Virginia Enlightenment

[hitman]

Great advice, all. I appreciate the thoughts. I have smoked mostly English blends in my pipes, so that could contribute to the masking of the more delicate VA flavors. I now have a fresh cob reserved for further exploration. I experienced a wonderful last half bowl of Sextant (I know, not pure VA by any stretch) after setting the pipe down for a day. The delayed gratification technique really worked for me with this blend.
I stumbled on Mr. Armstrong's essay on enjoying Virginias here: http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/put-that-in-your-pipe/dreams-of-old-virginia/ (Apologies the url tag doesn't seem to like my iPad) Slowing down and meditating on the flavors is a great suggestion.
Thanks for all your input,
Don

 

[shutterbugg]

I smoke Escudo and DNR (if I can find it at a close price) and for me the trick to enjoying it is sip slowly. VA's tend to burn hot and lose all their sweetness and subtlety if puffed too fast and end up tasting like what I imagine old cigarette butts would.

 

[stvalentine]

I am just into my second bowl of McBarens Viginia Flake and must say that I love it! There are two caveats though: It´s easily packed too tight and smoked too hot. If you address these two limitations it´s a great viginia. It has a light casing of honey and a smell out of the tin like fresh hay. The sweetness is even detectable for my unexperienced palate but I wouldn´t go so far in saying that it is an aro. What can I say? I guess I like virginias! :D

 

[stvalentine]

Frum yer grammer Nawtsee...

Hahahaha.... too hilarious! :lol:

 

[pipesinperu]

As a relative newbie who's only been at this a year and mostly smokes Virginias and VaPers, I would say the advice to try some hybrids (Virginia with Perique and/or Burley and/or Orientals) is good.
Also, try smoking Virginias from different blenders to see what suits your smoking style, and then go from there. Once you start getting some of that flavor, then you'll be able to adjust your cadence, packing, etc., and see the difference, find out what works for you. I still have a hard time prepping some of the blends people rave about (McClellands and Rattray's are tricky for me), yet I've had a great experience with things like Sam Gawith's FVF (supposedly a hard one to get just right, but that was not my experience). Try some of the G.L. Pease Virginias and VaPers. Things finally clicked for me big time with Union Square, and I'd say Fillmore can be smoked in pretty much any pipe and will punch you in the face with that big flavor. Just my experience.
Oh, and dry the stuff out! People talk about leaving it out for 10 minutes or an hour, but I live in a super humid climate (80-90% on a good day), and things like a McClelland broken flake need to be set out in the morning if I want to smoke it that night.