I did not smell or taste chocolate but there was a mild casing that was still quite noticeable, both in the tin aroma and the taste. It was lightly sweet, beyond the normal capacity for virginia tobacco. The perique was barely noticeable and if I did not know this contained perique, I would have guessed it didn't. There was no fruity spiciness that I associate with that condiment. This one worked as a lightly cased straight VA, and it performed admirably. Snorking really brought out the range of flavors this blend possesses. All the tastes were sweet and they ranged from corn syrup to vanilla to brown sugar, but with that natural VA haylike quality.

This blend makes my rotation due to its simplicity and excellent taste but also because it provided me with one of those rare moments where the stars align properly and the smoking experience transcends the typical and jumps into the sublime. A lot of excellent smokes in my tin, and one perfect one. Highly recommended for fans of light VA's with a subtle casing that highlights rather than overpowers the tobacco.

A vaper for the rest of us. A high quality blend in all respects. Needs a little drying out of the tin. I'd classify this as a light aromatic. Rub it out for best results. Dan good!

Update: Maybe Eurenburg was right after all. The chocolate is starting to get to me. I'm lowering my rating to 3 stars.

The taste and the smell in the tin is all about chocolate.

I like Virginia, lots of nicotine, citrus notes and a high natural sugar content..(Can somebody tell me what to smoke?) this one is sweet, but not in a natural way, burns well, no bite.. somewhat smokeble. Good for beginners i think.

I received a free ounce from my local tobacconist's bulk supply when I purchased a pipe.

I am a passionate Virginia/VaPer pipe smoker. This tobacco was a disappointment.

I think this tobacco is different from the one reviewed by Pipestud, NEWMAN, and Eulenburg back in 2002.

It is light in every way: color, moisture, weight, flavor, nicotine. It should be called Virginia Lite.

A relatively dry and fluffy flake, it burns fast with a tendency to burn hot. My best and largest pipe, a poker, will last 2 hours or more with a dense flake, such as those produced by McClelland or Kohlhase & Kopp. This pipe, packed full, barely made it an hour. So it might be a good choice when one has little time for a proper smoke.

There is a very light casing. Honey? And the Perique is likewise very light and difficult to taste at times. The thick smoke is relatively sweet, but I wonder if some of that is the casing. It will bite if puffed hard.

The Virginias are flat or one dimensional, monotonous really. A bland and boring smoke that might be appropriate to those who favor very light and mild smokes.

August 2010 Update: I have not tossed this out. And while I would not purchase this for myself, I would not refuse it as a gift. I have actually found a place for this Virginia Lite in my rotation. As an early morning smoke, when the palate is open to lighter flavors and one wants a light, fast smoke without a lot of effort, this fills the bill. It would probably be a good mild tobacco for first-time smokers. Virginia Lite is less filling, but maybe not so great on the taste.

Opening the tin, there is a very sweet, fruity scent I cannot place- a friend actually thought this was pure Burley going by tin aroma alone - but while there is a chocolate-ish scent in there, if there is any Burley, it's even less than the highly elusive, though advertised, Perique component, which I cannot see in the leaf at all, but which I believe I do notice in the taste.

The flakes are very short (most likely so that they will fit inside the diminutive tin without having to be folded) and a little moist at first; some drying-out may be helpful. I have thoroughly enjoyed this blend folded, twisted and dropped in my smaller briars - folded end up; it lights nicely and burns slowly, coolly, fragrantly and very, very tastily with a good, sweet taste with notes of hay with a touch of pepper (Perique, hooray! It actually is in there, somewhere!).

A beautiful smoke that makes me smile while I puff, and I cannot say that about many blends. I could use more Perique in there, but it's great as is.

Hopefully in the future, I can get a tin of this, cellar it for a few years and maybe that would give it some more character.

Maybe part of the issue is that I keep hoping to find something like MacClelland Virginia #27 in flake form, and just don't seem to be able to find it.

I have had a tin of this laying around for almost a year so one night I was digging through the cellar looking for something different when I came upon it. I believe that santa may have sent this to me last year (Thank you Santa). I popped the tin and a figgy, straw-like aroma met my nose. It smelled like a great Virginia but like I stated above I could not smell any perique.

This is a flake blend with an appearance and size very similar to Stokkebye’s Luxury Navy Flake. The moisture amount was great and this broke apart very easily. I still let it sit out for about 15 minutes before loading it into the pipe.

Lighting this blend was extremely easy and once lit this blend did not need much help. The taste and aroma throughout the whole smoke was pure Virginia. It smokes down to a whitish, gray ash. While not as flavorful as Full Virginia or Best Brown this blend definitely came in 3rd for my favorite Virginia blends for right now. I have since finished the tin that was originally opened and I have a pound of bulk on the way.

In summary, this is a really, really good Virginia. It actually surprised me with how good it is versus how much a tin of this blend it. It is currently less than $7 at smokingpipes.com. I will be stocking up on this for my Virginia fixes. If you have not tried it yet then I would definitely give it a whirl however I would not recommend this as a VaPer to anyone however.

I was expecting a pure rich virginia flake, I was to be dissapointed.

Had I done a blind taste test, I would have sworn this was a new McBarens offering, the "honey topping" being the giveaway.

As it was, it was not a blind taste test, but the honey note for me, was very real.

I finished the tin but I will not be buying more, if you are looking for a reasonable quality virginia with a little added sweetness, ie "honey" then this may well be for you.

My experience with this tobacco has been so different from most, I wonder if I got a bad tin. The tobacco in my tin is a lovely golden brown with some darker bits. The tin note is a slightly sweet very nice natural aroma. It smells like standing in a field of sun dappled tobacco on a warm sunny day. I have found though that my tongue can only tolerate this in a filtered Vauen pipe. When I smoke it in that pipe, it tastes like the tin note with an occassional sweet, almost flowery taste. Actually pretty good. I taste no Perique at all. In an unfiltered pipe my tongue feels like I backed over it with my SUV.

Appearance: 2-inch square cut flake of moderately pressed gold, red, and dark brown tobacco, rubbing out easily into a thin ribbon. Not too moist in the tin, just right for smoking immediately.

Aroma: Hazelnuts! Malt, vanilla, honey, vinegar, sour-sweet, mildly musty, slightly smoky.

Taste: Marshmallow Jell-o Salad! Nutty, sweet, weirdly sour and musty, honey, vinegar, plums, and vanilla, darkly smoky hints.

Comparisons: Like a weird Danish-style Marlin Flake, but milder. A lot like Hamborger Veermaster, but sweeter instead of nuttier (analogous to the relationship between Marlin Flake and Hal O' The Wynd).

Bottom Line: If you enjoy Danish aromatic crossover blends, but you are looking for a Virginia flake, this one may suit you perfectly.

This blend can bite if you're not careful, and I imagine it would smoke even hotter without the Perique in it. The overall taste is sharp and pleasant. I get a nice sense of fullness in my stomach when I smoke this, which indicates a fair amount of nicotine.

Recommended to fans of Virginia blends, as the leaf is high quality and offers a sweet, tangy smoke. Fans of VA/Perique blends, like Haddo's or Escudo, will probably be disappointed if they approach it from that standpoint.