nicotiana

Just posted the latest review of this interesting Virginia flake:

Summary: nice tangy Virginia flake with a fruity citrus topping.

Upon first light, the apricot-citrus flavor rises up but rapidly dissipates, leaving the zesty sweet-sour flavor of bright Virginia with what feels like a support structure of brown Virginia in a minor role. This produces a sweet smoke that is thoroughly enjoyable at a slow pace, since it does not take much of it to produce an impression! The topping provides a background that steers the Virginia toward more of a lemon curd flavor and fills in some of the gaps, but the real star here is the Virginias. Like most Kohlhase & Kopp blends, this one is well-conditioned to make it mellow, including some humectants and sugars. Low in nicotine, not inclined to bite unless you puff, good for all-day slow breath-smoking, this blend is great but I would look at alternatives from Newminster (#400) and Comoy's (#4) for a similar effect at lower cost, even if those may require a few months of aging to reach the same performance.

Although most of what runs through my pipe are Burley and dark fired blends from England, denying the appeal of the Virginia flake misses out on what makes these blends great. They are mild but full flavor, since the tangy sweetness of Virginias makes up in intensity what it lacks in boldness, and make for perfect breath-smoking during times when a constant comforting flavor makes the work to be done go by quicker.

You could compare them to sweet iced tea because they are best savored slowly over a long period as both a distraction and an enhancement of life, making the time pass both more slowly and more pleasurably. The flavor will not clobber you and is mostly one-dimensional but has the addictive quality of something both comforting and mysterious. Bowls of Virginia blends often pass very slowly because the optimal smoking speed is glacial and the smoker tends to savor the smoke, sort of like hard candy when you were a kid, or chewing fennel seeds after dinner.

K&K tend to be on the edge of overprocessing blends, since they like to add sugars and conditioners, but here it works to tame the bright Virginia and bring out the brown Virginia as background. These soft pliable flakes fold easily and burn steadily at a smolder, offering up a thin but constant stream of appealing smoke. Since it is such a dessert treat, this blend belongs to that variety of smokes that end only when the smoker reaches for another and finds only bare metal at the base of the tin.

Perhaps in the long term my tastes range more toward Erinmore, since Virginias bulk up nicely and gain depth with the inclusion of some stout Burley, but discovering this blend allowed me to rediscover the appeal of the straight Virginia flake. If Gawith Hoggarth Ltd ever makes a flake version of their Kendal Gold, I will jump ship, and it is worth noting that some of the cheaper Virginia flakes achieve this same effect with only a few months in the cellar, but for now it is clear why this blend has attracted a loyal following who stash tins of the stuff under sofa cushions, in kitchen drawers, behind books, on top of cupboards, and anywhere else where it can be close at hand but not noticed by others who might pirate the stuff.