March 2008: Friborg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug

I broke open the tin first thing this morning and the sweet VA aroma filled my schnoz.

The flake is wide and relatively thin and broke apart easily as I rubbed the flake and inserted it into my Grabow Freehand in preparation to my morning commute to work.

Once put to flame, it immediately reminded me of MacBarens Virginia Flake. A very tasty sweet smoke that I enjoyed throughout the whole bowl.

Very good stuff! Great pick!

I bought this tin over a year ago ... maybe closer to 1-1/2 years ago, and I'm quite excited to try it. Unfortunately I won't be giving it a go today (chores, too many other things in the way). But rest assured I'll be reaching for this tin sooooooooon.

on McClelland #22 last month I diligently worked down my open VA's. I finished off my jar of 2010 and really dented the 06 Cheer. So while there are still plenty of opens I did not want to miss another month.

CVP is not knew to me, I am well aware that this stuff is top shelve stuff.

First the presentation is superb, beautiful golden virginia flake neatly stacked on stark white paper. Mostly medium brown with deep tones and some birdseye specks scattered throughout. The opening whiff was clearly a grassy haylike aroma, exactly like what I remember from the last tin. First bowl was simply a single flake folded in half the length and then again so it was quartered. Moisture is perfect, no need to dry or rub. It easily slid down a 3/4 inch chamber and readily lit on the first match.

Is it as good as I remember? It is, but since I have had some other very good VA's that are right up there with CVP also. Not to not give credit where it is due - this is still an excellent smoke that is at the high end of the chart but it now has to share it's ranking with some others that I have found since. This first bowl needs to have a few follow ups before I can even get a sense of where it falls among the other excellent VA's I have had. A couple things are certain, it will be a difficult determination and that this tin is as good as gone.

Just like last month TOTM i have got my self a new pipe for this test, and i just loaded 1/3 in the bowl and got a very good cool and dry smoke, sweet VA very good first impression.

CVP is one of two A+ straight Virginia blends (the other is FVF). Naturally sweet and cool smoke. Great choice for a blend of the month. Sorry I didn't participate. I look forward to reading others reviews and comparisons. Take care, y'all.

Tom

I figured I would bump this one up. Any more reactions, impressions on this blend. I'm curious to hear peoples experiences.

I never got around to ordering a tin of this stuff, so I'm at a loss. However, I have the rest of the year covered, so come EMP time, I'm ready to rock and roll.

I've been too busy breaking in all the new Dunhills with known tobaccos. Most likely I'll not pop this tin for a number of weeks yet. When I do I'll just post my impressions here. No one said I couldn't test the tobacco in another month after all.

You can't test a tobacco another month.

So much for that idea.

Just opened the tin tonight. Very easy to rub out, Nice and smooth. Has a nice simple tin aroma, too. Another keeper!

I was hoping to do what Rick was suggesting...because I have about 6 tins open right now...and nothing to store them in...so if I don't smoke them...they wil all dry out...which is already starting to happen...anyway...I just can't justify opening a tin right now...I mean nobody ever said you couldn't post-facto add opinions to a TOTM forum...just not before...though it isn't nearly as much fun as when you stay on the right schedule...

Cheers,

Josh

Nope, ya just can't sample this tobacco (and write a review) after the 31st of this month. I guess I'll just have to leave my tin aging on my 'try-me' shelf and test ... oops, try it (can't test it remember?!) ... another year.

If only I had this much power in real life. I'd be golden :)

err. .... I was going to open the tin of McClelland #22 after my VA opens dropped and I figured I would just post it there when I got around to it. I think I am grandfathered in as the rule had not yet been made at that time. Will others then be able to cite its as a precident? I think so, the argument would have merit and possible be grounds for an appeal.

But we all know what a tough nut Lars can be! :-)

Personally, I'm surprised anyone even bothers listening to me :)

You hereby have my permission to smoke whatever you like whenever you like. You also have my permission to review and comment any blend you wish, regardless of previous statements.

Man you'd be an able bodied politician here in the states Lars. Just remember if anyone asks you about your position you need to speak in generalities and then deny any knowledge of it.

There are many valid points to what you are saying, Rick. I will not confirm nor deny the validity of it, however.

It does strike me as mildly interesting to consider the thought of thinking about these matters further.

You da man Lars. To help you in the primary voting, I'd like to donate $1,000,000 to your election campaign.

Rick make that donation $1,000,001. If he is sucessful in appointing judges that would rule government restrictions of legal activities on property is unconstitutional and upsurps the rights of the property owner, then I would double my donation for reelection. Funny how they can ignore basic rights for the so called "public good".

Since March is drawing to a close (wow has it been a month already), I'd just like to invite everybody to give their input about this blend as well as mention that the blend next month will be Early Morning Pipe from Orlick/Orlik/Murray/Dunill/WhatChaMaHiggit - it will be fun times to be had by all.

maybe two more bowls before it is gone. I rubbed out one bowl and all the rest were fold and stuff. I did not jar this tin, I just kept it in a zip lock. It has been drying out somewhat over the past month and it has improved very much when smoked at a lesser moisture level. Both smoking characteristics and flavor have improved. As I noted in my first review that I have smoked several other VA's as good as CVP. It is very different than Rattray's VA's (OG, MF, HoTW) and in it's own way just as good. It is similar to SG FVF but much fuller in flavor but I would not stop cellaring SG FVF.

A comparison to OGS is the hardest as I really have not smoked a lot of OGS. Also the OGS I have smoked has undergone some unknown process and I don't know if it is the same as a fresh tin. So with those conditions in mind OGS is sweeter, more flavorful, smoother and seems to provide excellent smoking characteristics without additional drying. Will I stop buying F&T CVP, not likely. The only thing preventing me ordering this in quanity is I have 4 or 5 more F&T blends on the try-me shelf.

Ok, so I'm running late on the TotM list. Tonight I finally popped this tin. I dated it 1/5/07 when I purchased it so its nearly 1-1/2 years old. This is my first "golden VA" though far from my first in the VA genre. The tin aroma was heavenly. My hopes soared. The moisture level was what I would call absolutely perfect for a straight VA. Not wet. Not dry. Just right.

I fully rubbed out a portion of the flake and loaded up 1/2 bowl in my new Radice. btw, the pipe performed admirably for its first shot out of the gate. The tobacco ... well, I'm not overwhelmed to put it nicely. It was a bit nippy. It lacked that incredible hay field flavor I love in my VAs. It was fairly monotone in flavor. It wasn't what I'd call a sweet VA. It was just a different middle of the road VA. Clearly, for me, just a mediocre VA. But this is just the first bowl !!!! More testing is called for. Perhaps the big problem here was my hopes were so high and I was just in for a let down.

So, what am I going to do next with this tobacco? Well, first off is to take enough for another 1/2 bowl and let it dry out a bit to see if I can tame the 'nippy-ness'. That really was a turn off for me to tell you the truth. Then I also want to try it partially rubbed out like a broken flake, cut and chunked, folded and stuffed, layered, you know - all the ways to try a flake. I also want to try it in a few other pipes (not that I think the Radice did anything wrong - I'm just being thorough).

As I continue my testing perhaps I'll come back here and pop in a few more notes ... but so far ... not that great of a VA IMO. YMMV.

I took some of the tobacco and let it dry for about 10-15 minutes. Then I rubbed out a tiny bit for the bottom and the top of the bowl and cut the rest of the flake into chunks (like cube cut) for the middle of the bowl. Loaded up ... lit up ... Group 4 bowl: 1hr50min.

Nearly no bite at all. Hmm, this is good.

Much more flavor.

Well behaved throughout the bowl.

Well all right!

Still not on par with SG's FVF or OGS ... but not bad!

... the testing continues.

The tobacco has been open (but in a mason jar) for a few weeks. Its had a chance to breathe a little. Its still moist, but not what I'd call wet. I loaded up my Mastro de Paja today in the same manner listed above and man-oh-man did this tobac sing. Very nice. Very nice indeed. Yup, this one is a winner.

I still have some left in the jar, but this test is over ... no need to "test" any longer ... what is left will simply be enjoyed thoughtlessly. More will be purchased for the cellar in the next order. Now I can finally move on to April's TotM! Boy am I running late in this ... but I'm having fun anyway.

I find it similar to SG FVF but a wee bit heavier. I don't think I am going to make it to the Escudo this month either. Just had two new opens in three days and I think that the next VA/per I will open will be Three Nuns as I was suppose to pop one in January. You are not the only one running late.

I did not find F&T anything extraordinary. It's certainly not a "find" in the manner that McB NF or OGS have been for me. Wrt the Escudo, I don't think you're missing that much. Put the tin away & forget about it. Maybe it will become remarkable.

Last night I took a relaxing drive in the country smoking F&T Cut VA Plug in one of my better smoking pipes (Jacono Knight Dublin). The plan was to 'take some time off' from all the problems of life and just enjoy the scenery and some good tobacco.

The tobacco is still fairly moist (I put in directly into a mason jar after opening the tin so its not really lost any moisture to speak of) and I forgot to let it dry before packing it. I guess that was the fatal error. This thing bit like a rabid wolverine. My tongue is totally scortched. I doubt I'll be able to smoke today at all (I'll still try). I mean, hell, I woke up with a sore tongue for goodness sake.

The flavor of the tobacco was all that I remembered it to be - wonderful VA.

But ... and here's the revision ... I simply don't want any more of this tobacco. Anything that bites back that hard just isn't worth the trouble. Now, I'm a cheap bastid so I'll finish the tin by drying it to the 'dust' level to tame the bite. But nope, this one is scratched from the cellar list.