Nice video ! My personal favorite straight Virginia is Peterson Flake and my personal favorite Va/Per is Peterson De Luxe Navy Rolls. Both were formerly Dunhill - They stay lit , they don’t burn my tongue and they are very tasty while still being natural.
Learning the minutiae of pipe tobacco, tobacco processing and curing, blending, etc. was a huge part of the enjoyment of smoking a pipe, at lease for me 🙂
I've been pipe smoking only a few days, Royal Yacht Club (Virginia) has been my first blend. Your channel has been a good find, I like your down to earth manner so thank you for what I've learned so far. As for packing the pipe? I seem to have had excellent luck using the "Frank method" and now I'm learning how to consistently make the bowl stay lit on just 1 lighting. The experience has already surpassed my expectations so much!
Capstan Gold / Ready Rub is pretty darn good out of the tin. Stockpiling a few tins of that.. Haven't tried the Captstan original yet. Peterson De Lux mixture is a good virginia that doesn't have that much bite.. One of my favorite is the Stokkabye Virginia twist ( That has a bit of kick and needs some Jar time ) .. Thanks for sharing
What I love about pure Virginias, Capstan Original Navy Cut for me, is that I can pack a large bowl and if I don't finish it, it's even better the next day.
GL Pease Opening Night is an awesome pure VA broken flake. Seattle Pipe Clubs Hogshead (plug) is a great too, its already aged 10 years before packaging. Cheers love the VAs!
Been smoking a pipe for close to 10 years now and starting to settle into the fact that Virginia is my favorite category. I’ve been going hard on Reds like Give Me Liberty and Red Virginia Crumble Kake. Also a fan of a solid English style black Virginia cavendish like Rattray’s Black Virginia and Gawith - Dark Virginia Cavendish (DVC). For browns I’ve about a pound of Luxury Twist flake and Newminster 400 cellared up and aging. Full Virginia flake if I could ever get it lol I kind of accidentally skipped over a lot of classic tried and true Va’s like Capstan Erinmore and Peterson Flake and going back to try those. Perique is such a wild card for me. It’s in some of my favorite tobaccos like Plumb Pudding where it adds something to that kitchen sink style blend in the background. In a Va I find perique just stands out so much over everything else that it takes over and then kicks my ass. Golden Sliced is the best luck I’ve had with a true Va/Per. Big fan of the unsweetened tea you get from Va/Burs like Briar Fox. Kind of enjoying the recent Va/Or wave that seems to be picking up some interest of a lot of people. Bijou being a classic for me. So many options even in straight Va. it’s crazy how diverse a simple Virginia leaf can be after it’s processed and topped and/or combined with different categories. Excellent vid!
Thank you, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences. I feel like that's part of the wonder of this hobby; it is something that you can endlessly explore for decades. And I look forward to it all! Briar Fox and Bijou are two for which I keep forgetting to add to the cart and try...regardless of how any times they come up in conversation, lol. That's it, I'm doing it this week!
Have been smoking a pipe for a long time. Loved this video, until the last few years I only smoked Captain Black original. That's exactly what my grandfather smoked. Have now started to experience different tobacco blends from Lane, Sufflift and Cornell&Diel. Thank you
Thank you for sharing; and many happy smokes! My great-uncle and great-grandfather were the pipe smokers in our family, but sadly they passed before I could learn from them and find out their blends.
Good Informative Vid , like your channel. Only thing being for NOOBS , is just personaly I would start where most of us did , with the Codgers . Then move into these you have to hunt for or order. Shoot , everyone calls the staples Over The Counters , well once upona time yes. But at least in my Country in western Ks , Southeast Neb. Good luck. Its vape and roll your own , chew and almost Zero for Pipes. Two grocery stores here , 30 mile apart , one has half and half and one Sir Walter , reg and aromatic . Even smokeers friendly stores / outlets an hour and 30 min away are not stocking much . Let alone items that go with like evenpioes , filters ect. Might as well get online. But just me no biggy , would starr with them , then more content to go into more like you have. You can always revisit those for true NOOBS lol , and theres more videos . Keep up doing your thing brother , I enjoy it.
you nailed the perique being the ''cajun spice'' of the tobacco world, right on the head! but, perique is a process, rather than a leaf type. Straight virginias are hardly a beginner tobacco. they won't tame it nor appreciate the many offers it has. Great video!
Really nicely done. I hate to be critical. London flake is a Virginia perique. And I really like Symphony and they taste nothing like each other. Symphony is burly heavy with some Virginia and a cocoa topping. I highly recommend people try both.
3rd attempt at this pipe smoking hobby. From what I’ve tried, I tend to gravitate to burley blends like Presbyterian Reformation, Rivendell and MB Vanilla Roll Cake. After watching this video and your video on Blockade Runner , I’m going to try some straight Virginias. Wish me Luck.
Good luck indeed! Nice you crack the code on VAs, it opens up a whole new world to experience. Burley’s and aros are cool; but the Virginias just have something dynamic about them which is hard to put a finger on.
Capstan Blue is the blend that I have smoked the most of in all my time as a pipe smoker. Probably over a hundred tins already. It just never gets old to me.
An iconic blend; with a great history. I still smoke it occasionally, although something in one of the toppings doesn’t always vibe with my ph. Still tastes good though!
@@calebwhiteknives hmm that's interesting. I have that problem with many fresh burley blends, especially from Mac Baren. Like Mac Baren's HH Burley Flake for example. But when I let them age for ~ 5 years or more, then I can smoke em just fine. I actually do smoke about 98% of all my pipe tobaccos with at least 5 years of age on them, since I find that it improves most blends quite a lot for my taste. I have quite the sensitive tongue due to medication that I get, and so aging the tobaccos helps me with that issue a lot. Maybe aging the tobaccos helps in your case too. Or have you tried that already?
I really love Capstan and SPC's Give Me Liberty (which I can't wait to have a tin age for several years) for a straight VA. Lane Limited 125th Anniversary and Hansom Flake for VA/Pers. Most other VA/Pers seem to need a little latakia for my tastes.
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t tried that one yet…but I will eventually, lol. I’ve got a tin of Peterson Flake in my crosshairs for this week, alongside some Royal Yacht mixture.
@CalebWhiteKnives I hadn't tried it either until I was at a local B&M a couple weeks ago and they had some, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I enjoyed it so much that I went back and bought a few more tins!. Nice, I've not tried either of those yet. Next on my list is some Solani yellow (633)
Nice video! I like Virginias a lot and especially as flakes or spun cuts. But I was wondering that you put the Orlik Golden Sliced as a Virginia-Perique flake. As far as I know it's a pure Virginia, what would also match my memory on the palate. Maybe a very suttle casing or top flavour, almost not recognisable. Four more tips from my side: Richmond Navy Cut (pure Va in a constant quality over a 100 years), McConnell Old London Pebble Cut (back to base smoking experiance), Peter Heinrich #110 (Va-Perique-Kentucky, a bomb of natural aroma), SG Brown Flake (rich pure Va's, nice slow smoker). Let's add a fifth: Bell's Three Nuns (Va-Perique curleys with quite some punch). I don't know if you can get them in the US, but if so give them a try and enjoy.
Yeah the Orlik is actually a VaPer, according to the manufacturer. The interwebs forums fiefdoms may say otherwise, but they legit say it’s a VaPer from the factory: on the website and everything. The Perique is barely noticeable…which I think may lead to some varying opinions. Personally, I can sense it a little bit, but as a barely present condiment more than anything.
I agree Peterson Flake is a great unadulterated cool smoking flake and a great starter, to go deeper I would nominate Astley's 109 and 44 and of course Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake , The King
Just to clearify :) Yellow capstan is the milder of the two. Blue being stronger. Back in the days there where 3 diffrent. Yellow, blue and brown. Yellow was called mild, blue medium and brown was called full or strong. Today they are not allowed to use worts like mild, and brown got discontinued. Thx for a great video. Really enjoy my virginias myself
@@calebwhiteknivesnot sure how it is in the US. But here in Denmark eveything tobacco related is very regulated these days. And so much pipe tobacco ships from the Skandinavien tobacco group. Well according to marketing tobacco your Arent allowed to in Any way to describe the taste of the tobacco. Mild could be understood as less harmfull and so on. Seems a little strict but i guess makes kindof sense. The Word light is also a bag nono ;)
Nice video, big fan of virgin tobacco and you helped me out with your breakdown of it all. Also love the boonie can you let me know the brand of that hat.
In my experience, Virginia blends are somewhat flavorless until they get at least a year of age on them. I've cracked opened fresh tins of Mac Baren's Virginia Flake, Capstan's Blue, and Peterson's Flake in the past that to me were very boring and tasted like hot air but after a year on the shelf taste like a totally different blend are amazing.
Im sorry that you had bad luck with LJ Peretti 150 flake but my experience with it has been great. The flakes I have received and dark and sugary with quite a bit of moisture. Give them another try I really like it. Im sure if you contacted them they would make it good. They are an extremely reputable company.
In my experience with Elizabethian mixture, you have to give the perique time to settle. It seems very over powering when its fresh. My wife hates the room note of this tobacco more than any of the others. Peterson flake {the blue and whit can) is a good straight virginia to smoke. Its a little more spinsive, but it has that rich Virginia taste that i so love. On a different note, what do you think of gl pease union square? Have you tried it?. Im thinking of ordering some.
I’ve not tried Union Square yet; but intend to this fall. Elizabethan definitely needs some time to settle down, lol. I’ve had similar luck with the HH Pure Virginia, in that it seems to smoke better after about a year of age.
@@calebwhiteknives i finally got that union square. Imo its really good and i enjoy it. It doesn't taste the same the Peterson Flake but i think Peterson adds something. Idk what they add but it does taste different. It would be nice to see you do a comparison vid if the two and see what you think since you like straight Virginia.
I tried pipe tobacco but eventually gravitated away. I have quite a bit jarred for 10 years. Is it still good? It is in Ball jars, in a dark room with ambient temps in the 60s. Thank you
Yeah, in theory it should still be good if it's in decent jars, and stored in the room as you describe. I'd say it's probably just about aged right for a great smoke!
I need to pick up a Vaper so that I can start picking these flavors apart, since the only pipe tobacco that I have smoked thus far is Boswells cupcake! That being said, I placed 1st and 2nd place out of 30, two years straight in a St Tammany Parish crawfish cook off 🦞
I would kill for some crawfish...properly done, cajun style! Orlik Golden Sliced is probably one of the mildest VaPer's I've tried so far. It's an easy way to try it out, with a solid foundation of great virginia. The Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake is also a good starting point...not too much, not too little, just right!
@@calebwhiteknives it’s definitely going to be a spectacular year for the crawfish, since they are already showing up with their small, tender, bright shade of red shells here in the earliest days of spring, and I am ready to boil them up! I know that when the bass are moving in on their spawning beds, and the timing aligns so that I can select small enough crawfish out of my net to throw on my hook to catch a lunker bass, it’s going to be a fruitful season for everybody, all the way around! I could probably send you some if you would like... I’m not sure what the shipping would be these days, but I have done this in the past. I moved out to stay with my aunt in California for an entire year once, and we craved crawfish so bad that I had my friends back home boil some up and ship them to me on dry ice. That was 25 years ago though, so shipping probably wasn’t too bad. My buddy who is a commercial crabber, makes several trips to the airport every week to fulfill orders from New York, but he ships the blue crabs to them live. I’m sure that is not cheap. Just like they send us lobsters... Thanks for the tips, I will definitely be looking to pick up some of these tobaccos per your recommendations!
