Rattray Black Virginia

Rattray - Black Virginia.

This confused me a bit, I'd expected a gloopy, sweet, sticky, beginners blend, but there's more to it than that.

The colour of it's not what I expected, it's not black at all, it's dark brown with a few medium brown pieces. The ribbons are a little coarse, and they're of a good hydration.

I could see this appealing to many different kinds of smoker. Unlike a lot of pure Black Cavendish', there's more to this than just a vanilla flavour. For the first part of the bowl the extra flavour's a very mild sweetness, and to be fair this stays quite consistent in it's strength. When the initial quarter's burned, that's when I begin to sense a slight anisette/herb quality- it's this that separates it from the usual Black Cav's. The temperature of the smoke can be a bit more than the usual 'ice-cold' BC blends: it's not hot, but a little more than medium. The nicotine's also more than the status quo: not strong, but definitely more than mild.

So, that's the better points, and here's a low point: after smoking a bowl I'm left with a taste in my mouth like wet tarmac/asphalt: this reduces the rating.

I'd give this three stars if it weren't for the aftertaste. It doesn't warrant only one star, but it can't have any more than two:

Somewhat recommended.

A decent, sweet and caramelized stoved Virginia (it IS black!) in rubbed out form, but I think that Dark Star and Butera Dark Stoved have a richer and more complex taste, not too mention that they burn better, slower and more regularly. In particular I noticed that this tobacco, like many Rattrays, is full of humectants, which generates quite a bit of wetness and makes frequent relights needed. Even if you let the tin dry for a month, you will still have some combustion problems... unless you puff like mad, in which case you will scorch your pipe, fry your tongue and get absolutely no flavor from it.

Black stoved virginia ribbon with considerable casing. Like many dark stoved tobaccos it's monochromatic in character, fig-fruity, tangy and sweet but in this case too much casing makes it a bit cloying. I think it would be a better product if K&K would throttle back on it. Mild and hardly sharp acidic wise for being an all virginia tobacco. It is described on some sites as a European style black cavendish but it is not in line for blending with orientals being so fruity and sweet. Other brand's dark stoved flakes would be superior choice over this tobacco for that characteristic dark stoved virginia flavor in mind but since McClelland folded, the options are much more limited. Perhaps buy this when the better options are out of stock.

BV has been the latest (and previously unattempted) trip to Rattray's Va's dept.

At the opening of the lid I realized right away that this almost black stoved Va shares the most with Rattray's Dark Fragrant, having the latter just a smidgen of Perique and maybe a bit pronounced casing.

The contents of my 100grms tin was not moist, I found the tobacco just ready to smoke and - differently from other esteemed reviewer - I haven't faced any kind of efforts, nor steam and hot pipe.

I have basically appreciated BV, giving an easy (non complex) smoke with the lightest hint of fruity sweetness. I see BV as a no-nonsense tobacco, perfectly fitting its intended task for those moments one looks for a mild Va smoke.

Regarding myself, I could easily rate it *** (the same to DF and McC's Maduro) if they just had a wee bit more body.

This tobacco is 100% pure black cavendish and it is only virginia tobacco. In fact it is not straight Virginia, but straight Black Cavendish. Jet black in color, it is a natural aromatic and the taste is so and so, quite good but not excellent. No flavors added, only a sugar addition. You can consider it a pure natural black cavendish, lightly aromatic. Really I am not convinced about it (the taste is mediocre) and in my personal rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 6 and two stars.

Rattrays Black VA…. Mild in strength but has some noticeable VA flavors. As others have mentioned this stuff is a real pain to keep lit, when smoked straight from the freshly opened tin, and I agree that considerable drying Is just about mandatory to somewhat correct this problem, not to mention this drying also does IMO wonders in BV's flavor department, smoothing out some of its sharpness. My 100 gram tin will probably last me for some time, because this profile is not my favorite. But seeing how it does seem to blend well with just about anything, I can see the rest of my tin being used for that purpose.

Bottom line; I would recommend this blend only to those that love VA's enough to go through all the annoying relights and added drying fuss.

This is a good VA Cavendish that can be smoked either stand alone or as others have mentioned,a somewhat expensive mixer. Very mild, very soft flavors of plums and its a slightly sweet, making this an extreme example of mild VA Cavendish. An all dayer, this is a good smoke for the summer. Not heavy nor gloopy, just a clean mild smoke. She Who Must Be Obeyed has stated this is "not offensive, but really not much aroma at all." I was expecting more VA and less steam/stove/cavendish and for it to carry over into this. No such luck. Feel like this couldve been accomplished in a far less expensive arrangement. I will celler the remainder. For another day...

This is an expensive blending tobacco— that's all I can see this as. It's a Virginia-based unsweetened Cavendish that will bore you to death. I wouldn't give it one star because that rating really belongs to most of the 'blends' produced by Altadis and Tinderbox. The taste is not terrible, it's just that there is nothing going on— an extremely mild caramel taste is the only thing present.

It really is dead black, quite sweet in aroma, smelling like raisins more than tobacco. A bit moist, and hard to light, even after drying it. The flavor is not as full as Dark Fragrant to my taste, so I will stick to DF in the future.