D & R Tobacco Windsail Original Blend

A straight uncomplicated flue cured Virginia that is a little grassy and hay-like, and fairly tart and tangy citrusy with some darting dark fruit, wood and earth notes. It also has a very minute spice and honey hit. The nic-hit is a step past the center of mild to medium. The strength and taste are a step short of the medium mark. Ribbon cut for very easy, slightly fast burning, it requires few relights. Won't bite or get harsh, leaves no moisture in the bowl and will burn to ash with little trouble. Has a few very small rough edges. Makes tons of smoke. It may be a one dimensional smoke, but it has a very consistent flavor to the finish. It’s an all day no nonsense blend, and not every pipe tobacco product has to be complex to enjoy. Would make a good mixer. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste, and room note. I give it three and a half stars out of four.

-JimInks

Just about the highest quality plain golden flue cured virginia ribbon I have ever smoked. I'm not primarily a straight virginia smoker but this was a simpler and pleasant change of pace that I enjoy occasionally. It's flu cured virgina so, there is some strength and heat but it's character overall is so pleasant. No grassy notes with light character and high notes of sweet hay and honey almost verging on spice. Of coarse this can be an excellent mixer but it's nature being so delicate that condimental leaf would tend to supercede it. I like smoking this type of tobacco with a cup of black coffee that reminds me of reading about an anecdote of secret rendevous and temporary truce between Union and Confederate soldiers to exchange northern coffee for southern bright tobacco. Highly recommended.

D & R Tobacco - Windsail Original Blend.

Recently I've smoked and reviewed three D & R blends: Ramback, Rimboche, and Two Timer. They were all too dry and this lessened the results for them. I thought this might be different, but I was wrong, it's exactly the same: crispy. Once lit this imminently ruins the experience: fast burning, hot, dry, smoke. It's a shame as this seems as though it would be a tasty Va if it weren't for the hydration issue. Windsail also bites me, something rotten.

It's not all bad, I guess: the nicotine's mild and the room-note's pleasant, but these features don't rescue it; I hope the bin enjoys it more than I do!

Not recommended.

Reviewed as a cigarette tobacco: Fairly bland and funky fish flake cut doesn't stuff all that well. A nondescript VA, not bad but nothing special. C

I agree with Darth 69 that this is “Just about the highest quality plain golden flue cured Virginia ribbon I have ever smoked.”

It does produce a lot of smoke. There is a tart, almost char-like quality, with tangy citrus right there. It’s not a complicated blend and I would tend to trust their descriptions that suggest no hidden casings or toppings.

I think this is being under appreciated! This is an excellent straight or pure Virginia and available inexpensive by bulk.

Recently received the D&R bag of this blend instead of the bulk offerings I had purchased in the past - the difference is palatable. Bulk tobacco of this sort is only good for sampling. Now I'm mostly positive I was wrong - Windsail Regular is probably the second component of Ramback Gold, surely; the floral sent and taste here is the same. I suppose I had not really tried this tobacco before after all. Silver and Platinum work, but this is my favorite blending component.

This is what I wished Low Country Nat. Virginia would have been all those years I smoked it straight - the same sweet musk of hay and grass that gets rosy with age, yet is WAY smoother (and way lighter.) The flavor of the darker Red and Brown Virginia leaf is terrific. A straight Bright blend is not as strong flavor- or nicotine-wise, but I don't need it to be. If this was all I had to smoke I could easily enjoy life with the hole Two Timer left. Even now, D&R still has the best raw pipe-cut blending tobacco on the market, the "tobacconist's tobacconist" indeed.