G. L. Pease Union Square

A variety of Virginias that are rich, creamy, fairly woody, bready and earthy with a touch of grass, sugar and floralness. The natural sweetness of the components are a mild tart and tangy citrus, some dried fruit, and a fair amount of red Virginia tangy dark fruit with a hint of spice. I don't know the proportions of the various Virginias in this flake, but I get nearly all of their intrinsic qualities with none crowding out the other in most every puff, though I would say the red Va. is the most obvious. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is just past the center of mild to medium. Burns slowly, cool, clean and fairly dry with a very consistent, mildly sweet taste from top to bottom. No bite no matter how fast you can puff, though I recommend not over doing it or you risk a slight harsh note. It does require some relights. It does have a light rough edge. Leaves little moisture in the bowl. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste. The room note is a tad stronger. It's not quite an all day smoke due to its strength, but it is repeatable.

-JimInks

In my review of Union Square, I had wanted to compare the blend with Full Virginia Flake. Well, you know how that goes. The ridiculous hoarding of Samuel Gawith tobaccos is one of the easiest things to hate about pipe smoking. It says something about the selfishness of some pipe smokers, those who will buy out every outlet in the US, and then take pictures of their stash, posting them on forums to brag of their booty. It makes me angry and indignant. Thankfully, Union Square cures my animosity for these people, if with a bit of irony, as Pease is in large part responsible for the modern practice of cellaring giant catalogs of tobacco.

The blend is flawless, in my opinion. Deep, rich Virginias in sturdy flake form, sugary and natural, emanating that familiar smell of hay out of the tin, the flakes themselves velvety to the touch, whether beat up or in perfect form (I've seen both, from the samples I've purchased). The presentation is immaculate, the experience, exceptional from the pop of the tin, through charing light, to the last embers as they fade from glowing red to dusty white. If Union Square isn't the king of Virginias, it's certainly next in line to the throne.

Now, aside from my earlier intention, a comparison to FVF isn't particularly fair, as Union Square's intrinsic characteristics demonstrate that it is certainly no clone of any variety, particularly one that should be forced to fall in the shadow of a crowd favorite. In truth, Union Square is a different beast than FVF, its austere simplicity, counterintuitively possesses a complexity which rivals that of FVF. Whereas FVF is dark and creamy, unfolding in layers that modulate throughout the smoke, Union Square possesses a lightness of flavor with tremendous clarity, and ever present grassy undertones that shape and shift with subtlety to define the character of flavor.

Union Square is a sugary smoke, with Bright Virginias in front. The taste is so uncharacteristically sweet, that it's hard to believe there is no casing. I suppose the defining element of FVF is the hot press, which really caramelizes the sugars and brings a more molasses note to the smoke. Union Square sports a narrower flavor profile with a similar strength, sugar cane opposed to molasses. Both avoid the sharp corners of inferior leaf, entirely absent of any bite.

The blend is more than a tobacco, it's a kind of ethos. I would really like to see a trend toward natural tobaccos, an appreciation for the baser qualities of the leaf. Maybe a movement toward pure, unadulterated leaf could put forth a breed of higher quality blends, pure of unnecessary additives. I would think that advances in agriculture would propel the movement, and we have seen limited trials--C&D themselves experimented with a Virginia blend that incorporated Agave as a natural additive, utilized, I think, to impede upon the growth of mold. I know that Union Square does not approach that extent of commitment, but one can be hopeful of future developments.

The noble properties of Union Square demonstrate a higher appreciation for blenders like GL Pease, who strive to innovate in the face of those who cling to established ideals. In their clouded thinking, hoarders rush to past touchstones and fail to recognize emergent trends and product. They are intent only in stocking shelves and cheering each other on in their mindless quest for more and more of the same product. I find them similar to art snobs, intent on the masters and established schools, incapable of acquiring new references, which they deem unrefined and unfamiliar. They seek defined models, and fear exploration as it may devalue the stockpiles of loot they have amassed. As consumers, they care little for the product they collect, and only the prestige in displaying their wares, hence the ridiculous photos on the internet.

This is an exaggeration, I know.

I've likely angered a few people here, and my intent is not to create a conflict, but to demonstrate the changing tides. Union Square raises the bar for microblenders, and the larger houses that predominate. The more recent imperfect batches of FVF and the supreme quality of Union Square exposes the artificiality of demand, as it demonstrates a commitment to scarcity and a rejection of standards and novelty on the part of pipe smokers. Do we really understand our practice, or are we no better than those in the field of fashion, who take to the popular trends? But I suppose the more blatant, practical question remains--how much are other apparently natural tobaccos masked by additives? As all industries are guarded by trade secrets, the answer shall remain elusive.

The jury is still out on whether GLP blends age to become the classics they are purported to be, but the same jury (my jury!) has decided that, so far, GLP blends don't start off so well. This is my 10th attempt at finding a newly tinned batch of GLP that comes anywhere near a reference blend.

At first blush, the claim of "no added sugars or flavors" reads as a rash of codswallop and Nth-degree marketing hype, but I'm certainly in no position to dispute that claim. However, if true, this blend seems to indicate (when its at a young age, as my tin was) that straight virginias need such added sugars and flavors to taste and smoke to their potential. Not everything we ingest performs best in its pure, natural state. With all due respect to other reviewers and Mr Pease himself, I have to take the minority stance with this one. I find no depth or complexity in this blend, and no real mature virginia tobacco flavor. Instead this comes off as an extremely bland, "cigarette-ish" concoction that fails to excite. Comparing this to straight VA's from McClellands, Samuel Gawith and other blenders (that add sugars and flavors???), further and painfully illustrates Union Square's lack of character. It looks and smells in the tin like a winner but doesn't deliver where it counts - the taste.

As I have with the other GLP blends I've tried, I'm going to cellar my 2nd tin of this (dated 9/09) for a year or so in the hope that further aging will drive it up a notch or two. I'm happy that many others find Union Square so excellent and I certainly have questioned my own senses with this one since my experiences differ so. But I smoke and enjoy many classic straight virginias, and IMHO, this ain't one... at least not yet.

UPDATE 12/6/10

Still no love for this blend. If anything, it's become flatter and more anemic tasting. Two stars is more than enough. Back to the cellar and let's try this again next Christmas!

UPDATE 2/3/12

Age has been a wee bit kind to this one. I'd say it's elevated itself to mediocre. Still mostly characterless but there is a hint of cereal showing through that is rather nice. It's just too fleeting. Most of the time this fizzles into oblivion... smoke with no real flavor. Still a weak 2 stars. But it's a tiny bit better than it was. Perhaps this one will develop further. Worth a shot!

I only have a handful of straight Virginia’s in my rotation at the moment & Union Square is one of them. As far as flavor depth is concerned, it’s on par with a couple of my other favorites, FVF & Blackwoods Flake. However, I find Union Square to be a bit more complex and somewhat easier to work with. Comparatively, it has more of that wholesome, earthy Old Belt character with just a hair of natural sweetness found mostly in the side-stream and it does not rely at all on dark stoved tobacco for richness or sweetening agents as flavor enhancers.

I’ll admit, I do prefer sweeter & spicier Virginia mixtures which is what I love about Blackwoods Flake and FVF. I don’t find too much of these two attributes in Union Square but it does have a rich burley-like bottom end flavor that creates a different kind of equally enjoyable experience. Also, the taste of Union Square gets livelier and a hair sweeter as the bowl progresses and the sugars caramelize. This of course balances nicely with that aforementioned lower-end bravado.

Despite its relatively rich flavor profile, Union Square still deals in subtleties. Flavors change their direction in the tiniest of ways, yet it’s enough to continually peak my interest. It’s a wonderful combination of subtle toasted bread notes, with a hint of spice and a heaping dollop of rich earth for good measure. Bonus points added for performance as Union Square stays nicely lit at a slow cool smolder.

For honest to goodness unadulterated tobacco flavor, I’d say this blend knocks it out of the park. IMHO, it smokes best in a clean and preferably dedicated pipe. Also, it ages superbly.

This is unlike any Virgina blend I have ever tried, and I have been very happily puffing upon Virginias for a number of years. Yet, the fact that that this blend is so different from many others I love does not make it any less appealing. Who would have thought that a blend made exclusively of Virginia tobaccos could be so outrageously unique, especially when the pipe tobacco market is flooded with Virginia blends. This blend is rich, though so are many others. It is also spicy, but so again are many others (especially those featuring orientals). What stands out here is an exceptional earthiness that must be experienced to be understood. This earthiness comes together with the above mentioned spice and richness to produce a truly distinctive smoking experience. This is a blend to luxuriate in. You want complexity and depth? Here it is. Fans of the earthiness of dark-fired burleys may find this a welcome change of pace. And it goes without saying that any smoker who claims to love Virginias should give this blend a try. Those, like me, who fall into both categories may find an experience they had long been seeking. Union Square will, without a doubt, become a part of my regular rotation. I'm breaking in two brand new and highly prized pipes with Union Square as I type these words. The way I see it, these fine examples of the work of Lindner and Shalosky could not be treated with greater respect.

I smoke a lot of Virginia/Perique blends and love them, but I don’t have many straight Virginias that I enjoy on a regular basis. Union Square is one of the few. I tend to judge, fairly or unfairly, VaPer’s and straight Virginia’s buy how well they age. Union Square is decent after just a few months, but really shines for me after the five year mark and I am now opening tins squirrelled away from 2009. The tin note at this point is more sour and tangy than sweet or “hay-like.” The combination of thicker flakes (or sliced cake if you prefer) and broken flakes I prefer to leave as is and just stuff them into the pipe with a little shake to get the bowl going. The flavor is sweet and a bit complex for a straight Virginia. I really enjoy Sam Gawith’s Best Brown and as a reference point, I find Union Square to be more complex. And I prefer this much more than Gawith’s FVF in just about all areas. It burns cool and while Lady N is present, I wouldn’t call it strong. I prefer it most slowly sipped in a reverse calabash. Union Square, without any flavoring, smokes sweet and clean right to the end of the bowl. My only wish is that I had put away more tins each year than I did!

If it were up to me, I would have named this tobacco "Jazz Interlude." The tin note is fruity, mellow, sweet, and it sort of reminds me to Playdough, but I cannot detect any casing. These flakes look properly aged, have a fair amount of gold leaf, and I am loving GL Pease's no-nonsense easy-to-crumble approach to it. Even though the moist content might feel somewhat high, you can smoke them straight out of the tin. This tobacco is definitely for those seeking a straight unhindered Virginia experience. The leaf is easy on the palate and very slow burning, but rich, somewhat spicy and full of flavour at the same time. I particularly like how it evolves in different layers unlocking different undertones and flavours the more you progress with your smoke. Here I'd say this is a complex tobacco that it is easy to approach and very forgiving at the same time. I believe this tobacco should be appreciated for what is missing in its moments of silence and interlude, for the real music is being played as a dotted white line underlining the score or music sheet, as a prolonged pause in between high and low notes. And as I retro inhale, I find the room-note simply gorgeous. I really don't see how you could go wrong with this tobacco, so it is going to get 4 stars.

Edit1: Something that is important to note is the fact that this is not your ordinary straight Virginia tobacco. Because of the fact it comprises flue cured Virginias, it tends to be stronger and more full-bodied than your regular Virginia leaf. This is to say this is not your ordinary off-the-peg product. Rather, it has been technically produced, purposely made to cater for the few and not for the many.

This is my first journey into GLP teritory and what a pleasant one it has been.

I am a bit bemused by the description as "sliced cake," but then again I'm English, so it may just be a matter of vernacular. What I do see is a very attractive long ribbon cut with shreds of real leaf pressed within it, a nice reminder that this did start life as a tobacco plant.

Sweet hay with a hint of honey on the nose, yep, this is a proper Virginia alright.

Once rubbed out a bit, packing, lighting and smoking are a doddle. And the gentle essence of the fine leaf wafts around your senses, at once fruity with a bit of tang, then just a touch of yeastiness and an almost creamy aftertone.

I suspect what may leave some reviewers underwhelmed - and forgive my impertinence - is that this is quite an un-American blend, the subtle nuances strike me as more characteristic of the type we find over on our side of the pond. If Mr Pease has Anglophile tendencies in his blending style, then that is absolutely fine by me!

Highly recommended.

This is the ticket. Benchmark stuff. Simply outstanding! Greg says on his website that he never intended to do a straight VA blend, and and then he goes and pulls off a gem like this.

Carefully select some quality VA leafs, press them, slice them and treat gently - place in a tin. Bingo.

I love my VA's and I love my flakes, if they have some perq, oriental or cavendish added that's fine too. I also love my Navy Flakes like Capstan or Marlin Flake because of that solid VA taste you get with hints of flavor and sweetness from a wee drop of Rum. But with U.S. you get so much sweetness and flavor without anything added...How did he do it?

This blend is what I expected FVF to be, although good - somewhat disappointed me. This is a flake every bit as good as Reiner's Long Golden Flake but it doesn't have any Burley or Perq added!

This blend is a wake-up call for McCleeland VA blenders, Greg's stolen their secrets and pushed it to another level. (A hint of Ketchup aroma from the tin).

This blend makes you wonder what other blenders are doing wrong. This blend is why I love pipe smoking. This blend is why I always say, "America leads the way in blending today".

A must try, must cellar blend. Put simply, dry or just try direct from tin, quality VA leaf with rich earthy hay, figs and citrus flavors, perfect in the tin, perfect half broken slices, plumes of smoke and the least bitey VA I've ever smoked. There is only one problem with this blend...it's too dam tasty to be able to leave in it a cellar for a few years....I'm off for another bowl...see ya.

Pure. Virginia. Perfection.

No goopy additives, just pure tangy, naturally sweet Virginias. The red Virginias take a while to develop and the brighter tobaccos take center stage for the first quarter bowl (a tall, narrow Radice Rind chimney billiard now dedicated to this tobacco only).

Will seem bitey to Virginia newbies, or those more accustomed to cased and flavored flakes....patience, grasshopper. You will be rewarded with a slow cadence.

The red virginias jump up and say howdy about halfway through, and the caramel notes merge with the citrusy brights quite nicely.

End game is divine, especially if you give the pipe a brief rest. Very rich, clean and suprisingly sweet, in a natural way...quite unlike highly cased flakes. Not a bit of gloppy dottle. Few relights, and even fewer pipe cleaners required to finish a large bowl.

A definite keeper in bulk quantities.

Union Square, you are to me

what every blend aspires to be.

Vaper, burley, English too -

none of them compare to you.

In you I get just what I see,

a complex of simplicities!

Your golden honey-brightened hue

is matched by fig and fruit of stew.

Your silky, earthy notes of tea

are zested by the lemon tree.

The reds and yellows cured by flu

in time great riches will accrue:

one year in you is much as three

another blend would have to see,

and when I pop your seal at two,

delightful spices issue through.

But at year five, maturity

deepens your complexity;

that tart and tang when you were new

are softer, yet still in the roux.

Some cocoa now and chocolate sweet -

luxurious, if subtle treat!

Like sculptures of antiquity

in ten years time you still will be

as poised as maidens once I knew

(who now resemble rat and shrew).

Forever true and never mean,

Union Square, you are my Queen!

The wisest thing a man can do

is purchase not one tin but two!

Pease Pilgrimage Reviews (a tasting journey through every GLPease blend) Tin date: 05/17/09

This is a delicious, destined to become (or already is) a classic, and all you Virginia-neat fans out there need to stock up!

Aroma: Sweet, tangy, tart, fruity, delicious! Want to eat it out of the tin. There are a few pure Virginias that have a pineapple/tropical fruit aroma going on when the tin is first popped, and this is one of them. My tin has been opened (and jarred) since May 2009, I'm still dipping regularly out of the jar, and it still has that sweet delicious aroma.

Appearance: Not a neat and clean geometric flake like FVF, US is a busted-up flake with some good-sized chunks that need to be rubbed out. It's a bit darker in color than, say, OGS, but not as dark as FVF which I understand is stoved.

Pipe 1: Stanwell Vario Billiard Pipe 2: Meer Bent Billiard Pipe 3: Chubby Savinelli Author

Flavor: Classic straight Virginia, sweet, musty, pure and toasty. Very delicious. One needs to use good Virginia-smoking methods to coax the best flavors out of this – like any other pure Virginia – but the reward is a classic, delicious, rich and sweet smoke for times of gentle contemplation. I can't smoke this stuff while pre-occupied with other tasks. I need to concentrate and think of uplifting things while I sip this treasure.

Yesterday I smoked it back to back with FVF, my other go-to VA. Which is best? Sorry to disappoint but I can't say. It's one of those mood things. FVF is darker and richer, more low-end notes, more earthiness. Not as sweet. Not quite as forgiving but fuller in flavor. US is sweeter, toastier, a bit brighter and grassier, with a more approachable flavor. FVF is British, US is American. FVF is Tom Waits, US is James Taylor. I love ‘em both, enough to keep adding both to my stash in whatever quantities I can afford.

Union Square is boring, flat, and only propped up by Pease's reputation. It starts as hot air and ends with barely more satisfaction than the beginning. Pease isn't known for straight Virginias, and C&D is better known for handling Burleys and Perique than pure VA. Nothing about this blend plays to either the blender's strengths or the manufacturers.

I consider it a cut rate, uninspired copy of bulk McClelland 2010. I'd recommend any of McClelland's Mature Virginia tins over this. Folks who buy it hoping it will age into a beauty forget the first law of buying tobacco: never cellar a bad tobacco hoping it'll turn into a good one.

Also, the cigarette room note is impossible if you're not fond of how coffin nails smell.

Pease should stick to Latakia mixtures.

Despite my resolution not to open another tin while I still had so many open, this new offering from GLP simply wouldn't stop calling to me, and so I eventually gave in.

To say that I was hugely disappointed would be putting it mildly. The tin aroma was a cross between horse manure and wet sweetgrass, while the smoke tasted like wet hay - very much like what I experienced with PS Luxury Bullseye Flake. Up until this point, my only experience with "pure" Virginia was SG FVF which, along with SG BB, is one of my favorites. We all know that tastes vary from individual to individual, but the fact that this blend has received nothing but accolades from the pipe smoking community thus far has me puzzled to no end.

After the initial shock of the first part of the bowl, I set it down and returned to it the following day, hoping that DGT would perhaps change the experience for me towards the better. Well, change it did, but for the better? Only if I can count the by and large departure of the "wet hay" taste, which was replaced by very little taste of anything at all.

After having given this blend a chance (3 bowls) I will say that I experienced little if any bite from it, but that's about it. Additionally, after opening the tin, each pipeful in succession did become a bit more tolerable, so maybe the trick is to let oxygen do it's thing with this blend?

Again, I admit to being very puzzled. There could be one answer though which I'm leaning towards - that almost all tobaccos have at least casing, if not topping. If I understand the advertising from GLP for this blend, it has neither. It's entirely possible that I'm considerably more reliant on casings and toppings for my smoking enjoyment than I cared to admit?

---

Follow-up:

WOW! This tobacco is so utterly strange. Granting that I am rather new to the pipe smoking experience, and that taste is subjective, I have to say that this is the first DGT only tobacco I've run across.

In a fit of frustration, I loaded a small bowl, toasted the heck out of it, and laid it aside. About six hours later, I picked up the pipe again and set fire to the tobacco. It caught and burned beautifully, producing the rich, sweet smoke that everyone's been raving about. How can a tobacco that tastes so crummy to me straight from the tin, taste so good toasted and delayed?

Regardless, I now understand what pipe smokers refer to when they speak of complexity as pertains to the taste of a given tobacco. I used my normal flake smoking technique, that is, sipping the smoke gently. There was no hint of bite, and the smoke produced sweet, nutty, and earthy flavors that vied with one another at first, but then settles down, each to claim a portion of the bowl. The sweetness came first, and then gave way to a hard to describe earthy flavor that was sort of spicy, but not perique spicy. The latter part of the bowl produced a nutty, smoky flavor with slight overtones of the previous two.

This tobacco leands itself to nasal exhalation very nicely, and I also enjoy filling my mouth with the smoke and just holding it there. The aftertaste is simply marvelous.

Again, I'm amazed at how a bit of "handling and preparation" in setting this tobacco up for DGT changes it's character and enjoyability. I do intend to experiment a bit with this blend. I'm going to toast a portion outside the pipe, perhaps in a skillet, on high heat and quickly. I'll post the result later.

I'm going to stock up on this, as it is now one of my absolute favorites. Go figure...

Overall I’m really impressed with this blend. Even with the youthful edge C&D production has until they get a few years under their belt, this is highly enjoyable. Sweet cream mixes with the red spice which, as is the usual with C&D reds, presents with a light cinnamon note which compliments the blend as a whole. There are hints of hay and a spritz of citrus that play around in the background, but primarily it’s the creamy cinnamon sugar. The repeatability of this blend is very high; I’ve been smoking essentially nothing else since I received my tin, multiple bowls a day. No fatigue to be found. A generally cool smoking blend which takes a light well and burns, without fail, to the heel.

As I said in the opening, this does have some edges to it which I expect will smooth out with a couple of years in the tin. However, even at just 7 months, I’m enjoying this a great deal. I’ll be adding many more tins of this to the cellar, both to smoke now and years in the future. Reasonably priced in the mid $11/2oz, you can get the price down some by buying the 8ozers. However, it’s a negligible difference to me and I prefer to have the ability to open a tin at a time and smoke through it while leaving the others to keep doing their thing.

This is a Highly Recommended blend, even with the edges it has. I feel confident that with a couple of years this will be a truly top shelf VA filled with enjoyment and contentment to smoke.

Why did it take me so long to try this? I guess having had a bad experience with odyssey.. then kind of lukewarm results with haddo's delight, i kind of did shy away from pease thinking it just wasn't my bag... big mistake. Instantly union square has become a favorite of mine.. and maybe the perfect spring/summer tobacco.. Many have compared it to fvf.. and with good reason.. although it has vastly different smoking mechanics.. something about it is very evocative of the gawith flake.. Maybe it's the creamy hay/fig/grass like quality.. combined with a caramelized pastry sweetness.. or something like that.. Must be sipped slowly.. which can be challenging when you are enjoying the enormous flavor.. My tin was only 4 months old and it had a little rough and tart spice to it that wasn't unpleasant at all.. I can only imagine what 5-10 years would do to this.. considering the availability of the gawith flakes, this would be an easy pick for stocking up on.

Right outside our lazy summer home, with winds a mile long the smell of this pure Virginia tobacco wafts through the air. I smoked a ton of Virginia flakes. This one gives you all you need. Pure tobacco taste. Perfect with morning cafe, or an Italian soda after lunch. Or really searching out the different lip smacking taste late night by the fire. I have two other pure Virginia blends that I put in my Nording freehand, make that three. I wasn't looking for another pure Va, I thought I had the two I would ever need. Im glad I found Union Square. This one will undoubtedly withstand the test of time.

Based on a tin with one year of age.

Appearance is pretty bright, very light brown to darker brown. They aren't really like full flakes. They're assembled the best way possible for them, and not pressed as firmly as the European flakes are. They're broken flakes, easy to rub out if you want. It comes on the dry side, but it's not really as dry as you think, and you realize that once you start crushing it up and rubbing it out. There is some moisture there. The tin note was kind of tangy and bready, and some light hint of dried fruit.

I've commented on how I like C&D Virginia flakes. They are rustic, and lean towards dry and earthier than the European productions. I would also liken it to something like terroir.

The beginning of the bowl starts of tangy, sometimes sharp, fermented fruit, and some floral hints. The second third gets more bready. Things start to caramelize. There are some spice notes like pepper, and some baking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and some bitter notes occasionally (which I like). There is a dry woodiness that accompanies everything and makes this more interesting than its competitors. It's something I like about Interlude also. The flavor doesn't get as deep as Interlude though. It has the same earthiness and nuttiness though, which also adds to the intrigue and tastiness. The final third gives smokey woody notes, a dry vanilla, fig, and more baking spice notes. This never feels like an overly sweet blend. There is a lot of sweetness, but they are sweet flavors, and not the overly sweet sensation of sweetness. Again, it's not like the European productions of Virginia flakes.

The taste is somewhere around medium to full, and so is the body. This also produces more smoke than many Virginia flakes, but that might be due to the lack of moisture in the tobacco. The nicotine is mild to medium. It's there, but never overwhelms. This straight Virginia delivers on all fronts. You get many different flavors a Virginia is capable of delivering. But, it's not like many others on the market. It's on the drier and earthier end of the spectrum, balanced with sweetness. I would highly recommend this to the person that likes a blend that develops and evolves in the bowl, and any straight-Virginia smoker would find something to love here. Four stars.

I'm not sure who pointed out this blend as one I ought to explore after McClelland closed, but I'm glad they did. There is some of that good old McClelland sweet and sour interplay which I love, and good depth. Flakes are soft and easy to rub out but needs some drying time.

Edit: 4/13/2019: I just cracked a tin from 2016. The tin was swollen and opened with a swoosh, like a soda can. This is my first bowl after halting the fermentation process. It's good. Way better than fresh. Smoother. Creamier. Sweeter.

This is really a very very good straight Virginia and may be a good blend to try if you've been seeking to (at least part way) fill the void of the absence of McClelland Virginias. As another friend would have said, "It doesn't have any Perique and it doesn't need any."