Added most of the Blenders Bench Virginas to the cellar a while back, and had a chance to smoke through them in my Brebbia Junior acorn over the past week or so. I do not have the Acadian VA, as it was sold-out by the time I bought these. I only have some basic smoking impressions and plan to spend some more time with them. These share a characteristic that I found with the Orientals in that they are deceptively moist, where you think that they are dry enough to smoke after hydrating and allowing to damp off until the leaves start to rustle when you poke at them, but still end up being slightly too moist.
Starting top-left and going clock-wise, you have Flue-Cured, Bright Flue-Cured, Blonde, Bright VA Leaf, Bright VA Tips, and Red.
The Bright VA Tips have a BIG tin-note, it smells strongly of honey and roses, and lightly of fresh-cut hay. The contents of the 6oz tub are mostly extra-large and large leaf pieces, and very little dust or medium pieces. I was rolling out some 2" x 4" leaf pieces. These were pretty moist in the tub, which is a departure from the most other Blenders Bench offerings that I have. This also had the thinnest flavor when I tried it straight, and it seemed to take a while to get anything going flavor-wise in the bowl. It reminded me of smoking McClellands Katerini Classic, which has a lightly sweet honeysuckle type flavor that also might seem a little bitter at times. I'm not sure if you would want a straight smoke from this, but it would be a good blender. It might also need to dry a bit more, and spend some more time in the jar.
The Bright Flue-Cured also had a BIG tin note, very similar to the VA tips, but more like strong honey or honeysuckle, and light oats. These were also a little moist in the tub, wide-cut ribbon, with some extra-large and mostly large pieces, and some medium, and a little dust. It smoked with a flavor very much like the Bright VA tips, but with a stronger flavor that arose earlier in the bowl. Again, probably not a straight smoke, good blender, see above.
The Blonde had a milder tin note, strong of oats and lightly sweet. Reminded me of uncooked "maypo" cereal, which is maple-flavored oatmeal. The cut is probably what I would call medium-sized ribbon. The tub had very few extra-large leaves, mostly large and medium leaves, and more dust than the first two. This would probably be my first pick for a straight smoke out of these. It tasted a little like a combo of the Brights and the Flue-Cured. It would be a good blender as well.
The Bright VA Leaf also had a milder tin note, with a strong "fresh American cigarette tobacco" type of smell, and maybe a peppery whiff every now and then. The cut is what I would call a shag cut, with very thin strands of tobacco. The tub contained almost no extra-large or large leaves, mostly medium sized pieces, and by far the worst offender with dust at nearly two ounces of dust, which I dispose of. This offered a surprisingly full-flavored lemony/hay-type smoke, and somewhat sweet. The bigger flavor was probably due to the thin ribbons, despite intentionally smoking this a bit moist to allow the strands to burn more slowly. I could see smoking this straight or using it regularly, except for the poor "leaf-to-dust" ratio, which makes it somewhat of a poor value to me.
The Flue-Cured has a tin note similar to a combo of everything so far, strong fresh USA cig tobacco, some fresh-cut hay, light oats, and something else, a light minty cooling effect if you breath in the tin note deeply. Initially when I hydrated it, it had an odd paste-like odor for a few seconds when I would pop the lid of the jar. This was cut and tasted like a combo of the Blonde and the Red, but with stronger flavor than the Blonde that could get a little bitter if over-heated. I could see packing a bowl with this too.
The Red. This stuff was a little weird to me, having never had stuff as un-adulterated as this before. The tin note has a strong "Nitrogen and rubber"/"air from a tire"/"fresh can of tennis balls" odor, as well as a strong minty cooling affect on the nostrils when inhaled. The leaves were dry, and cut similarly to the Blonde and the Flue-Cured, and many are covered in crystals. I'm not sure if this is dried sugar from a casing, or oils and sugars coming out of the leaves, but I looked at it under a hobby microscope and they look like little columns coming out of the leaves. This smoke was strong in flavor. Earthy, sometimes semi-sweet, but mostly earthy. I could see packing a bowl with this and I could see developing a taste for it. I think people who like their high-quality Red VA in a more natural state would be all over this.
I will come back with more flavor descriptions, but that's what I have for now. These all sneaked up and bit me slightly, mostly my fault. They also all have a pretty good nic-hit.
Also, while I was smoking those in the mornings, I went back through my Blenders Bench Latakia/Oriental blends that I had made up, and realized that I really over-did it with the Wellauers by the fourth day. So, I came up with some new ratios, and the idea of not adding the Wellauers until I am ready to have a bowl of it, and then adding a measured pinch, like 3 or 5%, to a bowls-worth. In my case, I'll just add a pinch from the blends that I already have, until they get used up.
New Lat-Bomb ratios. I'll start making these up one by one in 10 gram batches, and probably split at least some in half so I can add some Basma (10% on top?) to see if I can boost the creaminess a little. Probably with the Bulgarian, possibly with the Izmir, and maybe with the Macedonian.
All start with 50% Blenders Bench Latakia.
-15% Bulgarian, 35% McClellands Latakia
-20% Macedonian, 30% McClellands.
-20% Izmir, 30% McClellands.
25% Yenidje, 25% McClellands.
New Ori-Bomb ratios, same plan as above in terms of batch sizes and adding some Basma to some of it. I'll probably blend up one of these alongside whatever "matching" Lat-Bomb version I decide to blend up.
-80% Bulgarian, 15% D&R Latakia, 5% McClellands Latakia.
-80% Macedonian, 15% D&R Latakia, 5% McClellands.
-80% Izmir, 15% D&R Latakia, 5% McClellands.
-85% Yenidje, 12& D&R Latakia, 3% McClellands.
I figure it's good to start with a big percentage of the main base, so if I want to add a VA to any of these, The ratios should end up somewhere in the "usual" range, keeping in mind that I might also need to add in some more Ori to the Lat Bombs, or Lat to the Ori bombs, once I add any VAs.
Mmmmmmm, D&R Lataaaaaaakiaaaaaaa...... =)
:puffpipe:
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