Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Velvet

There is a fellow pipe club member who is a big Velvet fan. As mentioned in other reviews back in 1999 I worked at a cigarette/cigar store next to a drug store. One day I stopped by to get something to drink or eat and saw all of these pipe tobaccos in a clearance basket for the incredible price of 10 cents each. I bought them all with some being large Super Value bags, boxes of SWR, Carter Hall and there was one Velvet box. Many years roll by or I should say several decades and for the most part I just kept these hanging around in my cellar. Since I had a good Velvet candidate, I decided to bring it in. This one is made by the Pinkerton Company. After the honors of him opening it I loaded some into my corn cob. The tin (pouch) note was of the vinegar, ketchup smell, at least that is the impression my friend got. I fired it up and the burley did the nose tingle for me several times and then progressed to a really smooth smoke. There is a liquor topping which also my friend described as a licorice taste. I am not the best a putting words to flavors and taste but since Velvet is his bag, (70s talk) the description seems appropriate. I liked it and it was pretty good for an OTC burley blend. Also the smell was pleasant according to some of the other pipe smokers in the room. I gifted him the rest and there you have it, my review of a 20-year box of Velvet. I have not tried the newer but I am sure it is pretty much along the same line. My friend also told me he was able to try a 40-year sample of this. A good all-day smoke but I can see that it might bite some if puffed too fast. Not much more to describe other than Drug Store tobaccos sometimes get a bad rap but some can actually be pretty good. Give it a try.

(STG version) One of my favorite OTC's. - I think that 'Old German Puffer' nailed this one in his review. Thank you sir. - This blend needs air. Not drying nor aging, just airing. The tobacco is coarse cut, and very soft to the touch. Pouch aroma is classic old-school 'American Burley Blend'. I tried the Pinkerton version a while back, and didn't much care for it. Tried the STG version to see if it improved, and while I thought the STG blend was much better, still wasn't really impressed by it. Put it in a mason jar, and on a whim, tried it again a week later, and wow, what a difference. On initial light, reminds me a little (very little) of the topping from half and half, but toned way down. This dissipates quickly. Past the charring, initial light, wonderful 'old school' burley flavors and aromas: nice earthiness, slight cigar leaf, a little cocoa, brown sugar, caramel-molasses, popcorn, (yes, popcorn) - and mostly towards the bottom of the bowl, that wonderful old-time burley toasted nuts and buttered toast. One of very few OTC blends I enjoy to the bottom of the bowl. Even stirring up the last bit with a little ash - yum (buttered toast). No bite. Wonderful 'Grampa's pipe' room note, which I personally really like. Burns nice and dry to the bottom, normal number of relights. I find that if I'm getting a 'popsicle stick, pencil shavings' off-taste, it is an indication that I'm pushing too hard. I think STG really got this one right. It's surprising to me, because I really didn't think I would like Velvet this much. Like many here do at least once, I was just going through the OTC's, so called 'codger blends', just to see If I found one I liked. So far, Velvet and Lane Ready Rubbed are two that I am really enjoying. Congratulations and thank you to STG for rescuing these time honored blends. 3 very solid stars, plus one for nostalgia and price point. Like Old German Puffer advised in his review, try this one aired out a bit, you might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I'm going to cellar some in jars, just to see if some real age improves this one even more.

Velvet is Kentucky Burley with a topnote of something that I cant put my finger on . It takes two or three lightings to get going is about the only " con " with this blend . Other than that it is absolutely smooth ! It smokes well and cool and is one of my favorites in a clay ! I just cant place the flavoring . I hear people say it's like play doh but they have that confused with Paladin being the package color is similar . Velvet is not the play doh blend .

Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Velvet.

The mixture's quite coarse, but easily manageable. The pouch (I bought this bulk) only has a slight aromatic smell.

As this was bulk the moisture makes for easily lighting, and the one word to sum this up to me is Soft. The consistency, like it's namesake, is velvety, and any toppings come across with a sweet taste; not much sharp alcohol/liquorice. I get an unadulterated Burley taste, rich, rustic, and nutty, and there isn't a bite throughout. The burns quality goes without question, leaving a pure white ash.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

Velvet? Recommended:

Three stars.

I am always looking to try new/different brands & blends. Velvet has been around longer than I have, so I thought I would give it a try. I can tell you that I will NEVER try this again. It won't stay lit (even after drying for 2 days), it bit my tongue so hard, and left one nasty aftertaste. I could not taste food for several hours afterwards. How do I describe the taste? Ground-up wet cardboard! mmmmm. Update - It's been almost a month since I wrote this. In that time I kept trying to use it up by mixing it with others. It still came thru with a nasty aftertaste and still bit my tongue. I finally gave up and threw it out.

Ahhhhh...Velvet! When I saw some recent review of this blend, it brought back many memories. Back in my younger days (yep, some time ago,) I smoked Velvet to break in my new pipes because it was as mild a blend as I could find.

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.

Velvet is certainly one of the classic over the counter burley blends from way back.. Pretty basic.. but the toppings really work better than most blends of this type at least for me.. I don't find it nearly as cloying as half and half although it also has a spin on the anise thing.. just an all day burley that tastes pretty good and burns well.. Not a nuanced tobacco flavor.. but something very familiar tasting and smelling.. A nice nostalgic classic..

Recently when ordering a new pipe I threw in an order for a pouch of Velvet. I’m almost completely exclusively smoking Burleys or Burley-Cavendish mixtures these days and realized after all of these years that I had never smoked Velvet. However the shipment is delayed and it hasn’t arrived. I was driving through northeastern Pennsylvania earlier today and decided to pop into a small local smoke shop. The place was dingy and run down. There was plenty of cheap roll your own cigarette tobacco available labeled as pipe tobacco to avoid the Facist restrictions placed on cigarettes. These was a small glass counter filled with bongs and the like. I asked the fellow running the place if he had any real pipe tobacco. He pointed to a table that had one box of Velvet and a box of Prince Albert. I purchased the Velvet with the intention of smoking it as soon as I returned home. I opened the box noticing that it had a copyright of 2010 and that it had been manufactured by Pinkerton Tobacco. This stuff could be 10 years old! The pouch ripped a bit as I opened it. Now the notes: The tobacco was still moist but not exceedingly. The deep brown tobacco was in a kind of thick shag cut. The aroma was reminiscent of a slightly sweet porridge. It lit up easily and immediately delivered a very smooth, viscous smoke that was nutty, cereal like, and slightly sweet like the smell was. The flavor of brown sugar and licorice was apparent but subtle. The bowl burnt evenly without a hint of harshness. While the smoke was mild it was deliciously full flavored and it had a great natural tobacco flavor. This stuff is wonderful and could become my favorite Burley. When I receive the updated STC version I will be eager to compare them. Highly recommended. Update: I received a couple of pouches of the new STG version of Velvet. While there is some visual difference l, the Pinkerton original is a nice deep mahogany brown and the STG Velvet is mixture of lighter and darker reddish browns the flavor is similar. The original is perhaps deeper in taste but the recreation isn’t far off. Both are truly velvet smooth and has similar burning qualities. It needs few or no delights and stays smooth and rich with no bitterness to the bottom of the bowl. Highly recommended.

This is one I'm trying for the first time. I was expecting the flavoring to be too strong based on the smell when I opened the tub, I was pleasantly surprised to find a wonderful smooth burley flavor with a small amount of flavoring which seems to aid in the room aroma more than flavor the smoke. It reminds me of granger more than any other codger blend but burns a bit hotter than granger does. This one can bite if you puff too fast but is very smooth when puffed slowly. I must say I'm impressed and I wish I had stumbled on this one sooner.