My Virginia twists had time to rest for about 45 hours and I was eager to taste them.
When I opened the jar and took a whiff I was pretty surprised, it smells exactly and intensely like hay.
And look at that color!!! For comparison look at page 150 of this thread and scroll halfway down.
It doesn't just look different on the photos!
I've read about the hay smell before and wasn't discouraged at all so I packed it down my clay
and gave it some heat. If I didn't know better I'd swear that it's some kind of Oriental.
I can't taste any earthy notes anymore, now it's just a really spicy smoke with a decent sweetness in the background. Although the spice can really burn on the tongue, I figure that it should be left to settle down some more.
Another weird thing is that it all really mellowed out during smoking. I'm used to a harsh last third and with this hot spiciness I expected a real burn but it got much softer and slightly sweeter.
(Open the picture in a new tab and zoom in on the tobac (CTRL+ScrollwheelUP) - Look at that texture!)
What you see is what I got left. I'll leave it in the jar for a while and kinda untwist it before I pack it down the chamber next time, From what I experienced it should give additional sweetness and less sharpness.
I could go on and on about how astonished and happy I am with it. It takes good time to make a good batch of this and I wonder if it's a common procedure. I have heard of twists but not this. It's definitely worth it.
And this was just one Virginia, what's going to happen to other VAs or Burley and all our other friends?
What other little procedures can one come up with?
This is a vast and deep sea, me lads!
And being able to share all this with fellow pipers really completes the whole experience.