Reiner Blend 71: Long Golden Flake

Ordered this tobacco from DanPipe after reading so much good reviews here. Tobacco comes in long flake form (long strip of pressed tobacco). The smell from the tin is just fantastic - sweet grassy aroma with some spiciness to it and some citrusy notes. Moisture level fresh from the tin is almost perfect.

Lights with no problems but needs regular relighting throughout the bowl. It will get quite hot if puffed too hard. Maybe the burning would benefit from some drying. After first light I am greeted with sweetness from VAs and Perique makes appearance almost right away with slight peppery note.

The taste is very sweet. I can definitely taste some lemon or orange in the smoke. Spiciness picks up a notch after half of the bowl. Also there is some sort of bitterness to the smoke, maybe because of Burley.

Smokes down to light grey ash. I would say that the room note is quite pleasant. Certainly no one is bothered if I smoke this indoors. This is a very nice VaPer blend. The tobaccos used in this blend are top notch quality. I would recommend this to any VaPer lover.

just purchased within the last month or so and this has quickly become a favorite of mine that I find myself reaching for constantly.

It's a beautiful long cut, golden Va/Per flake. the Tin note is amazing, you can smell a bit of the perique "spicy-ness".

It doesn't burn too hot, contrary to some of the 1star reviews, this. is. not. cased. it burns easily all the way down without a ton of moisture or gurgling.

the only downside is that it's a tad bit expensive than some other blends but, for me, coming from someone who smokes cigars and has/will spend $10 or more on a cigar that lasts 2 hours - spending a little bit extra on 100g of pipe tobacco that will last me quite a while - I find it to be worth it. Highly recommended!

Lovely tin note, mostly just the smell of good virginia, no cocoa from the burley, but a hint of raisin. Rubs out easily, packed a bit loose it smokes to the heel with little drying time. Tastes like a great straight virginia, the perique and burley are well in the background. Very bright, sweet but not overly so, and great grassy/hay notes throughout and a slight bit of spice from the perique, which stand out more towards the end of the bowl as the sweetness subsides a bit. Really wonderful tobacco taste. Not sure anyone else is enjoying the room note, but smelling it on my clothes sure makes me want more. Didn't find it to smoke any hotter than most virginias, personally, but full flavor definitely requires a slow smoke. Wish it wasn't 23 bucks a tin, but other than that I can't find anything to complain about. This is great tobacco. Didn't really taste the burley, but that's my palate, I'm sure, and not the blend. Not similar to anything I've smoked. Almost, but not close enough to call.

The Virginia is foremost in this blend. The taste comes almost fully from the VA. The sweet VA taste is excellent and doesn't bite or burn if you puff too fast.

I did not detect any perique in the blend so it is either well hidden or the tin I had aged enough to dull it.

The burley is nice for some added nutty taste. The light and burn is helped by the burley and makes this a great introduction to VA flavor for newer people. You don't have to fight this blend to keep it lit.

Things are never so bad they can't be made worse.

This tobacco, otherwise quite attractive, is ruined by the European habit of dousing their tobaccos in liquorice, a sweet herb that is toxic in high doses.

Some sources say that the purpose of liquorice is to dilate the bronchial tubes and increase the amount of smoke that gets into the lungs, increasing the nicotine dose and thus the addiction to nicotine.

But it is also one of the sweetest substances in nature, and a very popular way of sweetening tobacco and increasing the appeal of otherwise inferior leaf. It is especially popular at Kohlhase & Kopp, where this stuff is made.

Do yourself a favor and choose a blend without the liquorice. If you want to pickle your liver, why waste it on this stuff? A pipefull of Escudo and a tall glass of Scotch: that's the ticket!

Almost perfect.

Reiner's Long Golden Flake has the perfect packaging and the perfect presentation. The air-tight tin, the extra-long flakes packed in a spiral, the beautiful brown color and perfect texture make for an almost perfect experience, even before getting the tobacco into your pipe. The moisture content is almost perfect, requiring little or no drying out of the tin.

The flavor of the Virginias is super. It is almost a perfect tobacco. But it will not make my favorites list, or even my regular rotation.

The only strike against this is the casing/topping. More than one flavor is present, putting this tobacco in the aromatic or light aromatic category for me. The anise or licorice flavor, which imparts a strong medicinal odor to the tin, can be tasted throughout the bowl. The medicinal flavor does not dissipate, and it dominates the flavor of the pipe from beginning to end. It is just as strong nine months after opening. It makes me ask if the blender is trying to cover up some shortcoming in the tobacco. But it is probably intentional. I suppose some folks prefer this flavor.

I long for a Long Golden Flake that is more 'natural,' without the licorice or other added flavors.

Update: 2 August 2010 After spending a few more months with this tobacco, I am marking it down to two stars. It is monotonous, dull, and dominated by the anise or licorice casing. There are so many Virginias out there that are so much better than LGF. It's not bad stuff really, but I always finish wishing I had chosen a different Virginia for my pipe, like a Rattray's or Solani VaPer, made in the same factory.

Update: 5 September 2010 I took LGF on a camping trip, smoking it daily for a while. The medicinal licorice flavoring drove me nuts. I've given up on this tobacco. This emperor has no clothes! One star only!

Update: 14 December 2010 Finally threw out the remainder of my LGF. There are too many good tobaccos out there to waste any more pipes on this one.

I didn't review this to say anything new - just so I could rate it 4-stars. From the bulletproof, airtight can to the unique giant flakes this is the closest thing to perfect pipe tobacco I know. There are inspired scented wisps of smoke in every can that catch you by surprise.

This is a smooth and rich bodied blend. Bright gold Virginias at the forefront, followed and bodied-out by sturdy burley. The burley is earthy but subdued, not thick or heavy enough to dull the Virginia sweetness. Having tried it in a brand new pipe, the top of the bowl set my tongue a bit a-tingle with premonition of harshness and bite, which luckily didn't pan out. It soon resolved itself into bright, rich flavor with a savory needle-like sweetness that remained even after the burley and perique kicked in past mid bowl.

Sweet and tangy, with a real tobacco taste. The perique is introduced with incredible subtlety and effectiveness. This is probably the best melding of perique with Virginia and Burley that I've yet tasted. I must own up to the fact that my experience with Virginias is relatively limited; I'm more of an English/Balkan smoker. But by any standard, this is really, really fine tobacco blended to render a rich complexity from the bright Virginia.

You can fill it in the pipe by folding the flake or rubbing it - it works either way and the fill method would depend solely on your preference. I use it to break in a new pipes, and even in a new pipe the relights were few, as it burns smooth and steady. A benchmark baccy experience for me.

This is a very nice flake. A true delight to smoke. Perfect for those times when you don't quite know what you want. The flavour is mild and delicately sweet, primarily a golden VA, but burley is noticeable and dulls it down more than I would have preferred. The perique reveals itself mainly in a spicy finish.

Moreover I have smoked few flakes with such good burning capabilities, whether you rub it or fold it, it more often than not end up being a one-match deal. Tastewise I detect no significant difference, so the method of packing is left to your preference.

Despite that I would have liked to see less (or none at all) of the burley and perhaps more perique, it's hard to find any major faults with LGF, so highly recommended it is. I've enjoyed a bowl of it daily for the last couple of months.

I believe that this can safely be bought by beginners and pros alike.

The tin is also an example I wished more manufacturers would adhere to. It's not only attractive, but practical as well.