Just got my tins of the new CRF in today. First thing I noticed was the description was apparently just copied from the 2019 tin description because it still says it's the 2015 crop despise the side of the tin clearly listing the 2018 crop:
These things happen, as long as the tobacco is good I can ignore a copy-paste error. I cracked the tin and loaded my two most similar VA pipes with both the 2020 and an old tin of the 2019 I have open. The more broken flake at the bottom of the picture below is the old version:
And now that I've inserted all these images in this post I think I'll include "Pictorial" in the thread title haha. I have smoked a lot of the old 2015 crop CRF so this will be a simple comparison for my sake to see if I like the new batch as much as the older batches. Right off the bat after cracking the tin I was happy to see the colors in the flake looked similar to the old batches and the tin note was very similar as well. As I start to smoke through each bowl, switching occasionally to remind myself what the old batch tastes like in comparison I am definitely picking up some differences.
The old batches have a strength of flavor that almost reminds me a little of perique at times. The new batch definitely has plenty of flavor but it is more mild overall to my taste buds. But also I do detect a slight bit of the sharpness that younger virginias have that the older batches have rounded off. Granted when the older batches were younger they undoubtedly had some of this as well and I imagine as this batch ages the differences between the two will fade somewhat. Overall I am enjoying the new batch so far and while slightly different than the older batches I think it will age just as well and may become more and more similar over the years. I ordered plenty of the new batch so I may be able to do some more comparisons over the next few years to see if my hypothesis is correct.
These things happen, as long as the tobacco is good I can ignore a copy-paste error. I cracked the tin and loaded my two most similar VA pipes with both the 2020 and an old tin of the 2019 I have open. The more broken flake at the bottom of the picture below is the old version:
And now that I've inserted all these images in this post I think I'll include "Pictorial" in the thread title haha. I have smoked a lot of the old 2015 crop CRF so this will be a simple comparison for my sake to see if I like the new batch as much as the older batches. Right off the bat after cracking the tin I was happy to see the colors in the flake looked similar to the old batches and the tin note was very similar as well. As I start to smoke through each bowl, switching occasionally to remind myself what the old batch tastes like in comparison I am definitely picking up some differences.
The old batches have a strength of flavor that almost reminds me a little of perique at times. The new batch definitely has plenty of flavor but it is more mild overall to my taste buds. But also I do detect a slight bit of the sharpness that younger virginias have that the older batches have rounded off. Granted when the older batches were younger they undoubtedly had some of this as well and I imagine as this batch ages the differences between the two will fade somewhat. Overall I am enjoying the new batch so far and while slightly different than the older batches I think it will age just as well and may become more and more similar over the years. I ordered plenty of the new batch so I may be able to do some more comparisons over the next few years to see if my hypothesis is correct.
