Virginia is for Lovers......

[Choatecav]

Ok, I love the many different tastes that can be enjoyed with all types of blends, but at the end of the day.... I love a pure Virginia most of all. Really like the various English blends, the Balkans, the Burleys and of course the VaPers. Things with a hint of Latakia and Turkish blends and the spice of a good presence of Perique, but if all of these were to disappear tomorrow and only pure Virginias existed, I would still love my pipe smoking experience.

Are there others of you out there that are partial to tobacco under the heading of the "Old Dominion" and if so, what are the favorite VA's that you have found? Do you lean more to the Red Va's or the bright ones?

Conversely, if you don't care for it, what is it about it that doesn't "float your boat?"

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

Ok, I love the many different tastes that can be enjoyed with all types of blends, but at the end of the day.... I love a pure Virginia most of all. Really like the various English blends, the Balkans, the Burleys and of course the VaPers. Things with a hint of Latakia and Turkish blends and the spice of a good presence of Perique, but if all of these were to disappear tomorrow and only pure Virginias existed, I would still love my pipe smoking experience.

Are there others of you out there that are partial to tobacco under the heading of the "Old Dominion" and if so, what are the favorite VA's that you have found? Do you lean more to the Red Va's or the bright ones?

Conversely, if you don't care for it, what is it about it that doesn't "float your boat?"

Right now I’m coming to the end of a bowl of Bayou Morning Flake. It’s a great blend but I don’t smoke straight Virginias or VaPers so much for the same reason Matches860 said he doesn’t. He’s a burley lover. I would have to say I am, too.

I have seen Haunted Bookshop described as a “sour sop” or even as extreme as “the worst tobacco ever”.

When I light up a bowl of Haunted Bookshop I can taste that great burley taste but also some kind of sweetness in the background that must be the Virginias and Perique. My tastebuds really like it. That goes for a lot of burley blends that I like. I even like the dryness of white burley in blends like Big ‘n Burley. Straight burley like Five Brothers tastes so good.

While I do really enjoy the natural sweetness of Virginias I find the same thing Matches860 found. He explained it as wanting a strong cup of coffee and having a nice tea instead.

If I could smoke a pipe all day long, I would likely smoke more straight Virginias or VaPers in between the burley blends.

 

[edger]

Cornell and Diehl Derringer!!

 

[Servant King]

Love 'em, especially as the weather warms up. Hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to do so right now at this exact moment, C&D Opening Night, but only by a nose over Sutliff 507-C VA Slices. Newminster #400 is right up there too, along with Peterson Flake.

I equally enjoy VAs which contain just the slightest bit of something else. My all-time favorite blend, Drew Estate Gatsby Luxury Flake, is a straight VA with just a wee bit of Cavendish, and I do mean just a wee bit. Subtle, just a touch of sweetness to it, really keeps the acidity of the VAs in check. Another one that comes to mind in this camp (and far more common) is OGS. If I concentrate really hard, I can taste the perique, but most of the time, it's hard to tell if it's even really there at all. Peterson Sherlock Holmes comes to mind also, 90% VA with a light smattering of burley. Like GLF, it helps to keep the VAs in line.

Whatever the blend, they all need to be dried extremely thoroughly, to the point where my sanity might be called into question. Some would argue that this is the case no matter what, but this is hardly the venue to split such hairs.

 

[kcghost]

I greatly enjoy VaPers and a few Latakia blends. I don't share your enthusiasm for straight Virginia blends. I smoke Six Pence, Stonehenge, and Mad Fiddler Flake.

 

[AJL67]

CRF, CRF w/Perique, OGS, Wessex Gold Brick, St Johns, Special Brown Flake, Vintage, the list goes on and on.

 

[Choatecav]

Love 'em, especially as the weather warms up. Hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to do so right now at this exact moment, C&D Opening Night, but only by a nose over Sutliff 507-C VA Slices. Newminster #400 is right up there too, along with Peterson Flake.

I equally enjoy VAs which contain just the slightest bit of something else. My all-time favorite blend, Drew Estate Gatsby Luxury Flake, is a straight VA with just a wee bit of Cavendish, and I do mean just a wee bit. Subtle, just a touch of sweetness to it, really keeps the acidity of the VAs in check. Another one that comes to mind in this camp (and far more common) is OGS. If I concentrate really hard, I can taste the perique, but most of the time, it's hard to tell if it's even really there at all. Peterson Sherlock Holmes comes to mind also, 90% VA with a light smattering of burley. Like GLF, it helps to keep the VAs in line.

Whatever the blend, they all need to be dried extremely thoroughly, to the point where my sanity might be called into question. Some would argue that this is the case no matter what, but this is hardly the venue to split such hairs.

I like your contenders for a favorite. However, I have not tried the Sutliff 507. I have a craving for it now....

 

[anotherbob]

my main smoke isYorktown. That answers a few questionsyou asked

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I smoke Virginias almost exclusively. Favorites are McClelland, Sir John's Flake Virginia, MB HH Pure Virginia and MB HH Pure Virginia, F&T CVP, Vauen No 14, Pfeifen Huber Virginia Golden Flake and Capstan Blue.

 

[tmcg81]

As of right now, I'm not a fan of most straight Virginia pipe tobaccos. I enjoy a bowl of Dunhill Ye Olde Signe from time to time, but that's about it. I'm primarily a burley dude, but I do enjoy a vaper from time to time, especially if it's a vaper with some burley or dark fired in there. I keep waiting for straight VA's to "click" for me, but it hasn't happened yet. There's always tomorrow.

 

[dottlejockey]

I love both burleys (due to the cigar background) and VAs alike. Unlike you, though, i'd certainly miss the burley if VA was the only thing brought to the deserted isle. That said, i just popped an old tin of Dunhill Flake a couple days ago. Enjoyed the darker VA flavors going on in that one.

Regular suspects for me are both MacBaren VA #1 and Golden Extra. Also Hamborger Veermaster. And a couple others on occasion.

 

[ThermionicScott]

The better I get at smoking Virginias, the less I trust my sense memories from earlier in the journey. For example, I don't know if I'd recognize McClelland #5100 or #2015 or Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake if I smoked them again. Even within the last year or two, I've had such wildly differing experiences over the course of a new tin I'm trying, that it's hard to say whether I'm doing it "right" yet.

All that is to say I'm not really sure what my favorites are yet, whether I'm even qualified to have favorites. I will say that Orlik Golden Sliced has treated me really well, and I am quickly falling for GLP Union Square. I plan to keep plenty of both around. Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake just keeps getting better and better for me; it could easily become a favorite, but I feel like I'm "guarding my heart" due to how hard it can be to get. And I'm interested to re-try Capstan Blue, Royal Yacht, C&D Opening Night, and Peterson Flake. Plus, I have at least a half-dozen straight Virginia blends in the cellar that I haven't even tried yet. Pretty exciting!

 

[AJL67]

The better I get at smoking Virginias, the less I trust my sense memories from earlier in the journey. For example, I don't know if I'd recognize McClelland #5100 or #2015 or Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake if I smoked them again. Even within the last year or two, I've had such wildly differing experiences over the course of a new tin I'm trying, that it's hard to say whether I'm doing it "right" yet.

All that is to say I'm not really sure what my favorites are yet, whether I'm even qualified to have favorites. I will say that Orlik Golden Sliced has treated me really well, and I am quickly falling for GLP Union Square. I plan to keep plenty of both around. Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake just keeps getting better and better for me; it could easily become a favorite, but I feel like I'm "guarding my heart" due to how hard it can be to get. And I'm interested to re-try Capstan Blue, Royal Yacht, C&D Opening Night, and Peterson Flake. I have at least a half-dozen straight Virginia blends in the cellar that I haven't even tried yet. Pretty exciting!

Don't have to have a favorite, there is enough difference in them that i just rotate through them, been smoking CRF for like a month solid just a few bowls of other things then I'll switch it up to something else for awhile, before the CFR was a few months of Cringle Flake .. i get on runs. I think I bought like 10 large tins of Union Square a couple years back when there was a % off sale, maybe i'll break into that next.

 

[Choatecav]

my main smoke isYorktown. That answers a few questionsyou asked

Thanks. I've not had Yorktown so I googled the blend and found this:

"For Yorktown, the folks at Cornell & Diehl combine stoved red Virginia with bright Virginia and restoved it."

What exactly does "stoving" mean? Is that a drying process or something?

 

[Bananacaravanadium]

My favorite straight VA’s right now are Capstan Blue and Peterson Flake. Newminster No. 400 is up there too, but a bit too sweet to be a favorite today.

 

[Chasing Embers]

 

[InWithBothFeet]

What exactly does "stoving" mean? Is that a drying process or something?

Add to that, what is the difference between "bright" and "red" virginias and how do the nic levels compare between them? I just gave a an ounce of C&D Briar Fox (burley and virginia blend) away because of the nic. Couldn't enjoy it.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Union Square is my staple Virginia blend but It’s heavy on the reds which don’t always agree with everyone. Capstan Blue, Sutliff iterations and Peterson flakes, both dark and light are very good.

 

[tirefire]

I am a fan of VA blends that contain Kentucky and just a bit of perique. Some VaPers have a "freshly cracked black pepper" perique taste that I do not like. (I like it on a steak but not in a pipe.) Current favorite Virginia blend is Rattray's Old Gowrie--good sweetness and a bit of DFK smokiness. McConnell's Scottish Cake is next on my list to try.

As for straight Virginias, I have a sample size of one (1)--Pease's Union Square. But there is an unopened tin of HH Pure Virginia in my stash that is on-deck. Also want to try Peretti's Ampersand Flake.

 

[LEP7cv]

aged virginias and VaPers are my favourites