. If you're looking for an all day smoke with a little sweetness and just enough spice to tickle your tongue, this is blend will give you what you need.
Maple Street:
While it does taste a bit like pancakes due to the maple flavor, there are other blends that have a more intense flapjack taste. I prefer this to them. The tin note is rum and maple, and I taste a little rum while smoking it, but maple is definitely the predominant flavor. I get a slight pistachio note or two from the white burley, too. Burns darn near perfectly all the way to the bottom.
The room note is great and everybody around me who has smelled it notices the maple and not the rum. The more intense blends I mentioned earlier are too sweet for my personal tastes, but this is medium sweet and doesn't overwhelm, unless you are not used to aromatics. This is more of a three and half star blend for me, but I feel three stars short-changes it, so it gets a four star rating for blends in this genre.
Country Estate:
A smooth smoking mixture with a plum, fruit, and vanilla taste. I also sense a slight date note. The Virginia is downplayed by the other flavors, adding a very light hay note, and a slight natural sweetness, but I think it helps smooth out the black cavendish. A mild to medium blend that burns well, and is fairly sweet. It tastes just like it smells, and fills the room with a pleasant aroma. One of the smoother black cavendish blends on the market. It gets three stars because of that.
Barbados Plantation:
The rum and vanilla flavors are the predominate tastes of this blend. The Virginia is there to tame potential harshness, because you really can't taste it. The rum is very pleasant, and if I had my choice, I'd decrease the vanilla flavor and let the rum shine through more. However, it's very flavorful, though it does require a little drying fresh out of the tin to avoid goop and make it easier to keep lit. Don't dry it out completely though or you'll risk losing some flavor. I'd give it three and half stars if I was able, but I give it four because I like it too much to give it three.
Great Outdoors:
I never smoked Field and Stream, so I can't compare the two. What I can say is that this is a very good aro with mild nuttiness, vanilla, light licorice, and plum and honey flavors. It smells great out of the tin and the room note is extremely pleasant. It's sweet but not powerfully so. Burns well with consistent flavor to the end, and the burley is nutty and mildly sweet, and adds a mild nic hit. I smoked this tin faster than any other Sutliff blend I tried recently. I'll need more for the cellar.
Blend #5:
I think it's slightly stronger than Dunhill 965, and doesn't taste like it at all. The latakia is strong without being a lat-bomb or overwhelming your senses. It's the main player, taste-wise, but the light, nutty and earthy burley and the Virginia rounds out the flavor quite well. It burns well, clean, and even with no bite, no dottle, and no bitterness. It's great in briar and even better in a meer. The room note is not overly strong either. Well worth buying!
Fieldmaster:
A mild to medium English blend with high quality Virginia that is very slightly sweet. The latakia gives the proper bass notes and does not overwhelm, and the Turkish is very mild. I enjoy the flavor of the burley, which adds an earthy, mildly sweet, nutty taste, and at times, is more obvious than the Virginia. It's the kind of English that you can smoke more than once a day, and feel satisfied. Some mild English blends leave a smoker with an empty feeling, but this one doesn't partly due to how the burley enhances the experience. Burns smooth and evenly with no bite, and often leaves you wanting to smoke another bowl right away.
Blue Danube:
A terrific aro. Smells and tastes a little like sweet honey bread to the smoker, and those around him/her. M'lady wants me to smoke it all the time. Burns very evenly and well. I get a hint of molasses and brown sugar at times, and a hint of vanilla with a very light nut taste. It's sweet, but not cloyingly so, which means you can smoke it all day without getting tongue bite or diabetes. The Virginia component is not that prominent, but has a natural sweetness that adds extra flavor and evenness to how it burns when you smoke it. A delightful smoke for any time of day or night.
Molto Dulce:
A black cavendish smoker's delight. It's crackles as it burns if you don't dry it first, and can leave some goop, too. I prefer to dry it out first. There's a pleasant vanilla, carmel, slightly buttery, molasses, honey taste that is consistent throughout the smoke. The vanilla flavor is the main player here, as is usually the case in this kind of blend, and I detect a light licorice note or two. It's a little sweeter than I prefer, but if you are a BC smoker, you'll become addicted to this and forget most of the other BC blends. As for the room note, well, if you're single, you may not be for long if women smell the wonderful aroma this mixture produces.
Spinnaker:
Spinnaker is an interesting blend. The reviewer who said it smelled like Ludens Cough Drops is dead right, and it's very intense if you try to smoke it wet. You'll also be faced with goop at the bottom. However, if you dry it out, the cherry taste is still present, but in a lesser form, and you'll have no goop, too. You'll also notice a few burley notes and some fruit taste I can't identify, and when dry, those flavors become more obvious as you smoke it. Wet or dry, it won't bite your tongue, though it may burn hot if you smoke it wet. If you like cherry blends, and are looking for a step up from lighter ones, you'll like this as long as you follow my advice.
Golden Age:
This doesn't taste much like Elizabethan to me. As someone else noted, it's like Royal Yacht-light. It also reminds me of Germain's Royal Jersey with perique, though that blend is lighter on the perique than this one is. But the sweet Virginia taste is almost the same. This is lightly sweeter than RJ/wP because the light addition of unsweetened black cavendish. It burns well and even with no goop, no dottle. The perique is slightly plum and peppery, but it's a team player and not necessarily the star component. If you're looking for an all day smoke with a little sweetness and just enough spice to tickle your tongue, this is blend will give you what you need.
Maple Street:
While it does taste a bit like pancakes due to the maple flavor, there are other blends that have a more intense flapjack taste. I prefer this to them. The tin note is rum and maple, and I taste a little rum while smoking it, but maple is definitely the predominant flavor. I get a slight pistachio note or two from the white burley, too. Burns darn near perfectly all the way to the bottom.
The room note is great and everybody around me who has smelled it notices the maple and not the rum. The more intense blends I mentioned earlier are too sweet for my personal tastes, but this is medium sweet and doesn't overwhelm, unless you are not used to aromatics. This is more of a three and half star blend for me, but I feel three stars short-changes it, so it gets a four star rating for blends in this genre.
Country Estate:
A smooth smoking mixture with a plum, fruit, and vanilla taste. I also sense a slight date note. The Virginia is downplayed by the other flavors, adding a very light hay note, and a slight natural sweetness, but I think it helps smooth out the black cavendish. A mild to medium blend that burns well, and is fairly sweet. It tastes just like it smells, and fills the room with a pleasant aroma. One of the smoother black cavendish blends on the market. It gets three stars because of that.
Barbados Plantation:
The rum and vanilla flavors are the predominate tastes of this blend. The Virginia is there to tame potential harshness, because you really can't taste it. The rum is very pleasant, and if I had my choice, I'd decrease the vanilla flavor and let the rum shine through more. However, it's very flavorful, though it does require a little drying fresh out of the tin to avoid goop and make it easier to keep lit. Don't dry it out completely though or you'll risk losing some flavor. I'd give it three and half stars if I was able, but I give it four because I like it too much to give it three.
