Just for giggles I picked up a pouch of this. There are a series of "Export" blends, of which this is one. There are no reviews on TR for any of these Villiger blends, I guess they're new (or maybe just renamed). They also come in pouches whereas the older ones came in tins. "New World Export" says it's got Virginia, Burley, Black Cavendish and a topping of vanilla and cocoa. According to the ad, it's got 3 dots for strength and taste, 2 dots for room note.
The pouch note is candy-sweet and delectable, like a fresh vanilla cake just out of the oven. The appearance is a nicely-esthetic combination of thin, light-brown ribbon cuts (probably the Virginia), coarser shag (probably the Burley), and bits of black (obviously the cavendish). It felt a little damp in the pouch, but giving it the pinch test it fell apart without clumping, so I went ahead and smoked it.
Packing a mixed-cut blend is a compromise, but as it appears to be mostly the ribbon, and black cavendish will burn cool no matter how you pack it, I went with a fairly loose pack. It took to flame nicely, and I didn't need to relight it after that. Admittedly I was smoking a small pipe (meer) and I never smoke the last third.
Smokability: I was surprised in a good way that it produced copious amounts of creamy smoke even with a slow, gentle sipping cadence. I purposely stoked it up a couple times to see if it would bite (it didn't, not surprising considering it contains a lot of black cavendish and that stuff does tame the biters well), but this might be a good blend for over-puffers to train themselves to sip, as you can get plenty of smoke. It also smoked respectably dry for an inexpensive aro and didn't goop or leave a ghost. Again, I smoked it in a meer. Briar results may be different.
Nicotene: I have to disagree with the 3 dots, I'd barely put it at one. But what it lacks in nic it makes up for in taste and aroma.
Room-note: This I would give 4 dots. This is a blend to smoke in polite company. It's the kind of aroma that isn't sickeningly sweet but definitely says "pipe" to even the uninitiated.
Taste: With this blend there is so much smoke that unless you're smoking with your back against a brisk wind you're going to be smelling the room-note as you smoke, and smell and taste are very interrelated. So some of the taste strength comes from that. How I know is I pinched my nose shut and the taste dwindled significantly. Not the blend to smoke when you have a cold.
The taste itself is mainly vanilla. Between the cavendish and the toppings, I could not detect any natural flavor from the Virginia or Burley. I also could not detect any cocoa. But it definitely has a different flavor in there, I just couldn't seem to recognize it. It's almost a berry flavor, but no particular berry I recognize. I also detected a mild chemical taste now and then, mainly when I was over-puffing it. Sipped (again, you'll get lots of smoke with small sips) I didn't detect it much.
At a little over $4 for a 1.5oz pouch, this one won't break the bank, and it's a helluva lot more complex and enjoyable than the similarly-priced codger blends I've tried. I'm not much of an aro smoker, but occasionally I like to change it up, and occasionally I need something I can get away smoking around people who expect a pipe to "smell good". And I'd say for people who do like aros, this is one you don't want to miss.
The pouch note is candy-sweet and delectable, like a fresh vanilla cake just out of the oven. The appearance is a nicely-esthetic combination of thin, light-brown ribbon cuts (probably the Virginia), coarser shag (probably the Burley), and bits of black (obviously the cavendish). It felt a little damp in the pouch, but giving it the pinch test it fell apart without clumping, so I went ahead and smoked it.
Packing a mixed-cut blend is a compromise, but as it appears to be mostly the ribbon, and black cavendish will burn cool no matter how you pack it, I went with a fairly loose pack. It took to flame nicely, and I didn't need to relight it after that. Admittedly I was smoking a small pipe (meer) and I never smoke the last third.
Smokability: I was surprised in a good way that it produced copious amounts of creamy smoke even with a slow, gentle sipping cadence. I purposely stoked it up a couple times to see if it would bite (it didn't, not surprising considering it contains a lot of black cavendish and that stuff does tame the biters well), but this might be a good blend for over-puffers to train themselves to sip, as you can get plenty of smoke. It also smoked respectably dry for an inexpensive aro and didn't goop or leave a ghost. Again, I smoked it in a meer. Briar results may be different.
Nicotene: I have to disagree with the 3 dots, I'd barely put it at one. But what it lacks in nic it makes up for in taste and aroma.
Room-note: This I would give 4 dots. This is a blend to smoke in polite company. It's the kind of aroma that isn't sickeningly sweet but definitely says "pipe" to even the uninitiated.
Taste: With this blend there is so much smoke that unless you're smoking with your back against a brisk wind you're going to be smelling the room-note as you smoke, and smell and taste are very interrelated. So some of the taste strength comes from that. How I know is I pinched my nose shut and the taste dwindled significantly. Not the blend to smoke when you have a cold.
The taste itself is mainly vanilla. Between the cavendish and the toppings, I could not detect any natural flavor from the Virginia or Burley. I also could not detect any cocoa. But it definitely has a different flavor in there, I just couldn't seem to recognize it. It's almost a berry flavor, but no particular berry I recognize. I also detected a mild chemical taste now and then, mainly when I was over-puffing it. Sipped (again, you'll get lots of smoke with small sips) I didn't detect it much.
At a little over $4 for a 1.5oz pouch, this one won't break the bank, and it's a helluva lot more complex and enjoyable than the similarly-priced codger blends I've tried. I'm not much of an aro smoker, but occasionally I like to change it up, and occasionally I need something I can get away smoking around people who expect a pipe to "smell good". And I'd say for people who do like aros, this is one you don't want to miss.
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