Fribourg & Treyer Straight Virginia Blends

[Tom-202]

I’ve tried Blackjack, Cut Virginia Plug, Golden Mixture, and Special Brown Flake — all straight Virginias, and all very, very similar to one another, and none of them particularly interesting. Subtle differences at best. Most of them have decent reviews. I find myself interested in more nuance and complexity.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ahhhh, then Virginias probably aren't your thing. You'll get more of this from blended tobaccos.

Virginias are all very delicate in flavors, like tea.

You might want to try some some of the other genres. Virginias definitely aren't for everyone.

 

[BingBong]

They're all kind of different. Blackjack is specifically red/orange virginias. Apart from that one, the pick of the bunch for me is Vintage Flake.

 

[Puff nstuff]

A 12 year old tin of Cut Virginia Plug I'm currently working on is one of the best things I've ever smoked.

Different strokes, as they say.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Smoking 7 year old CVP as I type this. One of the very best, at least for me. if I had to pick 3, this blend would be on that list. To each their own.

 

[Shore]

Today's mail call...

 

[SBC]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, of CVP, Brown Flake, and Vintage ... Vintage is hands down my favorite.

CVP usually gets all the love, and from guys with great VA palates, so YMMV. But to my palate, CVP has a strange acidity that I don't care for.

And F&T Brown Flake is, to me, one of the more boring things I've smoked.

Vintage isn't what I'd call exciting -- it's just perfect. There are some more exciting VAs to my palate, but I wouldn't want to smoke them day after day, as they'd get overbearing. Vintage is understated balance: it hits many different kinds of VA notes in a complementary way, just strongly enough to notice if you're noticing, but just subtly enough to smoke all day, every day.

(I've never had Blackjack, though. I'd like to.)

As Cosmic said, though, noticing the difference among VAs can be compared to noticing the differences among teas. If you're dialed in to that, the differences seem obvious and appreciable. But if your palate is bombarded with more obvious flavors all the time and your taste has been tuned in to those frequencies, you may not "get" VAs for awhile. (And that's OK, enjoy what you enjoy).

 

[bootlegpipes]

Smoking 7 year old CVP as I type this. One of the very best, at least for me. if I had to pick 3, this blend would be on that list. To each their own.

CVP, Sir John's, and...?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

CVP, Sir John's, and...?

That third is tough. Probably MB HH Pure Virginia Flake.

 

[BronzeAgePiper]

You can do everything right and your palate might just never pick up the sweetness of Virginia’s. I mostly smoke straight VA but the ph in my mouth is off at times and that’s when I can see why people might think they are boring. Other times it’s like drinking red kool aid and you just about make yourself sick it’s so good. Same thing happens to me with whiskey for some reason.

 

[bootlegpipes]

That third is tough. Probably MB HH Pure Virginia Flake.

Good to know. I just got some CVP and am going to order some Sir John's soon.