Player's Gold Leaf

The Virginia was very citrusy, kind of grassy with some earth, a touch of honey and very minor spice note. The flake was a little moist, but I did not dry it out. Had a mild nic-hit. No chance of bite or harshness. Burned at a moderate pace, cool, clean, and fairly smooth with a very consistent, although one dimensional flavor. Had a nice after taste and room note. An easy going all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

Gold Leaf was a magnificent navy cut tobacco, slow burning and full of flavour, with a pleasant room note and no casing that you could detect. It had two brothers in the Player's range: Player's Medium Navy Cut and Player's Navy Cut de Luxe. Gold Leaf fell between these two in terms of strength. A cousin was Player's No Name – in effect, a rubbed out version of Player's Medium Navy Cut.

Alas, of these fine tobaccos, only Player's Medium Navy Cut survives (though no longer as a Navy Cut). The ready-rubbed version of Capstan (the only one you can get in the UK now) comes quite close to Player's No Name.

Why have so many good things passed away and so many nonentities and abominations survived? Who knows? Anyway, for auld lang syne, four stars for Player's Gold Leaf - gone but not forgotten.

Update, August 2018: Since I wrote the original review, Player's Medium Navy Cut has gone out of production too. O tempora! O mores!

Very harsh smoke for me. Harsh on the broncial tube. Needs filters. Seems the taste has changed some what from 2 years ago comeing from amber leaf that was stronger. Thinking i moght go sterling

I recently bought a pouch of Player's Gold Leaf Tobacco from my local off -licenceand found what seems like a twig in comparison to what should be in a tobacco pouch.... Anyone know the website I can contact the manufacturer directly?

Many thanks!

I seem to remember this from many years ago, 1988 to be precise. A tin was given to me as a birthday present, sadly, at the time I was an Aro fan. However, I do remember smoking the whole tin and making mental note to buy more, which unfortunately, I failed to do.

If memory serves me this was a rather nice pure flake, made from very good quality virginia, not too sweet (in comparison to Aro's) but with a good earthy taste. Always burned to a nice ash with no bite. Were it still available, I'd be stocking up on it.