Virginia

Boswell Aromatics: Berry Cobbler, Raspberry Cream, and Dan’s Blend

Flavor and nicotine. Or nicotine and flavor. Those are the reasons we smoke pipe tobacco and cigars. It may seem obvious but it’s important to every once in awhile focus on what we are looking for in this hobby. This is particularly important when discussing aromatics, as manufacturers often forget to include either in their…

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Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake

In 1865 the longstanding pipe tobacco company of Kendal, UK, split into two, Gawith and Hoggarth, and Samuel Gawith. These companies developed their own style and specialties over the decades. G&H, as it’s often called, is well known for very strong tobaccos, notably their ropes. Samuel Gawith is better known for well balanced English blends…

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Watch City Cigar Simply Orange

Orange Virginia is the forgotten middle child of the Virginia pipe tobacco landscape. I mean that quite literally. For a flue-cured Virginia, that is, dried by indirect heat over a handful of days, there will be a gradation of color from the base to the top, which is due to the variation of chemical compounds…

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Cornell and Diehl’s Innismouth

In the last decade HP Lovecraft has had a revival. Once relegated to the black fingernail polish set, now even your mom and maybe your baby is passingly familiar with Cthulhu and the concept of the Eldritch horror. And maybe why the person behind the expansive literary exploration of dread is not to be celebrated….

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Sutliff Cringle Flake 2021

We are in the midst of a surge of craft spirits. There’s a pretty clear pattern established, with most new distilleries starting with vodka, moving to gin, then maybe throwing some raw ethanol into an oak barrel, praying something drinkable comes out the other side a few years later. Assuming the distiller is successful, this…

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Astley’s No. 44 Dark Virginia Flake

Tinkering with your pipe tobacco is something that occurs naturally for pipe smokers. You begin with thinking that two of your tobaccos might taste better together than apart. You build or buy a press to turn your ribbon into cake. Maybe you start burping your  jars of Virginia when you hear it speeds up the…

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Pipe Tobacco Review: Wessex Brigade Original Scores High for Malty, Salty Sweetness

Every spring and every autumn I get a yen for apple-flavored tobaccos. Something about the crisp fruity taste matches the mood and weather just right. However I’ve yet to find an apple-flavored tobacco  that doesn’t taste synthetic. But so far I’ve liked every Wessex I’ve had. Wessex is a small subbrand from Kohlhase and Kopp…

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These Bulk Pipe Tobaccos Are Great for Aging in the Cellar

Introduction For the committed pipe smoker, one of the goals is a well-stocked tobacco cellar. Depending on the smoker’s means and rate of smoking this can be a handful of blends — or hundreds of jars, tins, and mylar bags reaching into the hundreds of pounds. No matter where along this spectrum you might fall,…

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Pipe Tobacco Review: Sutliff Cringle Flake 2019 Has Great Flavor But Doesn’t Stay Lit

Cringle Flake is a small production Virginia Flake, limited holiday release started by Sutliff in 2019. It appears to be an annual tradition as this was followed up with Sutliff Cringle Flake 2020, a Virginia-Perique Flake. This is fantastic news for Virginia fans who had looked forward each year to McClelland’s Christmas Cheer. Christmas Cheer…

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