Rattray Black Virginia

Upon opening the tin you will be greeted by the smell of tobacco, brown bread and a faint smell of molasse which grows stronger over the course of the tin. It is a very delectable smell and i often found myself just sitting there and smelling the tin. However, the smell is on the discreet side.

Its cut is more or less unique - think black tea, thats exactly how this tobacco looks like. The moisture was right and does not dissipate no matter how long you will need for finishing the tin. Whatever they use as humidifier *really* does its job.

Packing is easy as can be, even for the beginner. But as has been mentioned so often times, lighting can be a real hassle if you don't let the tobacco air out a bit. For me it worked just fine, when i let a tiny portion of the tobacco dry out and put it as a top layer in the already packed pipe.

Burning properties are excellent. Very smooth, very, very slow burning, almost like a flake and leaving only some fine ashes behind. Tongue bite is not really an issue but if you smoke it too hot it will bite you.

I do *not* agree that this tobacco is a hassle to be kept lit or that you have to relight often times, as many other reviewers stated. Guys, you just need to use your tamper and everything is fine and dandy. If you do not know how and when to use your tamper then yes, you will need *lots* of matches, no doubt. This, in my eyes, is maybe even another plus for the beginner, after a 100g tin you will have your tamping down i guess, or given up frustrated ;o)

Taste is mild and yes, it is monochromatic, does not develop at all over the course of a bowl and does not offer any depths do be found. But it tastes so, so well. Its very delectable and in its mildness a good trainer for your palette. It mainly tastes as the tin smells, brown bread, molasse, raisins and its sweet, really sweet. And in my opinion neither boring nor shallow, its just mild and elegant in every way. But keep in mind that sucking for flavour can be a real problem with this blend. Also it is not for the filter smoker.

You may forgive me if i say that i can imagine that this blend would have been sold as a women's blend in 1903. I really mean that in a positive way.

The room note is most delicate and incredibly delicious, it really is a treat even for the non smoker. I rarely find a tobacco that smells that good in the air and at the same time is that discreet. Aftertaste is just sweet. Take a small pinch of white sugar, let it dissolve in your mouth and then wait two minutes. That's how it tastes after the smoke, and it lasts long too.

This is a blend where i have some problems rating it. I feel it deserves a better rating than i gave for being a unique blend in appearance, taste, smell, mildness, monochromaticness (its not a bad thing in itself if you come to think of it). But at the same time i feel it deserves a worse rating than i gave and for the very same reasons too. So, in the end and seen strictly objectivly, a three star rating is well earned.

Now do i recommend this tobacco? Yes, i do *if* you feel attracted by the things i said about it. Else stay clear from it you most likely just will get bored. I also would like to recommend this blend for the beginner but *only* after you had a sample of it and got the hang of what this tobacco is and what it is not.

A distinguished exemplar of an undistinguished genre.

I approached Black Virginia without any great expectations because of the indifferent press it has recieved, but was pleasantly surprised. Jet black, crisp small shavings of tobacco gave an enticing aroma from the tin. The taste is sweet with a hint of spice. It is no Marlin Flake or Old Gowrie, but nevertheless a pleasant enough smoke. Takes light easily and burns down to a very fine grey ash.

Cavendish tobaccos, by themselves, are a bore but Black Virginia is an exception. It makes a fine first smoke in the morning. It can be smoked through the day, but it can get monotonous. The room note is delectable.

Nice pouch aroma! Whatever it is, it doesn't hold for either the taste or the room aroma when it comes to strength. This is a subtly-flavored stoved virginia with a mild tanginess that is quite enjoyable. As others have mentioned, this needs to be dried out or you'll puff your lips off trying to keep it lit. Dried out, it smokes cool and slow and burns to a fine gray ash. Doesn't change complexity as you go down the bowl. In fact, this is hardly a complex smoke. I'd call it very simple. A tangy virginia flavor that doesn't call much attention to itself.

While I find this a good tobacco and can recommend it, it really doesn't have enough flavor to suit me on a regular basis. I'm going to mix a small amount of blending perique to this and see what happens. Probably a very small batch to start. Still, this is a pleasant light tasting tobacco and is perfect for someone who doesn't want to be overpowered by their tobacco.

I purchased this about 3 years ago when I first took up the pipe, and if I remember correctly that tin had a few years of age on it. Rich and intriguing tin aroma: fruity, earthy and edible. Odd and crisply chunky black leaf that was pliable but not exactly moist, could barely get a char let alone a smoldering coal. Ugh. Tried that once then popped the rest in a stupendous gravity-lid ‘30s moriage tobacco jar (yes, I'm a gear hound) without any humidification at all.

I've remained curious about Black Virginia since then because of its delightful aromatic profile and pulled that jar off the shelf fully expecting the contents to be ruined after so long a time without proper care. The leaf was dry but surprisingly had a bit of spring and still smelled wonderful – some kind of fermentation polymerization during the manufacturing process? Loaded up a large-bowled churchwarden to check it out. STILL a bear to get a coal underway, but managed that. Glad I got nostalgic because BV turned out to be delicious (when smoked like a proper Virginia) and not without complexity. The smell of the smoke coming off the pipe was amazingly fine: sweet, musky and herbal like Tibetan incense. Very flavorful with the aftertaste of a good maduro cigar. Was it the extended aging and drying that allows me to be a rare champion of this stuff?

A dead-black mixture that deserves its name, this is a slightly sweet, tart tobacco that reminds me of McClelland's Dark Star with a little more sugariness. It's a very small, almost cube cut pressed and stoved Virginia that is mild with a flavor that reminds me of raisins without all the sugar. It can be a touch hard to get lit well, but once you get a good burn going it stays lit and smokes cooly.

It's not very complex and lacks strength and is thus not satisfying as a thoughful smoke, but it sits well when I'm up late watching an old movie or reading and want a tobacco that tastes good but isn't distracting.

I would call this Tobacco the "little brother" of Dark Fragrant.

Its look and its taste are closely related with DF, but: it has less taste and strenght and the licorice notes and the piquancy are by far weaker. If DF is a bit "too much" for you, than this should be yours. In contrast to some other reviews I did not have any problems neither to light it up and to keep it lit nor with heat or gurgling - maybe because it was a little bit dry when I received it as a sample?

2-3 stars!

When I was buying my first pipe, I had no idea what I was doing so I grabbed a tin of this because I remember reading that virginias are sweet. This baccy was not very sweet and did not taste too great at the time, but I was happy to start leaning how to smoke a pipe. I soon got a hold of the Lane Limited aeromatics for a local B&M and loved them untill I realized the goopy, low quality nature of these. Now that I knew how to smoke, I returned to my tin of Black Virginia to give it another shot and was rewarded with experience of how good non-aeros can be!

When Black Virginia is opened, the tin note smells just like raisens. As it ages, the tin note is more like hay. When you smell hay is when the baccy is at its best. I allways had a little trouble getting it lit but when it is, the first third of the bowl has a sweet and incredibly tangy taste to it. Such a good virginia taste. But the downfall of Black Virginia is after the first third, the sweet tang is gone and your left with a spicy and kind of burnt of smoke, which is so upseting after the first third was so good. This is probably why it is currently a 2 star baccy.

I still recomend trying it because it is a unique tobacco the sweet tang is so good. Black Virginia turned me into a virginia smoker.

If you like the sweetness of a straight (red) VA or the tanginess of a stoved VA you should give this one a whirl.

There's a great tin aroma reminding me of nothing other than raisins, slightly sticky to the touch and coal black. It looks almost intimidating, but fear not, for this is a VA of little strength and full flavor.

I lay it out on a paper towel for at lest an hour or two before loading the pipe (as this comes quite wet in the can) until the leaves are almost crunchy. Bottom of the bowl gets gravity fed and as the bowl fills, I pack it tighter and tighter to the top. Light it up and get ready for a great smoke. Two cautions: 1) if not allowed to dry considerably, this blend will eat a package of pipe cleaners and not stay lit; 2) if you puff too fast, you'll get a mouth full of flavorless steam and scorch your tounge. (I did each of these once.)

Dry it, puff slowly, enjoy.

Like WxGuy said above, this is one blend from Rattrays that I found to be very inconsistent. My tins have all been extremely wet when opening and take a long while to dry out- compared to other reviewers saying their tins were dry from the start.

An almost all black short ribbon cut, it loads easily and lights hard due to the moisture. If I can, I plan ahead and fill a bowl a few hours before smoking and that usually helps. The tin aroma is mild but very much like raisins. The flavor is sweet and somewhat musty and moisture builds up right from the get-go.

You gotta like these black Virginias to like this stuff. It's not bad, but nothing exceptional. If I were to buy and smoke this type of tobacco all the time, I'd go with McC 2035 in bulk. They all taste the same to me...