Ken Byron Ventures Byronic Slices

The stoved, matured red Virginias provide a burst of tangy stewed, fermented ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, sugar, some bread, mild tart and tangy citrus, light vegetative grass, vinegar, and spice with touches of smoke, cream and floralness. The strength and taste levels just miss the medium mark by a hair. The nic-hit is a tad less potent than that. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, and has few small rough notes. This easily broken apart fat flake needs a light dry time. Burns cool, clean, and slow with a very consistent sugary, tangy, fruity rich flavor that translates to the pleasantly lingering after taste and room note. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Despite the deep flavor, it can almost be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

McClelland Christmas Cheer is back on a tiny scale. This has all the signature of something we thought lost. Ketchup, vinegar, fermented, deep mature Virginia. Has the same singular taste as well. McClelland stop because of many reasons but one was hard to source the tobacco need. But it was still there just not enough for a large company. But a little guy making small batches it's workable. So thank you KBV for a little taste of days gone by. And a thumb in nose wiggle to the guys that are ripping people off online.

After smoking this blend *one time* I felt the need to write a review (my first review on here as well). I'm a big fan of sweet and tangy red virginia blends, so when I saw this was being released, I knew I would have to get some. I'm glad I did. This is one of the best red virginia blends I've had to date (I've smoked a few different years of McClelland Christmas Cheer, along with C&D Carolina Red Flake, and several of Sutliff's offerings). The flakes are quite thick, and most certainly need some dry time, as they are quite moist and sticky. I didn't dry mine, so I had to relight quite a few times. Charring light gave off sort of a toasted marshmallow flavor, which I tend to get from red virginias. After that, it's a very sweet, fruity, tangy smoke all the way to the bottom of the bowl. Burns quite slow and cool, despite the high sugar content. And I experienced absolutely no tongue bite, even with my bowl having basically no dry time.

I'm looking forward to smoking much more of this blend, and hopefully adding more to the cellar.

A good friend of mine gave me four of these thick meaty flakes of Red Virginia and I finally got around the other day of smoking this fine blend. The flakes are about an inch wide and to me actually kind of had an earthy smell to it, maybe due to the heat pressing of the tobacco. Sometimes it is difficult to describe how something tastes, smells, smokes but I will go with dark, rich, earthy, slightly smokey, and full tobacco taste. Several reviewers have alluded this as being similar to McClelland’s Christmas Cheer. I will have to take their word for it but will say this tobacco is up there with McClelland as to quality and taste.

Tin note is slightly musky sweet and sour. Beautiful flakes needs to be rubbed out and some drying time. This is a really great blend of stoved Virginia. Mild enough to be an all day smoke. Complex enough to hold your interest. Slightly sweet from the tobacco and slightly spicy but absolutely no bite. some slight tartness to balance out the sweetness of the Virginia . Has a bit of a smokiness but super smooth. The room note is a bit tart but not unpleasant. Nic hit is mild to medium. Needs a few relights.

This is a fantastic Red Va Plug with a little sweetness and a lot of tang. It does come wet and needs dry time but after that, no looking back. I am just getting into KBV's blends and loving them all.