Original Rum and Maple Blend No. 53

[Justpipes]

This is a review of this fine leaf that I posted on another forum a while back. I have been smoking this blend for the last few days and have come to really appreciate it. I am posting the review here first for the benefit of CP :lol: and secondly because I believe this blend would be a great diversion for all of you straight VA lovers. To me it smokes like and closely resembles a straight VA In that it is one dimensional with a good clean VA flavor throughout the bowl.

Original Rum and Maple Blend No. 53

The original manufacturer was Larus and Brother Company in Richmond, VA. The current manufacturer is Lane Limited in Tucker, GA. Before Lane Limited it was manufactured by Pinkerton as far back as the 70’s.

The description on the current tin is: MANY MEN BLEND RUM AND MAPLE WITH OTHER TOBACCOS
Original RUM and MAPLE PIPE MIXTURE
Blend No. 53
Good by itself Good as a mixer

Contents:In my research I was not able to find an official listing of the tobacco content. Some unofficial listings say that it is Bright Virginias and Burley with rum and maple flavoring.

Upon opening the 14 oz. tin the aroma is very pleasing to me with nothing over powering. To me it smells much like a good VA blend in that it is sweet smelling but not too sweet along with a nice natural tobacco aroma. The tin aroma does not remind me of rum or maple at all. The appearance is that of a considerable amount of Bright Virginia Ribbon, possibly a white burley and medium colored Kentucky leaf in a rough cut with the Bright VA Ribbon being the most prominent. Upon closer study there may even be some red VA's.
This particular tin has a nearly perfect moisture content with little evidence of PG. I really like the consistency of the cut and low moisture content.

The tobacco packs very nicely with the pinch method. Lighting was a breeze with the initial charring light followed by a tamp and relight. I did not need to relight this tobacco again until the very bottom of the bowl and really that was so I could get every last bit of it.

What can I say about the taste?.........I like it. Being the simple minded person that I am this one dimensional tobacco is very appealing to me. The flavor is the same from top to bottom. In my opinion the rum and maple if any is not detectable. It is just a nice natural, slightly grassy, subtly sweet and creamy VA/Burley blend with absolutely no bite. Original Rum and Maple is a very cool and pleasant smoke that burns to a fine gray ash.

Lane Limited has done it again with another Larus and Brother Company American blend. This would make a good all day smoke for someone that smokes a lot all day long, day in and day out. For me I find it to be a fabulous early morning smoke! I will be smoking a lot more of this blend and who knows………it just might turn me into a two blend smoker after all.

History note: Lane Ltd. and Larus and Brother Company had a relationship as far back as at least the early 50’s though at times it was bitter sweet. Lane Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Larus and Brother Company in 1957 over some licensing concerns and rights to Lords Smoking Tobacco and Lords Cigarettes that Larus was manufacturing for Lane Ltd. Lane was suing Larus for damages of $300,000. I find it very interesting that now in 2007 Lane is manufacturing the old Larus and Brother Company blends.

Mark Hale
12/31/07

 

[Anonymous]

This might make Walnut more acceptable, but then, so would coffee grinds, used tea, and incense.

 

[Mikem]

Mark, is Rum and Maple another one of those blends like Walnut that you must buy in the tub or can you buy it in smaller quantaties?

 

[Justpipes]

Mark, is Rum and Maple another one of those blends like Walnut that you must buy in the tub or can you buy it in smaller quantaties?

Mike,

I have only ever seen it in a 14 oz. tin. I have heard people talk about purchasing it in a pouch but I have never seen them. I was always curious about this tobacco and when I placed an order for Walnut from WV Smokeshop about a month ago, I ordered a tin of R&M at the same time. I regret that I had never purchased it before. I really like it a lot. To me it really is a lot like a straight VA. even though it has Burley in it.

I would like to see Mike B. weigh in on it.

Mark

 

[morleysson]

I regret that I had never purchased it before. I really like it a lot. To me it really is a lot like a straight VA. even though it has Burley in it.

Funny thing, another one of my favorites, too. Almost anything that the old Larus Bros manufactured was on my shelves, including the long gone Union JAck (glowing spoken of by Gospelman) and the late victim 4Seasons. Very much an understated aromatic which has the burn qualities of a better burley and no VA bite. I have only found it these days in the tub, although in better times there was the foil pack in shades of brown. Great room note, too.

 

[Justpipes]

I regret that I had never purchased it before. I really like it a lot. To me it really is a lot like a straight VA. even though it has Burley in it.

Funny thing, another one of my favorites, too. Almost anything that the old Larus Bros manufactured was on my shelves, including the long gone Union JAck (glowing spoken of by Gospelman) and the late victim 4Seasons. Very much an understated aromatic which has the burn qualities of a better burley and no VA bite. I have only found it these days in the tub, although in better times there was the foil pack in shades of brown. Great room note, too.

I have seen Four Seasons at JR's and if I am not mistaken I believe that I saw some the last time I was there about two weeks ago. If they have it the next time I visit there I am going to get a tin of it.

 

[eggman]

I like Rum & Maple. It was one of the first blends I smoked. I bought it in a small pouch. I have purchased the pouch several times and differant stores around west KY. Funny though I have never found it around west Tenn either in tub or pouch.

 

[pipetongue1]

Even' all, I smoked this for 40 odd years! Ken.
Pacem en New Year! :king:

 

[Stormcrow]

I'm going to JR's today. I'll be looking for R&M and 4 Seasons. Thanks for the review!

 

[SopwithCamel]

Ah, this was the second blend I ever tried. I used to be able to buy it at a local drugstore in pouch or tub. It was a bit sharp at the match, but smoothed out nicely. My now deceased KW bulldog loved that blend, and seemed to sweeten it a bit.

I can't find it anywhere except online these days...

Jeff T.

 

[Anonymous]

I've tried this blend. Not only was it too sweet, it bit like a rabid dog. Never again!

 

[thomas james]

Grampa,

I distinctly remember almost all of the d'store tobaccos bit like hell. This was in the late 60's through early 70's. That's when I stopped smoking pipes. I picked it back up about five years ago and can smoke any of the current tinned tobaccos bowl after bowl with no bite whatsover. Have not tried any of the d'stores during the last five years. Very curious. Maybe it's the "pg." I really don't know. Not a va thing either, smok em all.

Many have stated that the price is right. I have seen bulks from different blenders actually sell for less and that's for a pound vs 14 oz.

I could never seem to get tin aroma to translate to taste with the d'stores. Gonna catch hell for that. Especially from Don Amigo de la Vito.

Maybe several decades of profanity have calloused my tongue.

I'm ready for my thrashin now.

 

[Anonymous]

I could never seem to get tin aroma to translate to taste with the d'stores. Gonna catch hell for that. Especially from Don Amigo de la Vito.

Maybe several decades of profanity have calloused my tongue.

I'm ready for my thrashin now.

There are some excellent drug store blends, which unfortunately are available but never seen in the drug stores anymore and must be ordered online. Some great burley blends such as Edgeworth Ready Rubbed and classic aromatics like Revelation come to mind. Along with the good come the not so good as well. Half & Half, Run & Maple and Paladin for example.

 

[Justpipes]

I've tried this blend. Not only was it too sweet, it bit like a rabid dog. Never again!

I find this blend only subtly sweet like most VA's and I have smoked it every kind of way with not bite at all. I don't believe this blend would bite no matter how you smoked it.

When was the last time you tried it Bill?

 

[pipemaker]

Mark,

I tried several bowls from the sample you sent me, and I found that unless I'm careful, this stuff will bite.... maybe not as bad as a rabid dog, but at least as much as a mad dog. :x

I am starting to think that tongue bite has a lot more to do with a persons chemistry than I suspected.

I'm going to try to stove it for a while and see if I can sweat this tobacco into submission.

Mike

 

[Justpipes]

Mark,

I tried several bowls from the sample you sent me, and I found that unless I'm careful, this stuff will bite.... maybe not as bad as a rabid dog, but at least as much as a mad dog. :x

I am starting to think that tongue bite has a lot more to do with a persons chemistry than I suspected.

I'm going to try to stove it for a while and see if I can sweat this tobacco into submission.

Mike

Honestly Mike, I have not problems with this blend biting.

I don't know what I would be doing that is different. Maybe you are right about the chemistry. Jo says my tongue is dead anyway! :lol: Maybe she is right. :roll:

 

[Big G]

Does anyone know when the Original Rum & Maple Blend No. 53 stopped being available in the key cans?
Thanks for any information!
Glen

 

[Vito]

Apparently, this entire thread is based on the supposition that the OP actually smoked the original Rum & Maple Blend No. 53. He didn’t. He couldn’t. It had long since ceased to exist in 2007. I don’t know when they changed the formula; certainly it was after they switched from the steel tin that opened with a key.

Anyhow, Rum & Maple was one of the first blends I smoked (51 years ago), and I can tell you for a fact that the stuff they’re selling under the same name now bears no resemblance whatsoever to what existed then. It’s not even close. It’s a bland, sickly-sweet, milk-chocolaty flavored kind of glop that is so uninteresting (to me) as to be virtually unsmokable. I can detect neither rum nor maple.

The Rum & Maple I used to smoke had real character, without bludgeoning the smoker with what has become the worst characteristic of today’s “aromatics”—all sweetness and fluff with no serious tobacco flavor. I like the way Morleysson (R.I.P.) put it—“an understated aromatic”.

Whoever is making the stuff now obviously bought the name. They’ve dumbed it down into something that would never fool anyone who experienced the original. I wish it were still available. Having wasted good money on this horrifying glop they have the effrontery to call “the original” now, it’s a mistake I’ll never make again.

Addendum: I forgot to mention that the original Rum & Maple (back in the 1940s) contained Syrian Latakia, Virginia, and North Carolina tobaccos. As far as I know, the Syrian Latweed was gone by the time I started smoking it in 1964. As I recall, the blend was about 50/50 burleyweed and Virginia.

:joker:

 

[Brewdude]

OMG! A Vito sighting!

:shock:


Cheers,

RR

 

[ftrplt]

First, while I appreciate the comments/history of Rum & Maple, the thread content has little significance for me as I tried it one time and absolutely hated it :evil: That negativity aside, reviewing all the former Brothers, either gone (Morleyson, Pipetongue, etc.) or not on the Board any more (JustPipes, Pipemaker) brings a bit of sadness to my morning. On a positive note, it's great to hear from Don Vito again!! :cheers: FTRPLT