Virginia ready rubbed flakes paired with bright Virginia ribbon cut form the base of the Red Fox. The used Virginias are rich in sugars and make for a pleasant sweetness and malty aroma without the hay-ish and grassy notes. Sweet, creamy, uncomplicated and still enticing - that's Red Fox! It's the perfect companion for any time of the day. Who prefers straight Virginias and malty sweet notes over the hay-ish Virginias, will be spot on with the Red Fox.
Notes: From Hans Weidemann: "The Red Fox is a straight Virginia blend made of bright and red Virginias. It contains ready rubbed Virginias, and also loose cut Virginias. The strength is, in my opinion, medium and the taste is not grassy; it's more malty, sweet and smooth. It should be an alternative to Haymaker and Sunset."
The main components are the red Virginias, which are mildly tangy, and are richly, deep ripe dark fruit sweet with a touch of fermented stewed fruit. They also have a very earthy, malty quality as well as a couple pinches of spice and wood, and a light sugar note. The bright Virginia takes a support role with a burst of citrus, earth, and hints of honey, grass, and sugar that underscores the red Virginias. There’s no topping. The nic-hit is just shy of the center of mild to medium. The strength and taste are a step below the medium level, but both sit squarely at that threshold after a few puffs. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns cool and clean with a very consistent, mostly smooth and naturally sweet flavor from start to finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights as it easily burns to ash. Has a very pleasant, mildly lingering after taste, and room note. This is an all day smoke with a little character to hold your interest as you go about your business. Three and a half stars.
Upon opening the tin I was presented with a blend that looked like Wessex Classic Virginia . The high quality was apparent from the start …. a beautiful ribbon cut , great color , and a delicious tin note . The smoker might want to let the can sit open for a while because it is a little moist and too close a packing might cramp the smoke . This is really well prepared Virginia looking like a mixture of reds and yellows . The smoke has two qualities , sweet and peppery. The sweetness takes a while to come through but the spicy taste is there for the entire smoke . Really , this tastes much like Wessex Classic Virginia but with some pepper added . The burn is really a treat and it can be smoked to the bottom with ease but you need a good cleaning afterward because slightly moist Virginia tends to leave a little gift in the shank and stem . A really good tobacco after a shot of single malt scotch . After trying 4 of their blends I have developed a real respect for HU tobacco blending . I intend to reorder in quantity .
Got granted a generous sample of this blend and to be quite honest I think I would'nt have bought a tin of this, as I'm not that much of a VA guy. But Red Fox really is a straight Virginia in the fashion I like it - bold flavor profile (for a VA at least), rich earthiness and a bready/malty quality to it that's bewitching.
Unburnt aroma is quite natural seeming. Vegetative aroma, with some fruity undertones, almost vegetable-ish aroma to it (think green tomatoes maybe). Lovely looking mixture of ready rubbed parts and ribbons.
Up in smoke I instantly get a nice earthy foundation building up, with some minor grassiness, but more of a malty and slightly bready taste developing. Decent fruitiness is also present, as well as a mild sweetness (really, for a VA blend this is quite hearty and spicy - i like that!). Has also in the smoke this vegetative and vegetable-ish aroma to it, that gives it this natural feeling somehow for me. Not overly complex, but also not monocromatic. Full on the palate and satisfying in stregth (for me as a Burley-Lover).
I love its malty and earthy character, with just a hint of grassiness and sweetness, but a really full, satisfying smoke. For a Virginia I find this to be quite full in taste (not strong, full!) and have to grant it the whole 4-stars, as this is a Virginia blend the way I like it.... way past the "grassy, citrusy and sweet"-drowned-in-sugar Virginia blends this is some natural feeling, natural tasting blend to me, that I'll surely grab a tin of on occassion! Hans Wiedemann knows how to blend tobacco, it's fun exploring his blend assortiment!
Taste is a shade above "Medium", but not quite "Medium to Full". Yet for a VA-blend this is remarkably full in taste!
In the German release the right name is MY RED FOX (Hommage To My Friends). It's a good blend, quite different from HU's Haymaker and Sunset (Virginia Flakes). The cut is a soft mixture nice to the touch, very easy to load into the pipe. The smell is fruity and pleasant, far different from most of the Straight Virginias. The smoke is constantly round, complex and bodied, without being aggressive nor heavy at all. Imho a good pal with Dunhill Flake, but much cheaper (33-35% less). Three and a half star
Great and easy to smoke Virginia. I have finished this tin in less then a month. I'll probably try to find this again. At first nothing special but after a few smokes I didn't want to smoke anything else...
All that JimInks says, but a 5+ Star smoke for my taste - so full flavored and sweet with NOOOOO tongue burn at all - a new top 5 desert island treat for me! The sweetest deepest tastiest highest quality most wonderful all-Virginia leaf smoke I've ever had! The farther down the bowl, the more decadent and wonderful it becomes! Smooooth, coool, & sublime! Will hopefully be introduced into the world market this May of 2017... get it then while you can! A World Class Classic Champion!
Pipe Used: Baraccini Crown Meer lined w/P-lip stem
Age When Smoked: 6-12 months, not sure... prototype
This is one of my favorites from the great HU Tobacco. I would have never guessed this is just straight Virginia. Tin note has a lot of ripe fruits, plums, and hints of raisin. The taste is sweet, a little sour, with hints of spice. I almost swear there's oriental in this. A very well rounded and balanced tobacco blend. Nicotine level is medium, strength is medium. I was unable to detect any obvious topping but I am sure the master blender of HU Tobacco treated the tobaccos with something to tone down the Red Virginia vinegary taste that I am not very fond of. An extra ordinary Straight Virginia blend that can easily be my all day smoke. 4 out of 4 stars for me. I will definitely stock up on this.
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