Wessex Gold Brick

It looks to me that there is more than one Virginia present. The bright stands out the most, being lightly grassy and citrusy with a mild, but noticeable vegetative taste. Not quite as much as I expected. The dark Virginias are lightly earthy with a minimum, sometimes vague amount of fermented stewed fruit sweetness, and the barest hint of spice possible. It's not overly sweet nor is it dull. Hardly any nicotine to speak of. The plug can be prepared in many ways. I use my fingernails to rip off small pieces, drop them into the bowl, and pack lightly. There are some thin strands of tobacco veins in the plug, but they don't interfere in the preparation or how it smokes. Burns at a moderate rate due to how I prepare it with a consistent smooth, lightly creamy, woody flavor. Won't bite and has no harsh or cigarette notes no matter how much you push it. Leaves no moisture in the bowl and burns to ash with no trouble. Has a pleasant after taste that doesn't last long at all. The room note is decent. An all day smoke that doesn't fill your senses in any way, but it's comfortable from start to finish and needs fewer relights than you might expect.

-JimInks

Nice solid brick of lighter color and a "package" nose of basic Virginia. I sliced it top to bottom (narrow side) rather than side to side. Then I folded and stuffed for best results.

The taste of this was of basic Virginia, heavy on the brighter versions, but not overly citrusy. The write up here on TR is that it is flavored with coffee. Well, I can't confirm that but neither can I deny it, as there is an underlying dark spicy flavor that would indicate some measure of red Virginia or possibly a top dressing. This blend wasn't all high notes. In fact, it mostly covered the midrange - very basic with nothing too assertive. As with all the Wessex Virginias I've smoked, this is a good blend but misses greatness by a wide margin, IMHO. Perfectly serviceable but nothing I feel the need to cellar. Good thing, too, based on the cost and the lack of availability. If you enjoy the ritual of working with plugs and want a very congenial Virginia that doesn't go too far in any direction, this one is for you. I'm going to cellar my other 2 bricks and revisit in a few years.

Pretty innocuous. I mean, look at it.

Wessex Gold Brick is a bit more than a 2 X 2 inch, sort of grayish-brown block with specks of gold and black wrapped in a piece of cellophane. Wrapped like dates at the supermarket -- Not the most graceful presentation, to say the least. OK, lets slice this sucker open. {Sniff, sniff} ... smells like tobacco, maybe a bit of spice ... but where the hell is the coffee?

Oh man, maybe I made a mistake on this. It's expensive. It feels dry. Oh well, let's find a sharp enough knife to open this and peel a couple slices off this sucker. Hmm... slices easily enough, actually seems more moist than it looks. {Chop, chop} ... I like how it cube cuts too... Wow, there is actually are going to be quite a few slices from this 100 gram plug... OK, well now it feels too moist, so lets let it dry 10-15 minutes. La La La. There -- that's about right.

Time to load these cubes in this very pretty Astley Charatan Make quarter bent straight grain dublin panel (the conical bowl should make any cube cut virgina worth it's salt sing)! Packin' it in there tightly; sprinklin' the small crumbled remnants on top and it's time to light this stuff and get this show on the road!

Hmm ... puffs pre-light = still no coffee. But I do like the taste. Char light puffs up the cubes a bit, true light went well and this stuff is burning evenly. There's a little nuttiness (maybe a touch of quality burley?) that compliments the sweetness of the virginias nicely. Also a bit of cream (yes, cream without the coffee). It is burning evenly and cool, leaving a powdery white ash. No goop, no bite, and no complexity to peak of. Damn tasty though. Vitamin N, at the level I experience from most virginia leaves, is higher than expected, which is fine by me.

This Gold Brick (WGB) is burning very slowly -- this Astley is a solid Group 5, and any cube-cut virginia flake won't ever win a race to the bottom of the bowl, but still, this WGB is burning slower than most of my other virginia blends. Not a bad thing.

It's made in Germany, but reminds me of good old time USA virginia. Looks and reminds me a bit of Day's Work (do they still make that stuff?) but IIRC, Day's Work chew was much more moist. Must be the cellophane wrapper.

This stuff grows on you. Sort of like a plain girl you knew in high school that turned out to be interesting and fun to spend time with. Recommended. This could be an all day smoke.

But if someone finds the coffee, let me know what they did with it, OK?

This is my first plug experience. I sliced it on the short end - about 1/8 in thick with a sharp pocket knife on a cutting board and rubbed it out.

This is a very good Virginia. It is mellow and sweet. I got very little tart and no citrus. It was a satisfying smoke but not complex - just a basic Virginia. If this were cheaper I would probably buy this. It is about $70 a lb, and that is a little rich for my budget. I am glad to have tried the plug, and am enjoying it.

As a matured Virginia Plug smoker for 45 years I was a bit hesitant to try this plug. However, I have been more than surprised by this rather plain, somewhat unassuming Virginia Plug.

The description is semi-accurate. "Rich" I don't taste but "old-fashioned" is "dead-on". There was a plug tobacco I smoked back in the early 60's from Europe that was very similar to this and was brought to me by a family friend who was there monthly for many years. I can't recall the name though... wish I could.

While this plug is not in the "matured Virginia" catagory, it does have a taste and aroma that bespeaks of simpler times and care-free puffing. Initailly, I found the plug straight-forward...but, with more time in smoking this, it has its own set of complex overtones that are very appealing; yet still straight-forward.

It is very "earthy"... I taste the subtleties, but don't have to get involved in considering complexities. Puff and enjoy at work and play. I especially enjoy this in the evening in a group 5 straight billiard with a single malt on the "smokey/peaty" side.

I highly recommend this plug!

...a pipe is to be savored.

I had wanted to try Wessex Gold Brick for a while now and finally found an online vendor with it in stock. A nice 100gm brick of mostly medium brown and some golden Virginia in a cellophane wrap. Don't be put off by the price. 100 grams of this lasts a while. Not much of an aroma upon opening the wrap, just the smell of basic tobacco - and mild at that. Preparing the plug was relatively easy. Not as dense as Peterson's Perfect Plug and not as loose as Pease's Jack Knife Plug. Easy to prepare with a Swiss Army pocket knife. The pieces rub out very readily and loading was easy. First light revealed a subtle sweetness, reminiscent of vanilla (although I don't think any is present), and that is why I labeled the flavoring as extremely mild. This may be due to the leaf itself and not from any detectable casing, although upon inspection of the cut plug, it was slightly shiny in spots (perhaps from a light casing as I read it is prepared with molasses). It only required the occasional relight along the way. It burned cool, evenly, and without bite. The taste reminds me of Limerick without the Perique and Lakeland-like essence.

As Virginias go this was very tasty, being medium in both taste and strength. I have also smoked the Wessex Brigade Campaign Dark Flake and the Wessex Brown Virginia Slice. The Brown Slice was more Danish in taste and a tad sweeter, and the Dark Flake more traditional meaning no casing although I detected a smidgen of molasses in Dark Flake. Gold Brick was entirely different. Simple, yet very enjoyable with a natural sweetness present throughout the smoke. I liked it very much and will be ordering more. Gold Brick is great for when I want something with a little sweetness to just smoke without much thought. Gold Brick does build in intensity as the bowl progresses, but is never over the top or bitter. When I want the taste of fig/prune and sweetness, Brown Flake serves me well. For something more stout in a Virginia, Dark Flake is my choice. Although Gold Brick is the mildest of the three, I am nonetheless very pleased with this addition to the Wessex line. Three great Virginias to rotate through.

A nice, straight forward, unadulterated tobacco. No Virginia tang in this one. Although present, you can just taste the molasses, adding a subtle sweetness that is quite enjoyable. In a league with both Dunhill Flake and Pease's Union Square, but better. For a plug, way better than Jack Knife Plug. Gold Brick seems to smoke best when dried out to the consistency of brittle flakes. I prepare a half dozen or so flakes and place them in an old Wessex tin and let them dry out to brittleness. The flavor really comes out and their is never a bite not does it smoke hot. You get the benefit of the Virginia and the molasses - very old-timey in taste and room note.

The tobacco store that I sometimes frequent had one of these left on sale and I bought it about three years ago, maybe even longer. Upon opening the cellophane, I observed a solid brick that reminded me of particle board in the way it looked. It is about 1 ¾ inch wide and 1 ½ inch thick. Has a nice sweet smell to it. The first day of smoking this I just peeled off a few layers and this smoked really mild and mellow. The second day of smoking I cut across the grain and was met with a more medium flavorful smoke. This has a consistent flavor throughout the smoke and it is a nice enjoyable VA. I had it on the porch with some ice tea and could not have a nicer summer afternoon. The reason I guess I waited so long on this one was the brick was so nice looking I hated to destroy it. 😊

After 2 1/2 years, I decided to open this plug. For the most part, I stored it in one of my Coleman coolers or in a small Mason jar inside the cooler. After all that time, and despite the wrapping, the plug is not even dry; it still retains some moisture and needs some drying time before smoking. Gold Brick is a medium to dark brown Plug, more medium than dark. What made me happy is that the dominant aroma was of what seems to be stoved Virginias, which remain my favorite type of Virginias. Not a lot of typical hay aroma associated with Golden Virginias comes out. This aroma is a bit too sweet to not contain some sort of light casing, but I can't really identify what it is. The plug was fairly difficult to slice and rub out. I had to further slice a good part of the rubbed out tobacco with scissors to transform it into a more friendly cut for smoking. The operation left my fingers slightly stained after preparing about 50g of it. Gold Brick takes some time to get properly lighted up, and it does require regular relights. It was that or my tongue would end up scorched. Having a hard time to keep it lit is the only Con I found against it. For the rest, it is a good all Virginia tobacco that is pleasant to smoke. It's mild to medium in the nicotine, delivers creamy, slightly sweet and almost earthy flavours that I have enjoyed. It burns dry and leaves no moisture on the bottom of the bowl. It's better not to pack it too tight or you will experience trouble smoking it, I believe.

Gold Brick was easy for me to slice and prepare and the unlit aroma off the little gold brick is scrumptious. I took a straight razor that I would never, ever, have the Chutzpah to try shaving with (I cut myself with a 5 blade Schick) and it easily sliced pliable, manageable and almost prepackaged looking flakes. One can see different shades and types of Virginia's, all with a light brown or yellow color, a very pretty tobacco especially with the gold wrapper. My issue with GB is I have a hard time with Virginia's this bright even though I have a time mastered technique of slow puffing which I taught myself after napalming my palate several times. The only Bright yellow Virginia I can smoke absentmindedly is Fribourg and Treyer's Golden Mixture (delicious!). This falls into Virginia #1 and Butera Golden Cake territory which while both tasty need to be tended to with upmost respect or else you will pay.... with a 3rd degree burnt tongue. Not much nicotine and it has a bright and sweet flavor if you keep the temp right at a smolder. Should be good for mixing and a hot summer day, really a 2 and a half star smoke. Somewhat Recommended but with reservations.

Morning ya'll. This morning I decided to reach back and grab a old pouch of Gold brick. Broke off a nice chunk and drilled it into a Dutch pipe. No real smell but I was ready with the coffee. Lit very quickly and gave off a heavy smoke. Taste is sweet and light. In all it is a very good cheap smoke.