Solani 633...What am I Missing????

[Andykarr]

So, I'm not really experienced with the VaPer blends...I've had a few, GLP's Haddo's Delight for one, & it's pretty good. PS's Luxury Bullseye Flake is very good & great with coffee!

I was excited to try the 633 because there are so many great reviews about it. SP.com calls it "the Champaign of Virginias." There's talk about the figgy, grassy, hay, spicy, sweetness, dates, etc. - I do get the sweet and grassy/hay flavors. I love that...But there are times where the taste is more of a burning tire...I've never smoked a burning tire, but I have smelled one. Sometimes it's like that gnarly whang you get from a cheap Swisher Sweet cigar.

There are times when I do smoke way too fast. I'm learning to slow down and when I do, it does pull the burning rubber taste back. But, it seems to still hang there in the background.

In my collection, there are many blends with perique and Virginias as ingredients. However, I've never found this flavor in any of them.

I've tried this blend several times now. I've rubbed it out, shook it up, cleaned my pipe, and still the same...Surely it's not supposed to taste like that. What am I missing/doing wrong? Thoughts?

 

[Chasing Embers]

What am I missing/doing wrong?

Sounds like the tobacco needs to be drier, packed lighter, lit less aggressively, smoked much slower, and retrohaled. That or you're usually a heavy latakia smoker.

 

[ofafeather]

^^^This. Any idea how old the tin is? Sometimes throwing it in a jar for a few months can make a difference but as @chasingembers said drying and slowing down should have immediate results.

 

[Andykarr]

Sounds like the tobacco needs to be drier, packed lighter, lit less aggressively, smoked much slower, and retrohaled. That or you're usually a heavy latakia smoker.

I can see all of that...I did pack it "full" today & did not let it dry out any. Also, the latakia heavy blends tend to be my go-to's. How would that affect it?

 

[Andykarr]

^^^This. Any idea how old the tin is? Sometimes throwing it in a jar for a few months can make a difference but as @chasingembers said drying and slowing down should have immediate results.

Just got it last week from smokingpipes. So, I would think it's pretty fresh.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I can see all of that...I did pack it "full" today & did not let it dry out any. Also, the latakia heavy blends tend to be my go-to's. How would that affect it?

Latakia is very user friendly and the flavor is up forward and very present. It can also fatigue taste buds and blind them to more subtle flavors.

 

[ofafeather]

Latakia is very user friendly and the flavor is up forward and very present. It can also fatigue taste buds and blind them to more subtle flavors.

This is very true!

 

[ofafeather]

Just got it last week from smokingpipes. So, I would think it's pretty fresh.

It may benefit from a little aging. If it doesn’t shape up with some of the changes Embers suggested, throw it in a jar for a few months. It can make a huge difference with some blends.

 

[Andykarr]

It may benefit from a little aging. If it doesn’t shape up with some of the changes Embers suggested, throw it in a jar for a few months. It can make a huge difference with some blends.

That's where I put it. I think I'll back off the Latakia blends for a while, force myself to slow down, and come back to it in a couple of months.

 

[americaman]

I’m in the same boat as you. I just don’t get it. But, everyone has different tastes.

 

[vink]

I don’t understand it either. I retried it recently and although it was aged for some years, I did not get any sweetness from it, only got a lot of spiciness...

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don’t understand it either. I retried it recently and although it was aged for some years, I did not get any sweetness from it, only got a lot of spiciness...

The topping may have aged away from it, but some are very sensitive to Perique. May be getting heavy spice from it.

 

[sablebrush52]

This one, like so many others, has been played with. It ain't what it was.

 

[cigrmaster]

633 is one of the finest Virginia flakes on the market. The longer it ages the better it gets. I have some from 2002 and it is really tasty. The longer it ages the spicier it gets.

It is also one of the best fresh smoking vapers I have ever smoked. It has a honey flavor that smokes great. Try it fresh or with age, you will see what I mean.

 

[americaman]

633 is one of the finest Virginia flakes on the market. The longer it ages the better it gets. I have some from 2002 and it is really tasty. The longer it ages the spicier it gets.

It is also one of the best fresh smoking vapers I have ever smoked. It has a honey flavor that smokes great. Try it fresh or with age, you will see what I mean.

Check what Jesse said above. Do you have any recent batches of it? And if so, do you think it’s been changed recently and not what it once was? I bet that 2002 stuff is great.

 

[vink]

633 is one of the finest Virginia flakes on the market. The longer it ages the better it gets. I have some from 2002 and it is really tasty. The longer it ages the spicier it gets.

It is also one of the best fresh smoking vapers I have ever smoked. It has a honey flavor that smokes great. Try it fresh or with age, you will see what I mean.

So it’s a spicy one but is it supposes to be sweet a bit? I find it way more spicy/peppery than escudo. Do you get some sweetness from it or not? To me dunhill deluxe taste sweet with a bit of spice, aged escudo is spicier and less sweet but got some kind of tangy feeling. From what I tried Solani is just plain spicy to me. I’m a big fan of RL Will but can’t seem to like this one from the few times I tried...

 

[JimInks]

Check what Jesse said above. Do you have any recent batches of it? And if so, do you think it’s been changed recently and not what it once was? I bet that 2002 stuff is great.

I think it has changed since 2002. The earlier version was a little spicier, sweeter, and mildly stronger. Harris is right about it getting spicier with age. I attribute that to the Virginias mellowing which brings the aspects of the perique forward a bit more.

 

[karam]

I really like 633, smoked it first time in 2019, side by side with DLNRs, they were my first VaPers so they were each other's point of reference as well as an entry to the genre. I found it was a bit less sweet than DLNR, with a bit more hay and body perhaps. Initial flavour was nearly citrus but it quickly subsided.

I'd be hard pressed to prefer one over the other. With 40-50 odd blends under my belt, I smoked two more tins of each in 2020 and thought the same. DLRNs is sweeter, 633 is more "substantial".

I settled for Dan Tobacco's StBernard Flake as a cheaper alternative to both, but reasonably similar. Perhaps a bit more cased than either of them but still a very good smoke.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I have smoked three tins of this Solani Vaper, and not intending to buy more, too spicy and peppery for my liking
for instance Escudo, Rainer long Gold and OGs all those were softer tasting less piquant offerings in similar genre

 

[karam]

Interesting that people find it fairly peppery, that was not my impression. Maybe it's worth saying that parallel to DLNRs and 633 I also smoked C&D Bayou Morning Flake, and dare say I enjoyed it more than either, so I guess peppery works for me :D