Butera Dark Stoved

I am not the biggest fan of Dark Stoved Virginia's but I do enjoy a bowl here or there such as Dark Star, the preparation, difficulty in rubbing out and drying time usually outweighs the delicious flavor for me (YMMV) and I usually prefer the brightness of orange, red and lemon leaf. Very mild in nicotine and as usual with Butera and McClelland, wonderful leaf is used. I am giving it 3 stars as I believe Stoved VIrginia lovers will enjoy DS immensely and I do recommend it but for me it's really a 2 and a half star blend just as a personal preference. Va's stoved this much can be a hot air and tasteless experience but DS does at times have a tasty sweet and sour tangy flavor that when in the zone can be very enjoyable.

Jet black broken flakes with an aroma of dried citrus peel and something musty. Mushroom perhaps, damp earth...something in that spectrum. The flakes are quite moist, a little greasy almost, and tough.

This is not an easy tobacco. It lights well enough but then burns at a smoulder, always on the brink of extinction. At times it gets a full burn with lovely plumes of smoke, but this is a false hope, and the tobacco soon returns to its minimal burn.

At first light the virginia origins are clear as a bell, with vibrant lemon scents. This never abates. But five or ten minute into the smoke there is a dramatic shift and smoky, mushroom notes emerge.

This tobacco is both sweet and sour. There is some pepper on the tongue. It burns just on the acceptable side of hot and produces some wetness.

This is not a tobacco for tyros and I believe to get the best of this baccy one will need to be really on one's game. One of the few tobaccos I have had that did better in briar than clay.

Dark Stoved is mild but interesting stuff. It's a black broken flake with a few little lighter strands evident when it gets rubbed out. The tin aroma combines the familiar high-toned sourness of a McClelland Virginia with some very appealing Christmas cake scents—dried fruits, spiced plums, that kind of thing. I'm a sucker for those nostalgia-inducing smells, by the way, so whatever positive comments emerge from this review may be have been twisted out of me by that collection of aromas.

When Dark Stoved is good, it's very good. The tin aromas come through nicely in the smoke and I'm reminded of plum pudding with brandy-spiked hard sauce. That's a pretty impressive aromatic complex for a tobacco that claims to be pure, stoved Virginia.

But this is also a fussy tobacco. The first bowl I smoked wasn't dry enough and I was left with a hot, tasteless smoke that almost had me throwing in the towel. Slower smoking and proper drying are essential for all Virginias, but I think Dark Stoved could act as the yardstick for that advice. Throw this at a new smoker interested in Virginias and tell him to come back when he's getting nice smokes from it. I completely understand those reviewers who complain that this is nothing but hot air or that it's tasteless. I had a few smokes that confirmed those comments.

But I've also had some very nice smokes, especially toward the bottom of the tin I jarred up a couple of years ago. Consistency is important, of course. But I'm going to rate this based on the best bowls it gave me, not on the worst.

Strange blend. First - it is black like a devil. Second - it smells like spoiled fruit jam. Third - it is sticky and far too humid. Directly from the tin it is unsmokable, because of its humidity. It needs at least one day of drying in room temperature. Through this process, this tobacco fills the room with its mysterious aroma, easy to confuse with smell of rotten apples. When more or less dry, it is easier to smoke, but still difficult to fill the pipe, because previously too wet flakes now are, well, too hard. It is certainly not EASY tobacco. Generally, I consider this blend rather strange than pleasant. Butera or not, it is most McClelland's blend, which I've ever tried. If somebody like fruit vinegar in big quantities, it is his choice. I am not fully convinced.

I found this tobacco tasteless. I expected some rich sweet and spicy flavors from this stoved tobacco. But it could not satisfy my needs. It is stoved too much! I don't know how to finish this little tin as I hate to throw away tobaccos.

This is a nice stoved Virginia. A little nicer than 5105 but not perfect. It is good enough that I keep a tin of it around all the time. It is nice outside in the winter. It has a nice sweetness to it. And an unusual dryness to it as well.

Emmbee's review came in a week too late for me. Being a fan of Dark Star and 2035, I looked forward to a change of pace.

How the makers of the excellent blends above can create, much less market Dark Stoved is beyond me.

Avoid this blend at all costs. Just awful.

Butera?s Royal Vintage Dark Stoved tobacco is the product of a collaboration between pipe carver Michael Butera and the McClelland Tobacco Company.

The initial tin aroma has an acidic characteristic that is a good indication that this blend was indeed produced by McClelland. The aroma in itself is dark and tangy with a spicy background. This blend is simply a deeply stoved lemon Virginia leaf. The basic color of this tobacco is dark with lighter shades distributed randomly throughout. The tobacco contains a fairly large amount of sugar crystals.

The cut of Dark Stoved is a rather ragged medium-thick flake cut. Dark Stoved tends to rub out easier than its flake counterparts such as Dark Star. No real tearing is needed. The initial moisture is medium-high and removal of some of this moisture improves the qualities of the smoke.

If dried properly, Royal Vintage Dark Stoved lights fairly well and has a slow, consistent, and mostly complete burn. The burn spreads quite well. The room note is similar in many respects to the average dark stoved Virginia blend in that it is strong but pleasant.

The taste of Dark Stoved is dark, tangy, and slightly spicy. This flavor becomes less tart, sweeter, and creamier as the smoke progresses. The bite can be considerable but if the flakes are brought to the correct moisture level, and the blend is smoked slow and smoothly, than the bite can be minimized a good deal. The smoke given off is smooth and medium thick.

Butera?s Royal Vintage Dark Stoved is very similar to McClelland?s Dark Star although it seems slightly less refined and not as complex in flavor. Dark Stoved is of a high quality tobacco and is a pleasant rendition of a stoved Virginia blend.

Well, well, you can't even remotely think that this isn't a McClelland, from the tin shape to the smell after opening (dried plums with some of that "vinegary" trace). This one is very similar to Dark Star, but a bit less dark and leathery, more chocolatey. The slices of flake rub out quite easily, and exhibit some moisture (nothing to worry about, though). Taste is quite consistent from beginning to end: a subtle, dark, slightly fruity experience which requires calm and patience. First, not to be scorched, but also to appreciate all the nuances: it is not a very strong blend (neither taste-wise nor nicotine-wise). To my taste is similar to a cross between Dark Star and Orlick Dark Strong Kentucky. Towards the end some very pleasant chocolate notes start to become more and more evident. A very fine tobacco, ideal for an evening smoke: a group 5 bowl of this can last me 75-80 minutes.