Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake

Tin note is fantastic, quite chocolatey with some dark fruit and fresh baked bread. I keep a 1oz jar on my desk just to open it up and take a whiff, I love the smell. Flavourwise it is a decent virginia, maybe a light topping added. I taste some bread, some straw, some grass, some honey, bit of citrus, a light woodiness and, surprisingly, just a barely discernable smidge of chocolate. No.400 doesn't quite live up to its scrumptious tin note, unfortunately. It can get noticeably hot and steamy on the tongue, it’s thin in the flavour department, kinda boring and bland compared to the contemporaries, but that takes little away from this cut as a whole. It burns slow and is consisent in every facet. I haven't tried yet, but I'd guess this one would age well. Decent price. Easy to work with. Good moisture level. Not the best smoke ever, but still good for a fresh virginia. There's a classic old school quality to it, like a Buddy Holly tune. Very much a Peggy Sue; great tune, but just short of the pinnacle of rock n roll. With a bit of age, this may become a love that will never fade away. I'd recommend, but it's rather average and immature. We'll see what time does to it. Somewhere between 2.5 - 3. Happy New Year pipers!

as a native of Virginia, I have smoked a lot of Virginia leaf tobacco. although we don't grow much these days. this is one of the best straight Virginias you will find. sourced from different places on the map. the price is good, and the smoke is great. its smooth, burns clean, taste like fresh bread with a tinge of citrus and sweetness of a light honey. the note is typical of the blend. i like my Balkan/English blends but this one is right there in rotation when I want a break from the heavy weight. rub it out let it rest for 10 minutes or so and sip it. don't rush because she will get you. Age it for at least six months for a new experience.

It's a simple, mild, straight forward Virginia flake at an amazing price point. It reminds me of a chewy sour dough, and the room note has notes of bread and toast. Burns really well. Love it.

This is good tobacco.

Flakes came a very large size. Smell is of a brown virginia. Taste is fairly natural and somewhat spicy, as if it contained a bit of perique, once you get used to it becomes a very comfortable bready smoke. Fairly unique although a bit unidimensional. Recommended to those looking for a different virginia experience although I'll stay with capstan wich tastes more natural hay to me.

Three solid stars.

This is a must try if you are a Virginia smoker. Falls somewhere between FVF and OGS. Bag note is very sweet with toasted cereal and honey notes. Has some hay and citrus notes as well. The bag note is exactly what you get during the smoke. There is something about this that gives it a slightly unique taste that I havn't found in any other straight Virginia but I cant put my finger on it. I am very excited to see how this ages but it is excellent fresh and has found its way very quickly into my normal rotation. Definitely a must try for any Virginia smoker and especially if you like Orlik Golden Sliced.

I guess I am a cheap date, this one really did it for me. I really enjoy it during weather minus humidity. There is another pound on the way.

I've had this before in the past. A lot of not-good things were going on back then so I never took the time with this one and somehow lost my sample. I do remember I wasn't too impressed with it. So I decided to get 4 oz and give it another shot.

This stuff is cased with an obvious maple sugar casing. I cant smell the Virginia's because of the casing. But it's not offensive at all. It's a little wet but didnt find it needed any drying time.

From beginning to end it's a consistent dark profile of maple sweetness, bread, nuttiness, a mild creaminess, slight woody notes, and just a very almost unnoticeable amount of spice. The dark sweetness does build some as you go down the bowl but only by a notch or two. The body starts off on the very low end of medium and builds up to the high end at the last 1/3 of the bowl. Have to relight more often than normal but that's not an issue. No tongue bite and very smooth.

A very nice flake that has a aged quality to it. This is in the realm of your darker, earthier side of Virginia's. Comparable to Dunhil Dark Flake, and Robert McConnell Black Flake, but without perique. Very mature and tame. It may get better with age but its excellent fresh.

Only draw back is the casing does seem to get in the way of the Virginia's.

Updated 4-4-20

I'm dropping this to 1 star. No matter what I try, the casing/topping just gets in the way too much.

Newminster 400, Superior Navy Flake, is a great starting point for those looking to dabble in straight Virginias. It’s all-day tasty, mild to medium in flavor, mild in strength.

And, if you’re interested in dipping your toe into the pool of tobacco aging, I can’t think of a better starting point. You can get a pound for the price of 2-3 tins. Pretty much every smoker can find a way to throw a pound of this into some mason jars.

Then, in a year or two, you’ll have something even better than you started with.

You can do the same with Sutliff Virginia Slices or any of three Stokkebye Virginia-centric flakes. Or, better yet, all of the above.

For my taste, Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake probably benefits more from the aging, because I find new stock barely tolerable. But I put SNF at the top of my list of bulk Virginias, because it’s so doggone good fresh.

When I was trying to decide which bulk Virginia offering I would buy a pound of first for aging, I’d narrowed it down to this blend and Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake. I then spent about a week testing the two, smoking little else.

I came to the conclusion that, while they’re both relatively similar in flavor profile (to me), the Newminster flake had a little bit more of it. Flavor, that is.

Luxury Navy Flake is perfectly fine (although I don’t detect any of the alleged perique in the flake), but Superior Navy Flake is, well, superior.

And it’s not just better than other bulk Virginia flakes. I’d rate it well above Cornell and Diehl’s highly regarded Opening Night, which is downright pedestrian compared with SNF. It’s also better than Orlik Golden Sliced. Even (to me) better than GLP Union Square, which is a total plain jane of Virginias.

As a side note: I don’t have the best palate in the world, but this seems awfully close to Samuel Gawith Best Brown in my book.

Bag note: 4/5 Sweet Bread pastry Rum raisin

Cut and Pack: 5/5 Loose, long, thin, flake Perfect for fold and stuff Right moisture content from P&C If you’re new to flakes this one is not as cumbersome as your typical presentation.

Taste: 4/5 Compared to the bag note, you get that lightly sweet bread, but no raisin. Then on the back half of the palette there’s a nice Honey and vanilla sweetness. Very mild and delicate smoke but gives you enough to keep you interested throughout.

The strength of this blend is that it’s so impressionable and delicate a flavor that your drink pairing will really bring out different elements of the smoke. Ginger ale, black tea, coffee with cream will all enhance and elevate certain subtleties of the blend. And for that reason I would recommend the blend.

Would highly recommend as a first time straight VA Doesn’t bite, isn’t harsh on the retrohale, burns and behaves well. Would highly recommend for experienced smokers as well as it demands a slow smoke because the flavor is so subtle. It’s a lot like Japanese sake; you can’t pound the stuff because when you do it’s really underwhelming. It has a natural sweetness and subtle strength. Requires gentle lighting and puffing.

If I had to compare this to a food item it might be macaroons. It’s more about the subtle sweetness and the big picture of the individual elements working together as a unit. It’s not a flavor bomb. But sometimes that’s just what you need.