Wessex Classic Virginia

Medium brown to dark in color, this is definitely a broken flake but it's broken almost to ribbons rather than the "flakelets" I'm used to when something is touted as a broken flake. No problems with the cut. Tin aroma shows a maltiness with a hair of fruitiness. Kind of a different aroma. This loaded and lit easily.

The best news is that I bought this tin about 6 months ago along with a tin of the Curly Cut, and this is considerably better than Curly Cut... not that it would take much to better that blend. Taste-wise, I found this a bit too sweet to be simply red virginia, so I'm guessing there is a bit of lemon VA as well, or more likely, a sweet casing. Thankfully, it doesn't intrude. Although I found this blend to be far from the classic that its name purports it to be, it seems to be a perfectly serviceable virginia with some bread and light tea notes and a fair bit of sweetness that comes off just a bit north of natural. This could be an all-day smoke. When I overpuffed to see how this one behaves under duress, it nipped me a bit but still retained its flavor. Not a lot of complexity to this one but a nice straight-forward, honest flavor. I liked this one but won't buy it again. On the other hand, I would bet this one ages quite nicely.

Upon first opening the tin of this tobacco, the buyer is greeted with a nice, medium-colored broken flake. The aroma is attractive, with fruity overtones. The tobacco itself is slightly on the moist side for my tastes. The charring light of Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia is a bit problematic. I usually get a good char with a couple of passes of the butane flame, but this blend took me several more. In fact, after tamping one of the bowls I found that I needed to re-char and re-tamp before I could get a decent burn. However, the flavor of the charring light is quite nice, with a really interesting fruitiness coming through. The early flavor is nice, but puff lightly! While there is a nice sweetness to the tongue, it could be because of this sweetness that the smoke seems almost excessively hot. Tongue bite in the first quarter of the bowl seems like a real possibility unless you sip at the smoke rather than puff it. I also had a bit of trouble keeping one bowl lit during this part of the smoke. Deeper into the bowl, the hot nature seems to lessen considerably, yet the sweetness remains. Some of the fruity overtone also disappears, making the flavor a bit more one-dimensional. The overall taste isn't as creamy as some Virginias, but is quite pleasant. Toward the bottom of the bowl I found that some of the sweetness disappears. The flavor is still that of a decent Virginia, but somehow muted a bit. This changes, though, at the very end of the smoke, where the fruitiness surprisingly reappears and the sweetness returns as well. All in all, Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia is about average. There doesn't seem to be anything special about the smoke, and I don't expect to go shopping for it. There are many, many fine Virginias on the market today which are a better selection than this blend.

I love this tobacco! It has a sweet, buttery taste that deepens as the smoker progresses through the bowl. I think this is the sweetest Virginia that I have yet smoked, and I burn through a tin of this stuff quite quickly. It is more or less my go-to smoke. Go, buy, and smoke the hell out of this sublime leaf. I am going to burn some now.

This is good stuff. Being my first foray into straight red VA, I think this could be a journey I will enjoy. A tightly packed broken flake. Smells of tangy vinegar(not ketchup), hay, and fruit....but not fruit flavoring. This is not topped or cased in any way. The moisture was just right, but the tin is also in excess of 5-6 years old, so it may have adjusted itself along the way. This stuff was SWEEEEEEET. Candy sweet, but also earthy, and with a special creamy richness I have found only in a few tobaccos. It never once gurgled in my Savinelli Goliath and smoked cooler than any VA I have ever known. The nic hit was a bit of a surprise, even with slow and judicious sipping to stretch the bowl out beyond an hour of smoking time. Did I mention that not once did I have to relight? It was fill, tamp, light, tamp....no relight! This was no one trick pony today either. It kept changing back and forth between a toasty, buttery, nutty flavor and this sweet, burnt sugar, flavor like on top of creme brule'. I plan to put the hurt on this tin as it makes me want more as soon as I finish a bowl full. Only problem with that is how quickly the vitamin N caught up with me....but I must admit, I DID have two group 5 bowls in 3 hours time.

I purchased this sole tin of BCCV around 8 yrs ago. I liked it but did not love it. I used to read reviews when I would open a tin as to get an idea of what to expect, but stopped doing it as I found it influenced my experience too much. In this case, I was surprised to see that this is composed of 100% Red Virginia. I would have never guessed this as the colors tended to be brown to golden brown; and the taste reflected more what I visually perceived than what I would expect from a pure red virginia blend.

My review is based on what I tasted and that was a pretty earthy semi sweet virginia flake that performed well and smoked easy. I have nothing bad to note on this, but would have preferred a little more sweetness. In any case, it is three stars for me and I will note that anyone expecting a McClelland Red Virginia type of experience will be disappointed as this is nothing like that.

Wessex Classic VA has a tin note that is grassy and sweet, a little fruity note of figs and dates. As for the smoke, I love red VA's and this one is quite good. The dark fruit notes are out front some moving toward a stewed fruit-like taste, a little citrus that is slightly tart and a little sour, and some notes of grass, About halfway, I begin to pick up on a woody note, a hint of spice and some earth. There is a sweet topping to this one although I cannot say what it is but I am certain that it is present. The strength just reaches mild to medium. The taste is there as well. This one is not quite as complex as the notes make out, it really comes up just a little short on the depth that I expect in a red VA. The finish is short and sweet. Overall, a good blend but it is not big enough or complex enough to give it 4 stars but it is a solid 3.

Consists of broken flakes of dark brown color. Tin aroma is very intense and pungent: tangy and sweet with fermentation aromas and citrus notes, quite typical of the Kohlase&Kopp style of dark Virginias (i.e. Rattray, Robert McConnell). Moisture is at a level which the tobacco can be smoked as is and also leaves room for drying if one wishes to. The tobacco is of course processed, cooked, pressed and there seems to be some casing and sweetening but it is minimal and, in any case, very congruent to the natural tobacco taste. Loads and lights easily though it needs some tamping before you get going since the tobacco expands considerably when lit. The tobacco itself is very flavorful, juicy and above all tangy and gains in complexity as the bowl progresses. It is bitter-sweet with notes of molasses, citrus fruit and fermentation notes. I do not find it particularly spicy, but there is some spice and cooked dark fruit probably from the Perique (if there is any). Strength is medium and nicotine is satiating. I like this tobacco a lot, though its quite intense flavor and satiating character does not commend it for repeated use during the day.

The description of this says that it have perique in it, tobacco reviews does not. Needless to say its a ready rubbed flake, tangy with bread and figs notes. Could be an all days smoke if you are looking for something touch milder than escudo and little stronger and smoother than orlik golden sliced. I wad and stuff and dont break the leaf any further, it performs perfect either way. Not cheap but worth a try

I took a semi rubbed out flake and rubbed it out completely. The tobacco lit easily. This is a lovely red Virginia that tastes delicious, with no sharpness. It burns beautifully to the bottom of the bowl. Although I would describe the strength as mild to medium, it is very satisfying and tastes of quality tobacco. I rub it out completely,which I find releases the flavor. Smoke it slowly and you will be rewarded with a delicious cool smoke. It remains mild, with little nicotine strength and no loss of flavor from start to finish. Also excellent with a little perique added. I also like to mix this 5 to 1 with Wessex Brown Flake for a delicious taste experience. Rubbing out the flakes completely produces a milder smoke which I prefer.