Robert McConnell Rich Dark Virginia

Robert McConnell - Rich Dark Virginia.

Reminds me of my favourite evening smoke but without the hassle of preparation, Germain's Rich Dark Flake. Not so sweet, minus the Burley, but not a million miles away! Anyhoo, let's forget that and get to the crux: Rich Dark Virginia.

Preliminarily the blend matches up to the name. It is, indeed, rich and dark; a sweet aroma and practically black in colour! The moisture suits imminent smoking. I wouldn't have wanted this tin languishing for long in my stash, I think the few months was enough without it becoming too dry!

Sweet tasting, bready, with a touch of dark fruit. That encompasses the flavour, for me! It's a proper sit back and 'chill' blend. The burn is A1 from the initial light; steady, independent, reliable, necessitating hardly any maintenance. Tongue bite? Where!! The smoke's quite thick and cool in temperature; very palpable in the mouth!

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: nice.

Rich Dark Virginia? Very tasty and very relaxing. Four stars:

Highly recommended.

This is a very enjoyable smoke. Sweet citrus with hints of darker fruit. Has a bit of tang to it as well. A hide and seek note of bread. Not terribly complex, but complex enough to hold my interest. An easy 4 stars.

Mild to medium in body and taste. I think the casing has been sweetened just a touch. Burns very well straight from the tin.

A dark brown, almost black short ribbon. It has a sweet tin note suggestive of chocolate and molasses and, interestingly, has a very close match to the Christmas pudding and acetic aromas that are a hallmark of McClelland tobaccos.

This is to my mind a very straightforward stoved Va of the highest quality. This seems to be a genre that attracts a lot of hate from contemporary pipe smokers, possibly because stoved Virginias are light, naturally sweet, and seemingly uncomplicated. They do however reward the gentle puffer with layers of subtle scents. Beautiful stuff.

Someone has to stand up for this fine blend, so I will step up to the plate and go to bat for it! If we could give "partial stars" this would be perhaps a 3 1/2, but all these one star ratings make me want to raise the average. I bought a tin in Richmond (Old Virginia Tobacco-a bit pricey, but they have some older tins on their shelves; I even found some ten year old Ashton there), and read the reviews before smoking it. I'm glad I'm not impressionable, even though this is all a matter of personal taste after all. But one star? I found it to be a mellow and enjoyable blend. No strong or unique character, but sometimes that it what I need. This is dark and rich in the tin and has a pleasant mild smell. It smokes clean, and much like Stonehaven (which is a little better, IMHO), can be smoked fast and heavy if one so desires.

With a recent drop of tobaccos from Germany, I have been going through them again and trying some new ones. Bored with seeing the same old flakes from the F & T tins, I opened this guy up to finally see something new and exciting.

I great in aroma of dark fruit, molasses and maybe even a little anise. And Pipestud was right, a rich leaf in look, smell and taste. A little dry time helps this one, but not alot of needed. It WILL dry out completely if left alone for a few hours.

It takes to the match pretty quickly with a burst of flavor. As said above, molasses, dark fruit, and a touch of anise maybe come through and stay throughout the bowl. Burns well with a decent amount of smoke. A really unique flavor profile and a medium nicotine hit. Burns to a nice ash and no goopyness or ghosting.

I was happy to see this in stock this go around because its been out of stock for awhile. Mid smoke I bought the last 3 tins I could find from online.