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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DenizBeck (322) |   |
Mild to Medium | Mild to Medium | Medium | Very Pleasant |
First off: This is Peter Heinrichs Reserve Crue No. 10 Virginia Flake (formerly Aromatic Flake) and vice versa, Planta produces this for Peter Heinrichs and glues another labeln on the tin.
Tin note is most delicious and natural fruit-potpourri-like. Really I love the tin note, sometimes I grab the tin just to sniff the tin note, it's very, very good! Not artificial at all, very well flavoured imho. Once lit it burns good, due to its low moisture level.
The taste is pleasant, and the citrusy, refreshing and swee Virginas do well with the flavouring. The Cavendish is a bit toasty with some vanilla-ish note to it. Not much of complexity, just a solid Virginia with a natural, delicate flavouring on top. Goodfor transition from aromatics to more natural tobaccos, or as a sweet-treat for Virginias lovers.
3/4 stars, pretty solid and well done, personally not my cup of tea anmore, but when I smoked my tin as I began to smoke the pipe this was a pleasant introduction to more natural tobaccos and the flake cut.
Similar Blends: Peter Heinrichs - Reserve Crûe No. 10.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the_german (298) | |
Medium | Medium | Medium to Full | Pleasant to Tolerable |
Smoking my way through the Empire series, I have reached the final tin. This blend used to be called "Empire Aromatic," which was both correct and misleading. It's an aromatic VA flake, not a typical Aromatic. I guess that's why they renamed it.
Anyway, it comes in the same tiny tin containing two stacks of small slices. The scent from the tin is of oranges and a little plum. The slices are dark brown with a few birds-eyes in there and a few highlights. As with the other Empire flakes, fold-and-sink leaves too much dottle for my tastes, so I rub out before stuffing.
Lighting is easy when rubbed out, usually a single-match affair for me, and with just a little maintenance it burns down to light grey ashes and just a few little bits of dottle. The flavour is quite sweet for a VA flake--both the sauce and the Black Cavendish probably contribute to that. The sauce comes through as fruity-citrus-ish in the flavour, the room note nicely sweet, much more so than most other VA flakes I know. The flavour and room note do not change throughout the smoke, so some might complain this blend is one-dimensional, but if you like fruity sweetness, this stuff delivers.
Enough oomph in there for me, too, but overall, EV only makes a three-star rating for me. It's too sweet for my taste after a while, and I could live with more variation.
Pipe Used: MM cobs, db Mayflower
Age When Smoked: 1 month
Purchased From: DanPipe
Similar Blends: Similar to, but sweeter than, Orlik Tobacco Company A/S - Richmond Navy Cut, Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Flake.
3 people found this review helpful.