Is Virginia (Straight-Up) More The Delight Of Tea Drinkers?

[puffndave]

I had the day off yesterday, and decided to break into my first-ever tin of all-Virginia, beginning with no less than Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake. Its rating over on pipetobaccoreviews.com is overwhelmingly positive, so I was sure that I would be in for a treat. Over the past year I have smoked much-enjoyed blends of Latakia, cigar leaf, Perique, and some of the better aeromatics and burleys produced by Dunhill, H&H, MacBaren, and local blenders. I never wasted much time with cheap aeros, but my experience with MacBaren's 7-Seas made me appreciate the magic which Virgina can impart to even this genre. Although I'm a former cigar enthusiast, Mistress Perique taught me to really slow down, sip, and enjoy, so believe me I'm ready for anything which may bite. So, with sweetened coffee in the other hand, I lit up bowl after bowl of FVF, just trying to figure out what was wrong that I wasn't really enjoying this stuff. It was packed right by folding over (really isn't rocket science) with perfect draw, stayed lit once it got going, never got too hot, and did not bite at all, but I just didn't like the way it tasted.
Today, it had been several hours since my last coffee, when I stubbornly went back for another bowl of FVF to see if it would taste any different. Call it insanity, but this time it was different. I still don't know if I'm going to love this stuff, but I realized something which may be important when I recognized what it tastes like: it tastes like tea. I drink coffee daily, and am no big fan of hot black tea, but since I do like iced tea on a hot day, I suppose a good straight Virginia flake would make a great pairing with this. I was actually beginning to enjoy this stuff!
Does anyone else have an experience like this with Virginia flake or Virgina-forward tobaccos?

 

[cobguy]

Virginias, in general, do require a bit more teasing and patience to extract all the flavors.
Very slow sipping, rather than any kind of puffing, is really necessary.
FVF, in particular, must be dried more than you think prior to smoking in order to really get it to shine.
Try rubbing it out a little, letting it dry for at least a couple hours, rubbing out the rest of the way and then smoking.
Done right, FVF delivers a nice rich, sweet and earthy Virginia flavor with overtones of molasses.
BTW ... If you want a bold, in-your-face, cigar type of smoke, check out C&D Big N' Burley! ::

 

[cigrmaster]

Out of the 32 flakes in my rotation, FVF is the most finicky. After a lot of trial and error, I found that if I cube cut FVF into very small cubes, dry it for a good 1.5 hours and smoke it in a group 4 dublin, I get a fantastic smoke. I have also noticed that a tin of 2004 FVF, does great in a number of different shaped pipes, such as apples, billiards, rhodesians and of course the dublin. Do a lot of experimenting with your FVF, I believe you will find that magic combo.

 

[spartanfan]

I can't speak to the tea notes in FVF but I do very much like a sweetened black tea with a straight Virginia. Goes great with McCrannies Red Ribbon.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Tea with my Virginia and Coffee with my Latakia.
Virginia does pair well with tea for the grassy notes. They're both leaves after all.
I find coffee way too strong to enjoy with a Virginia or VaPer. Really overwhelms the subtle flavors in more delicate straight cured leaf.
Burley, I can go either way.

 

[escioe]

I don't drink tea and find that Full Virginia Flake is delightful with coffee. That's just me though.

 

[tarak]

If you're asking if rookie that prefer "light" flavors like tea are the ones who like Virginia- no.
I love scotch, red wine, and strong black coffee. And I love Virginia.
Virginias are very subtle and are picky buggers...smoke it wrong and you've lost it. Of Virginias, FVF is known for being the worst in that- some find that flake is not worth the effort. Others do.
Perhaps you should try some Virginia forward blends that still have other components- GL Pease Haddos Delight or Sixpence, or H&H Anniversary Kake come to mind. Also, Escudo is amazing.

 

[bigpond]

The more you smoke it the better FVF becomes. This applies to all the VA flakes I've smoked. It took a bit of "on pipe" time for my pipes and my tastes to adjust to bright leaf. Now that I have a taste for it I have to force myself to smoke anything but!
edit: h2o #1

 

[mranglophile]

I don't get tea notes but I do drink black tea with milk and sugar every moring with my pipe.....and quite often that means with FVF. I feel they compliment each other very well as tea does with most virginias. I have heard Russ O. mention that the fat from dairy in your beverage will cover your taste buds some but he probally has a much more sensitive palate than mine as I can't really tell the difference.
I second what others said about it being fickle to smoke. I follow basically what Harrris does and cube cut and dry the flakes and have pretty good luck. I probally would of given up early on but just loved the smell of the flakes too much to stop trying. Good luck.

 

[edgreen]

Iced tea with my OGS , coffee with English , hot cocoa with Mississippi River and Gaslight, beer with citrusy Orientals

 

[lostandfound]

Drinking black coffee, while smoking Dunhill Flake, at this very moment.

 

[prndl]

Although I do smoke a pipe with coffee most mornings, I much prefer lemoned iced tea with a pipe up in the day. In my hands, even the latakia blends taste brighter with a citrus sidecar.

 

[puffndave]

I apologize for letting this thread hang. Thanks for your very helpful and informative responses!
I finished my FVF tin, so it wasn't all bad, if not quite what I expected after a pretty good experience with H&H Anniversary Kake. I did go with Cigrmaster's advice on cubing the flake, and although I will be sticking with the Kake for awhile, I'll probably make this a practice when I eventually open my other Virginia flake tin from Dunhill. Cutting it up does seem to help the flavor some, small cubes of dense tobacco fill an average-sized bowl for an all-nighter smoke.

 

[bigpond]

Find something that fits you is all part of the fun. Just out of curiosity, how do you compare anni to FVF?