Wessex Red Virginia Flake

Hints of earth along with toasted oats greet you when you open the tin. The flake is very easily rubbed out and is almost perfect in moisture content for easy lighting and smoking. It's defiantly fuller in taste than Gold Virginia Flake but also more complex at the same time. Smoking through the bowl, one word of caution is you don't get it too hot because it will become unpleasant on the palate and give you a little tung bite. For the Virginia lover a MUST for your rotation along with Gold Virginia Flake. I will try Brown Virginia Flake later on today at some point and write in a review as well.

Absolutely delicious. It's bright and tangy and smooth... I hope I can always get my hands on this stuff. Beautifully packaged, beautiful flakes. I reccomend using a smaller bowl for this one, I don't usually bother with discriminating to that extent with flakes - big bowls, small bowls, it's all good - but this one really sings in a smaller bowl.

No tongue bite, delicious, and smells wonderful. Highly reccomended.

A beautiful flake sure to be appreciated by lovers of red Virginia... the overall perception I got is the taste you get when you add a little lemon and honey to tea.. not at all to a cloying degree luckily.. the top note that some refer to as red wine somehow interacts with the earthy hay like Virginia to give this singular experience... very smooth in its delivery and well behaved.. perhaps a little light but perfectly suited for summer.. I like it very much; but can't say I absolutely love it as it does lack a little complexity and strength.

I have only smoked this three times so far, but it is already remarkable for its subtle but pleasant taste, its fantastic aroma (when I say "room note" here I mean to me...I don't have opportunities to ask non-smokers how they like the smell of my tobacco), and its almost unbelievable lack of bite, for a Virginia. I have to put this in the top 2-4 Virginia blends I have tried, with Marlin Flake, Barbary Coast (ok, that one is mostly a Burley, but I count it) and Butera's Matured Ribbon. The aroma and flavor can best be described as orange, chocolate, and pepper. It also rubs out and packs easily. It is a tobacco that I give one of my highest compliments to: "user friendly." And of course, the unique tins of Wessex do add something, however marginal. If all-day smoking were a possibility these days, this would be that kind of blend.

Update: It seems if you rub this out too much (and that means rub it out at all as it is a "fragile" flake) the "top note" becomes the entire song. Pure lemon pepper. But if you basically wad it into a ball and stuff it in (with perhaps a bit of rubbed-out tobacco on the bottom and top of the bowl) it tastes much more like tobacco, with only a subtle flavoring. If I could change one thing about this, it would be to have a bit more sweetness. Otherwise, complex and intriguing and a treat.

I often find the Wessex offerings to be hit or miss, and this one was a miss. This has some red virginia oomph to it, it does not have the full red virginia character of some other flakes and blends, such as McCranies Red Virginia. There are far to many good flakes to sample to waste much time on this. However if this is all you have to choose from its not bad stuff. Just not remarkable.

This impeccably tooled flake is competent in every way, but doesn't distinguish itself sufficiently to make it into my rotation. Still, it's a very decent smoke that should find many friends.

Although I have marked this as, "One of my favourites,I smoke this regulary", I do not smoke this regularly as for the same reason the last brother of the brair mentioned, and thats the high price. Is it one of my favourites? Yes,absolutely it is one of my favorites. This tobacco is of the highest quality and consistency. It is however pressed into one of the hardest blocks of tobacco I've ever had the pleasure of smoking. Instead of removing a strip of flake,one has to tear it off which I don't mind as I hardly rub it all out anyway. The taste is exceptional RED VIRGINIA mellowness. It does have a good nicotene kick,burns well,and tastes devine.Highly recomended.

Although this was one of the better red VA flakes that I've tried, I've yet to find great enjoyment from any of them. In the tin, the aroma is of quality tobacco and the oils have stained the wax paper liner. The color ranges from golden to deep brown. Pressure/time have resulted in a solid cube of tobacco within the tin. The nice, chewing gum like layers of other flakes are absent and the tobacco is very hard to separate evenly. This is a major consideration for me since I normally don't rub out my flakes. Although a cool smoke, as with other red VAs, I found just to much VA tang after the first few puffs and couldn't consider this as an all day or steady smoke.

Es la primera vez que pruebo virginias rojas solas y me ha encantado.El sabor que te deja es bestial y no me lo esperaba.Me gustan mucho las mezclas con Latakia pero esto es algo distinto y muy rico.El flake genial de temperatura,no lo tuve que secar ni nada.