So I was catching up on a couple missed podcasts this morning, and Mr. Fallen aka @pipestud was talking about The Virginia Cream during a show a couple weeks ago, and I thought to myself: "Self, you have an open tin of that in your smoke this stuff first box at home, you should have a bowl of that for dessert at lunch."
Lunchtime came and my beautiful bride and I hung up the "Closed for Lunch" sign on the door of the shop and headed home. We reheated some fried chicken from last night, amazed that neither of our teenage sons devoured it for second breakfast before school this morning. After enjoying the chicken and sharing a few boneless pieces with Lily Belle, our yellow lab, I went in search of that tin of Virginia Cream. I did find it, BUT I also came across this baggie with a couple of ounces of tobacco in it. The label fell off at sometime and I had no idea what it was, so of course, when you have no idea what something is, the first impulse is to load it into a pipe and smoke it right? Well, sort of.
I opened the bag and inhaled a nose full of aroma, yep, it was some sort of aromatic, but I also detected the campfire smell that can only be latakia. Hmmm. What could this be? Loaded up an estate meer with it and touched the flame to it. Almost immediately, my bride commented that it had a really pleasant room note. Her words: "That smells like 1Q only better." Now, this amazed me. I smoke virginia blends 90% of the time, but occasionally get a hankering for an aromatic or english blend. Due to this, her usual response to room note is, "It's not bad." For her to remember what 1Q smells like (I haven't had a bowl of 1Q in 10 years I'd wager) and to say this smelled better than it does is something.
As far as I can tell, this bag has to be several years old, it was falling apart. The bag is similar to the ones that Watch City sent out their samplers in, but for the life of me, I can't pinpoint what blend it would be. I looked through my orders this afternoon and I don't have a single order from WCC of a 2 ounce sample of an aromatic. I've got several orders of pounds of 558, Old Dominion, Watch City Slices, Old Black Magic, Rouxgaroux, Simply Red and Ahab's Comfort. The only thing that I can't account for in my orders, was back in 2019, I ordered their virginia sampler. I remember it having 558, Old Dominion, Rhythm and Blues and Simply Red in it. I checked the website today and saw that there are a couple of different blends that are included in the virginia sampler than what I remember, so it may be possible that this is a discontinued blend from 2019.
So here is what my palate detected: Upon first light, this blend was definitely an American English blend. The topping is a honey and vanilla (may be just the black cavendish in it) variety. The latakia is very subtle, it takes a back seat to the other components. Halfway though the bowl and it is the honey and vanilla are still there, enhanced by a natural sweetness, most likely a virginia leaf while the latakia is still complimenting the blend in the background. Smoked the bowl down to the dottle, and it really never changed. Honey, Vanilla, the perfumey taste of the latakia in the background, a natural sweetness in the retrohale and a very creamy mouth feel, so there has to be some burley in there also.
I'm at a loss as to what this is. I do know this, if I can figure out what it is, it would be a good American English blend to have around for smoking when there are non-smokers in tow. It is a very non-offensive blend, which was actually a nice blend for the smoker as well. Not to mention that the mustache note was very pleasant all afternoon as well. Oh well, much like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop, the world may never know.
Lunchtime came and my beautiful bride and I hung up the "Closed for Lunch" sign on the door of the shop and headed home. We reheated some fried chicken from last night, amazed that neither of our teenage sons devoured it for second breakfast before school this morning. After enjoying the chicken and sharing a few boneless pieces with Lily Belle, our yellow lab, I went in search of that tin of Virginia Cream. I did find it, BUT I also came across this baggie with a couple of ounces of tobacco in it. The label fell off at sometime and I had no idea what it was, so of course, when you have no idea what something is, the first impulse is to load it into a pipe and smoke it right? Well, sort of.
I opened the bag and inhaled a nose full of aroma, yep, it was some sort of aromatic, but I also detected the campfire smell that can only be latakia. Hmmm. What could this be? Loaded up an estate meer with it and touched the flame to it. Almost immediately, my bride commented that it had a really pleasant room note. Her words: "That smells like 1Q only better." Now, this amazed me. I smoke virginia blends 90% of the time, but occasionally get a hankering for an aromatic or english blend. Due to this, her usual response to room note is, "It's not bad." For her to remember what 1Q smells like (I haven't had a bowl of 1Q in 10 years I'd wager) and to say this smelled better than it does is something.
As far as I can tell, this bag has to be several years old, it was falling apart. The bag is similar to the ones that Watch City sent out their samplers in, but for the life of me, I can't pinpoint what blend it would be. I looked through my orders this afternoon and I don't have a single order from WCC of a 2 ounce sample of an aromatic. I've got several orders of pounds of 558, Old Dominion, Watch City Slices, Old Black Magic, Rouxgaroux, Simply Red and Ahab's Comfort. The only thing that I can't account for in my orders, was back in 2019, I ordered their virginia sampler. I remember it having 558, Old Dominion, Rhythm and Blues and Simply Red in it. I checked the website today and saw that there are a couple of different blends that are included in the virginia sampler than what I remember, so it may be possible that this is a discontinued blend from 2019.
So here is what my palate detected: Upon first light, this blend was definitely an American English blend. The topping is a honey and vanilla (may be just the black cavendish in it) variety. The latakia is very subtle, it takes a back seat to the other components. Halfway though the bowl and it is the honey and vanilla are still there, enhanced by a natural sweetness, most likely a virginia leaf while the latakia is still complimenting the blend in the background. Smoked the bowl down to the dottle, and it really never changed. Honey, Vanilla, the perfumey taste of the latakia in the background, a natural sweetness in the retrohale and a very creamy mouth feel, so there has to be some burley in there also.
I'm at a loss as to what this is. I do know this, if I can figure out what it is, it would be a good American English blend to have around for smoking when there are non-smokers in tow. It is a very non-offensive blend, which was actually a nice blend for the smoker as well. Not to mention that the mustache note was very pleasant all afternoon as well. Oh well, much like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop, the world may never know.
