Wessex Classic Virginia

I must say I am happy I bought this one. This is, as advertised, a dark Red Va Flake and it is good. The tin aroma is, mostly, of figs and good ol' matured VAs. It packs well, lights up well and smiokes well. I don't think there is any other kind of tobaccos besides a bit of lemon Va, here and there. I am not sure if there is a very light top note added to Classic Virginia. It seems like it at first, but it vanishes so quickly I am just wondering if I dreamed this. It is rich and the nicotine content is at the minimum level to make me happy. Be careful, as it is an all Va mixture, not to push it. Smoke slowly and then, you will be able to enjoy all the flavours without your tongue paying for it. Smoke too hard and quickly and you will lose all the flavours and your tongue will get it.

I lucked into a stash of this at a tobacco store that dates all of their price tags, and it was dated 090, which translates to September 2000 (and still had the prices from back then). I picked up 4 tins of this and upon opening the first one was greeted with sugar crusted broken flakes, with the hypnotizing aroma of hay and dried figs. This tobacco smoulders in a pipe at a perfect burn rate, delivering deliciously sweet notes of buttered popcorn, bread, and a hint of mild cigar-like character. This is a truly outstanding Virginia. I have no idea what it is like when it is fresh, but nearly 12 years of age have treated this weed well. I am literally hooked on aged Virginias at this point, and if I find any more of this I am going to stock up.

Exquisite and complex Viriginia which taste of hay, orange peel and green apples throughout the bowl. It reminds me a lot of IRC Flake, and both are two of my favorites Virginias. The Wessex product is more fit for a thoughtful smoke, as it is a little more complex than Iwan Ries' masterpiece.

Tin: Nice wide-mouthed pancake tin; an almost completely rubbed out "natural flake" pretty much ready for packing, dark brown and tan, having an overall dark chestnut hue with a standard red VA hay scent. The strands are supple but not moist.

In Omnia Paratus. Another English concept by a German company.

Packing & Burning: Packed straight from the tin, it packs fairly easily, and surprisingly, lights with one match.

Aroma & Taste: Mild and unremarkable. It is vaguely sweet. It reminds me of McClelland's Blending Virgina, BCV being a little milder and softer. After this first bowl, the rest of the tin produced a woodsy, stoved walnut aroma.

Strength: mild

Room Note: mild-medium woodsy cigarette

Overall: Wessex' BCV gives a reasonable idea of what red VA is like. Recommended for that purpose. 3.4 stars.

Okay. out of the pouch and into the fire!!

Not sure what to make of this one. Not the greatest tobacco, but not bad either. Not overwhelmingly flavorful, not intricately layered, not deep and brooding, but not lacking either, in any way.

This weed impresses me as a good solid middle of the road tobacco. Seems to be mostly red virginias, but I detect some lighter and darker bits in the tin. It is rubbed out but not overly so. The tin aroma is straight tobacco, and quite nice as tin aromas go. As a matter of fact, I could sniff this one all day long, as it smells wonderful.

Upon lighting, this is not a highly remarkable smoke. But it is an excellent, hard working tobacco, that just tastes like a good honest virginia smoke. Sure, there are more varied and exotic and fuller tobacco's than this one, but there is something about this that keeps me coming back. Perhaps it is its unpretentious honest and hardworking flavor. No tricks, no holds barred, no high flying shenanigans, just good honest tobacco flavor, that gets better and better as the bowl progresses.

And for all this, a rating of highly recommended, not for what it doesn't do, but for what it does so simply, so easily, and so elegantly!!

This review will discuss McClelland's Christmas Cheer 2003, McCranie's Red Flake and Wessex Classic Virginia.

Christmas Cheer 2003 (CC) is a red Virginia made from a 1998 Old Belt crop while McCranie?s Red Flake (RF) was made from a 1996 North Carolina crop. CC and RF are both medium-to-full-bodied.

CC fails to deliver the consistently deeper red Virginia flavor that RF offers. While CC has bursts of RF?s consistently dusky red Virginia flavor-a flavor that in comparison is both darker and deeper than a signature brown Virginia, Rattrays Brown Clunee-such bursts are more atypical than constant. This is not to say that CC is not an enjoyable tobacco but simply that in the realm of red Virginia, RF is the winner.

RF?s tin notes state that softness is this tobacco?s chief characteristic. While I don?t disagree with this statement, I would add that RF?s deeper, richer flavor outdoes the competition. One wonders how the considerable tobacco wisdom of McClelland, whose most notable entry in the Virginia arena, its Christmas Cheer series, allowed itself to be content with anything less than a product just shy of perfection. Yet perhaps this has something to due with the time constraints of finding fine leaf in time to process it and still meet Christmas Cheer?s traditional release at the RTDA show.

We then come to Wessex Classic Virginia (CV), medium-to-full bodied, blended by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. It has more in common with RF than CC and is comprised solely of mature Red Virginia. It has less flavor than RF but I tend to believe this a choice of the blender, not a flaw. It throbs with the rich, basal note of a curing process designed to produce a no-nonsense, straightforward, aged tobacco. Little complexity in comparison to CC, the most complex of these three tobaccos-if any Virginia can be called complex-just a delicious, singular, deep, red Virginia flavor. In comparison to CC, it has little of that tobacco?s grassy, reedy flavor components.

Ranking, in descending order: RF, CV, CC.

A really good example of a red Virginia. My sample is several years old; in fact it was imported by James Russell, rather than XYZ, the current importer. I enjoy the no nonsense, straight forward flavor. There's nothing complex about this blend, just honest Virginia favor. It's not too sweet or too strong. It could easily be an all day smoke. I like it best with my morning coffee.

For me, it's one of those tobaccos that if it was the only blend I could smoke, I would be happy, but if I never smoked it again, I would be okay too.

Another nice job by the German blender K&K and one of the best red VA flakes that I've found since the room aroma was judged more favorably than others. I found it not overly sweet but with a natural, VA taste. Packing improved after slightly drying the tobacco but lighting was easy and the smoke needed little attention and burned evenly. An enjoyable smoke that straight VA fans should try.

This is an eye catching broken flake, of beautiful tan and dark brown hues. A true and simple straight Virginia, it has a fresh grassy smell with only a faint note of natural sweetness. Slightly moist in the tin, it is nonetheless easy to pack and it lights up pretty well.

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The flavor is somewhat muted and unpretentious. It lacks the rich, herbal sweetness of other Virginia flakes (very different from, say, Old Gowrie, Brown Clunee of Hamburger Veermaster), but it is still very palatable. Sober, down to earth, it somewhat reminds me of Astley?s 55 and McConnell?s Scottish Flake, though smoother. If not smoked with care, it does have a tendency to bite and, if pushed, it can burn rather hot. Other than that, a very nice straight Virginia, prepared with all the care and craftsmanship of the blenders at Kohlhase & Kopp(incidentally: I got mine at Cupojoes, NY).