VaPer Curious

[recluse]

Escudo

 

[curl]

Reiner Long Golden Flake is my favorite VaPer.

 

[davet]

C&D va/per's and Peter Stokkebye's bulks are my go to blends but I tried Drexel VIII and was very impressed with it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Odobenus, that is why you have to savor those small regional blends before they go extinct. I am not sure how productive it is having all of us throw out the name of our favorite VaPer. One VaPer is not going to give you much of an impression of VaPers as a whole. Just jump in and start trying whatever you can find. Differentiating flavors, and ways in which the perique affects overall flavor, is one of the most appealing parts of this hobby. Jump in. Try them all.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Viprati, Escudo and SG St James Flake are hard to beat. I dedicate pipes to VaPer blends and have found the Perique can definitely ghost a Briar.

 

[cortezattic]

Ditto, Cosmic.
All the varieties of Virginia leaf, and to some extent Perique, present blenders with a mind boggling palette -- not to mention proportions, processing and presentation. So, pick a benchmark blend like Telegraph Hill or Escudo, and begin your exploration from there.
ps. I find that Latakia interferes with my sense of taste discrimination, so I avoid it -- always.

 

[thesmokindragon]

+1/

Marlin Flake

St. James Flake ( just opened a 10yrs aged jar....I'm in heaven right now with this stuff )

Solani 633

Escudo

C&D Mad Fiddler ( has other other things going on within the blend , but find I like the VaPer like qualities )

 

[sablebrush52]

For me, the best American Va/Per on the market today, and one of the best I've ever smoked, is RO Perique Series GP-11. GL Pease Telegraph Hill and Sixpence are two other great classic American Va/Pers.
Escudo - though it ain't what it once was before STG took over making it - is still a pretty good Va/Per, and pretty easy to find.
Peter Stokkebye flakes improve with a few years of aging before being smoked. My take is that they're released too young. I really like Luxury Bullseye flake with a minimum of 4 years of aging before I smoke it. Fresh it's like smoking cardboard.
Mac Baren HH Acadian Perique is a fine blend.
For a very different take on a Va/Per, try HU Director's Cut.
Esoterica Dunbar is a very fine variant, a bit more of an aro with an apricot topping added to the Virginias and not all that much Perique in it.
Also on the short list are:
Rattray's - Marlin Flake and HOTW - though neither are strictly Va/Pers

GP Pease - Fillmore and Haddo's Delight - also not strictly Va/Pers

Gawith - St James flake

D&R - Rimboché AB as well as all the other little Rimbochés, as well as VIP

Hearth & Home - Anniversary Kake.

Peter Heinrich's Curly Block.

 

[drrock]

When it comes to VaPers, it's difficult for me to pick just one from a crowded field of terrific blends. Escudo & Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake are probable icons/touchstones in the genre. I'd add Solani 633 Virginia Flake with Perique as another good intro.
With respect to ghosting, I personally haven't had any issues with VaPers ghosting my briars. If you're mainly a Balkan/English fan wanting to try VaPers, I'd be more concerned with a Latakia ghost masking the subtleties of the VaPers. You might want to pick up a cob to try out your initial Virginia/Perique blend...

 

[odobenus]

If you're mainly a Balkan/English fan wanting to try VaPers, I'd be more concerned with a Latakia ghost masking the subtleties of the VaPers. You might want to pick up a cob to try out your initial Virginia/Perique blend...

This is solid advice -- thanks. I just happen to have a virgin MM Morgan sitting here that I will set aside for my initial foray into the world of VaPer.

 

[mechanic]

I recently got comoys cask #4 it seems pretty good seems a little spicier than some others iv tried

 

[ophiuchus]

Escudo ... even the stuff from STG. Get a couple/few tins, smoke one, stash the rest for a few years. ::

 

[virginialover]

STG Escudo

SG St.James plug or flake

Solani 633 Virginia Flake with Perique

Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake

 

[craiginthecorn]

+1 on sablebrush52's recommendations. Among those, considering availability, I'd suggest Anniversary Kake or Acadian Perique. I think Acadian Perique has tiny amounts of some non-VAPer tobaccos, but not enough that it tastes like anything but a VAPer. Other blends that have been mentioned are excellent too, but I feel like these two are good intros to the style because they're quite flavorful. Some of the others may taste cigarette-like to someone just learning to smoke VAPers. I felt that way about Escudo and now it's one of my favorites.

 

[olkofri]

I did get some cigarette-ish taste and scent from the bowl of Capstan that I smoked yesterday. I could also taste a citrus flavour in a few puffs too, though. First time I taste anything from a VA/VaPer. Maybe I scorched the tobacco with my many relights. Really looking forward to trying either Escudo or Anniversary Kake on that same pipe; should be interesting.
Isn't Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia a VaPer actually? I also have 50 g of that.

 

[jeffro]

Some of my current VaPer favorites are in no particular order
Cornell & Diehl - Exclusive
Cornell & Diehl - Bayou Morning
Daughters & Ryan: SJ Rimboche

 

[jaytex1969]

Be prepared for the Jeckyll & Hyde nature of Perique. Some times, it's more sweet and "plummy", other times, "peppery" and can be any combination in the middle.
That's part of the reason there are a diversity of blends and opinions. Then, add in the thousand or so iterations of Virginia.
You definitely won't run out of new flavors in the VaPer category.
Viprati was my first and still rates highly for me.

 

[cigrmaster]

Escudo is the place to start. It has great flavors, is a classic Vaper and most importantly you can find the stuff almost anywhere. When I came from the cigar world Escudo was the blend that showed me how good a pipe could be.

 

[odobenus]

This is a veritable treasure trove. You guys are the best.

 

[mrmachado]

Cosmic

It always interests me when we get pipesmokers from Brazil or some other far off interesting place, and they put down their local blends, wanting to try some of our "exotic" Escudos and such, when it is their local cheap pipe tobacco that they've seen on shelves their whole life that is truly the exotic stuff.

Yes, funny stuff. :lol:
I guess "The grass is always greener on the other side”, isn't it?