Astley's No.2 Virginia Mixture

This is my first VA/Per mixture and I like it very much.It is another way to taste tobacco, the mixture of bright and red Virginia with a pinch of Perique opened other possibilities. This mixture goes well with withe wine or green tea, contrasting with Full and Dark Virginia or the English blends that goes well with red wine and black tea. A very good mixture that I have tried it is a 1:1 with Latakia Flake from Robert McConnell.Now I make my own VA/Per mixtures adding a little apple cidder/honey vinegar to mix the tastes, the percent of Perique is 10-12%, higher that in No.2.

Upon opening the tin I smelled dried apples and figs, it packed easy and lit well. The peppery flavor of the Perique hit me on the first few bowls but then subsided and I haven't noticed it in several bowls hence. I am a great admirer of Virginia and Perique blends and count Dorisco Mixture as one of my all time favorite blends.

The best way to describe #2's flavor is to cut Haddo's Delight 50/50 with Old Gowrie. Astley's #2 is a good solid VaPer blend, I have finished the tin and would smoke more, but I wouldn't buy more. This blend is just too middle of the road to keep in my cabinet, I have already found too many great tobaccos to settle for O.K.

Astley's No 2. is one of the more robust vapers I've tried. The tin aroma is redolent of its blender, KohlhaseKopp, in its organic sweetness. Dried apples comes to mind with this particular blend. As for the smoke itself, the tang of the red Va's and the peppery tingle of perique are the predominant aspects. The perique runs the first few acts of the show, with the red va's and finally the lighter leaf increasing in presence toward the last half of the bowl. Not as subtle an interplay as some other vapers but still a most enjoyable smoke. My only real gripe is that it has a less than ideal moisture content, another Kohlhase trademark. It's a little too moist, which combined with its stringy ribbon cut makes for a relatively high-maintenance smoke. I tend to tear apart the tobacco into finer shreds and let it dry for an hour or so before I smoke it. However, with proper care, No. 2 is one of the better vapers out there. Recommended.

I found Astley?s #2 to be a pleasant, citrusy, fruity and lighter VA/PER blend that packs well and has good burning qualities. The perique will come to the fore from time to time but not in overabundance. Others have recommended this as an all day smoke. I don?t consider it as such. This tobacco will demand your attention. If given short shrift, ignore it and you puff too fast or smoke it too often on a daily basis, ?the nip? will sneak up on you in small steps. But perhaps my tongue is more sensitive than the tongues of the previous reviewers. An excellent tobacco nonetheless as are the other Astley blends that I have tried.

I rate this tobacco 7.5 out of 10.

This is very tasty. It has that tang I love in VA's, and there's a distinct bergamot flavor that I like that kind of dies down to a sort of a tangerine-esque taste towards the end of the bowl. I could easily smoke this all day, (but I don't smoke a pipe all day, and probably wouldn't smoke one all day). There's little to no nicotine hit, and this is just all-in-all a nice, clean, tangy smoke. It *WILL* bite you if you don't show it respect. I'm guessing you'll enjoy this most the first 3/4 of the bowl. It got a little wet on me towards the end, but that was no big deal.

Good stuff!

DJM

Another in my tobacco trials of blends from pipe makers I respect, this one is a fully rubbed out but unusually uniform mixture of high quality, golden to reddish brown VAs + perique. I was packing a bowl after lunch and the fruity tin aroma was immmediately noticed and complimented by those sitting near me. Since I normally smoke true VA flakes, I intially had some difficulty with the high initial moisture content and/or my packing technique that caused numerous relights. With some drying and experience with a looser pack, the smoke improved. I found the taste on the tart side as opposed to the sweetness I normally prefer. Perhaps my taste buds have been scorched one too many times or the balance of this blend is so perfect, but I didn't appreciate the "subtle" contribution of the Perique as in a Solani 633 where it was much more dominant. Overall, an enjoyable smoke @ the right moment but a bit lite for my personal taste as an all day smoke.

Keep in mind that the 1st time I smoked this I had been smoking Escudo and Royal Navy Flake almost habitualy for several weeks.

Upon opening the tin, I was greeted with a sour apple kind of fragrance.... ala MacBaren Va#1.

Upon 1st light, I caught the same sour apple.. citrus tang. Not acceptable at all!

As I reached past the 1st light or so the sour citrus tang disappeared and the smoke became more sweet Virginia. Upon reaching midpoint or just before, the perique came thru but very very lightly. Not what I was use to.

The Escudo that I had been smoking had really commanded in the perique department in such a way that anything less was somewhat drowned out.

This is a nice tobacco. Calm, lightly sweet and well balanced between the Va and the Perique. An every day; all day smoke. Burns good and clean.

Try this in the morning before the heavier stronger blends or stay away from the stronger blends for awhile before trying Astleys No.2

....If not, the Perique your looking for will be hard to find.

Given its four star rating, I felt I needed to give this tobacco one more chance. So I waited until after dinner and approached it with a clean palate. The aroma in the tin reminds me of slivovitz, plum brandy, with faint musty cocoa notes of Perique, apricot preserves and fruit cake. The blend appears to be a rubbed out pressed tobacco rather than a flake, shortened strands of every brown ranging from tan to walnut with an overall attractive, medium honey color. It also seems to be of exceptionally high quality, no stems, chunks or crude bits, just soft, pliable, tempting tobacco. It is moist to the point where I thought it had been thoroughly laced with liquor, but the alcohol was not there, merely the scent. It packs easily and lights quickly. Lots of smoke, thick and substantial, the kind you can roll around in your mouth. The Virginia is there in the hint of a bite and a tingle in the nose. The Perique is there in the hint of a tang. Flavor is there in the hint of sweetness. It's all there but its not there. It's like licking a lolly made of diluted white corn syrup. I do not taste the Virginia or the Perique. The effect is there, but not the real thing. Maybe this tobacco is just too refined for my palate. All I get is a sweetness, a tingle and a tang. At the very bottom of the bowl the Virginia appeared for a brief puff or two and then it was gone. It may take some time, but I will be able to finish the tin. After all, there is nothing offensive about the blend. But I will not be buying another. I like Virginia and Perique blends that provide the flavor of Virginia and Perique. Paddy.

This is the third Astleys blend I have tried. I have to say it is the one I like the best. Although each of their tobaccos has been excellent. This one is a Va/Perique blend and is superb. Very enjoyable, burns cleanly, has a nice spicy note to it and the flavor is very good. Compared to other Va/Perique blends, Escudo and Haddo's Delight for instance this one ranks up there with Haddo's. If you are looking for something really good and this could easily be an all day smoke, pick this one up and give it a whirl. I am now coming back to this review after having finished my tin and I like it even more now . This makes a wonderful smoke early in the AM, as well as all day long. 4 stars.