Robert McConnell Pure Virginia

Basic brown small ribbon cut with a deep tin aroma of tobacco and tea. I've been working with this for a few months now (surprised that no one else has reviewed it!), mostly as a blender but I also smoked 3 bowls straight.

As a straight smoke, this produces a fairly rich but mellow non-sweet flavor with no discernible complexity and not a ton of character. Pretty basic stuff. This would work in place of OTC blends for a "set it and forget it" smoke. As a blender it did very well, as it was relaxed enough not to get in the way of whatever condiments I added but also because it had some oomph of its own. I found it quite complementary to my amateurish blending experiments. Interestingly, this shown brightest when mixed with toasted burley. The two's mutual toastiness worked together masterfully and the earth of this one mixed with the nuttiness of the burley resulted in a kind of dark wheat nutbread flavor that was compelling. Great fall weather outdoor smoke. Overall, this works as a demure base for other tobaccos - it stays out of the way but does add some body and texture. It was cool mixed with some oriental Drama leaf as well, but a sweeter Virginia mix works better for me. This won't supplant the McClellands Blending Virginia for me but it was a nice change of pace, and I will probably mix up more of the PV/Burley to enjoy on occasion.