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Reviews
Samuel Gawith - Squadron Leader 50g
Go-to English
This is a great go-to, light to medium English blend. There's more Turkish up front than anything else.
Dunhill - Flake 50g
Gold Standard
Good straight Virginia. Lighter in flavor than say, FVF, but delicious. If FVF is the de facto standard for darker VAs, then I'd say this could be a standard for bright/golden VAs.
F & K - Lancer Ready Rubbed
Beefy Maple
This is beefy stuff and delicious. Very reliable for me with every smoke. Good sweetness from the VAs and the Latakia is blended with it fantastically. Maple-sweet, but heady and smokey. Both extremes are here.
G. L. Pease - Chelsea Morning 2oz
Complex Morning
One of my top favorites. I would imagine that trying to balance out four different kinds of leaf must be difficult, and it feels like Pease got this exactly right. Almost every few puffs the flavor changes back and forth, keeping it incredibly interesting. I also find it a little less moist (or swampy??) than any other English I've had. It just seems less thick and oily, and more earthly and complex. I normally puff harder on English/Balkans than I do VAs, but this one I have to sip because it's so complex, and the Perique adds even more to that. This is fine, because the flavor is huge. Not too much of a certain leaf and not too little of it either. Right when I think there could be more Oriental, I begin tasting it again. I just had in on a slightly rainy, cooler summer day commuting into work. Lovely. Great stuff. One word description: Complex. This is also the best blend I've been able to pair with a cup of coffee. It's almost like it was designed with that in mind.
McClelland - Collector: Tudor Castle 50g
Dessert!
First off, I'm a new fan of VaPers, and this stuff is great. The Perique is definitely there and strong, yet the sweet richness of the Virginias and Orientals are also powerfully there. It's wonderfully well-balanced with the Perique. Sweeter and richer than Escudo (the one most people seem to compare). I still haven't had another VaPer that I've enjoyed more than this blend. It is simply amazing. The only one that came close was Reiner's Long Golden Flake. They are both full of flavor (not nicotine, but flavor). TC also seems like a dessert flake, if there is such a thing; it's that tasty. Also, this one is supposed to get fantastic with age, but it's delicious brand new.