At the risk of stating the obvious, this is much better in the can than the pouch, especially after the can is open for a few days. I mainly use Velvet as a blending burley and find it's better for this than PA, which is stronger and nuttier. Velvet is as advertised; mid bowl a relatively rich, complex burley flavor does develop, with hickory overtones. Otherwise it is pretty straightforward, smooth and bordering on bland but never quite boring.

The burnt plastic aftertaste I notice in Granger and to a lesser degree in Velvet is even more in the background in the canned version.

Another unflavored, rustic American classic worth a visit now and then.

Velvet is Burley, pure and simple. It is fairly moist in the mylar pouch it comes in, but not so moist that it needs drying out. Of course, like Captain Black, Borkum Riff, Prince Albert, Sir Walter, etc...you may not be able to dry out this tobacco even if you tried. Whatever it is that keeps these blends young & fresh ought to be bottled and sold to women -- talk about making a fortune!

The smell is really very subdued. Of course, so is the flavor, and that's why I doubt I'll purchase another pouch anytime soon. My palate begs for bigger flavor these days. Still, many fellow tobaccoreviews.com members enjoy these simple blends and one could do a lot worse than Velvet.

I am in the midst of a "battle of the drug store burleys" as I write. Earlier this week I bought a pouch each of Velvet and Prince Albert. They were $2.49 each for a 1 1/2 ounch pouch. That is $1.65 an ounce, or $26.24 a pound. So, neither is a cheap tobacco, either in price or in quality. There are a number of bulk "premiums" available online for that price.

Velvet is definitely the milder smoke and easier on my tongue; though neither caused that much of a problem, PA was hotter on my tongue than Velvet. I was able to puff away to my heat's content and suffered no bite for my vigorous efforts. The scent in the pouch is pleasant. One match and it smoked like a dream to the bottom of the pipe. I had no problem with condensation or "gurgle."

But Velvet did not have the strength of taste or scent that I was hoping for. If I was on the road and out of tobacco I would buy it. However, I will not go looking for it. Velvet must be doing something right for enough people though. It has been around since I can remember and I can remember back about 50 years.

The new pouch revealed a slightly moist, unexciting burley that packed and lit easily. Not much casing, if any, here. A hint of sourness behind a simple burley smoke. Didn't bite me at all this time, wasn't wet in the bowl. I probably won't go back to this very much. I'd prefer PA or Kentucky Club, as personal preference.

The old tobac, however is a different thing! Very dry in the tins (no suprise, it's years or decades old), smokes very cool and has a nicely understated aroma that I believe is from a fermentation as opposed to casing. I wish I could describe it, just a tiny bit sweet but with an honest burley taste in the foreground. The older tins are a wonderful smoke and I'll smoke all of the old stuff I can get my hands on. (3/05)

This is a burley and, of course, it is going to bite if you smoke it too fast or hard. Take small slow "sips" and this tobacco will burn smooth all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

I am confused about the Ligett & Myers listing since the package I have in front of me says 2004 Pinkerton Tobacco Co.

Don't be put off my it's relatively low rating...the way most people purchase anything will tend to create a bias giving relatively low rates to the cheaper, and most available blends such as this.

One of my favorite tobaccos, Marlin Flake, has a total of 26 very favorable ratings. Deservably so. However, it is fairly expensive, and not available at the corner market everywhere. In other words, practically everyone who has bought it has some experience with Virginia tobacco before, and knows they like the genre, before they go through the effort to find, and shell out the money to buy, a can of Marlin Flake.

Not so with Velvet and other cheap and available tobaccos. It is very easy to purchase a pouch "on a whim" without knowing whether or not you even appreciate the general type of tobacco. Therefore, you are going to get a lot of people buying it who don't like the type, and therefore aren't going to like that particular blend.

If Marlin Flake was available in every drugstore for $2 a pouch (heaven!), I guarantee you there would be a much lower rating, simply because you would have people buying it who don't appreciate the genre. And I think much of the negative rating of Velvet is due to the same sort of thing.

This is a smooth tobacco, little or no topping, with a pleasant, if not full, burley taste. You can certainly do worse.