I’ve been smoking through a tin of ABF from about the same time. It’s my first experience with the blend. I’m also getting the dried fruit and vinegar with mine. These aspects are surprisingly Virginia-like. Is this typical of the blend in your experience?
It was my first experience with the blend as well, despite me having those two tins in my cellar for nigh on 5 years. It's good to hear someone else with the same experience, at least I know I'm not imagining things!
I took a little break from the briar in the middle of the pandemic and picked up where I left off only about a month ago. I stocked up on a wide variety of blends, because there was also that bit of legislative nonsense in 2021 when they tried to ban flavored tobacco. As a result of all that, I ended up with a number of blends I was eager to try, but they ended up sitting in my closet for 5 years instead.
So far I've smoked two bowls of Solani Aged Burley Flake. The first bowl I didn't dry out at all and the first half of that bowl was very Virginia-like to me, just like the tin note. The second half of that bowl tasted like a strong, clean and pure burley. That typical nutty, slightly woody and mild cocoa flavor really came through.
The second bowl I dried out (a little too long) and the flavor profile changed quite a lot. Instead of the Virginia flavors in the first half followed by a burley bomb (if there is such a thing), I got what tasted to me like an Earl Grey tea flavor that persisted throughout the bowl. Same blend, two different days and two completely different experiences.
I jarred the rest of the tin and will be revisiting it soon. I got a little burlied-out and have been rotating through some other blends in the mean time. This is definitely a unique burley experience for me, it was surprising.
