When Sutliff Tobacco closed its doors, the future of Seattle Pipe Club's cult-favorite blends was briefly in question. Now, with Cornell & Diehl producing them on the original equipment from the original recipes, the lineup is back, and Shane Ireland is revisiting it blend by blend. First up is Hogshead, a pure Virginia plug of well-aged Orange and Red Virginias from Africa, Brazil, and the United States.

[Shane Ireland]: Hey, everybody. I'm Shane Ireland, and welcome to another episode of Tasting Notes. Today, I'm starting my journey back through the Seattle Pipe Club blends. It's been a number of years since I've revisited some of these old friends — these timeless classics. As some of you may be aware, Sutliff Tobacco in Richmond, Virginia, closed its doors relatively recently.

Fortunately, Cornell & Diehl was able to acquire the equipment and the recipes to continue producing the Seattle Pipe Club blends right here in America. So I'm working my way back through them, revisiting some old friends and maybe discovering some new favorites. I've decided to start that journey with Seattle Pipe Club's Hogshead.

A Pure Virginia Plug

Hogshead is a pure Virginia plug composed of well-aged Orange and Red Virginias from Africa, Brazil, and the United States. So on paper, it's definitely right up my alley. I love the format, the fact that it's a plug, and there are a lot of different grades of Virginias in here, all coming together to give the Virginia smoker an experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.

You have this really beautiful plug straight out of the tin, and I find the moisture content to be perfect. I sliced off a couple of flakes, rubbed them out, and gave them a little bit of aeration before I started smoking.

The tin note is almost exactly what you would expect. Some would find it nondescript, but I think Virginia smokers will find it enticing. A little bit of maltiness, a little bit of natural sweetness, almost a floral quality. Rich baked bread, baked goods, a malty beer — all of those grainy sorts of notes. It's exactly what you'd be looking for as a Virginia smoker, and it's a pretty good indication of what you're going to get in the smoke as well.

Malty, Sweet, and Dense

Upon first light, there's a big burst of flavor, tons of smoke, and a relatively decent amount of body for a pure Virginia. With the Orange and Red grades, I expected this one to lean a little more toward the darker side of the spectrum — a little less zesty, a little more malty — and that's pretty much exactly what you get.

It's a really nice straight Virginia profile. I get just the tiniest bit of spice on the retrohale and, something I don't typically attribute to Virginia grades, almost a floral quality as well. It's balanced. It's rich. It's a pretty dense smoke with a good amount of body, and I get a lot of that malty character I'd expect from darker Virginia grades.

The natural sweetness is high. We must be talking about some relatively high sugar content in these grades of Virginias. It's just an excellent straight Virginia.

Complexity as the Bowl Progresses

This relatively unassuming blend of Virginias has a lot to offer, especially as the bowl progresses. I find that the complexity ramps up quite nicely, maybe even more than expected. The retrohale becomes really interesting, with a little bit of spice, a little bit of that floral quality, and frankly, some notes I typically associate with condimental tobaccos, not with straight Virginias.

I'm attributing that to the plug format and to the fact that a lot of these Virginias are aged. You get a lot more richness as the bowl progresses, and a lot more tang. It moves a little away from the grainy, bready, malty part of the flavor spectrum and toward a nearly vinegar-like tang — almost like barbecue sauce.

I find Hogshead to be really forgiving of packing technique and puffing cadence. You can push this one a little harder and the spice amplifies, or you can back off and let that natural sweetness and those deep, rich, malty and tangy notes take center stage.

An All-Day Virginia

This is an incredible Virginia plug. If you like Dunhill/Peterson Flake, maybe even some of the Virginia flakes coming out of Kendal, or if you were a smoker of McClelland's No. 24 and No. 27, this is going to be right up your alley. It has just enough complexity to keep the Virginia smoker interested, but it's definitely an all-day smoke. You can just puff away on it, and it'll settle nicely into the background as a really comforting straight Virginia, with a good amount of sweetness and a little bit extra on the retrohale.

Today, I'm smoking Seattle Pipe Club's Hogshead in a little Billiard by Hans "Former" Nielsen, just another one of my favorite Virginia pipes. I think the size of this pipe in particular is really well suited to this blend, although I do think Hogshead will perform well in a variety of pipes.

If you're a Virginia lover and this one's not on your radar, you're definitely missing out. It has high aging potential, and the plug format is a lot of fun to play with because you can control how you break it up. You can cube cut it, or slice it thinner or thicker. It's a really versatile product.

And if you've never given a pure Virginia a try for whatever reason, this might be a really good place to start. It's forgiving of technique and of how you prepare it, and it has a lot of richness, body, and flavor — often exactly what people who aren't seasoned Virginia smokers are looking for. Really good stuff. Join me on the rest of my journey through the Seattle Pipe Club blends. Thanks, guys.