Tobaccos Player's - Navy Cut Flake

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3047)	2016-02-25		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

The lighter Virginia offers some tart and tangy citrus, bread, grass, and light sugar with a mild vegetative tone as the lead component. The burley is a little nutty, woody, and earthy with some molasses as a supporting player. In an secondary role, the darker Virginia is lightly earthy, woody, mildly tangy dark fruit sweet with a minor spice and slight bread note. The mildly applied rum is a little sweet with a slight spice hit. It doesn’t detract from the tobacco flavor at all, and weakens just a mite after the half way point. The strength and nic-hit are a step short of the center of mild to medium. The taste level is that center. Has a few small rough notes. Won't bite or get harsh. The flakes are easily broken apart at a reasonable moisture level, so it needs no dry time. Burns at a moderate pace with a very consistent cool, clean, light creamy smoothness from top to bottom. The bowl is barely damp at the finish, and the tobacco easily burns to ash. Requires an average number of relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jakob Kiilerich (120)	2014-03-14		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Aaahh. It's been so long since I've had a tobacco experience similar to the flake types of the late eighties and early nineties. Since Orlik took over most of the English brands, the flake-market has been somehow "Daneificated".

Fear not my fellow pipesters! Imperial Tobacco made this little beauty and it is VERY similar to Simmon's Sixty-Three-Flake.

Top shelf VA, slightly topped (not soapy), and just enough nicotine to satisfy me. It develops into a buttery, caramel-like bisquity creamy experience. Soothing and lovely. I may bite just a wee bit if you puff too hard, so sip it like you would sip Dark Twist, and it will reward you with a good hour of virginia goodness.

British flake tobacco like twenty years ago. Hooray maties!

=== Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark ===

Pipe Used: Gesandt Bulldog

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: mysmokingshop.co.uk

Similar Blends: C.B. Møller & Co. A/S - Osborne 63, H. Simmons - Sixty Three Flake.

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2081)	2014-09-10		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Players - Navy Cut Flake.

This is a blend that I have heard a lot of talk about in "days gone by", so it excites me to try it. Starting with the unlit tobacco, the flakes are perfect to look at: a medium Brown mostly, with some lighter specks in there sporadically. The moisture amount is excellent: not dry, not damp but just right. The aroma that comes from the flakes is a fairly basic Virginia one with a very slight rum tang in the background, not strong at all but a gentle one.

This one takes to the flame great, for my flake blends I always use my jet ilghter but to be fair if this is prepared and rubbed correctly then a standard match flame would more than suffice. Once lit I can appreciate why this blend gets a lot of talk after many years. The smoke is deliciously cool with a great flavour. The tobacco flavour is very much split equally between the Virginia and Burley and if you retro-hale the smoke then a slight detection of the rum sweetness becomes more available. Nicotine now: very tame so if Lady N is more of a nemesis to you this will make an awesome addition to your tobacco stock. The last point to mention, to end on a high is the room-note: very full Virginia/Burley with a hint of sweetness to it. Mind you, I would say it's only a good point for smokers as it is a little full and non-smokers could find it too much!

Four stars.

Pipe Used: Butz Choquin

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: G.Q Tobaccos

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	who broke my clay pipe? (70)	2020-04-12		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant

50g Pouch Precision uniform rectangle flakes. I have bought this a few times in the past and smoked it in various system pipes,notably Ronsons. It always came across as a very plain natural flake ,neither very sweet or savoury either. Certainly real and no nonsense, proper british style. It is one that i have to say got over shadowed by other purchases.

It has a very mild grassy and hay pouch note and no real aromatic strength. It is such a perfect melded blend of virginia and burley that it tastes like a third variety of leaf entirely. Almost akin to thick crunchy dark cereal bran flakes.

It has a rustic woodyness,like a saw mill or timber shop air ,or chewing the end of a pencil taste, a dry hayness, a certain digestive Hovis biscuit taste, also in the beginning raw dried uncooked pasta. When new there is a degree of some citrus from the virginia but this has faded away or evolved into a darker mature virginia by now. My jar is from july 2015.

Aromatically its very mild, some say it contains rum and i dont really get any liquor or alcohol taste from this at all, but i do get a certain mild black sugar treacle molasses/ brown muscovado baking sugar that is ever so slightly like that woody natural licorice root. Spicy in a mild way,and a noticed oak cask barrel woodyness which combined produce a certain dark navy rum character minus the spirit of alcohol.

Also i get from the burley a certain earthy chalkyness that is quite reminiscent of Ceylon variety tea. It is very smooth,almost clay at times. The earthy dusty sweet chalkyness gives this a certain unique white dusty taste of which i mainly remember this for. The current pandemic lockdown has forced me to explore the forgotten stocks and ghosts of my tobacco collection.

The pipe i am using at the moment is a strait through narrow draught early USA made Falcon pipe with narrow slot bit which is really amplifying the taste in such a way that I have never tasted Players Navy Cut Flake before as well. It has more definition and complexity than I thought it had and I now lament I never bought more of this and less of other things seeing that this was a relatively easy to get OTC in some places. I didn't know this had been discontinued either, so when I use up my jar it really will be gone and history unfortunately.

Its only closest contemporary I can think off is Walnut Flake,,Navy Flake is the earthier of these two. This has aged and rounded out I do notice. No bite, tastes consistant down the bowl, no gunk,no chemicals,stays lit, burns to a fine dry fluffy ash. 4stars **

Pipe Used: Falcon,Ronson

Age When Smoked: 4 years 9 months

Similar Blends: Walnut Flake.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Nick Waude (2)	2014-04-15		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

This has been my regular day smoke for quite a number of years now. As far as a medium Virginia with no detectable additives or toppings I rate this as one of the best available. I do recommend getting into an airtight jar soon after opening,as it can quite easily break down to useless crumbs.

Pipe Used: Turks head Meershaum.

Age When Smoked: 5yrs

Purchased From: Aston of Manchester.

Similar Blends: Germans Medium Flake..

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2012-12-01		Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I'm a newcomer to Pipe smoking and this was only the fourth tobacco i tried. Being a Tolkien fan since only 10 i'd read this was his favorite brand and though it's no longer available in newsagents in the UK as it was in his time it's still easy to buy online.

Anyhow, it's the first flake I tried and I do enjoy the control you get over the rub. The smoke is pronounced Virginia but has a taste all of it's own, the room smoke isn't unpleasant and doesn't overly bother others which is great as my girlfriend and most friends are non smoking. Though one of my non smoking friends liked the smell so much he insisted on having a pipe, though he went all Gandalf and insisted we inspected his prowess in smoke ring blowing, obviously a heavy ex smoker!

I'm ordering several more packs of this soon and will be one of my staples i think.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrDyson (148)	2017-03-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

I heard with shock and disbelief that this iconic blend has gone out of production. My impression was that it was perennially popular among English pipe smokers, and I can’t imagine what commercial considerations can have led to its discontinuance. A light, grassy, cool, slow burning sweet Virginia flake it was an archetypal traditional blend. It was a favourite of people like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. My headmaster was smoking it more than fifty years ago! The nearest thing to a substitute that I have been able to find is Gawith & Hoggarth’s Brown Flake. Ogden's Walnut Flake (now called Original Flake) is comparable also. But as, in the UK, we move ever closer to prohibition, the withdrawal of Player's Navy Cut will, I fear, prove to be a significant milestone.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipesmoking101 (63)	2014-11-23		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have recently returned to the pipe after smoking cigarettes for the past few years, and this was the second smoke I chose to consume upon my return to the brotherhood of the briar. This tobacco had been sitting sealed in my drawer for 5 and a half years before being opened. The note straight of the packet is a fairly typical Virginia scent, with slightly more fruitiness than some others, but not overly so. Sweet, with a medium scented body, not too heavy. The flakes were difficult to separate, I was expecting them to be looser, but perhaps as they had sat together sealed for so long in the packet, they had melded together somewhat. I could see when lifting the whole clump of flakes out that they had been cut straight from the same plug as the beautiful mottling of the tobaccos ran the whole length of the entire mass. Rubbed out fairly easy to a mixture of between a fine ribbon & medium ribbon cut, with a few crumbs. Packed easily & took the light well. The smoke was very pleasant, quite what would be expected from this simple tobacco. A medium body with decent slight sweet/hay alternations in taste, and a subtle undertone from the rum. Burned easily, needed about 3/4 relights down the bowl (but I am out of practice on the pipe - so is probably down to me). The entire smoke is a bit 'one-note', but as that note is not unpleasant, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't have a particularly powerful room-note & is light enough to be considered an all-day smoke. In the overall analysis, a fine tobacco - nothing too exiting, but one that it will always be a good idea to have around, and will not disappoint if something is required just to relax with and not have to think about or concentrate on too much.

Pipe Used: Mr. Brog No. 12 churchwarden

Age When Smoked: 5.5 years

Purchased From: Burkitts, Hove

Similar Blends: Peterson - University Flake, Mac Baren - Navy Flake (maybe, although it's been a long time since I smoked this one, and I can't quite remember, but I think it was more burley based).

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Harry (13)	2014-07-01		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

This is a pleasant tobacco, light and golden in appearance and fresh smelling from the pack. It rubs out easily, lights up well and carries with it a good volume of smoke. Flavour is clean, grassy and very tasty indeed. I first came across this whilst watching a pipe tobacco review on YouTube, so thought I would give it a go. It isn't available over the counter here so I got it online. Medium strength in my opinion and has a very nice room note that is hay-like. I would certainly recommend this tobacco. It has a decent strength and taste that satisfies. It isn't, I think, a complicated tobacco, but then not all of us want that anyway. For an everyday smoke, or just a lighter one every now and then, this would fill the gap. For storage, it is in a small jar. I haven't bought a large amount of this, just one pack, but I can see myself buying more in the future. It probably will not be a regular favourite, but it certainly has a place on my list.

Pipe Used: Falcon, Peterson

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Online, Green's of Leeds

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2002-05-23		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have not seen a new tin of this stuff in years. I stored away a dozen or so tins in the 1980's, and go back to it from time to time. Quite frankly, I find it odd that it has not previously been reviewed.

This is a virginia mix of decent quality. But, even though the tin I just finished the other day was 20 years old, the 'baccy still burned warm and a little harsh. Typical of what I always get when smoking this blend.

It will bite, so hard puffers and beginners should steer clear (unless, of course, you have a leather tongue!)

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Deimitori (11)	2016-06-16		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A classic pipe tobacco being around for a long time. It is a blend composed of Virginia and Burley tobaccos, which also has a very light touch of tasty rum.

It belongs to the English "school" of tobaccos if we can use the term. The taste palette is citrus fruits coming from Virginia and in a supportive role there is the taste of nuts coming from Burley. These flavors are soft and gentle and also very gentle is the taste of rum. It is a tobacco which keeps it's smoking identity of "old-fashioned" classical tobacco.

The flakes, mainly brown with golden accents, are beautifully cut with nice thickness and the moisture is excellent. The packaging of tobacco is in a pouch, in which in it's internal the tobacco is sealed airtight in a plastic box. The smell of tobacco when opening the packaging is very attractive. A sense of earthy aromas found in Virginia tobaccos in combination with fruit aromas.

Rubbing the flakes I noticed that the taste of the tobacco became a bit more rich and also acquire an extra light sweetness. I did not notice any "tongue bite", but that has to do with the calm way that I smoke my pipe. If you smoke intensely and fast it will "bite". The power of nicotine lies somewhere between the light - medium category.

Can be smoked comfortably throughout the day. I rather liked to smoke it during afternoon or evening hours. Not a great complexity of flavors, but in any case it is not flat, tedious or boring smoke, and the aroma in the room is very nice and not bothering the others.

The ideal humidity makes it very easy to lighting and also it is smoked very easy. It is good to be smoked as a flake form in a pipe bowl relatively small -it reacts better-, and as a broken flake or rubbed flake it can be smoked comfortably in a larger pipe bowl.

Not noticed liquids on pipe or bitterness. In the last level of the bowl it becomes more pungent but without being annoying or tedious. Leaving only ash on the bottom of the bowl at end of the smoking.

Also, it's good reputation accompanies the fact that it was one of the favorite pipe tobaccos of author J. R. R. Tolkien.

In conclusion, this is a very good pipe tobacco which left me only positive impressions.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MJG (17)	2015-05-18		Medium	Medium	Medium	Tolerable

Leaf: As the packaging describes, a flake of mainly brown with gold highlights. Well constructed flakes that were only slightly moist and easy to manipulate without them busting apart. Ready to smoke without any drying time.

Tin Aroma: A tangy and slightly citrus note, the Virginia is noticeable with it's hay scent, but the main scent here is a raisin and dried fruit one, and the smell of the rum casing is easy to pick, possibly a spiced rum.

Taste: A no fuss smoke, I folded and stuffed the flakes with a little rubbed out on top as kindling. In this form I always got consistently good smokes. Not a complex blend, you pretty much get what you smell in the pouch, a nice tangy Virginia, a bit of rum, and a bit of fruitiness. The dried fruit and rum provides a slight spiciness but it's nothing to write home about. This is a good, consistent, very approachable entry level flake blend.

Smokeability:The flakes were easy to fold and stuff, easy to rub out, easy to roll, it all works well with this. It was fine to smoke straight out of the pouch, no moisture in the pipe throughout the smoke, it lit easily and stayed lit with barely any tamping. Being a flavoured VaBur it can burn a little hot, but that's easy to fix by controlling your cadence. I got bit a little once, but I was smoking outside in a breeze so what can you expect. Simple and effective, low maintenance, no fuss smoking.

Summary: I enjoyed this smoke enough to keep reaching for it, more so because of it's good behaviour and simple smoking, it was easier than working through a big bowl of something super complex. It makes a decent all day smoke but there are better options out there at the same price point, especially in the U.S. Still, if I saw it OTC here in Australia I wouldn't hesitate to grab some, it isn't disappointing by a long shot. It doesn't do anything fantastic, but it doesn't do anything wrong. I guess it is still just a good old fashioned blend.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Skando (203)	2009-12-06		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Player's Medium Navy Cut completes the panorama of the "tobacco menu" of my December 2009.

In spite of the VaB(Ky) formulations referring to Walnut and St. Bruno, here we are talking of a straight Virginia blend, and of a milder strength as well.

Just like its British companions, PMNC shares the same packaging: a sealed plastic tray inside an unsealed pouch. It goes itself that, once the tray is open, the tobacco should be put in a glass jar, unless one would commit himself to smoke all the contents out in few days. Even jarring the whole content, I see that PMNC is prone to a quick drying, and this feature makes me think there is not any substantial casing, and that's so good to me !

I'm thinking to the nice reviewer before me, talking of something as PMNC being Escudo minus the Perique. Uhm, very interesting point of view ! In effect, PMNC is showing the typical medium Va Flake behaviour, and some peppery note without the sweet & sour thing.

Side-by-side to some companions (Capstan Medium - currenty Original - and Orlik's Golden) PMNC shows a fruity characted instead of hayish. In case, seems to me that a bridge is with Torben Dansk's no. 15, but the latter has a more generous body, is stronger, and has definately a (stwed fruits) casing. PMNC wins the match being something in the old tradition, well balanced and consistent, apparently without recurring to remarkable external helps.

I've smoked PMNC in various shapes, for this review it's an aged BBB straight billiard (gr. 5). This lady, able to contain two flakes and half - which I have just folded and plugged inside the bowl - has the great value of smoothing the unavoidable rough edges of a flake of this kind, delivering nearly two hours of excellent smoke.

Four full stars.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2005-11-09		Very Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Tin Aroma: I guess this should be pouch aroma because sadly this blend is no longer available in the round tins. The tobacco has a rich aroma remeniscent of Christmas cake lightly topped with caramel.

Room Note: There is certainly no topping detectable in the room note which can only be described as a generic virginia tobacco aroma with a slight soapiness about it. Similar to St.Bruno in aroma; nothing to offend but then nothing to make the smoker's companions appreciate it either. The best I've heard it described is 'old fashioned in a classic way'.

Packing: If smoking 'pressed' the flakes are thin enough to fold easily into the bowl. If rubbing out the small, thin flakes transform quickly and easily to an almost cigarette tobacco consistancy. The stands are a nice length and the mixture packs well and evenly with little effort whichever method you prefer. I do find the flakes an odd size though, as I always seem to need 'one and a bit' flakes whichever size bowl I'm using. Moisture content is perfect; dry enough to smoke easily but moist enough to be easy to handle and rub out without turning to dust. Because the mixture is a bit springy as well as fine, I pack on the light side as you could easily pack it a little tight if you're not careful. This can make drawing a bit of a pain.

Lighting: The weed takes the flame very well as long as you pack it right. I find one charring light, a very light tamper and a second match are all that's required to create a good and even burn that creates copious amounts of wonderful white clouds of virginia smoke.

Appearance: An attractive flake that's medium to dark brown mottled here and there with light tan and yellow bright leaf. When rubbed out it produces a pleasantly light brown, fine stranded blend.

Smoking: Although I find this tobacco very mild, I really enjoy the light but rich flavour. There is a classic taste of aged virginia, melded with a subtle spiciness which is topped off by a creamy almost caramel top note. Underneath is a hint of soapiness that reminds one this is a classic English virginia blend with an almost 'Empire' feel to it. I have to say when compared directly to St. Bruno, the latter wins due to it's superior flavour and superb coolness. Nevertheless, Player's Medium navy Cut comes a close second and indeed might actually be preferable depending on your mood as it is a lighter smoke. Because much of the complexity of this blend is subtle, I would never smoke it after eating a strongly flavoured dish or it would come across as quite bland. The first half of the bowl is velvet smooth but you need a degree of measured puffing or it can bite a little. I found the blend burns evenly to a medium grey ash but produces a fair bit of moisture which leads to gurgling and a bit of gooey dottle in the base of the bowl. I admit as it's been about twenty years since I last smoked 'Navy Cut', I can't remember how it compares to the original round flakes in the tin. But I did enjoy it in it's current form so I guess it coudn't have changed that much!

Pros: A truly classic blend that smokes cool and evenly with a light but wonderfully rich flavour. Rubs out and packs very well. A great 'mainstay'.

Cons: Can bite a little if you're not careful and does produce a lot of moisture whilst burning which in turn creates a bit of dottle on the last leg of the smoke. Very light in the nicotine department, which ofcourse can be a good or a bad thing depending on what you want out of a blend!

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Causeway (8)	2017-04-26		Medium	Medium	Full	Very Pleasant

I can't write very much about this tobacco, which I found very agreeable, because it has now been discontinued in the UK (as of Summer 2016). I only got to try a couple of pouches and then it was gone; considering it had been in production since 1883, I put this down to my usual bad luck. I liked what I smoked very much - it reminded me rather of St Bruno but milder, slower to smoke thus longer-lasting, and it hit the nicotine spot very nicely. A substantial and elegant smoke, with a good deal of frown in its brown study. In fact, I'm so aggrieved that it's gone that I'm seriously considering quitting pipe-smoking altogether. If you have any of this delicious tobacco cellared, treasure it, because it was one of the best.

Pipe Used: Stonehaven

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MadMick (4)	2016-11-16		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Now discontinued. The Danes strike again. I guess there's always a chance Peterson's will have bought another mock up from the culprits, seems to be the game lately.

Pipe Used: Rhodesian

Age When Smoked: all ages.

Purchased From: various

Similar Blends: Absolutely nothing now available. Thanks again Orlik..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2013-02-28		Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I picked this up to simply experience what I thought was one of J.R.R Tolkien's tobaccos of choice (I understand he smoked a fair amount of Capstan Navy cut as well). Upon buying the pouch and discovering the 'cat food tray' I was disappointed. However, upon opening the tray I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing chocolaty aroma that hit my nose. As a newbie to the pipe, this was not my first non-aromatic but my first over the counter blend. The aroma was like chocolate covered raisins with a hint of hay.

The flakes are nice and plentiful (think there are 14) and are easily rubbed out or folded. I tend to rub out the flakes but I have tried them folded as well.

Upon lighting, this tobacco is a good burner and I only relit once. The sweetness of the Virginia is very nice but if you puff away, the tobacco can be a little harsh. I have experienced some bite to this (my own inexperience) and I recommend taking your time with this one with sipping rather than chugging away. The taste is similar to the smell. I couldn't detect any of the soapishness of St Bruno and I recommend this to those wanting a quality smoke.

On the down side, this was as expensive as my tinned faves but minus the tin. To echo the other reviewers, this dries out very quickly without a jar or a tin so be warned.

Overall a pleasant introduction to virginias and whilst not a fave, I will choose this over St Bruno. The Vitamin N is medium (felt it burn my throat a little) and just right for me.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PeterD (91)	2012-06-28		Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant

...I like this tobacco! It meets all my criteria for what I consider a great smoke...and it always has. I smoked this in the mid-1960's and whenever I was in Europe, I would always stock up.

Like its cousins; Condor, Walnut, St. Bruno, Mellow Virginia, etc. it is distinctive, uncomplicated, and one of the best mild flakes still available.

It does not have the floral taste or scent, nor the parfume, that seems to be attached to British flakes...yet has its own character.

Fortunately, I have friends that can send me what I need and while there have been subtle changes over the years, this flake remains pretty much the same as I remember it from my first introduction to it in 1963.

Definitely worthwhile and can be enjoyed any time of day or evening...A great smoke with coffee, tea or a wee dram of single malt!

...a pipe is to be savored...

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SmileyOrb (17)	2011-07-17		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This tobacco has been going for donkeys years! A friend told me JRR Tolkein use to smoke this frequently. Putting that to one side, this is a straight virginia mix and whilst the tins are now collectors items you can only get it in a plastic foiled tab, which is disappointing as once opened you need to put a in a sealed storage jar otherwise it will turn as dry as a bone in hours. The taste is quite wholesome, and you need to draw carefully as for beginners it can knock you out towards the end of the smoke! But, as a mainstream (over the counter) tobacco) it is I think a fine tobacco. The virginia leaf is quite pronounced but well balanced. A delightful typically English tobacco that is pleasant to smoke. Room note is mixed as my company felt it was "nice, but a bit strong".

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2011-06-26		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Tolerable

This is one of those hidden treasures that you can stumble upon. It comes in a psuch but is packed in the same way as St. Bruno and Condor in a foil sealed tray with the flakes being very precisely cut.

It lights very easily and takes a few puffs to start getting the flavour but when you do it is a very mild sweet virginia that leaves you wanting more. Because it is easily smoked and easy on the palette means I smoke it too quickly.

It is available from online retailers and you can still find it in B&M's in the UK but not OTC from supermarkets.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PipesterJim (47)	2011-03-28		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The received wisdom is that the UK has two over-the-counter baccies that are worth smoking, the stalwart St Bruno Flake and the mighty Condor Long Cut. Leaving aside the fact that there is getting to be no such thing as an 'over-the-counter tobacco' anymore (St Bruno Flake is getting increasingly hard to locate without recourse to one of our rapidly dwindling number of dedicated tobacconists), I would like to propose a motion: Britain has three great over-the-counter blends!

PNC is a thoroughly delicious virgina flake with the tiniest smidgeon of sweet, fruity topping that blends very nicely with the base tobaccos. It isn't strong enough to be termed an 'aromatic', but it just adds that extra little something to the flavours on offer. Although the N-factor is only moderate, there is plenty of smoke, and satisfaction is easy to come by.

This blend takes a light easily and, like most brit flakes, seems to last a long time in the bowl. There is a tiny bit of harshness to the smoke which, in my view, just helps to add an extra bit of body. It certainly isn't enough to cause any discomfort.

I am very pleased I decided to take a chance on this one and would recommend that anyone else who stumbles across a pack does likewise. It's a good 'un.

P.S. and yes, I had forgotten about Walnut!

Edit Aug 2012: I am revisting some of my reviews and regrading, reserving 4 stars only for a select few that have become mainstays in my extended rotation. I still recommend this tobacco, but my tastes nowadays tend to run to stronger, more flavoursome fare. I am therefore docking a star.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2002-08-07		Mild	Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This famous mix is often recommended to beginners and is a good introduction to flake tobaccos. On opening it has that traditional sweet Virginia aroma and breaks up easily. Reassuringly straight-forward to light and maintain, it has a delicious soft sweetness for the first half of the bowl and as you progress so the intensity of the sweetness seems to build, tasting as it smelt when you first opened the pouch. Despite being a bit of a 'puffer', I found it easy to smoke nice and slow and it offered no harshness or discernible bite at all. Sure an all Virginia mix probably won't ever top your Christmas list, but it's a good reliable blend that is honest and rewarding.

Of course the cool picture of the sailor on the front and the fact you have to break it up in your fingers makes you feel like a genuine seaman plying their trade on a 19th Century square-rigger between Liverpool and San Francisco, rounding the horn in a force 10- and all without even getting your feet wet!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrT999 (318)	2016-09-23		Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A basic, straightforward blend, the VAs give it a slight complexity and the rum is light. The flakes are thin and separate into long thin strands for easy packing. If you are looking for a mild, 'traditional' rum blend that isn't really on the sweet side, this might be for you. If you need more (N, flavor, sweetness), this might be a bit on the boring side.

Pipe Used: briars, cobs, and meers

Age When Smoked: upon arrival

Purchased From: GQ

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2013-05-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong

Some brief impressions after smoking my first bowl

Pouch aroma: Raisins and stewed figs with a slightly alcoholic edge, yummy.

Smoke: Just lots of sweet virginia goodness, a good one for sipping.

Burning qualities: Rubbed out 1 flake fully and packed 3/4 of it into a Missouri Meerschaum legend, this provided a 45+ minute smoke(!), never got bitter or harsh unless pushed. Very good.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30171)	2009-02-03		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

update, a couple weeks later:

the flavouring permeated my whole "cellar", to the extend that i smelled it every time i was close to it. in the end i had enough, and simply threw the pouch out. never player's medium navy cut again for me, unless i can lay my hands on an old tin. their cigarettes are top class, though.

end update.

as others have noted, this tobacco only comes in pouches these days. if you want to age it, you'll have to transfer it to some kind of jar.

i'm not sure, though, that it will age that well...

upon opening the little plastic box inside the pouch, you're greeted with a very fruity/winey aroma, somewhat reminiscent of st.bruno but stronger, and without the smokey scent of kentucky. very thin slices of perfect humidity. packs and lights easily.

the taste is of fine quality virginias, for sure, but the flavouring, which now is of red berries/red wine/citrus, is too dominant to my taste. it fills the mouth so as to almost block out the virginias, and doesn't at any time meld with the tobacco taste. this is rather disappointing, as i feel that it might be a very fine smoke if the manufacturer (imperial, i guess) had held back on the flavouring. as far as i can discern, the virginias are almost similar to those used in the british version of capstan rr. nothing wrong with the raw tobacco!

for those who like me have smoked the tin version 10-15 years ago, i can report that this is not as clean tasting a blend as it used to be, and that the flavouring profile has been changed from something molasses/coffee/berry like to the mentioned berry/wine/citrus. it's not awful, but neither is it really to my liking.

somewhat recommended for the quality of the virginias and the burning properties.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	sasha (228)	2005-08-09		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

A very easy flake, easy to rub and pack and easy to smoke. It could be a good introduction to the world of flakes if it wasn't for its habit to bite the tongue. If smoked slowly it gives nice satisfactions and a good complexity.

1 person found this review helpful.