Amphora Virginia - A Brief Review

[workman]

This one comes in a yellow pouch. Both the packing and the price suggest an OTC. Maybe it is, but in that case a damn good one.

The tobacco comes as broken or lightly rubbed flakes.

It is darker than I thought it would be, various shades of brown with just a few light yellow ribbons.

Although it appears as a fairly stoved, medium brown virginia, the flavor is on the bright side. Or to be more precise, the flavor is all over the virginia range, but dominated by the soursweet, lemony, buttermilk notes of bright virginias. There is also some bread, very little grass and hay, and some tanginess.

I find it very flavorful with some complexity. It will reward you if you concentrate on the flavors, but it is also easy going and flavorful enough for you to puff away while doing something else.

Where this one fits in the best is with Samuel Gawith's Best Brown and Full Virginia Flakes, this one being the bright morning smoke. I sense absolutely no toppings or casings. Not much nicotine either, but it's there of course.

For my own use, I rate blends from 0-6. Amphora Virginia gets something like 5.5.

It's very good!

 

[JimInks]

Good review, man.

 

[mso489]

Amphora Burley is a fine sturdy blend, and this sounds like a similarly good Virginia.

 

[cigrmaster]

Nice review, glad to hear you enjoyed it. It is always fun finding a new blend.

 

[hawky454]

I love me some Amphora VA, I was pleasantly surprised by it, so much so I immediately bought a 5 pack after smoking just one bowl. Unfortunately I was surprised to see that mold had aggressively contaminated each pouch in the pack but SP shipped off a replacement that arrived 2 days later so no harm no foul.
Great review.

 

[dcon]

Well worded workman. I went deep on this one after my first pouch. Hard to beat cheap and good.

 

[workman]

Needless to say, it benefits from some time in a jar. Mine has been jarred for about six months.

 

[yuda]

Well this is encouraging me to finish up what I've got jarred and get some of this.

 

[madox07]

Man I have been searching for this Amphora ... it seems they don't deliver it to Europe. Good review, by the way!

 

[workman]

@Madox07: Mine is purchased from The Danish Pipe Shop, which is in Denmark. It is certainly available in Germany as well. Danpipe.de has it. Probably others as well.

 

[madox07]

workman thanks for the heads up. Last year when it came out, I searched for it in my travels. Must have been too fresh back then ..

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Nice review, this was a bit fuller tasting Virginia what I first expected, as You said something close to full Virginia by S&G and their Brown Flake. Widely available at major online vendors in Germany, Amphora Burley is becoming more accessible some later, German retailers have encountered shortages in the supply of Amph. Burly

 

[foursidedtriangle]

I tried it, kind of good and a little bitey. I cannot believe I am saying this but it would improve with a topping, just a little bland otherwise.

 

[ryeguy]

Thanks for the recommendation! Bought some on your review, and I agree, it is remarkably good.

Easy to smoke and flavor from all over the VA spectrum.

 

[workman]

Thanks Ryeguy! This was my first review. It feels good to actually be helpful with it.

 

[ryeguy]

On the down side, I notice it does seem to have a lot of humectant.

 

[sasquatch]

Yup - good tasting Mac Baren-ish virginia, and just totally spoiled with a mouth-coating dose of PG. Liked the flavor, smoked one bowl and gave the pouch away.

 

[dcon]

I am thankful that I am not as PG or Latakia sensitive as some members. My palette would have difficulty in discerning a mere 3% of Latakia (though I love the stuff) and the PG would only phase me if it were to the degree of a drowned kitten. That, too, could be dried (the tobacco, that is ) :D

 

[workman]

I'm not sure how to detect humectants in tobacco. My Amphora Virginia dried down to crispy in a short time, similar to Samuel Gawith blends like FVF or St James. Currently I am smoking a tin of Fribourg & Treyer Vintage, where the flakes are still pliable after two or three weeks. I don't taste or in any other way notice a humectant in the smoke, but my guess is F&T has more than Amphora. This is a little out of my league...

 

[szconrad]

Great review! I agree that it is so enjoyable to discern all the various flavours that this blend offers. Definitely needs to be immediately jarred. I actually let mine dry out for about an hour, and then jarred it. I wanted to avoid any mold problems, which seems to happen easily if not taken care of properly.