Wessex Classic Virginia

Because there are several colors of tobaccos in the mix, and it is billed as a straight red Virginia, I claim some of the reds were processed differently. That would account for some of the subtle flavor notes, plus there seems to be a very light essence of a sweet topping. There’s plenty of earth, moderately tangy dark fruit, some wood, a small amount of tart citrus and grass, a touch of sour, spice, bread and floralness, as well as a trace of fermented stewed fruit. The strength and nic-hit are at the center of mild to medium. The taste is a step shy of medium. Won’t bite or get harsh. Has very few rough moments. Despite the variety of taste aspects large and minute, it doesn’t quite have the depth one usually expects from a straight red Va. blend like McClelland’s 5100. Burns fairly cool and clean at a reasonable pace with a mostly consistent mild sweetness. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke or a mixer. Two and a half stars, rounded up to three.

-JimInks

James B. Russell, Inc. used to import this fine tobacco, and it no longer does. [*] Pity. It is an excellent, classical flake.

The broken ["Scotch"] cake inside the tin is the colour of fig pudding. It smells like it, too. The taste is mild, savoury, spicy, not too sweet. There is none of the bloating of the heavier stoved plugs, no topping, casing, shaving-soap smell or anything else, but the natural, zesty mildness of Queen Virginia.

I smoked Brigade in a new corncob, which brought out the full airborne elegance of this tobacco, proving, yet again, the essential greatness and nobility of corncob pipes. Heartily recommended.

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[*]? I am told that all these Wessex tobaccos are now imported by XYZ Direct.

A fellow piper brought some of this in and even after only having two bowls I found myself really liking this one. It has a nice pure Virginia taste to it, nice ribbon cut. Another one if I did not have too much on hand would buy some and give it a proper review. I will consider this a place holder for future endeavors.

One of the better broken flakes that I have smoked . Looks and smells very nice upon opening . I needed to rub it out a little but it packs and burns well . Best smoked in at least a group 4 sized pipe this tobacco will give you a long smoke full of really good Virginia flavor . Much less harsh than some other red flakes I have had , this is sweet down to the last puff . 1/21/21 Beware ye faithful for K & K has altered the playing field . The new Classic Va. Brigade is a virginia PERIQUE blend . The original was totally red virginia and was an excellent tobacco . It was also a ribbon . The new one that they are now selling under the same name is a lite VaPer with a broken flake presentation . It is, however ,a decent smoke . The virginias are not the same quality as the original virginias which is probably why they tweekd the blend . The smoke is a fairly good VaPer with only some perique taste although it is there . It stands on it's own as a usable VaPer if you want that lite hit of perique . It seems like many blenders are altering their blends due to the lack of quality virginias and periques available on the market . Many have been replaced by black cavendish or dark fried kentucky . Orientals are also hit . We must use care in orfering .

Tin note of spices, sugar and bread. Tobacco is a Ready Rubbed of brown, dark brown and black. Moisture content is great. Larger pieces may need a little rubbing. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of fermented herbal hay, spices, floral, toasted bread, woody, tangy citrus peel, rich earth, semi-sweet tart dark fruit, slightly acidic, mildly savory, a lemon and grassy background note, and a peppery retro. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

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.

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.