Seattle Pipe Club Virginia Jazz

The ten year old matured red Virginias provide a lot of tangy fermented dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, some floralness, vegetative grass, mild tart and and tangy citrus, sugar, light vinegar, spice, peat and a touch of herbs. They take a small lead. The Acadian perique offers a fair amount of plums, spice, earth, wood, mild figs, raisins, and light sugar in an important support role. The stoved Virginia produces a moderate amount of stewed, fermented dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, sugar, very mild floralness and spice in the third slot. The strength, nic-hit, and taste levels are medium. A little smoother than expected, the rough edges are very minimal. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. The easily broken apart cut crumble cake slices are mildly moist, and as per my custom, I did not dry them. Well balanced with some depth, it burns clean, cool and slow with a very consistent, zesty, piquant, richly fruity, sweet, spicy, mildly floral flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is a bit stronger. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran, and repeatable for the less experienced. Three and a half stars rounded up to four.

-JimInks

Seattle Pipe Club - Virginia Jazz.

The tin doesn't contain only a single piece of kake, rather there's 7-8 slices in there, and a little that's already crumbled in transit. It smells fruity, with a touch of vinegar. My tin has an exemplary quantity of moisture, can be smoked right away. I loaded a bowl first thing and haven't smoked anything else all day!

The mature red Virginia's are leading. Definitely; being very fruity, ripe, sweet, and a little ''sticky''. I don't find there is much spice from the Perique, but I get extra plums/dark fruit to compliment the leading red Va; there's also a touch of the sharp vinegar, but not lots. The stoved Virginias dry the smoke out, somewhat, and present a toasty/doughy note. Being as I crumble it into a chunky consistency, it gives a slow burn and a very cool smoke; without any tongue-bite.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not the best!!

Virginia Jazz? A belting blend, it has to receive a full house! Four stars:

Highly recommended.

When one thinks of jazz ones mind wanders to those smoky jazz clubs of old, dark and smoky with music both sweet and spicy and that’s what comes to mind with this blend. Pop the lid and you’re greeted with thick slices of crumble cake, brown of the 10-year-old mature Red Virginias with the occasional streak of more gold, then some darker streaks of the stoved Virginia and Acadian Perique. The scent that greets you is a tad tart and spicy and the scent of baked dark bread. It rubs out nicely to a nice consistent medium to coarse texture. The moisture level is about right for most folks but I found for my taste it was better after 20-minutes or so spread out to air, it also helped it to stay slit and saved a few relights. So try as is and dry as needed as your mileage may vary.

This is a very Virginia rich blend with the Virginian making up the majority of the flavor. The Virginias chosen give it a bit more that average complexity. Upon lighting your greeted with a mix of flavors and tones including dark fruits with a touch of tartness, raisins, dark bread, rich herbal grass and a touch of vinegar and spice and everything nice in a solid medium taste level. There is a definite sweetness but no hint of a top note and the casing if any is neutral. The Perique is definitely there and enhancing the Virginia and brings the nicotine up to a nice almost medium level. It to is likely part of the dark fruitiness of the blend but it’s hard to pick between which leaf is adding what but what matters is the taste is good. The Perique adds it’s bit of spice more so with drying but smoothly so. One thing I look for is mouth feel, how the smoke feels in your mouth, this has a nice feel. It’s not as thick as say a blend with burley in it but it’s denser than most VaPers which I like. Room note is hard for me as I live alone but I would say it’s pleasant to tolerable and the after taste is mild and not persistent.

Light up and have a jazzy time.

Dave da Dragon

Tin note of pungent sour, spices and sugar. Tobacco is a Krumble Kake of yellowish brown with a few dark brown and tan spots. Moisture content is great, maybe a little dry. Takes a little effort to rub out, results are a course cut. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring is listed, but there is a sweetness I think comes from the stoving. It diminished a bit but never goes away. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with complex notes of tangy raisin, spices, bready, floral, stewed tart dark plums, wood, very savory, earthy, sugar, rich, spicy, vinegary fermentation, buttery, mildly salty, a sweet herbal grass background note, and a retro that is sometimes peppery and sometimes smooth. Virginia is leading with Perique providing support, mostly in the background, but at times Perique was more pronounced. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

This is simply my favorite SPC blend, sorry plum pudding and Mississippi. I get a cocoa with a touch of vinegar tin note. crumbles nicely. The Virginia's in this blend are just fantastic, smooth. I get dark fruits some sweetness and the spice of Perique. not left wanting. This has all the laid back jazz one needs. everything down the middle. Easy to light and a pleasure to smoke. leaves a bit of wetness behind. filling, oddly satisfying. many tins added.

I was slightly skeptical when I saw this blend used Acadian Perique, but all I can say is, "WOW!". Seattle Pipe Club really hit a home run with this one. I wish all Acadian Perique was of this quality, the minute you open the tin you are hit with a nose full of vinegar and stinky fermentation. You know this has the good stuff! The 10 year matured Red Virginias have a very different character than younger leaves. Don't expect the characteristic sweetness of a Red Virginia blend here. There is far more complexity in this matured leaf and a lot less sweetness. Instead of sweet white bread, this is an artisan loaf. The Perique is spicy and wonderful, but also has a bold plum and fig flavour. The stoved Virginias add to the thickness of the smoke and compliment the stewed fruit notes in the Perique. Experience this perfection for yourself, this is worth the tin price, and much much better than some of the pricier classics. Truly heaven in a bowl, and I will definitely have to stock up — 4/4

(I will review the tobacco without taking into account the price which I will discuss at the end)

Tin note is beautiful fig sweetness, with an equal amount of strong pepper. Sniff gently. Easy to rub out and packs well.

Immediately I could tell this was going to be a smooth blend. This may in fact be the smoothest VaPer out there. Cannot find a rough edge anywhere. Burns with almost no relights. No drying needed.

For me the Perique is slightly in the lead. More on the peppery side. If you aren't focusing on the Virginias you may miss them. The VAs are mildly sweet and subdued in a great way. Aroma is heavenly through the nose. It is a complex blend, but be prepared for a lot of perique. Not an all day smoke unless you are dedicated to perique.

Is it worth the current price of ~$20 for 2oz? I am going to have to say no. While the smoothness of the blend makes it unique, it is not enough to justify the price. With the price included I give this blend 2 stars. However, if money is no object for you then this can be in the rotation.

The vinegary perique tin note is strong. It promises a taste adventure and it delivers. Your senses tell you this is going to be wet to the touch. However, the crumble cake format is surprisingly dry. The Sutliff/SPC slices are a bit of an illusion. They are somewhat delicate, and they can almost be worked into a powder. It’s hard to find a piece of a leaf that is of any substantial length. Rather, expect smallish flakes of tobacco reconstituted into a flake like object. It is visually hard to tell the difference between the stoved Virginias and the Acadian perique. They are both almost black. The sprinkle of gold comes from the mature red Virginia.

I smoked this out of a smaller bowl and a large wide pot. While different, both are good. The vinegar notes really came through when smoked from a wide bowl. I also found sweet carob notes while sipping from the big bowl. The larger bowl turned the experience into one like smoking a nice spicy cigar like a Fuente Opus X. I thought the taste and the room note was reminiscent of a good cigar as well.

It smokes cool. For as dry as the tobacco feels. There is a bit of moisture left behind. I didn’t dry it out at all before smoking it and I don’t think I will in the future. It wasn’t a ton of moisture. I was just a little surprised it left any at all in the bottom of the bowl. It does leave an aftertaste although it's mot unpleasant.

I would not consider this an all-day smoke. I think the perfect scenario is after a day of BBQing or a crawfish boil on a calm and relaxed summer evening. This is a great candidate for accompaniment by an ice cold beer.

Red Virginia's lead with a sugary, but tangy dark fruit flavor. The perique joins in with an exotic fruit note, dates and figs. Not really a peppery perique blend. The tin note is somewhat earthy, and vinegary. This really reminded me of the 2022 Cringle Flake, but VJ was a little easier to manage and keep lit for some reason.

Had finished the tin over a month ago, but the site was down for upgrades and I couldn't get my review in with the last bow quite as fresh in my mind, but I still recall enjoying this one, and consider it a highly recommended blend.