Confusion Regarding Blend Contents

[Gavrin]

Title edited for clarity and brevity.

See Jeremy Reeves' posts for the real skinny!

Bear with me for a seemingly naive question: When a new smoker is trying tobaccos for taste say a Virginia tobacco is it suppose to be just 100% Virginia or 100% Burley or Laktia? Or? I seem to find blends with say 2 or 3 of those but nothing that is just one of them. So what am I looking for? I did find one place that had flake that just said Virginia but that was about it. As has been suggested here I want to see where my “basic” tastes lie but a bit confused. The “stay away from aromatics” to start I understand. But blends? Or ? Also I have no tobacco/pipe stores near me so all my buying of pipes and tobacco is online. Thanks again in advance.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

There is no law stating that blends have to reveal each and all leaf varieties included on the label. Jeremy Reeves of C&D has said that most Virginias have at least a little burley included. @jeremyreeves correct me if I am wrong.

I take “Virginia” on the label to mean that the blend is a Virginia forward blend.

But, I will deter to the experts.

 

[kcghost]

I would concur with you.

 

[solideogloria86]

If you are trying to smoke all of the varietals separately to get an idea of what each one tastes like, you need to find blending tobaccos.

You can get straight red or bright va. Straight latakia, straight perique etc.

 

[solideogloria86]

You can use the tobacco locator on smokingpipes.com and use the filters "components include/exclude" and narrow down your search. If you include latakia for example, and exclude everything else, you'll end up with pure latakia.

 

[Aomalley27]

There is no law stating that blends have to reveal each and all leaf varieties included on the label. Jeremy Reeves of C&D has said that most Virginias have at least a little burley included. @jeremyreeves correct me if I am wrong.

I take “Virginia” on the label to mean that the blend is a Virginia forward blend.

But, I will deter to the experts.

That’s why they differentiate between “Va” and “Straight Va”... to at least mitigate some confusion.

 

[didimauw]

It's certainly trial and error! I hate Virginia blends, and I hate pure Virginia. I'm a Burley guy through and through. However, I prefer my Burley blends with some Virginia in it, than pure Burley. Funny how that works.

 

[mso489]

You can get single tobaccos designated as blending tobaccos, and other single leaf that are sold to smoke neat. Just be sure to read the specification carefully, and be sure the single tobaccos have no flavoring and aren't listed as aromatics. C&D is probably a best bet for these, along with selected MacBaren tins and specific Sutliff tobaccos. But these turn up many places, including in bagged and pouch tobacco. Of course, you can smoke blending tobaccos without mixing them with anything else, and depending on your taste you might like burley, Virginia, cigar leaf, and unflavored Cavendish, or even Turkish, Latakia, or Perique, all by themselves. I'd sample those in a small bowl to be sure you find them pleasing.

 

[jeremyreeves]

There is no law stating that blends have to reveal each and all leaf varieties included on the label. Jeremy Reeves of C&D has said that most Virginias have at least a little burley included. @jeremyreeves correct me if I am wrong.

I take “Virginia” on the label to mean that the blend is a Virginia forward blend.

But, I will deter to the experts.

Hey Michael, I definitely agree that Burley is often utilized without being credited, throughout the pipe industry, but that definitely does not mean that there is Burley in Virginian tobacco or that there is Burley in most Virginia blends. Opening Night, Derringer, Yorktown, Interlude, Manhattan Afternoon, After Hours, Autumn Evening, all are pure VA blends with no Burley or other tobacco type. Opening Night and Yorktown having no casing or topping, Derringer, Interlude, Manhattan Afternoon, and After Hours each have a different casing and Autumn Evening has an aromatic topping. As others have mentioned, if you are looking for straight leaf types for tasting, then there is Red Virginia Ribbon, Bright Virginia Ribbon, and the rest of our line of blending tobaccos which are straight varieties, an they are literally the exact same tobaccos we use in all our products.

 

[Toast]

I don't know that there's much point in trying the components separately - it'd be a bit like trying to figure out what a cake tastes like by trying eggs, flour, milk...

Try some Va forward, some VaBurs, some VaPers, some blends with Latakia... Your tastes will change anyway, so just keep trying stuff!

 

[jeremyreeves]

It's certainly trial and error! I hate Virginia blends, and I hate pure Virginia. I'm a Burley guy through and through. However, I prefer my Burley blends with some Virginia in it, than pure Burley. Funny how that works.

Burley has no high note, no citrus or brightness or sweetness. A pure Burley blend would be a pretty bland affair without much nuance or point of interest. A little VA or Oriental or even Perique can be very useful in bringing out the flavors of Burley and providing some contrast. Like painting or cooking or photography or fragrance... you need dark and light, shadow and sunlight, fats and acid, contrast is required to engage our senses.

 

[mso489]

I think burley devotees probably pick up more range in those lower burley notes and therefore get more satisfaction with them than most pipe smokers, but I take the point that setting burley off against tobaccos with higher or spicier notes probably opens more of the burley register. And even some experienced smokers get physically ill smoking any blend with much burley in it, let alone an all-burley blend.

 

[WVOldFart]

I think that you will find that Burley benefits from having Virginia added and Virginia benefits from Burley added. Separately they may be fine, but together in different combinations help to bring out the best qualities in both.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Tobacco reviews website gives pretty good descriptions of the elements of the tobaccos as do the reviews (though I know each person’s perception may be a little different). Helps in figuring out what may be “forward” or what may be a little different, when I notice a difference, between tobaccos.

 

[solideogloria86]

I don't know that there's much point in trying the components separately

This is actually a common practice. It's beneficial for a couple of reasons.
1. It helps you identify what you're tasting in a blend. If you like a certain flavor in a blend and want to have more of that flavor, you'd know immediately where that flavor was coming from.
2. If you want to start blending your own, this is usually the first place to start in order to know what tastes like what.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is actually a common practice. It's beneficial for a couple of reasons.
1. It helps you identify what you're tasting in a blend. If you like a certain flavor in a blend and want to have more of that flavor, you'd know immediately where that flavor was coming from.
2. If you want to start blending your own, this is usually the first place to start in order to know what tastes like what.

I love their red ribbon. I have a bunch n the cellar, waiting for age to do it's thing.

 

[Gavrin]

You guys that was great. At least I have more of an idea of what the heck I am looking for.

 

[JohnMosesBrowning]

This is actually a common practice. It's beneficial for a couple of reasons.
1. It helps you identify what you're tasting in a blend. If you like a certain flavor in a blend and want to have more of that flavor, you'd know immediately where that flavor was coming from.
2. If you want to start blending your own, this is usually the first place to start in order to know what tastes like what.

Yeah, a cooking analogy may have been better than a baking analogy. Knowing what the individual ingredients of a dish taste like can presumably help one understand what he is tasting when he's eating it.

 

[JohnMosesBrowning]

When I was wanting to do something similar I went to tobaccoreviews.com and clicked on the "Show More Search Fields" link which allows you to chose from a drop down menu the type of blend. I then clicked on "Bulk" under "Packaging" and "Highest Rated" under "Ave. Rating." I then selected a blend or two from the categories I was most interested in learning about and purchased an ounce of each. It was a good way to build my own "sampler" and get a feel for the differences of blend types. I thought was super helpful, but ymmv.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

You're over thinking it. But a few ounces of tins of the genres you're interested in experimenting with. Instead of trying to break down the individual nuances, think digital. You either like the overall flavor of you don't. Note experiment more within the genre(s) you like. As you smoke more of a given blend you like, you'll be able to focus more on individual components if that's your thing. Right now I think you're suffering paralysis by analysis.