Virginia and VaPer Recommendations

[Cdtakacs1]

Good Evening Ladies and Gents -

I'm reaching out as I was hoping you all could recommend 6 or 7 solid Virginias and/or VaPer blends to try? I am a reletivlely new pipe smoker and really enjoy the sweet, earthy and hay type of flavors.

Thank you, all!

Just to level set, here is what I have already:

• PS Luxury Twist Flake
• Ps Luxury Bulleyes (on the way)
• Solani Virginia Flake 633 (on the way)
• C&D Yorktown (on the way)
• Orlik Golden Sliced
• SG Virginia Flake
• The Country Squire Cowboy Coffee
• The Country Squire Kingsfoil
• The Country Squire Green Dragon
• Watch City Cigar Old Dominion
• Mac Baren Virginia #1

• Iwan Ries & Company Virginia Flake

 

[docpierce]

Hearth &Home AJ's VaPer and Comoy Cask #4 would be worth a look.

 

[cshubhra]

Reiner Long Golden Flake (Gold Blend No 71)

 

[prndl]

Capstan blue makes for a great "deserted island" blend.

Works for Coronalypses, too.

 

[musicman]

PS Navy Flake
GLP Stonehenge flake
Match Victoria. Match Victoria. Match Victoria. Did I mention match Victoria?

 

[musicman]

Also, Sutliff Virginia Slices and all the Rimboche blends from D and R.
And nobody has yet mentioned Escudo, which is a gold standard VaPer.

 

[mso489]

Escudo is an all time favorite, though I haven't had it. Russ O.'s firestorm with dark-fired as a condiment, which I have enjoyed, is excellent. Oops, Musician beat me by several seconds, to illustrate the point on Escudo. It was one of fish'n'banjo's favorites.

 

[cshubhra]

Yes also Escudo and Sutliff Match Victorian

 

[spartacus]

Esoterica Dunbar

 

[logs]

What's this, no Dunhill/Peterson on your list??? You need to change that right away. Add Peterson Flake and De Luxe Navy Rolls to the top of the list.

 

[peregrinus]

Samuel Gawith St. James Flake checks all the boxes except perhaps “hay type flavors”.

 

[Cdtakacs1]

Thank you, everyone!! This has been very helpful. Putting in an order as we speak!

 

[shanez]

SG St James Flake is an absolute must try in my book. I also highly recommend SG Cabbie's Mixture.

A cheap bulk that is my regular is Sutliff Sweet VA #707. Simple, tasty, non-bitey.

One that I just tried but really enjoyed (which I think is considered burley based instead of VA based) is C&D Virginia Gentleman.

 

[londonbriar]

OK, a few to get you going...

Peterson (Dunhill) blends

• Flake - As close to a standard straight virginia flake as I can imagine.
• Elizabethan Mixture - A ribbon-cut vaper. Lighter Virginias and a chocolate note in the smoking
• De Luxe Navy Rolls - Coins of delicious dark vaper goodness

Samuel Gawith
My personal favourites. They do take some patience to find in the US, but they are worth the wait (and not quite as rare as JF Germain's is!)

• Golden Glow
• Best Brown Flake
• Full Virginia Flake
  • Three great straight virginias. As I understand, all start out as the same bright virginia leaf, with Golden Glow merely cold-pressed, Best Brown pressed and baked for a couple of hours, and FVF pressed and baked overnight.
• St James Flake and Cabbie's Mixture
  • St James Flake is FVF with Perique, Cabbies is more like Golden Glow and Perique, spun into a coin.
• Sam's Flake
  • A little bonus here - Full Virginia with Turkish leaf and a little bit of tonquin. The introverted, poetic brother of St James Flake.

I could go on and on and on. But I won't. OK, just one more. Rattray's Marlin Flake. Dark Virginia and a little tiny bit of Perique. Smells and tastes like fruit cake. My first Virginia love.

Enjoy!
Steve

 

[Jaylotw]

I’ll add a second voice to Escudo and Peterson (Dunhill) Flake!

Escudo is not over-hyped in any way IMHO, it really is a standard by which others are judged. It’s easy to find, and relatively cheap as well, not to mention that it ages like a champ!

While I haven’t had the new Peterson’s Flake, I’m going under the assumption that it’s the same as the Dunhill version. This stuff is a perfect medium VA flake, great flavors on the “brighter” end of the scale, pronounced honey and grassy/hay tastes as well as orange flavors, which is pretty unique at least among the VAs I’ve smoked.

SG Full Virginia Flake is also a gold-standard tobacco. If you can find it, pounce! Flavors are more towards the deeper/darker end in FVF, but it’s truly as classic as a VA flake gets!

Another one, while not a true VA or Va/Per is Rattray’s Old Gowrie—Rattray’s seems to be all but impossible to find these days, but Old Gowrie remains my favorite VA forward smoke. It’s got Perique and Dark Fired in very condimental amounts, and for years before this was common knowledge people argued on pipe forums whether or not Old Gowrie was a straight VA or not.

Your list of blends you already have is excellent! Quite a few on there that I’ve yet to try.

 

[spugni]

I'm a big fan of Peterson Irish Cask.

 

[Worknman]

My two favorite pure vapers that are still on the market are elizabethan mixture and telegraph hill.

 

[docpierce]

Thank you, everyone!! This has been very helpful. Putting in an order as we speak!

Let us know what the final order is.

 

[Cdtakacs1]

Wow, the recommendations keep rolling in! Thank you, gents! Here is my final order:

AJ's VaPer Bulk Per OZ (2oz)

Cask 4 Bulk Per OZ (2oz)

Cornell & Diehl Yorktown Per OZ (2oz)

GL Pease Stonehenge Flake 2 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

RO Blends - Fire Storm 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peter Stokkebye 403 Luxury Bulls Eye Flake Per OZ (2oz)

Peterson Flake 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peterson De Luxe Navy Roll 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peter Stokkebye 400 Luxury Navy Flake Per OZ (2oz)

GL Pease Telegraph Hill (1 tin)

Can't wait to try them! Thank you again, everyone!

The Samuel Gawith line is hard to find but I was actually able to pick up 250g of Full Virginia this past week. Just need to grab some Brown flake when it's back in stock.

 

[Jaylotw]

Wow, the recommendations keep rolling in! Thank you, gents! Here is my final order:

AJ's VaPer Bulk Per OZ (2oz)

Cask 4 Bulk Per OZ (2oz)

Cornell & Diehl Yorktown Per OZ (2oz)

GL Pease Stonehenge Flake 2 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

RO Blends - Fire Storm 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peter Stokkebye 403 Luxury Bulls Eye Flake Per OZ (2oz)

Peterson Flake 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peterson De Luxe Navy Roll 1.75 Ounce Tin (2 tins)

Peter Stokkebye 400 Luxury Navy Flake Per OZ (2oz)

GL Pease Telegraph Hill (1 tin)

Can't wait to try them! Thank you again, everyone!

The Samuel Gawith line is hard to find but I was actually able to pick up 250g of Full Virginia this past week. Just need to grab some Brown flake when it's back in stock.

I’m a little jealous, that’s one hell of a list! Enjoy and let us know.