The Virginia People And The Burley People

[cigrmaster]

I’m a burley and dark Ky type. I haven’t found a straight Va or Va-dominant blend that I really like except for a couple Perique-heavy VaPers and Gawith XX Twist—which has the smoky charred meat taste rather than grass/hay/ketchup of lighter Va. I like Va in a blend if it’s a condiment or the blend is heavy on Latakia like Star of the East.

One of my favorite straight Virginia's that is readily available is Capstan Blue Flake and Peterson Flake(the old Dunhill Flake)

I am a big Dark Kentucky fan and recommend the following.
Solani 660 Silver Flake. It comes in 100 gram tins but tins are not vacuum sealed so it needs to be jarred. Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky is probably my favorite before Solani. It ages amazingly, it just keeps getting darker and sweeter and the Kentucky smokes like Butta.
I also enjoy Mac Baren Old Dark Fired, all of mine is from 2012 and all of them were tins which is all they had back then. They had sales in the beginning so the I was paying 9.99-10.99 for the 3.5 oz tins, it was a great deal. I ended up buying 65.

The Orlik DSK was taken off the market for a number of years so when it came back, I bought one tin to test it and after maybe half the tin or less, ordered 100 tins at 7.01 per tin. I consider it a bargain and the 2016 tin smoked quite nice considering its lack of age.

Savinelli Doblone d'Oro is another
er blend that while tasty fresh is going to be fantastic with a decade or so age.
A few other Vaburs I enjoy are:
Peterson Irish Flake, University Flake and Perfect Plug
GL Pease Navigator. Needs some age to round out the Kentucky but certainly worth waiting for in my book.
All of the above are readily available
Stonehaven is one of my favorite vaburs but is a bitch to get. I have stashes of 2007 going all the way to 2012. I have been smoking 2007 exclusively for a few years now as a guy sold me 3 pounds of 07 years ago. I thought at 83 a pound it was a great deal.

As far as other vapers I recommend Solani 633, I prefer the 50 oz tins. EScudo, Peterson Navy Rolls( used to be Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls),
Salty Dogs and Curly Block. The last two can be a chore to get at times but if you get them from Esterval's in Germany they are a good deal. I hope this helps and you find many of your favorites from this list. All of these blends are in my cellar and I cellared them pretty deep. I consider 50 tins or more deep.

 

[F4RM3R]

Have you tried C&D Byzantium? It’s one of my favorite smoky blends: Latakia, orientals, and Perique. Great stuff.

That's where I got the idea for the blend although I haven't tried it. I usually check on tobacco reviews and see what similar blends are out there in what I want to make and go from there. Not too many lat blends without Virginia. And not too many Kentucky heavy ky/va/per. It's true Virginia does make a sweet base for those types of blends and adds depth, but since I like my blends a little on the stronger side i find myself taking down the va a notch and upping the Kentucky and perique.

I'm from Canada so I don't but any pipe tobacco here because it's 3X the price of the states. Also I grow tobacco and have a huge interest in making blends and processing tobacco so I prefer to just get the whole leafs online and experiment. I'll be having a good harvest this year so there, but it's a lengthy process to get to the smoking part so I suppliment with the online whole leaf retailers which have some excellent products.

 

[F4RM3R]

Lucky you. Here in my country no one produces any type of fire-cured tobacco. Importing not being an option, thats the only thing I badly miss in my blends.

Where ya from? I'm in Canada with outrageous processed tobacco prices so I buy whole leaves from the states and experiment myself

 

[samuelgawith01]

I like the stronger Virginia and Burley tobacco.Especially if they have perique ,or some latakia.#4 Burley Flake by Cornell and Diehl is a good example.

 

[craig61a]

Let’s not forget the Flower People... I like Grasmere.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I like it all, although burley took me the longest to come around to.

 

[Magpiety]

This is interesting. I really enjoy burley blends, but virginias are definitely primary for me. I've never thought about that before, but I knew right away when reading that.

 

[petes03]

I enjoy both, but I lean more towards Virginias. My real go-to’s are English/Balkans though.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I'm a Virginia flake guy since I tend to be a nicotine sissy.

 

[brandaves]

I'm still very much in the early stages of my pipe smoking career(?) and find myself going back and fourth between Burley and Virginia. I'm currently on a Burley kick since trying ABF for the first time recently. I absolutely love it. I just finished a bowl of C&D Kelly's Coin and enjoyed that. Earlier today I smoked PS Cube Cut, another outstanding Burley. Despite being on a Burley kick of late I do have several pounds of Virginia cellared and appreciate them very much. My future will be filled with several wonderfully aged Virginia's. Time will tell as I've only been smoking a pipe for 7 months...

 

[krizzose]

I’m definitely a Virginia guy first and foremost. However, I’ve become a fan of a few burley blends in the last few years that I smoke regularly.

HH Burley Flake and GLP Pease Barbary Coast were both love at first smoke and are now very well represented in my cellar. The most surprising to me is how much I enjoy Stokkebye 702. It’s a straight middle of the road blending burley. I smoke as much of or more of it on its own as I use for blending.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

The only burley I’ve enjoyed thus far, and by enjoy I mean grown to really love, is University Flake. Most Virginias I enjoy on some level and tend to smoke them 70% of the time. Based on this could someone recommend me some other Burleys? I should add that Peretti’s Cuban Mix is also a favorite but have no clue how much of it is actually Burley.