Astley's No.2 Virginia Mixture

Appearance: By a sad "tradition" the can of the German manufacturer had only the excise label as a date marker - "Q1 2021". The tobacco is a fairly typical Virginia blend, dominated by light varieties, with a little perique thrown in for show. The mixture is sliced ribbon, often there are uncut layers, similar to the broken flake, but not pressed. Open tobacco over time goes from strawy to slightly darker, gaining shades of brown. With the moisture, however, I personally had questions. The tin I opened had perfect humidity, and the tobacco I smoked was lighter (and, as a consequence, its volume for the same weight was greater) than what was given out at the championship. It burned slowly, evenly, and coolly. As a result, the test smoking for time gave me a result of more than an hour and a half. Tobacco taken from another tin, opened after the championship at the meeting of a club, was much more moist, almost sticky and didn't want to burn at all. So the quality of the tobacco is not stable.

Flavor: The complex topping of vanilla, clove, cocoa, and citrus gives it quite dense, almost chemical notes. In fact, it is chemical - they obviously didn't spare the eugenol here. The usual Virginia notes - hay, flowery herbs, bread note - come through only after a few minutes. As for the notes of perique, due to its small amount and abundant aroma, trying to catch a whiff of it is pointless.

Taste: the topping has left its mark here as well - the blend has a distinctly artificial sweetness, notes of clove, chocolate and citrus. In addition to these, the woody component is clearly felt, but there are obvious problems with the rest of the Virginia notes at the beginning. You can just forget about the perique until about the middle of the pipe, and only when the eugenol begins to actively evaporate due to heating, there is a slight hint of brine and plum flavors. Around this time, the rest of the usual Virginia flavor notes also come to the aid of the perique - some fresh bread, a little bit of hay, and a slight earthiness. As I wrote above, the speed, stability and temperature of the combustion depends on whether or not you have any luck with the can. Nevertheless, the tobacco is mild enough, it doesn't bite. However, another disappointment awaits fans of dense Virginia here - the tobacco has almost no strength. Even the largest of my Virginia pipes didn't allow me to feel any signs of nicotine kick. The tobacco burns into a gray ash, a fairly coarse fraction. The presence of moisture in the pipe depends directly on the consistency and pace of smoking, so in my case there was little of it. The aftertaste is woody, weakly pronounced, not persistent.

The smoke from the tobacco has a distinct woody, clovey smell, similar to the smoke from Djarum cigarettes. Certainly not everyone will like it.

What's the result? An unstable by moisture, obviously flavored Virginia blend of average quality with a slight hint of perique and a fairly persistent smell from the smoke. Some may like it. I, on the other hand, would rather avoid it.

The Virginias are soft and sweet and more breadlike than grassy, with a fruity character in the realm of peaches and pears -- as opposed to citrus. There is also a darker, raisiny bottom end (probably from the Perique, though I don't get much peppery pinch.)

Some subtle suggestion of clove, as subdued as it is ineffable, adds to the intrigue of the blend; and it complements the tobacco flavor(s) very well.

A good change of pace blend that satisfies an itch for something sweeter, with intriguing spicy subtleties; but the spice may annoy a VaPer purist.

this is an ok vaper...mild but without a lot of distinction. I mean i can think of a dozen Vapers I would rather have. But there is nothing wrong with it and the quality is top notch. Its mild, and a decent enough smoke if you want something you dont have to think about ...also not so much Perique. But its fine. Just not special.

Apple cinnamon flavored tobacco.

won't buy again.