I was taste-testing some of the Burnt Ends that arrived today and I notice that there was an interesting heterogeneity with this product. Some portions had plenty of "sauce" (I'm not a blender, so call it what you will) and other portions had none. In the photo you can see "Burnt Ends - Sample #1" is a very bright Virginia and "Burnt Ends - Sample #2" is quite dark and has a treacle-like sauce that sticks to your fingers when you handle it. The portion without the sauce tasted very grassy and green and had practically no depth of body. In appearance it is similar to Golden Glow except that Golden Glow has more body, presumably because it is "sauced" in whatever way it is. I suppose this bright "Sample #1" is a portion of the flake that didn't get any sauce. My assumption, in any case. It's interesting to me because it tastes exactly like a Full Virginia Plug that I purchased last year and that was similarly flat and uninteresting (I felt the same way about several plugs I purchased around 2019 as well). The Full Virginia Flake, on the other hand, that was purchased that same year, apparently has more sauce (not much) and it tasted a little deeper, richer perhaps. One the whole I seem to remember the Full Virginia Flake (~2015) being wetter, yes, but perhaps even more thoroughly sauced as well. I can only speak to what I observe and remark on my observations of the product as it has changed to my tastes over the years, but the difference in treatment within the particular sample and the comparison across samples has been an interesting one, for my part at least.
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