Robert McConnell Red Virginia comparison to whole leaf

[Hayden]

Hello guys
Because we can´t easily import good raw tobacco into europa(germany) as a consumer i bought a tin of McConnells Red Virginia to try the red virginia many of you like (sadly i only created lemon/bright flue cured last year).
The discription on the website i bought wrote about this tobacco that it was pressed, sliced and roasted.
As i opened it i was greeted by a fruity/perique like smell together with a typical wet feeling of commercial tobacco. I read from a different website that some suspect perique in it and the topping seems to be some cocoa stuff.
Sadly it was not the natural tobacco i wanted to have but its better than nothing.
I dried it then smoked it and it was actually quiet good. The mouthtaste was there together with a good sweetness. I also had no real tounge bite.

My question would be for the guys of you who smoked the red virginia whole leaf and know this blend to compare the two. How is the strength taste/sweetness/tounge burn etc in natural leaf in comparison to this blend.

 

[deluxestogie]

pressed, sliced and roasted

Sufficient pressure for more than a few weeks will impart a subtle, fruity, perique-like aroma to almost any tobacco. The "roasted" characterization is ambiguous. My guess is that it is then subjected to some variety of Cavendish process.

With my home-grown Virginia, the upper leaf flue-cures into a lovely, red Virginia. Flue-cured bright that is subsequently kilned is less sweet, less acidic, and offers a smoother taste and rounder aroma than just the flue-cured version—and resembles flue-cured red Virginia. When I Cavendish-process my flue-cured red Virginia, it begins to resemble the Dunhill "Red Virginia" of the 1970s. Half burley Cavendish and half Virginia Cavendish (bright or red) makes a good starting point for a rather nice pipe blend.

Bob

 

[Mico]

McConell's Red Virginia is a heavily topped and processed blend. In my opinion, it has nothing in common with raw red virginia.

I understand your sadness about getting good, purer tobacco in Europe. The best I've got is from Eurotabak (thanks to the advice of some forum's members). Their Va Orange is close to some good red virginia, and their Va Italy is very good as well. Both are good to smoke right away, and I enjoy a mix of both without casings.

Their other virginias are too young and bitey to be enjoyed in a pipe, although they improve with age. The other leaves are good and they are what you can expect from burleys and air cureds: strong and powerful, yet tasty.

 

[deluxestogie]

Robert McConnell's tobacco blends were different when they were still made in the UK.

Bob

 

[Hayden]

McConell's Red Virginia is a heavily topped and processed blend. In my opinion, it has nothing in common with raw red virginia.

I understand your sadness about getting good, purer tobacco in Europe. The best I've got is from Eurotabak (thanks to the advice of some forum's members). Their Va Orange is close to some good red virginia, and their Va Italy is very good as well. Both are good to smoke right away, and I enjoy a mix of both without casings.

Their other virginias are too young and bitey to be enjoyed in a pipe, although they improve with age. The other leaves are good and they are what you can expect from burleys and air cureds: strong and powerful, yet tasty.

I did read different statements about the quality from eurotabak. Some had serious mold problems and i also did read some comments in the past about letters from the police regarding additional taxes.

But your comment seems like your delivery was quiet good so maybe i will buy some orange tobacco and yeah you are right.
Quiet a shame that we cant get the good stuff from america

 

[Mico]

I did read different statements about the quality from eurotabak. Some had serious mold problems and i also did read some comments in the past about letters from the police regarding additional taxes.

But your comment seems like your delivery was quiet good so maybe i will buy some orange tobacco and yeah you are right.
Quiet a shame that we cant get the good stuff from america

I've ordered twice. 8 or 10 kg total. No mold signs, nor tax issues or anything. Good tobacco leaves arrived at my place in three or four days. Other members of this forum that recommended this supplier seemed to not have issues either.

The Orange is good, although quite strong to smoke on its own. I suggest mixing or casing of some kind.

 

[Hayden]

I've ordered twice. 8 or 10 kg total. No mold signs, nor tax issues or anything. Good tobacco leaves arrived at my place in three or four days. Other members of this forum that recommended this supplier seemed to not have issues either.

The Orange is good, although quite strong to smoke on its own. I suggest mixing or casing of some kind.

Thank you for the suggestion.
I did order the italian, orange and some basma now looking forward to tasting it and comparing it with my own flue cured.
Do you mean with strong the nicotin ?

 

[Mico]

Thank you for the suggestion.
I did order the italian, orange and some basma now looking forward to tasting it and comparing it with my own flue cured.
Do you mean with strong the nicotin ?

Nice, share your opinions.

Yes strong nicotine. That depends on your tolerance, of course. It won't kick you of the chair, but it is a bit stronger than what I prefer.

The italian is quite sweet so they pair up very well. Otherwise, a solution of vinegar/ lemon with a bit of sweetener is good too.

 

[Hayden]

Nice, share your opinions.

Yes strong nicotine. That depends on your tolerance, of course. It won't kick you of the chair, but it is a bit stronger than what I prefer.

The italian is quite sweet so they pair up very well. Otherwise, a solution of vinegar/ lemon with a bit of sweetener is good too.

My order arrived and i had a quick look and taste.
The first thing which was surprising was the quiet strong smell of basma. I felt like sitting in a tobacco shed.

The next thing which was quiet different from my tobacco was that the orange (which is quiet dark actually) and the italian virginia are quiet thick and almost paper like.
My homegrown feels much lighter and more brittle. For example i cant handle my air cured not at all while dry.
The homegrown flue cured is better but not a comparision to this tobacco.
Maybe that was because of the poor weather we had last year.

Taste wise the red offers the deep tones, with sweetness and a good mouthfeel.
Quiet a good taste and as many said it shines also on its own. Much stronger and more direct than the blended one.

The italian one had the right amount of accidity. Also on itself it has a good depth and i had no problem with both of the tobaccos to smoke them on their own.
I have to taste it again and compare it to the sweetness of my tobacco. This was not so different to my tobacco i think.

I also have to taste the basma which i did not do yet.

 

[Hayden]

Some little comparison.
Above is the orange virginia which is more red.
The italian virginia in the middle which is actually sometimes more orange and on the bottom my own virginia which is the brightest.

Now that my flue cured comes into the one year range many leafs have lost a lot of accidity while retaining sweetness. I would even say that some leafs my tobacco are much sweeter than the italian which is in contrast stronger and as mico said higher in nicotine.
I have 2 sorts which i flue cured. Virginia gold and goose creeke.
Sadly i lost track of which leaf is what.
Some of my leaf is really sweet the other ones less so and bolder and more like the italian. I think the sweeter one seems to be virginia gold but i'm not really sure.
All in all offers each variant now their own interesting character.

 

[Alpine]

Goose creek red once cured is darker than regular bright leaf strains, it is stronger in flavor too. This is my experience, but it’s limited to air cured leaves (but I suspect the same observations can be applied to flue cured GCR and bright leaf in general).

pier