Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Velvet

The Kentucky burley is very nutty, earthy, woody with light molasses and a hint of toast and cocoa. The toppings sublimate the tobacco to a fair degree. I don't know what all the toppings are, but I get the sense of sweet "Play-doh". Licorice/anise is one of them, along with a touch of maple sugar, and I sense a small touch of cherry. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are mild. Won't bite or get harsh, but may present a rough edge, and a cigarette note or two if puffed real fast. Burns cool at a slightly slow pace with a lightly inconsistent flavor as the tobacco is a little more noticeable after the half way point. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, but no goop. Needs a few relights as the tobacco tends to be a little moist. Has a decent after taste and room note. An all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Velvet proclaims itself as "America's Smoothest Smoke." It Isn't. But it is smoother than most. Some complain it is too much like a cigarette. Well, it is like a cigarette. In the days of the metal pocket tin that preceded the plastic pouch, Velvet clearly identified itself as pipe and cigarette tobacco, and many RYO smokers used it as a cigarette tobacco. Now that it is identified only as a pipe tobacco it retains the fine ribbon cut that can be used for RYO purposes.

Velvet is burley. It tastes like burley, slightly sweetened with licorice or anise. It also has a light top note of what seems to be cherry. It is less than an aromatic, but the added flavoring does come through.

The room note is that of a basic burley blend, the old timey pipe smell. Velvet will not bite unless puffed with exceeding vigor.

Aside from pipe smokers who just do not like burley, Velvet provides a decent smoke at a budget price. In my opinion some other budget OTC burleys (Prince Albert and Carter Hall in particular) are better, but Velvet is reasonably pleasant for those who often smoke the cheaper mixtures.

Velvet is truly, one of the simple pleasures in life. Sun-ripened dark burley, that's it. Not much to go wrong.

Over the years, Velvet has been a blend which I find myself returning to, kind of like, going home. The mild flavor is magnificent and simple, like home cooking. The Room Note, astoundingly beautiful. As an aged product, it only gets better, and milder, and naturally sweeter. Burley, rain, sunshine; That's as simple as it gets. A quiet smoke for the humble. By another name, it is, peace-and-quiet.

I rate Velvet right off the scale, at 6-stars. I went through my stockpile and will be replenishing, as sure as God made little green apples.

The perfect gift, for this pipe smoker (Hint.., hint...).

This is a basic OTC burley blend that is very smokable. I get a faint anise in the taste and there is something else sweet in the topping, but it is very subtle. The smoking experience is mild and uneventful. The cut is a chopped wide ribbon.

The taste is slightly sweet and a little nutty. It is pleasant but not too exciting.

This is easy to recommend for the smoker who has palate fatigue from smoking full-bodied bombs. It is also a good choice for the truck in a cob.

Man, oh man. When people said this was a basic blend I didn't realize just how basic they meant. Velvet is definitely one of the smoothest smokes I have ever had, almost like the smoke isn't there. The taste is what gets me. It's pleasant, mild sweetness and maybe nutty (but not always), and hints of a little cinnamon spice keep popping up. Not like a cinnamon roll, more like cinnamon gum. Smoking it with a filter results in getting almost no flavor at all, so a non-filtered pipe is the way to go with this blend.

Been playing around with this blend. Here's what I found to be the best method for prepping this OTC: Air a batch out overnight (48hrs for less potency) on parchment paper then jar it. Fill the jar about 3/4 full. Wait a week or so which will allow the burley to age. The day of smoking, take out desired amount for the rest of the day. Spread evenly on parchment paper. Wait about twenty minutes before smoking. The tobacco should be moist, spongy to the touch and light brown in color. Pack light by gravity feed method. Give it a good charring. Due to the fact this is straight burley, you'll need to do a few relights. Do a series of quick hard draws to get it going. Take it slow. Tamper ocassionaly. Mellow fruitiness with a slight peppery undertone (like Big Red gum). Silky clouds of smoke. Midway down tasted a dark chocolate note. Classic room note. Nice compliment to Smoker's Pride Whiskey. When prepped and smoked properly this is a solid burley blend you'll go back to time and time again. Excellent in cobs and works best in larger bowl pipes. One word of advice, buy the 12oz tin. The foil pouch gives the blend more bite. Update 7-26-15: after jarring for a week took some out for my smoke breaks at work. I noticed this blend had become more well rounded. The fruit essences are there but more subtle on the pallatte. There was a faint earthy quality which had me begging for more. I have several jars cellared, as I'm beginning to rediscover Burley...

Finally received my freebie from Lane's that I requested back in January. I wasn't on the edge of my seat waiting, but I was curious. I don't get any of the Play-Doh references. This smells like light licorice to me. Dark brown cube/chop cut, easy to load, easy to smoke.

Not much in the flavor department, this one, but it's touted as a smooth smoke, and it surely is. Back when this blend was supremely popular, everyday smokers used gimmick pipes, filters, and means other than improving technique to reduce tongue bite. This blend was undoubtedly a response to that. I couldn't get this stuff to bite, even when I huffed. Very gentle on the tongue and palate, and that was my biggest issue. There just wasn't much flavor. This is nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be these days (although Lane's may have changed the recipe somewhat), but neither is it anywhere close to a top-drawer burley. Other OTC's such as SWR or PA are superior to my taste. But if you want a very unassuming burley blend that is very mild and doesn't intrude, give this a spin.

Back in the golden days of over-the-counter (OTC) tobaccos, blenders sought the perfect mix of toppings to leave a pleasant room note. These mixtures probably resembled those exotic punch recipes from your college days: a little amaretto, some cherry, anise, cinnamon, and vanilla. Velvet seems to have one of these mixtures lightly applied to a basic Burley blend which burns easily if smoked how we can now infer our grandfathers smoked: slowly, using the breath-smoking method.

Inevitably, this blend will be compared to Lane "BL/WB" and John Middleton "Prince Albert." Like "Velvet," both are semi-aromatics, meaning that the leaf is topped but those flavorings take a back seat to the taste of natural tobacco flavor. The same is true here. A basic mixture of white and dark Burley like this takes on a nutty oatmeal flavor that alternates between sweetness and a warm, gentle taste.

It is easy to see why "Velvet" still sells today. Unlike the Danish-style aromatics which quickly became candy-like soda pop flavors in the hands of the big companies, "Velvet" smokes like natural tobacco with a dash of flavoring added. If smoked the way our grandfathers did, namely breath-smoking, it will not bite and provides a mellow, flavorful smoke that burns down cleanly. There is not much Nicotine but if you were to smoke it all day fairly constantly that would not be a problem, and the room would smell vaguely like a tobacco-infused incense had been burned there.

Others have mentioned that this blend benefits from some drying. I suggest that we do as our grandfathers did: open the pouch the night before, then shut it with the little perpetual tape thing they have. The extra moisture and some of the flavoring will dissipate, and by the time you reach the end of the pouch, will be mostly gone. The first quarter of the bowl seems to require some relights and exudes more of the topping, but after that, it is nothing but faintly flavored Burley all the way to the bottom.

I bought this because I remembered the picture on the front of the pouch from the stash a favorite professor kept in a fake potted plant next to the window in his lecture hall. I would buy this again, much as I buy "Prince Albert," for its comforting gentle smoke which is especially useful on road trips or for long conversations about the meaning of life with your favorite students.

I've been working my way through a pouch of Velvet this week and have been very happily surprised. 

It's smooth smooth smooth and the flavor is actually really good. If I sound incredulous, it is intentional. I didn't expect much, but wanted something simple and cheap to break in my two new pipes. 

In the pouch. Burley Aroma - Sweet with a twang. Soft ribbon cut, good moisture.  Packs well with the Gravity fill method.  First light - good flavor if not a little boring, but when the bowl settles down it is a smooth ride from start to finish. 

Flavor: 1st 1/4 of bowl, woodsy and slightly nutty. Midway a dark fruit flavor, hints of molasses, nice round burley nuttiness almost no woody notes now. The latter half of the bowls have gotten progressively better. Deep notes of dark sugar, hints of toasted bread and raw oatmeal. For me it is perfect for the drive to work with black coffee. 

Leaves the pipes with that great 'pipey' aroma. 

Just my 2 cents. I actually might prefer it to my venerable PA when I'm looking for a cheap easy smoke.

I have always purchased this in the large tin. I open it up and put it on a large cookie sheet to air out overnight. Once done I jar it and let it rest for several days. Three is what I like to go back to. After 3 days it is ready to smoke. Pack with a drop and fill three times. Lite. Char. Tamp. Relight and smoke to enjoy. If you are a train you will get burned. Slow puff and the flavors will come. This is a very traditional smoke. I have jars that are 20 years old. They smoke very well and yes there is flavor. Light ash at the end. Great for building a cake or to break in a new pipe. If your new wait to try this a little while. Stick with PA and a good pipe. I feel that more pipe smokers are turn off by this because us old guys never explained the best way to smoke it. My smoke time here is about an hour and a half.