Sorry, I don't have any 5100, I only bought tins. Never got in to bulks, though I don't really know why.
Favorite Virginia Tobaccos?
- Thread starter Ceriano
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Capstan Blue flake has consistently been my favorite tobacco over many years. I also like many va/per blends. Probably my all-time favorite was State Express Roundels, sadly the last time I saw any was around 1990. I don't know if anyone is making it these days. Having stopped smoking from about 2000 until this year, I am finding all kinds of va/per blends that I am enjoying. Peter Stokkebye Bullseye flake, Mallard flake with perique, Davidoff flake medallions, C&D Bayou Morning are all ones I have found very enjoyable. Escudo is very hard to beat and probably one of my favorite va/per tobacco currently in production. It was great in the 1980s and it's still great today.
I got a tin of H&H Viprati in the mail yesterday. I am finding it quite enjoyable also.
If for some reason you are not satisfied with the Orlik Virginia, or want a changing flavor, you might consider a blend with a little perique in it.
To me perique is like icing on a cake. Some icings make the cake and add great richness to the flavor and some icings are just there and add nothing substantial to the flavor of the cake.
I got a tin of H&H Viprati in the mail yesterday. I am finding it quite enjoyable also.
If for some reason you are not satisfied with the Orlik Virginia, or want a changing flavor, you might consider a blend with a little perique in it.
To me perique is like icing on a cake. Some icings make the cake and add great richness to the flavor and some icings are just there and add nothing substantial to the flavor of the cake.
@Ceriano I like the SG Full Virginia Flake but I got a bit of tongue bite from it. I was smoking C&D Yorktown in the clay pipe at the Redcoats & Revolutionaries event; this is the baccy I was smoking in the clay pipe when the blacksmith lit with an ember from his forge. MacBaren Virginia No. 1 is a nice tasting baccy with the classic pipe smell as well.
Not sure if this thread shut down but I just bought my first Viprati blend. It’s in the mail and I should get it this week. I never heard much about it but it has a 4.8 on SmokingPipes and a 3.6 on TR so I don’t know how I missed it before.
However it’s a VaPerBur so does it count as a Vaper? Haunted Bookshop is a VaPerBur also. The VaPerBur category confuses me because some are called Burleys and others VaPers.
However it’s a VaPerBur so does it count as a Vaper? Haunted Bookshop is a VaPerBur also. The VaPerBur category confuses me because some are called Burleys and others VaPers.
I just consider it a decent blend.
You should enjoy it as its one of their staple blends. The burley to me just tones it down a little.
You may be able to do a search and see if Jiminks has reviewed it.
He can pick up on any nuance that exists, kinda like a Bloodhound but with tobacco. Im not that refined yet however it is a good smoke for most folks. Assuming this is the H&H.
One blend I really like that I haven't seen recommended here yet is Ampersand Flake by L.J. Peretti. It's a slightly sweet, creamy, buttery, hay-like, straight Virginia similar to Stokkebeye's Evening Flake. I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't yet.
Yes.
Dozens & dozens.
You're off to a good start. We simply have lots of good choices.
Working through a tin from 2018 (Secret Santa) that is my first time and I find it an enjoyable one.
For me, in order:
Full Virginia Flake
Peterson (Dunhill) Flake
Germain's Medium Flake
PS Luxury Twist Flake
Germain's Brown Flake
Ones I dislike, in no particular order:
Samuel Gawith, Best Brown Flake
Newminster, Superior Navy Flake
Amphora Gold
Sutliffe 507c
Capstan (Blue)
G&H Bright CR Flake
Ones I am yet to try, but suspect I will like:
Orlik Golden Sliced
C&D After Hours
C&D Opening Night
JA Sir John's Flake Virginia
Vauen No.14 Virginia Flake
Full Virginia Flake
Peterson (Dunhill) Flake
Germain's Medium Flake
PS Luxury Twist Flake
Germain's Brown Flake
Ones I dislike, in no particular order:
Samuel Gawith, Best Brown Flake
Newminster, Superior Navy Flake
Amphora Gold
Sutliffe 507c
Capstan (Blue)
G&H Bright CR Flake
Ones I am yet to try, but suspect I will like:
Orlik Golden Sliced
C&D After Hours
C&D Opening Night
JA Sir John's Flake Virginia
Vauen No.14 Virginia Flake
Full Virginia Plug
Union Square
HH Pure Virginia
Union Square
HH Pure Virginia
Hopefully I can help ease your concerns a bit. I work for C&D and buying the tobacco we use in our blends is a major part of my job as Head Blender. I think you make a valid point. It would be awful for all of us if there was no differentiation or grading to determine leaf quality or style. That would really suck. Picture going to the meat market and finding that all they have is 60/40 ground beef. No filet, no porterhouse, no ribeye, no brisket... No Prime, Choice or Select...it's all been ground together. What a nightmare that would be. But thankfully that is not the situation, either at my butcher shop or when I go shopping for tobacco for C&D. Categories and grading are really important so that the customer (manufacturer) knows what to look for and so that the supplier knows what to charge them.
We talk a lot about Red Virginia in pipe tobacco, and some in the hobby even go so far as to associate it specifically with McClelland, but really it's a color category set up in the USDA grade code for Flue Cured Tobacco which was developed back in the 1800's. "Red Virginia" simply refers to upper stalk leaves on a Virginia type tobacco plant that have ripened fully and are then cured in such a way to achieve a deep red color. Mahogany, Red, Red Orange, Orange, Lemon, and Pale leaf can all be produced from a single plant, as these each come from different parts of the plant. The bottom leaves are harvested earliest and produce a pale leaf with little flavor, thin body and virtually no nicotine. Not tobacco we would ever use in anything. Later, the leaves from the mid stalk are harvested, and these produce brighter Lemon and some Orange leaf, with a high sugar content, moderate flavor and mild to moderate nicotine levels. This is what is referred to generally as Bright Virginia, and high quality leaf in this type is invaluable to creating sweet VA blends. Last, the leaves from the upper stalk are harvested, late in the life of the plant. These leaves are typically picked when they are ripe to overripe, and can be used to produce Orange, Red Orange, Red or Mahogany leaf depending on variable factors such as weather, soil conditions, and how long the leaves are left to mature on the stalk. The curing methods used by the farmer post harvest, play a role in color development, as well. These upper stalk leaves have a deep flavor, pronounced strength and more moderate sugar. This is not a style in much danger of disappearing, as it is in high demand with manufacturers of all kinds of tobacco products, and not just for pipe tobacco. Red Virginia is not unique to any particular farm, and lots of it is produced every year.
All US tobacco is meticulously sorted and graded by stalk position, color, maturity, consistency and crop year prior to sale. This has been the case for well over 100 years. This sorting and grading process is integral to how tobacco is brought to market, because the grade is what determines price. Manufacturers will have different needs for the leaf they purchase, depending on what they are making, but sourcing tobacco from particular growing regions, with particular color ranges, nicotine or sugar levels etc., is pretty baked into the process of purchasing tobacco. Focusing in on tobacco from a particular farm can be tricky, but is certainly possible. We have secured several single farm crops over the years, but it's not really the kind of thing you can easily plan for. One farm may shine in a particular style this year, but next year their crop may suffer or may shine but in a different style. Farming is, in part, an exercise in gambling on the weather with borrowed money. Especially for crops with decidedly coastal growing regions such as Virginia tobacco. For that reason alone, regional consolidation combined with meticulous grading of crops is very beneficial to the manufacturer. Can you imagine anyone visiting 1,000 farms every year to see who has the best crop of 'X" ? I would never get any blending done!
We have only one strictly farm-direct tobacco that we source: Perique grown and processed in St. James Parish, LA by the Roussell family at 31 Farms. Also a weather battered area and a risky crop each year, but Perique is so niche, so rare and so difficult to produce, that the only way to ensure the quality, consistency, and volumes we need was to form an exclusive partnership with a highly skilled boutique farm operation. For Virginia leaf, the total crop last year was 280 million pounds. Much more accessible.
At C&D, we are very selective about our tobacco, regardless of style, and I personally choose all of the tobaccos that we blend with after careful evaluation and smoke comparisons against previous grades in that style. Quality and Consistency are the goal when I am selecting leaf. We have some very old stock of tobacco that has aged and mellowed beautifully and have prized characteristics, but we also purchase plenty of the high quality leaf we use from currently produced crops. Red Virginia in our storage currently ranges from crop 2003 to 2022,, and we will be picking up more from this style and others in the coming harvest for 2023. The crop this year looks very promising and the darker upper stalk primings will be coming to market in the next few weeks.
Others in this thread including @sablebrush52 have listed Yorktown, Opening Night or GL Pease Union Square among their favorite VA blends, which, of course, I am happy to see! These three blends are all currently produced with NC grown Red Virginia leaf from the 2017 and 2019 crop. Carolina Red Flake 2022 was made with Red Virginia leaf from the 2020 crop and has turned out to be one of our most popular iterations of that blend to date.
McClelland closed their doors in 2018. I won't say finding high quality leaf has gotten any easier since then, and perhaps some years it's harder, but speaking from experience, there is definitely good tobacco available for discerning manufacturers to use.
Thank you Jeremy @jeremyreeves for taking time out to provide such an insightful answer.
I’m not much of a VA smoker and without my knowing much about how Red VA is harvested, I surprisingly took to Winchester and have jarred several pounds of it. I speak highly of Winchester often. I find it such an interesting and flavorful blend.
Thanks again and many of us here thoroughly enjoy your work.
I’m not much of a VA smoker and without my knowing much about how Red VA is harvested, I surprisingly took to Winchester and have jarred several pounds of it. I speak highly of Winchester often. I find it such an interesting and flavorful blend.
Thanks again and many of us here thoroughly enjoy your work.
What an awesome answer from the man himself, @jeremyreeves ! I will tack on with the others and say that Opening Night is fantastic! Sun Bear has been my personal favorite release of recent years, but I'm eagerly waiting for some more Carolina Red Flake with Perique. Keep killing it out in tobacco country and thanks for always sending some over to Utah!
I 
Virginia Tobacco.
If I had to recommend just one, it would be the one that started my love affair. Gl Pease Union Square.
Virginia Tobacco. If I had to recommend just one, it would be the one that started my love affair. Gl Pease Union Square.
Thank you Jeremy for that very insightful post! 
That is an entirely different view of the industry than I got from managing three retail pipe stores in the 1980s and early 90s.
As a Virginia smoker myself, I have found several of C&D tobaccos that I like. Probably my favorite is Buyou Morning Flake, though I do enjoy the bulk as well.
I also enjoy blending my own Virginia tobaccos and have recently created a blend that I am enjoying immensely. One of the major components is C&D's Red Virginia Cavendish which seems to be out of stock at three of the usual suppliers I buy from.
Do you know when that will be available again for purchase?
Thank you!
That is an entirely different view of the industry than I got from managing three retail pipe stores in the 1980s and early 90s.As a Virginia smoker myself, I have found several of C&D tobaccos that I like. Probably my favorite is Buyou Morning Flake, though I do enjoy the bulk as well.
I also enjoy blending my own Virginia tobaccos and have recently created a blend that I am enjoying immensely. One of the major components is C&D's Red Virginia Cavendish which seems to be out of stock at three of the usual suppliers I buy from.
Do you know when that will be available again for purchase?
Thank you!
smoking my Viprati now. I love this blend. jiminks nailed it in his review on tobaccoreviews, imho.
Have you compared Ampersand Flake to the 150th Anniversary Blend?
Agree, Union Square is the first straight Virginia that I've tried . . . Gonna be hard to displace it. I could smoke it every day.I
If I had to recommend just one, it would be the one that started my love affair. Gl Pease Union Square.