Wessex Gold Slice

A rather long Va. flake in a round can . At first it looked to me like Sutlif flake with that long brown and golden visage . Upon smoking it had that hay like taste that plain Va. flakes sometimes give . I left the rest in the can a while and it really took off . This has become my go to afternoon smoke as it is not delicate enough for the A.M. smoke . That being said I now go through a can a week at least and keep a few cans in reserve . This is not a folded flake so you need to take some care in rubbing it out but it compares very well to my favorite flakes . At the price , and considering the availability , this is a sleeper .

Just as advertised. Most flakes are almost 4" long and have an ideal moisture content and pliability for my fold and pack technique. Smokes cool, without condensation or bite. Great VA taste so give it a try.

This straight golden Virginia flake provides a lot of mildly tangy citrus, floral grass and hay, along with a few drops of honey and sugar, mild bread notes, a bare pinch of spice, and a touch of wood. The strength is a couple of steps past the mild mark, and the taste falls just shy of the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit barely crosses the mild threshold. Won’t bite or get harsh even when pushed, but it does have a rough edge here and there. The flakes easily break apart to suit your preference, and the moisture level is comfortable enough that it needs no dry time. Burns cool, clean and tad slow with a very consistent, mildly sweet, uncomplicated flavor that translates to the lightly lingering, pleasant after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a few relights, depending on how you prepare it. The room note is pleasant. An easy going all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

This is a great Virginia flake. The stoving brings out a rich honey sweetness and the bright leaf brings on the lemony citrus and zesty qualities. Darker shades round out the high notes but don't tamp them. Flavor remains consistent, mellows and develops down the bowl. Burns easily to a fine ash. I agree with the other reputable reviewers here. I will add that I took samples of some top Virginas on a trip and smoked them all randomly and exclusively. This came on top for flavor profile and smoking qualities. Top notch is you prefer lemon Virginia.

Wessex Gold Slice is premium aged Virginia tobacco. It offers abundant wheat, hay and sweet grass aromas from the tin. The flakes are "average" in thickness and size, also clumped together in the tin. There was not much visible crystallization on the surface of the tobacco. The flakes have a hard and smooth feel to them of high-quality tobacco. They come apart easily for packing into a pipe. One match is required to light. This pure aged flake burns slow and brings about the familiar scent of Virginia tobacco...sweet and fresh earth, grass and crisp winter night air. A hint of clove, maybe from the corn cob pipe. Relighting was not necessary for me. I found Wessex Gold Slice to rank high up with some of the best tobaccos I have tried so far.

For the first 1/5 of the bowl, it was only sub par. As I worked my way down the complexity began to shine. Fresh it does have some rough edges. With a year or two in the jar, those edges should round out to make something amazing. 8.8/10

naturally sweet and with that pleasant hay like Virginia taste. Especially at the start of the bowl. Smokes slow and even. its a bit milder than the virginia flake also by wessex. I like them both but this is a more generalized smoke somehow. But im splitting hairs. They are quite similar. Id say there is more bright in this, and its stoved a bit more. Good stuff. 3 and a half stars.

Wessex - Gold Slice.

My blend didn't have the appearance I expected. From the description and other reviews I'd prepared myself for a long coil but my tin contained only one stack of flakes measuring approx. 3x2 inches, and rather thin. Folding and stuffing was never an option, because they're thin and stuck together (although not too moist) they crumble apart as they're removed from the tin.

Gold Slice takes to the flame easily, giving a consistent burn, but can go fairly quickly if not smoked tentatively. The flavour's nice enough, having ample sweetness, a slight tang, hay, and a bready quality. Most of the usual Virginia citrus/grass/sharp notes elude me, keeping the way clear for a more mature flavour; there's hay, but nothing too sharp. Tongue bite stays out of the game.

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Gold Slice? A good smoke but not a 'great' smoke. Three stars:

Recommended.

I don't have much to report on this one. It is good, but not great; and maybe a bit boring. It is a fine representation of a virginia flake that doesn't seem to have much tinkering done to it. It is mostly hay sweet with some citrus touches. The color suggests to me it is mostly bright leaf used. It is very monotone in nature and perhaps this is what bored me. I smoked about half of it and then rubbed out the rest as use for a blender.

Overall, I have nothing else negative to report, but I wouldn't buy more of this as there are too many better alternatives to my tastes.

Wessex Gold Slice is a superb, under the radar, bright, straight Virginia tobacco. It can be a little more difficult to obtain and it's definitely made with high quality Virginia tobaccos which I noticed right away. It starts out with a sort of (slight) graham cracker/cookie undertone/flavor and builds in sugary sweetness throughout the bowl. There are no issues at all keeping it lit and has zero issues with tongue bite. I smoked the entire tin in a little over a week while also smoking back to back to back bowls of it one day and still zero bite.

It's more medium bodied for a bright Virginia which is a welcome surprise to me because I'm used to bright Virginias tasting lighter, something like Orlik Golden Sliced, Dunhill Flake, CR Flake, etc.  This does not taste like any of these. It is more nuanced, complex, and heartier. I really enjoy it from start to finish. This just catches a rarer flavor profile all together. It's less grassy and hay-like than other brighter VAs (other than the smell out of the tin) and more creamy, sugary, dried fruit-like, and mature tasting. I don't know how to describe it, but it sort of fits into it's own category when compared to those others mentioned earlier as far as a mature straight Virginia is concerned.

I smoke a ton of straight Virginias as they are my favorite pipe tobacco blends and I really, really like this blend a lot. This is kind of a cross between Dunhill Flake and Full Virginia Flake, but it's different than them at the same time. It's so easy going and a "no fuss" blend. It's interesting enough and very enjoyable, so much so, that I just keep coming back to it time and time again. I can honestly say, I haven't had a bad smoke with it yet. It doesn't get harsh no matter how you smoke it and I'm not sure if that is due to an aging process they do to it or the fact that it is stoved, but whatever it is, I really like how they made this tobacco. I give it a rating of 9 out of 10. It sits in a highly competitive area of the pipe tobacco market, but I really think this is worth obtaining if you can. Don't break your neck getting it, but this is an A+ blend. Give this one a try and I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

UPDATE: I've smoked 5 more tins of this since the original review and this has only gotten better. I'm not changing anything in my review other than the rating which is now 10 out of 10. This is my number one readily available straight Virginia blend (which is saying a lot for me personally as I have several that I absolutely love). It's crept into the number one spot due to its matured taste, ease for smoking, lower price point, and quality tobaccos. You can go wrong here. A++