Strong VA curiosity

[DrumsAndBeer]

Union Square was one Pease flavor that was totally lost on me. Nothing there for me with that one.

For a more powerful smoke, I really enjoy VA Dark Fire marriages. Cumberland is great, aged Cumberland is super, but to my taste Solani Silver Flake is flat out incredible. :drunken:

I agree on Mike's recommendations of Dark Flake and Dark Birdseye. Both are tasty, both are potent.

 

[Anonymous]

It's one subtle tobac, D/B. Doesn't raise its voice -- you've got to lean over to hear it whisper. Which is one reason why I like it.

What IS there in it, even new, is quality stuff. Like any Virginia, time will work its magic with it.

Looking forward to that ! :cheers:

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[sand18f]

C&D Bayou Morning, bulk.
SG St. James Flake.
McClelland's 2015
HOW
Marlin Flake
Old Gowrie
Real Louisiana Perique, not the knock off variety. I use it as to spice up the above. Kinda like putting Tabasco Sauce on your grits and eggs.

My personal opinion about Royal Yacht is not very flatering. My body chemistry does not work well with burley. I find Royal Yacht to be just the opposite of most here.
I have a very high tolorence for nicotine.
Probably nothing new here.
JMHO YMMV 8)

Bill

 

[shootist51]

The flavor is what most of us smoke a pipe for, not a buzz. I smoke Virginias almost exclusively because I enjoy the flavor. Ocassionally I will smoke an English of Lat blend for a change of pace, but if a buzz is what you are looking for, there ore other things to smoke. I just sip a good single malt for the buzz :lol!:

Well, having smoked a pipe for over 30 years, I believe I have some idea as to why I smoke a pipe, but you are free to rush to any conclusion you like.

Now if you don't mind, I should like to be able to explore this subject further, if that is okay with you.

Sorry dude. Didn"t mean to twist your panties.

 

[Briar Spirit]

The flavor is what most of us smoke a pipe for, not a buzz. I smoke Virginias almost exclusively because I enjoy the flavor. Ocassionally I will smoke an English of Lat blend for a change of pace, but if a buzz is what you are looking for, there ore other things to smoke. I just sip a good single malt for the buzz :lol!:

Well, having smoked a pipe for over 30 years, I believe I have some idea as to why I smoke a pipe, but you are free to rush to any conclusion you like.

Now if you don't mind, I should like to be able to explore this subject further, if that is okay with you.

Sorry dude. Didn"t mean to twist your panties.

Ha-ha, I was already pushed on that one, no offence was meant, and who said you could twist my panties, I don't know you well enough to let you start touching me like that, you saucy flirt. :twisted:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Virginias are such touchy broads, overall. They can be "spoiled" from seed to smoke and anywhere in the process for smokers who really get into them as an end product. It all depends on how they've been treated in their long journey, origin to flame. I like a challenge, and Virginias are the "intellectual" sort that choose their palates rather than the other way around, I think. Worth it, though. Any that I've found that play nice with either the blender's hand at melding them with some friends like Burley, Kentucky, etc, or my pipe for that matter, I consider a blessing.

Union Square is one of those demure, prim and proper gals, and if you're lookin' for a rafter-swingin' good-time-gal, she'll wrinkle her nose at ya. Embarcadero is even fussier.

With the theme that tobacco is female, there's all sorts of gals out there, from sweet, to pungent, to dirty ladies of the night, tomboy, girl-next-door, young flirts to complicated and hard-to-get. None of them ask me to go shopping with them, so far--I'm good with that. :lol:

8)

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Virginias are such touchy broads, overall. They can be "spoiled" from seed to smoke and anywhere in the process for smokers who really get into them as an end product. It all depends on how they've been treated in their long journey, origin to flame. I like a challenge, and Virginias are the "intellectual" sort that choose their palates rather than the other way around, I think. Worth it, though. Any that I've found that play nice with either the blender's hand at melding them with some friends like Burley, Kentucky, etc, or my pipe for that matter, I consider a blessing.

Union Square is one of those demure, prim and proper gals, and if you're lookin' for a rafter-swingin' good-time-gal, she'll wrinkle her nose at ya. Embarcadero is even fussier.

With the theme that tobacco is female, there's all sorts of gals out there, from sweet, to pungent, to dirty ladies of the night, tomboy, girl-next-door, young flirts to complicated and hard-to-get. None of them ask me to go shopping with them, so far--I'm good with that. :lol:

8)

I tried and tried but the prim and proper Union Square just wouldn't give it up for me. I shipped her off in trade for her slightly easier free-lovin hippie cousin Ashbury and the ever-exotic Samarra. Interestingly Embarcadero was an easier affair for me, reminded me a bit of C&D's Guilford Courthouse which I also enjoyed.

 

[keen smoke]

I agree with the Full Virginia Flake mentions. It isn't "strong" in Vitamin N, but it edges to the high side of medium for me, which is more than you'll get from most VAs. It also tastes fantastic.

FVF, by the way, is 100% Virginia (or rather, Virginia-style leaf... I think some/all in this blend it actually comes from Africa). No Burley, no casing, no flavor added. They rely completely on the quality of leaf and the old world style production process to achieve the wonderfulness. I exchanged messages with Bob Gregory (manager/blender for SG) directly and asked - he confirmed this. I suppose you could say he lied... but I don't see any reason why he would. (If they revealed FVF had a small portion of burley I think it would still sell out just as quick!)

That said, it may be true that many VAs have hidden Burley, but I think these days there are probably a fair amount beyond Union Square that are purely VAs or VA/Perique. McClelland in particular comes to mind as having a number of such blends, though their maturing process results in something kind of close to VA cavendish I suppose. And their tobaccos are nearly all quite mild in Nic.

As for N-content, VA does tend to be more mild than Burley but from what I've read it can be affected by a number of variables - soil of origin, length of time curing/curing method, grade/amount of sugar in the raw leaf, etc. If I remember right, fire and air cured VAs tend to be stronger in Nic, followed by Flue cured, and finally sun cured. The longer they're cured the less Nic they end up with, and lighter colored varieties like yellow/golden tend to have less Nic than darker grades.

 

[Lesepfeife]

Yesterday I was reading the extensive information on the Mac Baren web site. On one page <http://mac-baren.com/how-tobacco-is-born>it says,
"The higher the leaf sits on the plant, the higher its nicotine content. In the top leaves, called Tips, the nicotine content is so strong that the leaves cannot be used for pipe tobacco. We use mainly the leaves from the groups called Leaf, Cutters and Lugs. The normal nicotine content in tobacco is 1% to 3%."
I was thinking that I also read something about relative nicotine content between some of the tobaccos but I couldn't find it just now in a brief search. Regardless there's a lot of interesting general tobacco information on their site.

 

[lestrout]

Lesep - great find there! What jumps out at me is that the nic range is 1-3%, so that means some leaf has 3 times the hit as the low percentage stuff.

BTW - are you near Philly?

hp
les

 

[ajpl]

If you really be wanting a hardcore nicotine hit, screw the Virginias and just smoke some Perique straight-no-chaser. :twisted:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

If you really be wanting a hardcore nicotine hit, screw the Virginias and just smoke some Perique straight-no-chaser. :twisted:

NO. :|

 

[Slartibartfast]

G&H Dark Plug/Flake and Condor Long Cut. Good Va flavour with plenty o' vitamin N; the Condor albeit served up with it's lovely floral accompaniment. Both are excellent.

 

[Lesepfeife]

Lesep - great find there! What jumps out at me is that the nic range is 1-3%, so that means some leaf has 3 times the hit as the low percentage stuff.

BTW - are you near Philly?

I spent quite a bit of time perusing the information on the Mac Baren site. Unlike many commercial web sites, the information doesn't just point you back to buying the subject product. There's quite a bit of history and behind the scenes information.

My PA location is that I frequently work about 50 miles NW of Philly at Hopewell Furnace National Park (near Elverson).

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Could we get this thread back to a detailed discussion of Kirk's high tolerance for nicotine where it belongs.

 

[Briar Spirit]

As far as what to suggest, Kirk? I dunno. If you want "just a Virginia," it'll mean your limited selections for you to buy might hinder your search. If you want just a 'bacca with some brass-ones, to give you your N-jolt for the day with some flavor, well, there's a few out there. Price-wise, you might have to spend a quid or two more. Or ten...twenty. :no: Sorry brother.

8)

I have been blessed in that Jim (Jimbo) sent me some samples of GLPease plugs a week or so ago and they were Triple Play & Jack Knife, they were trhe most amazing tobacco's I have ever smoked, I had no idea that tobacco could be that darn good in flavour and the Lady-N hit was quite acceptable too. The first round of samples Jim sent me got 'tampered with' by the Christmas temp' postie, two of the three samples Jim sent me were missing and the envelope was opened and soaking wet. Jim was so amazing, he sent me the those 2 additional samples as the ones he sent first went astray, Jim is such a diamond geeza, considering what he is coping with his actions were nothing short of stellar. As you say though Kyle, the better tobacco comes with a fine ol'price tag, £16.50 for 2oz, as fine as they are their price makes them way out of my price range. Ordinarily I have £30 a month to buy my smokes, I couldn't even afford 2 tins to last me a month, so the samples Jim bestowed upon me were the only opportunity I will ever have in smoking those amazing blends. I'm not knocking the blender or the site that sells them for the price tag, it's all about business, I know this, does make the heart weigh heavy knowing it's out of my own price bracket though, but, that's life for ya, find something good and it gets kept from ya.

 

[Briar Spirit]

If you really be wanting a hardcore nicotine hit, screw the Virginias and just smoke some Perique straight-no-chaser. :twisted:

Ha-ha, like the way you think Bud, but no thanks, wouldn't have the flavour I've come to enjoy, I'm a picky little rascal, yeah okay, so I'm a fat git so not so much of the 'little', but the rest stands true.

 

[Briar Spirit]

Could we get this thread back to a detailed discussion of Kirk's high tolerance for nicotine where it belongs.

Nah, I love to see where one line of conversation leads, let 'em rant, it's funny.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Kirk, this may have been covered already, either here on this thread or another one similar, but I thought I'de mention Sam Gawith's Brown Rope No.4. Now this may be the cigar-like taste of the air cured indian leaf you mentioned in an earlier post that you were not particularly interested in, I don't know. But to my palatte at least it's just a very nice natural tobacco flavour; of course it's strong, but I don't think that's a problem in the context of this thread and what you're looking for. I especially like it with a bit of perique mixed in and usually I just slice off a bit of Night Train and rub 'em together. Lovely smoke, tho it may not be what you seek. :scratch:

The other candidate would be FVF of course. Certainly nowhere near the nicotine strength of the twist but not really all that slim either. There's enough nic there to satisfy this addict most of the time, and the smoke really is a delicious one, although it is a bit green straight from the shelves these days. But get some with a couple years on it and I'de be very suprised if you felt disappointed.


Just ma ha'penny.