Solani 633: Virginia Flake with Perique

Throughout my perils in search of the perfect mixture (meaning the one blend that I must always have on stock) I have encountered this fine tobacco, and so, I must say this is The One. When it comes to exciting my taste and smell I am a spice addict. I've tried to Irish Oak and thought "good, but there must be something better", I've made my own perique blends, but without great success. Conclusion: this tobacco is excellent, tobaccoey taste with just enough spice to make it perfect. Burns great, no tongue bite, white ashes for long lasting smoking pleasure.

NOTE: goes great with coffee (I'll try it also with black tea and I will let you know)

633 is a beautiful experience. Perfectly rectangular pressed flakes. It's a uniform, clean, and tidy presentation.

It rubs out easily and quickly, and the moisture content is almost perfect straight from the tin. One flake, rubbed out and dried to your taste, gives the perfect amount of tobacco for a ninety minute smoke. It needs to be kept in an airtight container, or with some foil under the lid, to keep it from drying out too much.

The Virginia dominates the first third of the bowl, with the Perique coming in a little later, but the Perique is not overly heavy. The nicotine content is medium, not too strong. 633 tastes great, not as full as some VaPers. It burns down to a fine white ash.

If there is a downside, it is a mild medicinal odor that it shares with Reiner's Long Golden Flake, both from the same blender. Some might say that it is a very consistent smoke, almost always the same from pipe to pipe. Others might say it is blandly predictable. For these reasons, it is NOT in my regular rotation, but I recognize that it is a favorite of many others.

It is best in large bowled pipes, and it must be smoked very slowly, or you lose the sweetness of the Virginias. Good with coffee in the a.m. on the porch in the sunshine. My wife loves the smell of it!

A good tobacco, worth a try maybe, but only two stars from me for its somewhat bland taste, and the casing.

Let me start off by saying that this review is more than two years in the making.

I love VaPer blends. I'd always heard about this blend, but living where I am, it's really hard to find. Two years ago, I was amazed to see that my local tobacconist had several tins of this - I think it was eight in total. I bought all of them.

After reading some of the reviews here, the consensus was to let this age for a bit. So I put four tins aside for aging, and smoked the other four. After I was finished with my original four tins, trust me, it was VERY hard to forget about the other four tins I had put aside.

Without aging, this tobacco is simply superb. It's everything I've ever wanted in a VaPer. Smooth, great flavor, burns easy, and is just delightful. Just the right amount of Perique, and the quality of the Virginia's is obviously apparent. Incredible tin note. Incredible flavor.

After two years of aging, I can easily say that this is probably the best VaPer in the world, bar none. Davidoff's Flake Medallions is a very close second, but this is just absolutely sublime. With two years of aging, everything is just amplified for this blend. The Perique kicks more, the Virginia's are sweeter. It is just superb. It still remains easy to handle, easy to light, and easy to clean. Leaves a fine black and white ash.

My suggestion would be to sip this slowly to extract the most flavor out of it. Not that you will be having any problems in the flavor department, because this blend is just bursting with it.

I would be happy only smoking this for the rest of my life. It really is that good. If you're a VaPer lover, you owe it to yourself to try this blend.

Edit : I recently opened a six year old tin of this, and I must say that I just want to live inside this tin of tobacco. The perique has almost completely mellowed out to the point where it smells floral. Not too much spice with this much age on it, but the sweetness is out of this world, as is the tin note. Pro tip - do not rub this flake out. Just take a flake, fold it, fold it again the other way, rub it just a little between your palms so a small amount breaks off and loosens up a little, then just stuff it in. Use the rubbed out pieces for kindling. Every bowl of this has been a nirvana smoke. Goes all the way down to the very very end, and tastes superb all the way though. I wish I had more! I could smoke this every day for the rest of my life and never complain about it. I am in love.

This is a very good blend.

Something between VA and VA/Per. VAs are sweet as candy, and "Per" part is a little bit low, although it pinches your nose when you french inhale. I've smoked better VA/Pers in my life, but all of them are unique in their own way, this one too. There's something very unique and interesting in it, the sweetness and that strange sensation of nostril tickling makes it adorable. I bought a 100g tin, which is not vacuum sealed. Nor is the plastic bag inside, so I've put it in a jar and aged it for a month. It gets better and sweeter with ageing, you can tell by only a month of "jaring" it. Room note is awesome, my wife nearly liked it, so I put "pleasant" for the fist time for non aromatic tobacco. Someone may find the fact that it doesn't change it's aroma pattern much through the bowl a boring thing, but that "steadiness" here is a good thing. It doesn't get darker as it advances to the bottom, it stays sweet and tasty. Highly recommended

Last month I cracked my first 150g tin of this. I've had a few tins of the smaller size & found them very good, high-quality leaf, ready to smoke right out of the cans (when aged 2 or 3 yrs). The bag was another animal altogether. Straight off, it was a bit harsh & bity unlike the other tins I'd smoked. They were just a bit sweet, just a hint of Perique spiciness, a nice medium bodied VaPer, altho a bit light on the "Per" side for my taste. The bag, however, was flat & sharp tasting. It was 2 years in the tin, so aging wasn't a problem. What was? I put it in a Ziploc freezer bag & opened it for an hour or so to sniff every now & then for three weeks (I must admit that the sniffing told me nothing at all...). When I finally lit it up after this air time, I was thoroughly delighted to find that it had attained that fine blend of slight sweet grassiness & light spice that the smaller tins had. It has virtually no bite when smoked slowly, and a nice medium-full flavor & aroma that go well with anything from a good book and/or a double espresso, to a fly rod. Well recommended as an intro to the VaPer world for anyone.

I think this is one of the finest VaPers available.

The quality of the product in the tin is unmistakable. No shake, no stems, just carefully produced consistent flakes.

With aging, this stuff gets really really lovely... the brashness of the perique mellows down a bit so the whole ensemble is a bit more harmonious. The virginias are top notch. I am part way through a bowl of a small sample that was 10+ years old, and it's absolutely wonderful.

The virginias are fairly light and bright, not stoved, and offset by a moderate amount of perique. (Similar in style to Escudo or PS LNF.)

A very nice quality tobacco, but on the boring side. I'm reluctant to be overly critical with all the "Great" reviews, but to me, this just isn't that interesting. Has moments of sweetness but more of dark VaPer. Not a smoke you can light and go work in the garden with, this needs some attention as it can bring some spice and heat. Personally, I seem to be "fidgeting" with this blend to get some consistent flavor without any harshness.

I can't give this one 4 stars as I can think of a group of other 4 star VaPers I like better, ( SG -St James Flake, Dunhill -Elizabethan, Escudo, McC- Beacon Extra, Rattrays- Marlin Flake ),spend your money on one of these instead.

Solani blends are always top notch. Expensive, yes, but always very good and always consistent. The aged burley flake is a classic and I suspect 633 is on its way to that status. The Virginias (light and dark) are bright and sort of citrusy, with a nice natural sweet tanginess. The perique is spicy, but balanced. It is interesting to compare this with St James Flake because the character of the perique is very different. SJF has a mellow autumnal fruit quality and this one is peppery and spicey. I think the percentage of perique is maybe a bit higher in the SJF. In any event, the flakes are perfectly formed (as is the Solani practice) and remind me a bit of Cut Plended Plug by F&T in texture. It is a medium body smoke, maybe a tad past that, and the room note is really nice. It isnt quite as cool as the gawith flake, but its still pretty cool. Overall its one of the better Va/Pers out there. The only complaint is that, like silver flake by solani, it is just a tad boring. This is a pretty minor complaint on the whole though. And maybe boring is the wrong word. Its an exceptionally good blend, and consistent. It is perhaps not as complex as, say, Beacon Extra but thats a small complaint. But its just not quite in the legendary class of Aged Burley Flake.. Solani is always worth the money I think, though.

I scored a tin of 633 at the CORP Expo in Richmond yesterday and cant for the life of me seem to stay away from it. This is a fine VaPer flake. There is just the right amount sweet & spice that just makes this a comfortable all around smoke for me. Dont get me wrong I still like my Escudo which has more of a spicy kick that I like than 633. Both are excellent smokes, but 633 seems to be more refined IMHO.It has behaved well in my Briarbird Hatfield Cutty no matter what method I use either rubbed out or just a smiple fold & stuff it delivers both ways. If your a VaPer fan as I am treat yourself to a tin the next time your at your local Tobac shop or place an on-line order, you will not be disappointed.

Your Brother in Smoke

5/5 Stars