Erik Stokkebye Small Batch Aged Virginia

The well aged, fermented Virginias provide a lot of grass, hay, tart and tangy citrus, earth, wood, some tangy dark fruit, a little syrupy sugar and honey, a couple pinches of spice, and a light stewed fruitiness. It also has a moderate floral quality, touches of apricot, vinegar and bread, and an acidic sour note. It seems to me that there’s a light sweet casing. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. The taste barely hits the medium mark. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, but it does have a few minor rough edges that are commonly associated with straight Virginias. This ready rubbed tobacco is a little moist, and I recommend a light dry time. Your mileage may vary on that. Burns cool, clean, and a little slow with a moderately complex and very sweetly consistent flavor from start to finish. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke.

One would normally not expect to encounter all the flavor notes that I have in a straight Virginia blend. I don’t know what Virginias were used in the processing, but I would describe it as a melange of FVF, Best Brown, Golden Glow, and 507-C Virginia Slices with a purloined apricot note from Esoterica Virginias, though the last two obviously weren’t used in the manufacture of this product.

-JimInks

The case and gold paper wrapping was grand, the tobacco was summer-dirt dry. As a result I immediately jarred it along with the second box I bought, which was also without moisture. After a week of rehydrating I had my first bowl today. Good taste but there was a little bite due to the dryness I think. It's a very coarse cut and I rubbed it out some to put in the bowl. It lit and burned OK. Smoking on the outside deck with a slight breeze it burned well and eventually produced ash to the bottom of the bowl. I like Virginia but will probably go back to some of my other mainstays giving these two jars time to rehydrate.

Later: I mixed it with equal parts McBaren Virginia #1 and the results were excellent.

Gourmet box. Dry tobacco, chewing tobacco (I think it's no use getting old as virginia is aged). Expensive tobacco, and extremely bad, for the price you pay! Bite no matter how you smoke. Tried on several pipes to no avail. It's limited edition so it doesn't give you time to realize how bad it is, and doesn't affect sales. In short, unsightly virginia and biting, with a very high price! I hope it helps someone this revised if they want to relaunch!

This is one of my all time favorite Virginia's. It covers the full spectrum of flavors found in quality aged Virginia leaf. Naturally sweet and spicy too. Almost like a cross between samual gawith and mccelland virginias. Amazing stuff that I wish was available all of the time.

I'm going to start with packaging. The tiny humidor (think cigar box) is a great touch to really add to the fact that you are smoking something luxury. Will work great for other tobaccos once you finish this one if desired.

Opening up the gold foil pack, the note is hay/grass. The moisture level is high, so I took out a bowl full, spread it out on my tray and let it sit about 2 hours. It was really easy to pack and took a couple of lights to really get going.

The flavor was more complex than I expected. Sweet notes on top, some fruity undertones, not a lot of depth. The age of the tobaccos used is evident as it really is like smoking something from your cellar even brand new. It burned a little warm as I normally expect from straight virginias. best results came in a smaller Canadian and from sipping gently.

Every bowl has burned down to grey ash with no gurgle and very little moisture in the bowl. The nic level to my tolerance is medium to a little bit higher. Not an all day smoke to my tastes but a really nice treat which it should be for the limited availability.

Not sure if they plan on making more of this, but I'd grab another package if I came across one.