Again, the quality is obvious, but there was something in the taste that I did not like.

It happens...Nothing I can do about it!

Each flake is a tender slab of VaPer goodness. This is the first VaPer I've tried that opened the door for me to appreciating this wonderful genre. The Perique here seems to me applied truly as a condiment that complements while bringing out the predominantly grassy, creamy virginia.

Not a regular in my rotation, but a very nice flake that I will revisit every so often.

NOTE: goes great with coffee (I'll try it also with black tea and I will let you know)

It smokes cool and slow. The sweet Virginias are rounded well with spicy Perique. If you love the Va-Per blends this one may be one of your favorites. Be careful with your puffing cadence, it may bite and the Perique may become harshful.

Even though it is a strong tobacco, can be smoked all day by those who love Va-Per blends..

It rubs out easily and quickly, and the moisture content is almost perfect straight from the tin. One flake, rubbed out and dried to your taste, gives the perfect amount of tobacco for a ninety minute smoke. It needs to be kept in an airtight container, or with some foil under the lid, to keep it from drying out too much.

The Virginia dominates the first third of the bowl, with the Perique coming in a little later, but the Perique is not overly heavy. It only requires a couple of quick relights when fresh from the tin, and burns only a little on the warm (not hot) side. The nicotine content is medium, not too strong. 633 tastes great, not as full as some VaPers. It burns down to a fine white ash.

If there is a downside, it is a mild medicinal odor that it shares with Reiner's Long Golden Flake, both from the same blender. Some might say that it is a very consistent smoke, almost always the same from pipe to pipe. Others might say it is blandly predictable. For these reasons, it is NOT in my regular rotation, but I recognize that it is a favorite of many others.

It is best in large bowled pipes, and it must be smoked very slowly, or you lose the sweetness of the Virginias. Good with coffee in the a.m. on the porch in the sunshine. My wife loves the smell of it!

A good tobacco, worth a try maybe, but only two stars from me for its somewhat bland taste, and the casing.

The smell from the tin reminds me mostly of (frysian) rye bread. I tend to think that in the distant background there's a hint of oak in the smell, reminding me of whiskey.

To me the taste resembles more that of a good hot meal with great spices than a sweet snack.

I tend to pluck flakes apart and fill the pipe that way, which makes it easy to keep the pipe lit, so a bowl burns to the bottom really easy for me.

I smoke primarily Virginia and VaPers with at least one bowl a day of a fine English. All my pipes are dedicated to certain types of tobacco. For this review, I chose a RQ small billard that is about a group 3 in size ... just right for me to smoke a flake. First of all, this is one of a few tobaccos that is just right out of the tin (100g tin is what I buy). The moisture is perfect. I folded the flake just enough to fit in the pipe and leave a little room at the top for some rubbed out to assist in lighting.

This is a most delicious VaPer. While Escudo, another one of my all time favorites, is more "peppery" this one is more "spicy" in nature. The virginias dominate in the beginning, with the perique taking play in and out for the first 2/3 of the bowl. However, towards the end, for me at least, the perique really jumps into the front. I sip this blend to enjoy every bit of the tobacco and allow the flavors to entice me at every turn. What a marvelous tobacco. The tobacco burns very cool, and so incredibly dry. There is a richness to this smoke that is hard to put into words adequately. It is one of the few tobaccos that I absolutely love each and every time I fire it up in a bowl. This great tobacco is why I smoke a pipe!

I guess, if forced to choose between Escudo and Solani 633, I would have to opt for this champagne of VaPers; but, I hope I am never forced to make that choice. I have plenty of both on hand and will never anticipate running out of either.

This blend is a cool and smooth smoke. I was a bit afraid of the Virginia, since they tend to smoke hot for me. However, this was not the case for Solani 633. Give it a try!

Highest recommendation.

A companion infusion: a Rhône Syrah with its essence of raspberry, blackcurrant and pepper.

Nice square and flat tin, of the like of the current UF by Peterson or Scottish Flake by McConnell. The tin aroma is inequivocably VaPer, in the sense of hayish bright Va's plus the raisiny-vinegarish note of Per. I don't detect any topping, it's all very much natural. A dozens - or bit more - of well separate flakes are stacked in two rows. They are more dry than wet, coming from a very "compressed" cake, mixing colours from the brightest Virginia to the deep dark brown of the Perique.

I have wasted my time to study over this by a couple of Mastro (a straight apple and a quarter-bent Woodstock) which I had back restored, before understanding they were not the right pipes... My half-bent rhodesian rusticated Brebbia is now giving me the best idea of how 633 smokes (at 1/5 the price of each the other two). One flake properly rubbed, stuffed not much loose, and here we go. Needs a couple of light & tamps, then it proceeds very steady giving a mixed salt & pepper dry ash.

633 delivers a smoke in the perfect tradition of VaPer's, something very close to Escudo, just a bit "drier" aroma of natural Va and condimental Per. This sweet and peppery combination is remarkably smooth and medium, without any aggressive tang. A perfect all-day (who cares ?) smoke, and even a better one as first pipe of the day (my reviews started at 08:30AM and will end in a hour and half, this is how long a flake is smoking). To the nose notes of biscuit, the ones which I like so much. The room note is something I appreciate when I'm back from an unsmoked room, but being the wife's rating...

My throat tell me that strength builds up from medium-mild to medium-strong.

Airing of the tin, in the sense that the best from 633 comes after the tin stays unsealed a month before use, is a strong reccomendation.

Very nice smoke, hope to get more tins to age.