Confused: What Does A Naturally Sweet Virgina Taste Like?

[Sincerely]

I found Golden Sliced to be quite sweet.

But I've smoked plenty of straight Virginia's that I wouldn't characterize as especially "sweet".

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I find all Va leaf sweet. We the leaf darkens, the sweetness generally becomes richer and fuller. Very light leaf is a light, citrus sweet while the darkest VA is more syrupy sweet. That's what I taste which does not mean anyone else detects the same flavors. I don't get the grassy, hay crap at all. Dry some lawn clippings and put them in a pipe, then smoke. I can't imagine that flavor is what you're detecting in Va blends. I think people who use grassy as a descriptor for pipe tobacco has no idea what grass tastes like.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I find all Va leaf sweet. We the leaf darkens, the sweetness generally becomes richer and fuller. Very light leaf is a light, citrus sweet while the darkest VA is more syrupy sweet. That's what I taste which does not mean anyone else detects the same flavors. I don't get the grassy, hay crap at all. Dry some lawn clippings and put them in a pipe, then smoke. I can't imagine that flavor is what you're detecting in Va blends. I think people who use grassy as a descriptor for pipe tobacco has no idea what grass tastes like.

Lol! It tastes the way hay smells. I know, I hate it when people say stuff like that, too. But that’s the best way I know how to put it. I don’t get as much citrus as everybody else seems to get.

 

[virginialover]

Don't listen to people that tell you it tastes like 'hay' or 'freshly cut grass' or 'a fresh loaf of bread' etc...no one, i'm sure, has ever smoked hay, grass or bread (and I grow hay for a living). Sweet is a relative term...if what you are smoking tastes sweeter than an untopped uncased burley, then its sweet, if it doesn't, it's not. 90% of what I smoke are pure or nearly pure virginias and they do tend to be relatively sweeter on average than other types of leaf...that's about the size of it...it's not rocket science.

Smoked no, smelled yeah and since both senses of smell and taste are closely related well nobody can be blamed for describing tobaccos in those terms. Musty, incense, hay, grass, earthy, woody, brioche, peppery. plumy, salty and all kinds of sweetness that, for some part, come from casings or toppings.

Those descriptions certainly give some direction as to what a smoker is looking for.

 

[Magpiety]

Sutliff 507-S.

To my taste buds, this one is simple and sweet. It's sweet in the way that fresh cut grass or hay smells sweet.

On another note, I just reached out to Sutliff about this blend and learned it's already grandfathered in. Deeming regs won't strike it down.

 

[Worknman]

No artificial flavoring in that one.

The bag I received labeled Sutliff Match Victorian definitely has some sort unnatural sweetness. Its borderline aromatic.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The bag I received labeled Sutliff Match Victorian definitely has some sort unnatural sweetness. Its borderline aromatic.

May have gotten a mislabeled bag. Prior to the name change, I bought ten pounds of it, and nothing but Virginia/Perique.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

May have gotten a mislabeled bag. Prior to the name change, I bought ten pounds of it, and nothing but Virginia/Perique.

I’ve bought several bags over the last year+, maybe half with the old name, can’t detect any changes.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

Kendal Plug/BBF and Best Brown No.2 would be my choices. No.2 is a VaBur so not a staight Virginia but it has a light sugar topping that makes it particularly delicious, I just wish they'd start selling the plug version again??.

 

[cigrmaster]

How easy it this. Capstan Blue Flake. Fold and stuff it in a group 4 or 5 sized pipe. It is easy to get and if you cannot taste the sweetness then you might need to get your taste buds checked out.

 

[logs]

How easy it this. Capstan Blue Flake. Fold and stuff it in a group 4 or 5 sized pipe. It is easy to get and if you cannot taste the sweetness then you might need to get your taste buds checked out.

That's funny I get bready flavors from Capstan more than sweetness. Have you tried Peretti RCTR by any chance? I find it crazy sweet, bizzarely sweet... like "someone pored a packet of Splenda on it" sweet.
It's not really what I'm looking for from a straight VA but someone must like it.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Amphora Virginia and Mc Baren Virginia Flakes ( not to confuse with the HH Virginia)arent these sweet enough virginias? And Yes, G&H Best Brown nro 2 is pretty sweet also with a very light Lakeland essence, but this one has Burley in it so it doesn't count here

 

[Worknman]

May have gotten a mislabeled bag. Prior to the name change, I bought ten pounds of it, and nothing but Virginia/Perique.

Something must've changed in the recipe. Ive seen discussion in other threads about the same thing. I used to think I had a mislabeled bag and then I saw this video where he shares the exact same thoughts I and others have had. Skip to 13:00 to where he talks about the "chemical sweetness" that I also get.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Something must've changed in the recipe. Ive seen discussion in other threads about the same thing. I used to think I had a mislabeled bag and then I saw this video where he shares the exact same thoughts I and others have had.

I have smoked the Murray's, and the Sutliff is awfully close. No idea who the YouTube guy is, but even Jim never mentioned an added flavoring.

 

[cigrmaster]

That's funny I get bready flavors from Capstan more than sweetness. Have you tried Peretti RCTR by any chance? I find it crazy sweet, bizzarely sweet... like "someone pored a packet of Splenda on it" sweet.
It's not really what I'm looking for from a straight VA but someone must like it.

I get no bread notes from Capstan Blue flake. I don't smoke anything from Peretti and definitely not a cut that is not a flake. I am not a fan of Peretti as they know nothing about customer service

 

[Worknman]

I have smoked the Murray's, and the Sutliff is awfully close. No idea who the YouTube guy is, but even Jim never mentioned an added flavoring.

Im just saying Im not the only one who thinks that. Its been discussed on this forum too. Maybe they changed the recipe.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Im just saying Im not the only one who thinks that. Its been discussed on this forum too. Maybe they changed the recipe.

I'm going to get a few ounces the next time I order something. If they've changed it, that would be sad, it was great how it was.

 

[anotherbob]

Sweetness in a Virginia is similar to the sweetness you can get from freshly baked bread or pastry, to my palate. It’s not heavy and sticky sweet, but light and more perceived towards the back of your mouth and on the retrohale.

Properly cured reds like McClelland did are good examples, unfortunately.

Things that are in current production seem to need a bit of age for the sweetness to become more obvious. The European Virginia blends fall more on the toasty, dark or grassy end of the spectrum than on the sweet, to me.

Blends leaning to a lot of reds are your best bet.

I have to second this. It's the kind of sweetness I get too. Not a huge sweetness but certainly a sweetness. Kind of like the girlfriend after the diet .

 

[Chasing Embers]

I have to second this. It's the kind of sweetness I get too. Not a huge sweetness but certainly a sweetness. Kind of like the girlfriend after the diet .

That's the kind of sweetness I get from Sutliff's Elizabethan.

 

[logs]

I don't smoke anything from Peretti and definitely not a cut that is not a flake. I am not a fan of Peretti as they know nothing about customer service

I've only ordered from them once but I can't say you're wrong. They have the slowest response and delivery time I've encountered from any seller.