D & R Tobacco Windsail Silver Blend

The gold flue cured Virginia offers a lot of tart and tangy citrus, grass/hay, some bread, floralness, light wood and earth and hints of tangy darker fruit and spice. The strength and taste levels are mild as is the nic-hit. Won’t bite or get harsh, but it does have a few small rough edges. The tobacco is a little dry, but performs well even without hydration. I do recommend a slow puff rate. I find that packing the bowl tightly works well. Burns cool, clean and a little fast with a very consistent, one dimensional, pure Virginia flavor with no topping. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl. Requires few relights. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste, and room note. An easy going all day work and play smoke that would make a good mixer, too.

-JimInks

I have tried all the bags every one from low end to high. D&R is top shelf. Silvers excellent, a light smoke. Many flavors and strengths to choose the silver is my preference.

I am quite pleased with this presentation from D&R, not boring at all. In the description it reads “a selection of bright Virginia leaf,” but I bet it contains stoved Virginia as well. The sort of riff/curly cut makes for a cool burning smoking experience, and looking at the tobacco composition in the bag, which comprises gold and brown leaf, it is quite apparent to me it contains red Virginia as well. The flavour profile gets better and better the more you progress with you smoke, and it ranges from zesty to sweet notes. Not quite full-bodied, but the bready and hay like backdrop wrapping it up adds beef to the equation, so it is a solid and round presentation. It has sort of a burley-ish note to it, which is quite pleasant, and I suppose it comes from the red Virginia leaf. My recommendation to fully enjoy this tobacco is to keep your embers in low burning mode. Do not worry if you do not produce massive amounts of smoke though, so no puffing but sipping. There is nothing remarkable about the room note: it smells like cigarette smoke, so mind the wife. If you are into aromatic tobacco, you will probably hate it, but I would highly recommend it if you like straight virginias. This is probably why D&R has such a bad rep, but blaming a tobacco producer because they are honest and refuse to mask the tobacco flavour in their leaf is missing the point.

For the price, it’s hard to beat D&R products. The D&R varies I’ve tried are excellent. Windsail Silver is no exception. Straight, no nonsense Virginia leaf. The bag or tin note is of hay or bread, and that’s what the burning aroma kind of reminds me of, basically whole wheat toast. I smoked it new, and feel certain the very subtle sweetness of the Virginia leaf will deepen with age. Burns fairly quickly with zero relights and no harshness as is. Rehydration will slow down the burn. Overall 3 stars, which, to me is really good. For what it is, 4 stars.

Some companies go out of their way to let nature do the talking. D&R is my favorite - finely sourced raw leaf sealed in bags. They do sell decent cased tobacco but this is not it - Silver Edition is the reason other flakes and slices are so marvelous, yet my mouth and throat are not eager for the excess heat and moisture. If the pipe is a treat that's fine, but if it's a daily smoke it gets a bit hot. Silver is cool enough, and the taste is still prominent. Graham crackers, lemon grass, raw Bright Virginia ribbon of this grade has a tangy honey and caramel sweetness with a natural fragrance. Give this blend three to six months to age, don't let the little ones hear you say it tastes just like lemon candy - with a zing!