Dan Tobacco Hamborger Veermaster

I bought a tin of Hamborger Veermaster almost a year ago and never opened it until about a month ago. The flakes were not too moist and not too dry. I crumbled them and packed them in a brand new Viprati pipe with a fairly small to medium bowl.

The tobacco packed easily, lit easily, and burned to the bottom without a relight. I'd never smoked a flake before, nor anything with quite the same taste. I really enjoyed it and smoke it once or twice per week after lunch and sometimes on the weekends. It is now one of my favorites.

I've noticed this tobacco is sometimes hard to find. CAO imports this from Germany and after searching all over the internet and local shops, have not found another tin. I did finally find a shop this week that ordered 4 tins for me due in at the end of the month.

If you know German and want to buy 70 Euro's worth of goods, you can order straight from Dan Tobacco in Germany! 🙂

The tins I've received from Dan Tobacco had a very low moisture level. The flakes were easily turning into dust. So I carefully put the containing into my tobacco humidifier. After a couple of days they were ready to smoke.

It packed and light well and it is easy to keep it lit. Burns even and cool offering a quite long smoke. The taste of the true tobacco is present, however it is not enough. Also the sweetness of fine Virginia is not satisfactory. It has a nice dosage of nicotine.

This is a fine all day tobacco. But not enough to satisfy a fastidious Virginia smoker.

I stopped in to my local tobacco shop to pick up a new pipe and decided to buy a tin as well. I have a fanny pack that I use to carry around all my smoking stuff and wanted a small reusable tin to refill with my bulk tobaccos. I liked the ship on this tin and the fact that it's pretty small, small enough to fit in my pack, and the fact that it had a screw top on it. It was a bit beat up on the shelf, only two cans left, so I picked one up and asked the shop owner what was in it. He replied, 'Tobacco of course'. Not what I wanted to hear LOL, he had to go in back and look it up. 'Pure Virginia with no casing' he said, so I decided to try it, my first ever pure virginia. I popped the tin right in the shop and smelled it, WOW it was amazing. The shop owner pulled out a little and showed me how to rub it out, I guess he assumed I was new to this LOL. About an hour later I drove up to a nice spot on the nature trail and hunkered down by a small stream under a cottonwood tree next to the ducks and squirrels and tried this out in my new bowl. The taste and smell was just wonderful, and it packed a punch (nicotine) that surprised me for a straight virginia. Several hours later I didn't smell like smoke, but rather had a sweet smell and aftertaste, not at all like the english blends I am used to. Man I love this stuff! If only I could find it in bulk....Hmmmmmm.

I love the tin artistry of this one and upon opening it I was greeted with a very sweet, fresh and somewhat musty fragrance. The flakes are on the thin side and they are a little wetter than I like. Rolled up in my Verona Rustica bent apple well enough and after a few lights, it burned well and the first taste was delicious. As I smoked it down the bowl, the taste went from a sweet VA to a strong and musty flavor. Not that this is bad, but I would rather had better balance. I did notice that the blend becomes stronger the more it was smoked and towards the end, it was very strong with just a little tongue bite. This one has to be sipped.

I did enjoy this blend and it burned down to a no dottle, dry dark grey ash which is a big plus. My tin was rather new and I think this blend will do much better with age. I think it would smooth the edges and will become a rich creamy smoke. I cannot give it four stars as I think there are better blends of this type out there, such as Irish Flake.

Edit-I was given another tin of this with about a year one it and I really think my first tin was another blend in the wrong tin. This blend does not bite and it is simply delicious and a great example of a VA. It is sweet, with the haylike taste and arom of a good VA and burns sweet all the way down. Of course a years time makes a lot of difference in a VA blend. I think with age on it, this blend becomes a really great blend.

first: THIS IS NOT AIR CURED BUT FLUE CURED!!!!

and the review:

tin aroma is pretty nice and clean, without being in the same league as bbf or escudo.

a bit too dry in the tin. might explain the lack of fermentational notes? lights easily, of course. very mild, woodsy/vanilla-ish flavour, with only the faintest whiff of berries. slightly sweet. the vanilla notes just might be an added flavour.

burns well, of course. relights add a bit of strength to the taste without being unpleasant in any way.

i think this one will be absolutely splendid for aging in jars if humidified a bit, but when new it lacks some depth.

baking it helps a lot, too.

Nice size of tin and cut of flake, a little on the dry side but rubs out well and you just know it will burn the same.

Once lit, which is very easy, I get a sudden burst of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce !!! Meaty Beefy flavour, this now settles down to a "rich to medium" flavour, subtle, not overpowering, most certainly interesting, which in itself is a releif as I've just bought three tins based on the reviewers below !!!

This tobacco makes me tend to think on the lines of Marlin flake, but only on those lines, the Veermaster makes a mark of it's own with a sort of sweet and sour taste, but never bitter. Requiring minimum of attention and burning down to a fine ash, no dottle, no waste and a pleasant aftertaste.

A tobacco I could smoke in the late afternoon to early evening, this is not a tobacco that requires a full stomach, on the contrary, I could smoke this as an apertife before a good dinner as this never leaves me with a full or bloated feeling.

Final thoughts, I will smoke the three tins I have and decide then to replace them or not. An excellent quality virginia, have a tin around, yes. Rush out to buy, no. Therefore only three stars

What a delight! No bite and a very neutral and natural taste, which I appreciate. To me, this is a well-above-average straight Virginia blend.

I see the similarities with Orlik Golden Slices that some reviewers mention. I concur, but I prefer Veermaster.

This is a nice VA flake with natural taste and good burning properties. A tobacco for long enjoyment!

First off let me start by saying that when I review a cigar or tobacco I don?t go as deep as ?tasted nutty? or ?had a leathery finish?. Maybe my palate isn?t as sensitive or refined as others but I have yet to taste ?leather? in anything I smoke. In fact I?m not sure I want to. If I wanted to taste leather I?d go lick my couch. My reviews are always my gut feeling of what I thought.

With that being said I have to admit, at the risk of angering some, that Dan tobacco?s is just about last on my favorite blendes list HOWEVER in their defense I have only tried a handful of their blends. Veermaster on the other hand has me take a second look. I received a tin of this as a trade with an online buddy. When I saw ?Made by Dan Tobacco? on the label I thought, here we go again, however upon opening the tin I was greeted by a wonderful ?clean natural? tobacco smell. This sparked my interest but I have enjoyed the tin smell of many blends before just to be disappointed by the results. This was not the case here. This is an extremely mild Virginian blend which in itself will make any seasoned smoker say ?did he use the words Virginian blend and extremely mild in the same sentence?? Both very mild and clean burning I would highly recommend this blend to any new pipe smoker making the transition from aromatics to Virginians. I experienced no ?Virginian bite? like most have and no mater how calmly or aggressively I puffed away it remained very cool and enjoyable. I also feel that this would be a great blend to break in new pipes with due to the neutral flavor and clean burning characteristics. Good job on this one guys?