Dan Tobacco Hamborger Veermaster

I used to like this flake but that was before I tried superior and much versatile VA offerings. My review based on the most recent tin I purchased (and probably will be the last). Right out of the tin, Hamborger Veermaster looks very nice, just like every other flake manufactured by DTM. I prefer it broken, so I rub a little, and it dismantles nicely. However, it's not the easiest to catch flame. Definitely needs more than a couple matches to start going, but once lit it smokes slow & steady without getting hot. Though I get cigarette taste at first third, through the second half there's this dried plum-like sour taste and funky scent to it, very similar to earthy fermented Sumatra coffees, which I hardly tolerate.

Hamborger Veermaster: Meh for a Straight Virginia Flake

The flake is a good mixture of bright and dark-brown Virginia varieties. The smoke is pleasantly grassy and a little sweet. However, the smoke lacks body and fails to keep my interest. There is nothing inherently wrong about this flake, but nothing helps it stand out in a sea—or harbor—of solid Virginia flakes.

Pungent and "winous". Dark and red VA with quite alot of perique. I find this one very similar to Murray's version of Dunhill's Elizabethan (although inferior to), and quite reminiscent of nowadays version of Three Nuns by Orlik (but way better).

At first light, kind of sweet VA, but then perique rears its head, and Hamborger goes peppery and strong!

Quality! Indeed quality, but too much perique for me.

If you fancy Three Nuns, this might ring your bell: It is superior quality-wise.

If you fancy Elizabethan (Murray era): whiffs of ghostly memories will sometimes appear.

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Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

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This is a nice clean, light tasting VA, which I might suggest for those who want to sit in the quiet and really think about what is burning in their bowl. I don't get to do that often enough. Most of my pipe smoking is on the road, and not in a comfy chair by the fire. It doesn't bite, the moisture is on the border in the tin. It could stand a TINY bit of drying for most folks. I just pack up a flake or two after a little bit of crumbling, not rubbing to ribbons, and DGT it. Smokes clean and dry, but not as potent in the flavor or nic department as I would like. I might revisit it in the near future, but there are other unopened tins in the cellar which are calling to me.

Unflavoured straight Virginia? Not at all.

This blend is described as a straight Virginia without any added flavour on the Dan Tobacco website but I'm pretty sure it is flavoured. I'm smoking this tobacco in the context of a straight-Virginia-only rotation, including GL Pease's Union Square, Gawith's Full Virginia Flake, Gawith's Bright CR Flake, Peterson's Flake, Amphora's Virginia and Mac Baren's HH Pure Virginia. The blend from Dan's is the only one with a fruity smell strongly reminding me of other aromatics, such as Amphora Black Cavendish, Dan's Blue Note and Mac Baren's Black Ambrosia. It's dried red fruits with a hint of vanilla. It's more subtle, but it's noticeable and it lasts until the last puff. Under the topping, there is some hay and figs from the Virginias, but it's difficult to concentrate on the natural flavour with a fruity casing/topping/whatever on top of it. A bit harsh, it needs drying, and it definitely needs more than 2 matches to start burning. It gets a bit bitter at the end.

Recommended if you like aros.

Here's another plain virginia flake from Dan Pipe's seemingly endless supply of plain virginia flakes.

It's not awful, oh no, on the contrary. It's a good sound blend with an interesting tin aroma, with all the good qualities you'd expect from Dan Pipes auspicious cellars in Lauenberg.

But it's just so boring. There's nothing here that sets it apart from the others in this field, like Bjarne's flake, for example. It just fades from the memory like a Spurs academy player that didn't quite make it.

It's just one of those blends that sit in the back of your tobacco cabinet getting dryer and dryer as the seasons pass with nothing to commend it or to detract from it. It seems to be quite highly rated in here, and I don't really see why. There's no taste, no aroma, no redeeming qualities of any kind other than the fact that it isn't horrid.

It is fair mixture which burns very well although it is quite dry when tin is opened. Anyway, for pure Virginia blend it is surprisingly good for smoking.

Based on the previous reviews I was hoping for a mellow Virginia to relax with. What I tasted was a shallow Va. with too little going on, to keep me interested. I agree with those who say this is a mellower version of Orlik's Golden Slices. I do not demand robust flavors from my Va. tobaccos, but I want a certain heft and general feel that I am smoking something of substance. Hamborger Veermaster fails to keep my palette satisfied.

I have to say right up front that I really wanted to like this tobacco. Everything I've heard was very positive. Many people claim Hamborger Veermaster to be one of their favorite Virginia tobaccos. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same.

Upon opening the tin the aroma of Hamborger Veermaster is wonderful, very figgy, like fruitcake, with a background hint of chocolate. Very enticing. The flakes were moister than I like, but after a day of the tin being left open, they were perfect for my liking. The flakes did not lift out of the tin uniformly, so I treated the tobacco as a broken flake, roughly rubbing them out, and loading the bowl with small "chunks." I rubbed out a little bit very thoroughly as tinder for the top.

The tobacco lit easily, and the flavor of the top 1/4 of the pipe was terrific. Very sweet and flavorful. However, I found that as I smoked further into the bowl the tobacco changed flavor and became very cigar-like. The sweetness departed, and I never got the rich depth of Virginia flavor that I look forward to when I smoke Virginias. I can say without ambiguity that I did not enjoy the second half of the pipes I smoked of Hamborger Veermaster. I tried a variety of pipes dedicated to Virginias, from a Bosi with a tapered tobacco chamber, to a small Connoisseur I use for flakes, a small bowled Stanwell bamboo, Ferndown bulldog, a couple different McCranie pipes (made by Tonino Jacono) and a large Pipa Croci. I found that the sweet Virginia flavor lasted longest in a wide-bowled McCranie pot/chubby billiard and the Ferndown. Perhaps this tobacco needs a broad bowl to achieve it's best flavor.

I should add my tin is 2+ years old, and I experienced no tongue bite whatsoever. I did find the end of the pipe, especially in tapered bowls, to have a bit of a nicotene punch. Not a lot, but noticeable.