Solani 633: Virginia Flake with Perique

The bright Virginias have a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, bread, sugar, hay and grass, light floralness, and a honey note as a lead component. The earthy, woody perique has a very obvious spiciness along with some figs, plums and raisins as a strong supporting player. The spice is noticeable in every puff, and melds well with the Virginias. The red Virginia offers a very light tangy ripe dark fruit, sugar, bread, wood, and earth just above the condimental position. Has an extremely mild topping of some kind as I sense apple and rum notes. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a step below that mark. Won't bite or get harsh, and has a few minute rough edges. It burns cool, clean, and slow, but loses a bit of its sweetness if it's dry, so I recommend leaving it a little moist. Has a very consistent sweet and spicy flavor with no weak or dull spots. Leaves little moisture in the bowl. Requires a few relights. The after taste pleasantly lingers, and the room note is a notch stronger. Is almost an all day smoke, and an experienced smoker may consider it to be one. Four stars.

UPDATE 7-5-2022. The blend has been changed a little. The constituent tobaccos are similar in some respects with the same proportions, but the brighter Virginias are a little more potent. The red Virginia was replaced by a dark orange Virginia, which has less dark fruit, earth and wood. The less sweet perique lacks the sweet fig and raisin qualities from past productions, and is very dry and plumy. The spice content is a little less, and doesn’t have the tingly sensation now. It takes several puffs before it kicks in. The rum was replaced by the mildly sweet honey, which fades a tad after the half way point. But it’s more obvious than the rum was in earlier manufactures, which obviously tones down the tobacco a mite more. It’s possible that the apple casing may still be in use, but it’s not evident to me. It was slight in the past. There’s just a little more sourness, floralness, and lightly more acidity in this version that characterize the mildly weakened sweetness. The strength, nic-hit, and taste levels are all step below what they were. This blend gets three stars from me, now, and my current rating at TR reflects that.

-JimInks

Every so often I feel the need to offer a split review of a blend and 633 is one of those blends. First, a new tin greets the nose with the usual plums, figs etc. I really enjoy it because it does have a bit more spice than some other vapers and a bit more "grass like" than Escudo. 633 may be a little too spicy for some vapor lovers. I enjoy these perfectly cut flakes right out of the tin, and like all the Solani tobaccos, it is of high quality leaf. My need for the second part of the review is because for me, hands down, when aged, this becomes one of the best vapors on the market today. The perique mellows quite a bit and the Virginia's become sugary sweet and tangy. It burns slowly and the sweetness is there from beginning to end. It is a total transformation from good to great, really great! Highly, highly recommended!

Update: one important point should be made if you are planning to age this blend. The 100g tins have the tobacco inside of a bag. While it can keep the tobacco from drying for several years, it doesn't age as nearly as well as in the 50g tins. If you love the taste of a well aged VaPer, I would strongly suggest spending a little more for the 50g tins or removing the tobacco in the 100g tin to Mason jars for the best result.

This is one of the best VA-Per flakes on the market. Presentation is lovely and the tin note is to die for -- delicate, ripe and fruity in the way that only pure, natural Virginias can be.

The smoke is smooth and complex. The ripe, fruity tin note actually comes through in the smoke and predominates the flavor. Compared to Escudo, for instance, Solani 633 is fresher, sweeter, a little zesty and more fruit-forward. Solani 633 has some of the cedar and wood-like notes of Escudo, but these are more subdued, adding a bit of complexity to the ripe taste of the Virginia. These notes grow stronger toward the end of the bowl.

Out of the tin the flakes are supple, but not too damp and rub out easily. Well behaved, burns nicely.

A little spendy, but any Virginia lover will enjoy this flake.

Because this blend has received so many favorable reviews, I decided to give it a try and am sure glad that I did. I find the Louisiana leaf (which has to be molested almost beyond belief before it is considered smokeable) to add greatly to this blend.

Having said the above, 633 really is interesting. It is spicy, strong and very flavorful. Each puff gives you an added feature. Just plain delightful!

Fantastic VaPer. After about halfway through my first tin of this, I immediately declared it to be my favorite VaPer. It is similar in tastes to Escudo, but I found the vas to be sweeter.

It is a high-quality product from beginning to end; the Virginias are bold and refined, the perique is light but is definitely there. This combination gives this a flavor that, to me, rivals all others in the genre.

This was my first of many future tins. My only knock on this is the price, which is like all Solani blends, steep. If they would ever offer a promotion where I can score a lot on the relatively cheap side, my cellar would probably be mostly made up with Solani blends. Solani makes great tobacco and this one will not disappoint any Vaper Lover. It is definitely worth the purchase price.

Presentation is lightly pressed flake with a mix of dark through light browns. The nose brings a bit more pronounced plum note than with other VaPer flakes, backed by the expected fig, date, and subdued Virginia hay- not green, and by no means fermented. Somewhere in the middle: a season aged. For my palette, that's just right and suggests subtle sweetness without heat or bite. 

Deep, rich plum on the charring light with a just hint of spice, and an excellent burn after just a short, 10-15 minute air dry. The Virginias here are velvety smooth and, as I'm fond of saying, you just can't make a world-class VaPer without smooth, kind Virginias. 633 delivers an impressive depth of flavor without ever being sharp or biting. There is a significant, stewed fruit sweetness to this blend that is never artificial or cloying. Don't get me wrong: this isn't a candy-smoker's blend. Rather, the sweetness here manifests naturally, as a testament to the blender's art. 

Like many delicious VaPer flakes, I find myself inadvertently increasing my cadence with this blend to get more and more of that unique, plummy flavor. Self-defeating, I know... But with 633 there is simply no bite and no heat to be found. 633 is very consistently flavored throughout the bowl and deep, rich, plummy to the end. Very easy smoking. 

Dry and remarkably cool smoking, it's difficult to imagine a VaPer flake much better than this. Interestingly, I found this a bit lighter on the nicotine than most VaPer flakes, so that might be a positive for new smokers or those who try to minimize their intake.  The relatively lower nicotine content, the smooth, biteless Virginias, and the balance of sweetness and depth make this my number one recommendation for a new VaPer smoker. But don't misunderstand that comment: there's enough body and flavor here to place this at or near the top of any VaPer aficionado's list.  

Quite simply, a masterpiece of the Virginia/Perique style. 

"Nectar of the gods"..."God, I love Périque!"...I can fully echo these sentiments, and cherish this V & P flake accordingly. Sweet, spicy, heady...SOLANI 633 is almost pornographically good! (And like many violent pleasures, it can do things to you, if you really overindulge.)

Taste it slowly and deeply, like a good boy.

---

Note: I have been smoking this consistently and concomitantly with REINER LONG GOLDEN FLAKE, another memorable creation by Herr Will. Excellent as this is, LONG GOLDEN has a subtle richness and roundness that mark it as the choice between the two. This one has, NOT coincidentally...MORE PERIQUE. Lovelay.

This would be my 4th tin since trying this excellent blend a year ago. What can I say? It is one of the best Va flake available in the market today. Now I know a lot of the nay sayers are going to go bonkers with my claim, but hear or read me out first.

According to the tin description, this is a Va/Per blend and after researching this tobacco I have come to learn that it has been cased in honey. Now for the die-hard Perique fans, the piquant taste that Perique is well known for is somewhat subdued in this blend. On my palette, I can tell that there is Perique added, but in miniscule amounts. Not the type to please fans of SG St James Flake.

Now that i have got the Perique issue out of the way, this blend smokes extremely well. it has the sweetness of the Va amplified by the honey casing. Upon cracking the tin open I am able to detect raisins, figs and off course the honey aroma. Whilst strong contenders like the SG FVF and BBF holds the reigns when it comes to Va sweetness, this blend definitely gives the other two a run for their money.

The plus factor that Solani has nailed on this blend in comparison to the afforementioned SG's is the packaging part. The Flakes are uniformly cut and presented to you at a excellent moisture level. Drying out is optional with this blend, unlike the FVF and BBF.

Within my rotation, opened tins usually last for 2-3 months. By the end of that period, the tobacco smokes perfectly leaving me wanting to stock up on more.

A true flake in a flat tin - always perks up the excitement for me. Mostly light in color, the flakes stay "flakey" in the tin. I preferred this one at tin moisture, which is weird for me with flakes. But the more I dried this one, the less flavorful it became.

I can best describe the taste of this one as Orliks Golden Sliced with the addition of perique. There was a very noticeable citrus flavor but, whereas I found it wearing over time with the GS, the perique in this blend made it work wonderfully. The perique's zestiness and piquancy offset the VA's sweetness with an excellent balance as the result. This blend exhibited no aberrations such as tongue bite, excessive relights, heaviness in the throat or tobacco infighting. It was far from complex but just a good, non-threatening smoke. I don't consider this one of the worlds great VaPers, but it was a pleasant smoke and one I'll come back to from time to time. I tend to prefer a little "darkness" in my blends, and this one was a bit too steered toward the lighter flavors. But anyone who prefers that taste should absolutely buy some of this and it could become a compelling favorite.

Solani-633: Virginia with Perique. People often talk about "love at first sight", well for me this is love at first light!

I adore Va-Pers and when I stumbled across this on My Smoking Shops site I just had to buy some. I'm so glad I did!

From the moment I cracked open the sealed tin I was enthralled. The aroma is more than enticing. It's smells of plums, raisins, figs and hay. Absolutely divine.

The flakes are slightly moist. Not overly so, a short airing will suffice but the slight dampness has caused them to become partially stuck together in the tin. This causes me no issues as I always rub my flakes but if you were to fold and stuff this may cause an issue as some of the flakes can tare and crumble as they're pulled from the other flake that holds them in the tin.

As I said, love at first light. This has an amazing flavour.

It's not anywhere near as spicy as most Va-Pers, the Perique gives a delicate amount of zing but the majority of the flavour space is occupied by a raisin/hay like taste. The dried fruit like part seems to become stronger about half way through the smoke.

I don't find the nicotine particularly strong in this one. Mild to medium is a fair label from my point of view.

This burns superbly. It doesn't want hardly any re lights and just the occasional tamp is quite adequate.

I think this would be a good blend to enter into the world of Va-Pers with, there's just enough spice to wet your whistle but it could be too tame for a true/hard-core Perique lover.

For me though it's highly recommended.