Virginias

[Wasch_24]

I tried smoking the other Virginia that Ted sent tonight.

Are virginias the harder tobaccos to smoke properly? I have had a hell of a time not overheating both bowls. This time I sandwhiched the tobacco between two paper towels for about 30 minutes before paking to help dry it out and I still managed to overheat it trying to keep it lit.

Maybe I should stick to the English blends for now. :dunno:

 

[tedski]

Virginias are harder to smoke Todd ... but don't be discouraged. As the humidity in your area is in the 70-80% range right now, it will be hard for the tobacco to dry out much. If you have a spare wooden cigar box, you could try dry-boxing the tobacco for awhile.

Another thing about Virginia flakes is the need to prepare the tobacco, pack properly and smoke much more slowly. This just takes experimentation, practice and more practice. I usually rub out most Virginia flakes to the same consistency as the English blends I sent. I then pack slightly looser than normal and use my tamper a bit more frequently while I smoke. I also find the need to relight is greater with Virginias.

If you feel the pipe getting uncomfortably hot ... stop smoking for awhile. Put a pipe cleaner down the stem, knock out the top layer of ash and come back to it later. You might find that it actually tastes better the second time around.

 

[allanf]

I ddn't like Virginia, it was the tobacco they told me to try when i bought my pipe..I prefer latakia and english cut.

 

[tedski]

When I first started pipes, I smoked quite a number of different tobaccos ... but the ones I really enjoyed were English and Balkan blends. They were easier to smoke and didn't cause tongue bite. It took me awhile to enjoy and appreciate Virginias.

These days, while I still smoke a variety, I can think of nothing finer on a cool autumn evening than a bowl of well aged Virginia tobacco.

 

[Wasch_24]

I am definitely favoring the English/Balkan blends you sent Ted. I'll give the 'dry boxing' a shot soon.

I odered some Dunhill 965 and Esoterica Pembroke last night. Pretty excited about that.

 

[Wasch_24]

Well, two days in the JL#1 box dried them up nicely. I haven't tried them again yet but will soon.

My Dad and I just finished some Checkmate out on the deck. It's a Virginia blend from the local Old Virginia Tobacco Co.

We both only packed about 1/3 of a bowl and that lasted for more than an hour! Is that normal. We both had very few relights too.

Yeah, that's right, my Dad bought a pipe today just because I have some now. Where do you think I got the OCD genes from? :hysterica

 

[Cigar_Ben]

Y'all are giving me pipe fever again. opeyes:

 

[Eulenburg]

Smoking Virginia can be very difficult indeed: it overheats very easily and then tastes like burnt egg. It will also flay your tongue. It is worth the effort, though, 'cause if ever it gets going well, 'tis the prince of piping experiences.

The discipline is to smoke slowly, in very gentle puffs. If, like me, you have a natural tendency to smoke fast in large draughts, this is not a technique easily acquired. It's a battle!

Like Tedski, I started by smoking pungent Balkan blends with loads of Latakia. A college chum had suggested Balkan Sobranie as a "great blend" and I went with that, plus the Dunhill Turkish blends. I loved the sharp redolence of Latakia when other people smoked it; it seemed a sexy smell to my young self.

Inperceptibly, though, I began to love Virginia/Périque blends more and more after sampling Dunhill's bland Elizabethan Mixture. After enjoying Escudo Navy de Luxe and Three Nuns, I slowly abandoned Latakia for the chimerical magic of the V & P mixtures, as well as pure Bright in flake form.

Red in Périque combinations (Pease's Fillmore, which I can't recommend highly enough) , or either Red or Bright in Balkan blends without Latakia (Pease's Cairo; Fox's Campanile) are also highly enjoyable to me.

Nothing compares to the subtle, fruity, sensual intensity of Virginia flake.