Virginia Suggestions

There are a ton of great Virginia choices out there. Personally i moved into Va/Pers and then straight Virginias, as they are a bit more forgiving. Straight Virginias require a little patience and good technique to get the MOST out of the flavor. Something that is a good starter would be H&H Marble Kake. SG has a couple that are out of this world with Best Brown Flake and Full Virginia Flake, but they definitely take a little more effort to smoke. Too of my standby's are Orlik Golden Slice and Rattrays Hal o' the Wynd.
the best part is the journey finding what you like best, so load up that shopping cart! :mrgreen:

I'm still trying to figure out Virginia's myself but I know most on here would recommend you give Escudo a try.

Ahh, the world of pure Vs, wish I had this advice when I started out;

If you are a puff-o-matic..."don't be!" a pure V has no mercy for this

and will tear your mouth up :-( slow-slow-slow sip'in only (as it should

be for most blends, but as MC will say your pal needs to develop

so target a pure V and take your time and give it 4-7 days or so,

going from sweet / Aro blends you might not notice a flavor overload

with a pure V, which might cause you to puff harder looking for

it/which is a bad road to go down/overheating a high sugar V is

not what you want to do...
As for forgiving ones; hmm IMHO, you might want to as mentioned

go with a VaPer or VaBur to start and move to pure V...maybe

some SG St. James or Peterson's UF, and maybe MB's ODF...

then on to try Dunhill's Flake, F&T's CVP, Solani's Silver flake,

Marlin Flake, all some of my favs....chatting about them makes

me want to go have a bowl....or three

Good advice so far. A new to me Virginia I've been enjoying is Erinmore Flake. I also like Orlik Golden Sliced and the Mac Baren flakes and last but not least Peterson's Irish and University Flakes. So many more out there I'd like to try.

If nicotine bothers you -- as it does me -- you should avoid any Virginia blend that also contains perique. (And you'll need to go easy on Virginia/burley flakes, since burley tends to also be high in nicotine.)
I'm going to take a different approach from some of the other posters. If you'd like a straight Virginia that is nothing but Virginia, I would recommend Rattray's Old Gowrie, McClelland's Virginia No. 25, and Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake (which is hard to come by lately).
But you might also enjoy easing into Virginias with blends that also include some cavendish in them, a style I particularly enjoy. I rave a lot about Rattray's Jocks Mixture here, but McClelland's Anniversary is also an outstanding example of this style.
Bob

When I first tried VA's, I just didn't get them at all. I smoked WAY too fast and hot. I can confidently recommend a few VA's that are very forgiving of poor technique, however.
1. McClelland's Matured VA's #22 -- it's dark, sweet and zesty, but also very soft on the palate.
2. Sam Gawith's Best Brown Flake or Full VA Flake -- both of these are steamed and pressed and also very soft on the palate (but they are also hard to rub out as the flakes tend to be somewhat stiff).
3. Gawith Hoggarth's Best Brown #2 -- a zesty, tangy flake (with a little bit of burley), it is also very forgiving and burns and rubs out easily.
I would avoid Escudo, Luxury Bullseye Flake, Davidoff Flake Medallians and GL Pease VA's. I like these very much, but I find them harder to smoke. As much as I smoke VA's, I still have to focus a bit when smoking LBF or Flake Medallians as they tend to burn hot.
I have not tried Gawith's St. James Flake (a VAper), but if it's anything like their other flakes it's probably a good way to try out VA/Perique blends.
Above all, pack lightly and smoke slowly (and don't tamp until you have to). Good luck!

For a nice mild Virginia that is sweet and flavorful and ready to smoke out of the tin, Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug and Dunhill Flake. Both are readily available, both are no bite and I think are a great introduction to the world of Virginia's. Another one I just thought of is Astleys no. 109, very mild and approachable.