Robert McConnell Red Virginia MC

Robert McConnell - Red Virginia MC.

As I have read in a few places how this is more of a blending tobacco that's often used to calm down harsher Perique blends, aromatics and such I was expecting a boring/bland tobacco, how wrong I was! It isn't at all boring, it's actually quite a charismatic little number! As it's a blending tobacco I was quite surprised to actually be able to pick out the fruity topping, it isn't heavy or gloopy and is definitely not what you would expect from an aromatic but the fruity character that's added makes this a delightful smoke on it's own. The nicotine isn't very strong, it's present but you will have to gulp down a big puff of smoke for your needs to be satisfied. After a few bowls I realize that the fruity addition is much more prominent when the pipe is first lit, it diminishes substantially as the bowl burns down. The biggest negative (for me) is tongue bite, sadly it really puts my tongue through the mincer! Back onto a positive note now, all the way along it burns superbly, all that's needed is the odd tamp to maintain an even burn. The room note is a light one, I can't really notice much of fruity quality to it, all I get is Virginia.

This is a good smoke but due to the tongue bite I can only score it two stars!