Wessex Sovereign Curly Cut

There is some red Virginia here, but the dominant flavour is of something very like a supple semi-sweet English tea biscuit. To that is added the Périque which bubbles up on top, peppery and buzzy like Champagne or, if you wish, sparkling hard cider. I love it. I normally prefer some further oomph down below, which the old Three Nuns certainly had and this one certainly does not. All in all though, this is a completely delightful offering. Perfect for Summer smoking.

I have read a number of the reviews for Sovereign and I wonder if quite a few of them are being reviewed using relatively fresh tobacco. I have no way to compare using fresh tobac, as I only have aged specimens. That said, I find the tobac(aged) to be of excellent flavor and the perique to be of sufficent quantity to be quite satisfying! The only tobacco I can recall that has more pungency is Elizabethan. I Find both the flavor and pungency to be uniform from first light to the bottom of the bowl. Igive this one 4 stars! I have changed the room note after asking my wife(no like).

I am surprised this has so few reviews.. this is a fantastic va/per.. More on the sweet end of the va/per spectrum, this puts me in mind of dunhill navy rolls more than escudo.. very nice, well- behaved, balanced tobacco. I havent had the pleasure of trying any of the incarnations of three nuns, so i cant compare them. but for me this is perfection. the tin aroma is very subtle, an interesting spice aroma.. during the smoke the perique comes and goes, sometimes strong sometimes subtle.. a little sourness, which is always nice when paired with the predominant sweetness. I will stock up on this one for sure. i am curious to try more of wessex other offerings now.

I heard BSCC is very much like Three Nuns, so I gave it a try. I've never smoked Three Nuns, so I wanted to see what all the talk was about. This is not a cheap blend. I paid about $22.00 for 100 grams. The tin contains an air-tight pouch which holds some of the most beautiful tobacco I've ever seen: small coins or discs of golden brown and dark tobaccos. The pouch aroma is out of this world. It smells like a very mature Virginia that has been aged for a year or two. I smell a little bit of a tart apple smell (fermentation?). Someone told me this blend has a little apple cider added. Maybe I just got this stuck in my head and now I smell the apple cider. I've asked others if they smell it and most don't. I let it dry a little before packing. Sometimes I rub it out, but most time I just stuff the coins in the bowl. Today I smoked BSCC in a large Cavicchi freehand. It was sensational. It is quite sweet, not in an aromatic sense, but in a mature Virginia sense. It is smooth, complex, and does not bite like so many Virginias can do. The blend is supposed to contain perique, but I don't really notice it. This is a wonderful blend and I think many Virginia lovers would love it also. Highly recommended.

With all respect to the two previous reviewers, I find no similarities here to the MB roll cakes other than appearance. My tin is from 2003, and maybe there was a difference in other time periods, but I just get quality Virginia with a touch of Perique here. Truth be told, I like MB roll cakes as well, though I prefer them to be well-aged (think 1980s), since the younger ones tend to bite me a bit. This is my favorite of the Wessex blends I've tried, and though I'm sure there is a subtle topping (nearly undetectable to me), it is nothing like the Mac Baren topping, and the Virginias really shine! Like I said, I do like MB roll cakes, and like the roll cake style in general, but this one is good for when I'm all Mac Barened out, but still want a roll cake, just because it is so different in taste! Now, I know blends can vary from year to year and even from tin to tin, but the tin I'm smoking from contains one of the most perfectly balanced Virginias I've ever put in my pipe.

I love this blend, it is by far the best vaper I have tried. Sweeter than Frog Morton OTB, much smoother than Escudo with no harshness. A bit milder than Old Gowrie and much more refined than McClelland 2105. The fullness of flavor makes this blend perfect to me. And very satisfying!



The tin note is sweet virginia. Small round coins the size of a dime make packing the pipe easy. Perfect burn and moisture. Just a lovely professional presentation.



A full taste virginia with a sweet high and round bottom spiced with a slight pepper tang from the perfect amount of smooth perique. The aftertaste is amazing, pure tobacco, no casing, no tongue bite (unless you are freezing in the garage and puffing fast).



If you enjoy Escudo or Old Gowrie you must try Brigade Sovereign, costs more but worth every dollar. I put up ten and will buy some on every order. By the way, what is 3 nuns?

One of my favorites. Nice Virginia notes, with just the right amount of Perique to season before being rolled. Piquant Royal Navy formula just as the tin description reads. Ages quite well !! Highly recommended****

A great VA/Per! The disks loosen up easily into a chunky shag which fills a pipe rather delightfully. Lights easily with no bite whatsoever, even when provoked. The virginias they used are sweet and flavorful and are kept in a nice balance by the perique. A very approachable VA/Per for the newbie and seasoned veteran alike. Very highly recommended!

I opened my tin and was happy to see sugar crystals all over the nicely cut discs of tobacco. The taste has a more maple syrup-ish flavor than the Orlik produced Three Nuns I bought while on vacation in Amsterdam, NL. Although this is not a review of the new Three Nuns, it is kind of difficult not to compare the two since they look so similar when held side by side. Additionally, I think this blend will be my daily smoker. On a side note, I've heard and read that there is supposed to be some Perique in the blend, yet I have not been able to single it out when smoking this tobacco. Of course, the only other Perique blend I've sampled is the fabled Escudo, which pours it on fairly heavily. Anyway, this is a great tobacco for a person who likes a good solid Virginia to smoke. It won't disappoint.