Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug

Definitely one of the top Virginias in the market, along with Old Gowrie, FVF, and a couple more. Sweet, complex, hayish... Everything you expect from a great Virginia, and then some.

Came to stay in my regular rotation.

A great Virginia flake, very rich in taste, smooth and never bitey.

It burns well (either rubbed out or in larger chunks), slow and regular and requiring few relightings.

It has all the flavour you can wish from a flake: dried plums, apricots, a wonderful sweetness with some tart notes here and there. Never too strong, or getting bitter towards the bottom of the bowl.

Excellent.

superb. Just superb. Its an interesting blend because while there is a bit of casing....it is very very very mild and adds just the right amount of added depth. Its perfectly blended. F&T are underrated I think. Vintage flake is similar but without any casing. The added flavor is likely apricot and something else...citrus perhaps. It might remind some of Royal yacht in that sense. Its close, though, to Special Brown flake only apricot and not rum. Its absolutely a joy to smoke. Cool,slow, no bite ever.

If I was on a remote island with plenty of pipes but could only take one tobacco , this would be the one . This is usually my first smoke of the day . The folded flake is easy to pack and burns well down to a white ash . The tin note leaves one aroused for the smoke to follow . The taste is pure Virginia with really slight overtones of a light topping . I don't find it at all spicy . Although F & T's Vintage runs it a close second this is still the one . I also enjoy the cut blended plug but never as much . This is best smoked in a small , group 3 sized pipe . It needs to b lit only once and should be puffed slowly to enjoy the subtle treat within .

CVP is a delicious Virginia flake, a reference standard for leaf and smoking qualities among flakes with a bright flavor profile. From the tin note and taste I am not sure that the evident citrus and subtle fruit notes are not wholly from the leaf varieties selected. I’ve never perceived vanilla in the tin note, the mouth, or room note. This flake ages well, which is a good thing as it is nearly as hard to source as Esoterica mixtures. Too, it is relatively expensive, but worth every penny.

This is probably the best Virginia flake that I've ever smoked and I've had a few. Grassy, light, sweet, and flavorful, this blend is a marvel. It does have a sweet topping, but it is very light and really just highlights the sweetness of the Virginias used. Is it Vanilla? I dunno, maybe. It's sweet, but most of this is natural sweetness and not the cloying sweetness of other tobaccos.

I have seen that others have said that citrus flavor is a topping, but I feel that citrus overtones are just a characteristic of the light Virginias present. From my experience, light Virginias have a grassy, hay-ish, and citrusy flavor to them and this one definitely fits the criteria in that way. I used the fold and stuff method almost exclusively when smoking this, as I find that fold and stuff burns cooler and produces a more flavorful smoke. Usually, something like this would be to mild for my tastes, but when I'm in the mood for a Virginia, this is the one.

With summer fast approaching, I think I'll buy a couple more tins in preparation, as I think this will be an excellent choice for warm-weather piping. This could just be the one summer flake that I'll want. Don't get me wrong, I'll still have the Blackwoods Flake around for the Mississippi summer heat, but this one will definitely be a staple.

I had last smoked this some six years ago while on a fellowship in Oxford, and had liked it immensely. It, along with Balkan Sobranie, was consolation during a bitterly cold and solitary winter. CVP used to come in a tin roughly the size of a MacBaren Navy Flake tin. The new tin is squarer and thinner, and the tobacco is not anymore made in the UK but in Germany. Since transplanting of manufacturing proccesses does not always succeed I opened the tin with some apprehension.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. Memories of taste and smell give more than the usual hostages to fortune, but I am convinced that the present incarnation is even better than the original! It ranks with Old Gowrie and Light Flake as among the finest. Now that the latter is reported to be discontinued, there is even more reason to search for stockists of Cut Virginia Plug.

Pouch Aroma: OK, this is nice. It's simple, understated and ever-so-slightly sweet. It's slightly herbal smelling, like walking through a meadow in early fall, and promises to be a subtle smoke.

Appearance: This is pretty! Seven flakes stacked on top of one another in a roughly 1-1/4" by 3" pile. The colors vary from bright yellow (20%), orange-red (60%), dark brown (10%) and black (10%), and the flakes are well-pressed and the colors evenly distributed.

Packing and Lighting: I've picked out an Upshall Lovat, a big ol' stacked pipe with lots of wood that always delivers a cool smoke. Rubbing a couple of flakes out fills the bowl almost to the rim. The first light is VERY smooth and lightly sweet and the smoke is creamy and rich with just a hint of spiciness on my tongue. A relight isn't really necessary as the whole top lit on the first try, but out of habit I tamped lightly to smooth the ash and made a quick pass with the flame.

Exposition: Once the burn is settled in, I'm realizing what I like most about this tobacco - both the flavor and aroma are pure tobacco. I get nothing fruity, nor overtly spicy or exotic; it's a very simple Virginia taste, woody, slightly sweet and very well balanced. It vaguely reminds me of many different smokes I've had, but seems to be lacking a bit in complexity. I like the flavor, I just hope it picks up some more interesting nuances as the bowl progresses...

The Story: I stopped to make lunch for myself and my little one and laid the pipe aside for a half hour or so, and the relight flavor is almost identical to what it was before. Odd indeed. Ok, the sweetness has dropped a notch, but that's it. It's still a pleasant smoke, but I'd be more likely to enjoy it at work where I'm busy helping customers than I am now when I'm searching for subtleties that just aren't there.

A little further along, and about the 2/3 mark, the flavor is picking up some spicy pepper flavors and the sweetness is peeking back out, reminding me of dried figs and dark honey. The aroma is still pure tobacco with a slightly sweet woodsy essence, and a nutty but leathery aroma coming off of the bowl. That's more like it! I still don't find it to be all that compelling, but it most certainly isn't BAD. One thing I can't fault is the burning properties: it lit easily and is burning evenly with very little moisture and very fluffy ashes that show complete combustion.

Denouement: Down at the very bottom of the bowl the flavor is still mostly unchanged. It's gotten a little bit spicy and the sweetness has become darker and richer but that's all. It still tastes good even in the bottom of a tall narrow bowl, which is quite a feat. It doesn't stay lit quite as easily as before, but that's understandable in a bowl this deep.

Pros: It's one of the easiest flakes I've ever smoked and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a beginner as it has a lot of the typical VA flavors without being as difficult to smoke as many others are. It tastes and smells quite natural with no top dressings or added flavors that I can detect and would also be a good all-day smoke.

Cons: It's quite a bit too mild and straightforward for my taste; I like my tobacco to be heavy, complex or both and this, unfortunately, is neither.

A quality golden Virginia that deserves the praises by so many pipe smokers. Nice smell off the tin, an easy to smoke and flavorful Virginia flake.

The hay flavor nicely intertwines with the very light citrus/vanilla topping from the beginning and as the smoke progresses, becomes slightly earthy with light dark fruit accents.

The only downside is that it's hard to get on the North American continent.

Virginia lover