Tobaccos Fribourg & Treyer - Vintage

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Eulenburg (193)	2003-02-06		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

VINTAGE is a smidgeon stronger-flavoured than Cut Blended Plug: just enough to give it some of the cozy Red-Virginia character that that blend lacks.

I did something I rarely do, and smoked a series of pipefuls of this during a long Spring walk (I really needed it!) With and without a windcap, this tobacco consistently burned easily, cooly and dryly on an old Sasieni, a small Peterson bent, a Danish-made Jobey Freehand. When I got home (having decided not to jump in the Hudson river after all?too much fine tobacco out there waiting to be smoked!) I tried it in an ARDOR churchwarden?same smooth result. It never fatigued my taste buds or burned my delicate tongue.

The taste is cool and mild enough to please white burley fanciers, but there is a smoldering douceur, an intriguing finish to this that you could never get out of boring old burley. A soupçon of stoved meatiness makes this just that much more interesting. The more I smoke this blend, the more I like it. A fine recommendation.

15 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	moniker (217)	2015-08-22		Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Fribourg & Treyer’s Vintage shows first class in the tin, rows of well-formed flakes stacked neatly in nice, white paper, with a gold tape seal. Tobacco colors range from yellow to mottled brown. Tin note is sweet, air cured, pressed and lightly fermented VA tobaccos with a very light casing of honey, orange, apricot, and a drop of vanilla. The casing begins to fade away as soon as the tobacco is handled. The flakes are moist in the tin, and they dry out quickly when exposed to the air. I prefer to dry it some, and FTV is the only VA flake I routinely rub out. It lights and smokes down easily. I’ve learned to take very easy draws during char and light, not to dull my pallet for what’s to follow. My 50 gram tin bears the following description: “Cold-pressed gold and brown Virginias with full-bodiedtangy [sic].” True, that. FTV is just so… natural, more “mature” than its ½ brother, Cut Virginia Plug. It’s subtle, also subtly complex, at the same time “pure”, and delicious, if you like VA tobacco. Strength is mild. Tastes are close to medium, and no sense pulling for more, IMO. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is nothing but fine VA tobacco, just like the smoke.

While F&T’s Vintage is mild enough for VA newbies, there is plenty to reward experienced VA smokers, as well. I think most VA lovers would like it, and some may come to esteem it, as I have. No matter the time of day, the time of year, or the weather, indoors or out, for me, Vintage always hits the spot.

Pipe Used: various briars; dedicated preferred

Age When Smoked: starts out "aged", gets better with time

Purchased From: Liberty Tobacco

Similar Blends: compare/contrast to: F&T's Cut VA Plug; Astley's 109.

12 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sasquatch (90)	2018-03-09		Very Mild	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Interesting... the tin note is exceptional, never smelled a tobacco like it. Cinnamon or something? Christmas Cake? I dunno. That aside, this is tasty virginia, not a clean grassy thing but the a sort of polluted one. It's dark and delicious. I like this, I can't say quite why. It's not especially remarkable for flavor but it is super friendly, so I'm reaching for it pretty often. It's maybe like a wimpy version of Hal O'The Wynd. Powerful enough in flavor to pair against whisky, and not especially sweet as Va leaf goes.

Pipe Used: Castellos

Age When Smoked: Fresh tin

Purchased From: 4noggins

Similar Blends: Hal O the Wynd but ... not really. This is pretty unique imho..

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2010-02-01		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

This is a very unusual Virginia Flake... It has little strength and a mild flavor despite the darker composition of the leaf. Additionally, when opening the tin I smelled fruits, nuts, etc. I thought it was an aromatic. The taste is totally different than the sweet and pungent unburned leaf. The flavor presentation at the match was simply a mild, quality Virginia with perhaps a dusting of natural casing.

If you are prone to tongue bite then be careful with this one. The mildness of the leaf may cause a revved up puffing cadence to try to find the beef... and there ain't none.

It burned clean, dry and evenly from top to bottom.

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2076)	2015-09-02		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Fribourg & Treyer - Vintage.

The tin contains two neatly stacked rows of mottled brown flakes all at a good hydration level.

I struggle to detect any topping of any sort really, maybe a very slight touch of honey but the only potent smell I get is quite a standard Virginia one.

The flakes rub with ease to a fairly fine consistency (if desired) or are favourable for the fold and stuff method as they virtually fall apart when folded making them easy to light.

This is a very easy flake to ignite and burns superbly. Once lit I can't detect much of a false topping, again all that can really be identified is a pungent Virginia grassy taste.

The nicotine is of a pleasant amount for me. It seems mild most of the time unless really drawn hard then it becomes medium not strong.

This is a great straight Virginia, pretty much perfect in its field so four stars is easily warranted:

Highly recommended.

Pipe Used: Porsche 3613

Age When Smoked: 5 Months

Purchased From: The Danish Pipe Shop

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-08-16		Extremely Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

50 gram square gold tin. Label is gray with black calligraphy

Tobacco appearance and tin note: Beautiful tiger striped flake, with just an occasional bit of dark weed peeking out. Moisture: perfect. Flakes separate easily into nice, thin strips. Tin fragrance, glorious, rich undernotes augmented with that "tang" representative of light, sweet Va. That "tang" is sans hints of acetic acid, or other negatives occasionally associated with Va's. Packs perfectly. Die Warchow's "Rubber Glove" remix of KMFDM'S "Light", on the faithful Nakamichi,.... let's rock!

Flame hits weed releasing one of the softest, lightly fragrant smokes that I have ever encountered. It has sufficient body that the delicate hints of lemon and grapefruit has some grounding, but just enough. Smooth? This stuff is slicker than Johnny Cochran coated in Crisco. If it's your thing, this one is extremely inhaleable. The fragrance and room note is not particularly remarkable, but pleasant in a Carolina evening kind of way . Mid bowl: the fruit mutes a tad, moving a hint of peanut brittle to the foreground, the complexity remains stable. Mellow.... wonderfully mellow. End bowl: Excellent. This Vintage Flake has the least traumatic "end game" of any Va that I have tried.

Summary: Oh, yeah! One of the finest Va flakes that I have tasted recently. Deliciously light, smooth and pleasant. A great one for those reluctent to jump into the Virginia "sea". This one is great for morning to late afternoon smokes .Good stuff, Maynard!

8 out of 10 Bearclaws.

-- Bear Graves

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	steppx (186)	2018-04-11		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A hugely underrated pure virginia flake. For whatever reason cut blended plug gets more attention and is better known. And Golden Mixture because of bertrand russell, is more visible somehow. But Vintage is actually one of the two real gems in the F&T catalogue (the other is special brown flake). Vintage is just virginia....and reminds me a bit of a softer version of Gawith FVF. Now there is a very very very slight casing here. Might just be sugar, to be honest. Or honey.But its very slight. The moisture level is perfect out of the tin. The virginias are dark but dont taste heavily stoved. There is some fermentation to the taste, but not like the late mcClelland flakes. This is just a very fine straight virginia. Naturally sweet, with some depth. Nic hit is a tiny bit over mild. Room note is great. FOUR stars./

Purchased From: danish pipe shop

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cutigers81 (8)	2014-12-13		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have family in FL and visited a local tobacconist. The store was devoted to cigars but there were about 10 random tins of pipe tobacco on the shelf. I picked up a tin of Dunhill Light Flake and a tin of this, which was in a completely different package than it is presented now. Obviously both were old as Dunhill has dropped the "Light" from the name and the F&T tin changed many years ago.

I smoke a pipe a day. This stuff I burned through in 5 days. It has all the qualities of a great smoke: Easy to light and keep lit, no bite, great flavor, and great presentation. I believe it has a casing on it but it is light and hard to discern. Sweet, but in a good way.

Try some. Very underrated.

Pipe Used: Various Briars

Age When Smoked: Unknown

Purchased From: Pipe Den

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Swiss-smoker (87)	2017-06-03		Medium	None Detected	Full	Very Pleasant

Neatly arranged fluffy flake strips in this tin. Excellent stuffing and smoking conditions. Perfect moisture. It is amazing how many intense flavours I pick out of this straight Virginia. There is citrus, hay, grass, bread, yeast, a dash of honey and natural tobacco sweetness. It lingers beautifully. I cannot detect any flavouring, casing or topping. If there is any, it’s really well done, supporting, rather than altering these Virginias. Succinct, it is the best straight Virginia mixture I have ever smoked.

Age When Smoked: New, out of the tin.

Purchased From: Local tobacconist.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gentleman Zombie (729)	2016-09-20		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Nice fruity flavors with a touch of grass in the first half. Nice bit of tang as well. Second half adds the toasty notes of stoved Virginias. After the bowl gets going it seems as if there is no topping, but upon first light I seem to detect an extremely mild fruit topping. Could be my imagination, been fooled before. Nice smoke all the way around.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in taste. Gonna go with extremely mild on flavoring. Burns very well.

Pipe Used: MM Marcus, Country Gentleman, Mark Twain

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kilmarnock Piper (250)	2012-02-20		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

I've been really going through this tin. I have to say, that while I have enjoyed it, it is a pretty ordinary Virginia flake. Interesting aftertaste sometimes, and nothing to really set it apart. There is absolulely nothing wrong with it (besides the occasional strange aftertaste). I have gotten the best results from spicing it up with a little Perique. I would buy it again if it were $6.50 a tin, but not for $11.00. That's all I really have to say: it's a decent Virginia flake, but one of many, and there are better.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tantric (321)	2003-02-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A very nice Va. flake. Not unlike Gawith?s Best Brown, Vintage has however a more consistent structure, a superior body and IMO it is easier to handle and smoke. Its flavour, though not complex, is sharp and rich. It doesn't get off to a great start but as you progress through the bowl, it really grows on you and settles down perfectly well. It also has a wonderful aftertaste.

I agree with other reviewers in that the difference with other offerings from the same house (Cut Plug in particular) are so subtle that it takes a while before you actually realise you are smoking something different.

Less fruity than Cut Plug, with perhaps a bit more of aggressiveness, Vintage is an excellent medium strength straight Va., very palatable and traditional.

Recommended to all Va. lovers.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3025)	2021-05-24		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

The various Virginias provide a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, grass, plenty of bread, some sugar, mild vegetation, tangy ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, light floralness, and a hint of vinegar, smoke, and a couple pinches of spice. The mildly honey-ish, citrusy, slight vanilla toppings moderately sublimates the tobaccos. The strength is a step past the mild mark. The nic-hit is very mild as the toppings negate its potency. The taste level is a slot short of the center of mild to medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, and barely has a hint of a rough edge. The flakes easily break apart to suit your preference, and need no dry time. It’s monochromatic, but it burns cool, clean, and a tad slow with a very consistent, sugary, fruity Virginia flavor that extends to the very pleasant, lightly lingering after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Has a very pleasing room note. An easy going all day smoke. Three stars.

-JimInks

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Voyaging (80)	2019-05-22		Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

Presentation is nice. The flakes are neat, moist and soft. I absolutely love it. The tin note is like grains, oats, sultanas and raisins, but the raisin notes don't come through in the taste. I let this dry for a bit to keep the heat low for smoking and make the combustion better. You could probably smoke it at tin moisture, but I prefer not to risk the tongue bite.

In the smoke I get notes of of topping of vanilla, sweet bread, slight honey, fermented overripe banana, cashew sweetness, shortbread cookie, some spice which is kind of tingly on the tongue and on the retrohale, oats, some molasses, a nuttiness develops, sultanas, some wood notes, a floral aspect too, pastry notes. Sometimes it seems like there is a vanilla note, and maybe cocoa. The end of the bowl is okay. It gets quite smokey and earthy with some spice, yet there is still an underlying sweetness. I get the barest hint of cinnamon and brown sugar as well.

Nicotine strength is maybe medium, for me, and so is the tobacco strength. The taste is medium. There are a lot of flavors.

I would buy it again. I would recommend it for the Virginia-lover. What makes this Virginia flake special is the sweetness and spiciness and slight pungency of the fermented taste quality. It also gets earthier than most Virginia flakes, and when I say "earthy", I mean like soil or mustiness of wood. Things like that. It's similar to Capstan blue in it's sweet, oat-like taste, but the fermented taste is unique, and different than the fermented taste imparted by Perique in Virginia Perique flakes. It's a pretty rich, tasty straight Virginia flake, and a good expression of Virginia complexity.

Pipe Used: Many different briars

Age When Smoked: A few months

Purchased From: Iwanries

Similar Blends: Capstan Blue, Wessex Brown Flake, John Aylesbury - Luxury Flake/Classic Flake.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	mariusK (31)	2018-08-01		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

When I opened the tin I smelled dried tomatoes, very pleasant. The flake was not too moist and could be packed into the pipe right away. However, a little drying will not hurt and it will allow for a dry, cool smoke. This is as simple a tobacco as they get, but In a good sense. The taste is mild, rather flat (you won't get the complexity of some VAPER blends) and very good. The nicotine content is low, so if you need a powerful "nic-hit" this is not the way to go. FT Vintage is now on my list when I think about an easy smoke. Four stars.

Update: I have had one tin which I had allowed to dry out. While smoking dry tobacco is not the best thing to do, this blend performed very well despite its condition.

Pipe Used: Comoy Everyman Canadian

Age When Smoked: new

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Vrikkian (8)	2014-05-21		Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Straight Virginia tobacco. Folded into a flake. Laid in sheets in the tin. Comes in a 50g tin. Has a lid.

This stuff is good. It's not great, it's not bad. It's good. It's a great "go to" virginia if you are tired of ready rubbed, plugs, or coins, and want something that you can decide how big you want your tobacco chunks to be. Me? I rub it out (hee hee) until it's a fine flake and then gravity fill as normal - I haven't mastered the whole "fold and stuff" method, so maybe my review would be higher for this F&T mix. As it stands, it's a firm 3 out of 4 stars. I like it, I make sure I always have an unopened tin on hand, but it's not something that blows me away.

NOTE: I hear that this blend really improves itself with age. I've not tried it, but I have heard that it crystalizes itself nicely and really can sway your opinion. Take that for what it is - if I ever get my hand on something that is more than a year old I'll definitely come back and update this.

Pipe Used: Comoy pot bowl

Age When Smoked: 3

Purchased From: P&C

Similar Blends: McClelland #24.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-10-24		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

Flat tin and nice, wide flakes, perfect for folding. This is a darker shade of VA and doesn't have that overly citrusy tin nose. Kind of a non-descript, slightly hay-ish quality.

The flavor is middle-of-the-road and unassuming straight virginia. I don't taste any flavoring, so apparently the Navy designation is in the cut only. This one is not at the high level of F&T's Blackjack, but it's a decent smoke. The lighter notes are present and some mid-level as well but this one is firmly in the light camp. The Dunhill Flake I smoked recently had the bass notes as well, which I appreciated, as well as this company's Blackjack. The lightness of this one makes it good for a straight VA newbie, something to get the feet wet while he moves toward headier fare. This is certainly a good smoke with nice hay-like qualities - it just doesn't distinguish itself in the genre as some others do. I finished the tin but won't buy any more. Blackjack owns that part of my cellar that is F&T's.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pseudo Nim (128)	2008-09-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

An Excellent quality virginia as would be expected from this fine house. I was able to find this through the good graces of Synjeco who seem to have a plentiful supply of hard to find and interesting tobacco's.

As has already been noted by our esteemed and most worthy colleagues, this blend has a little more flavour than the usual F&T offerings, A very nicely presented flake, with a moisture content that few could complain about, I think I detected a little sour note to start but this soon settled down and a fine quality virginia took centre stage for the duration, neither too sweet, nor to dry, but a steady body that a good red virginia can deliver.

This may not go into rotataion, only because I have more than enough choice as is, but a fine treat and change of pace from time to time.

Well worthy of 4 Stars.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-10-08		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I've been slowly working my way through a tin of this for some time now-- picking it up off and on for a few months. I must admit that I prefer Cut Virginia Plug to Vintage and they are relatively similar straight Virginia blends.

The tobacco is very pretty-- various shades of tan and brown Virginias intermingle in this pressed flake. The smallish tin holds perhaps fourteen thin slices that break apart easily for full rubbing out or partially breaking the flake for packing. I personally prefer the latter with large pieces over fully rubbing it out.

The tin aroma is pleasant, but unexceptional. Slight sweetness is evident plus a tartness from the acidity of the lighter Virginias.

The blend smokes much as one would expect given the tin aroma. This is superficially a very simple Virginia blend with a basic 'tobacco' taste and little else. As the bowl progresses, the sweetness becomes more evident as does a slightly tart taste (probably stemming from the lighter Virginias). All in all, it is a pretty decent, if unexceptional, smoke. Definitely worth a try for the lover of straight Virginias, but not interesting enough to differentiate it from other similar blends in my mind.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Falliver (42)	2019-10-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

Another sample of Virginia tobaccos I bought from my local tobacco specialist, the aroma of the leaves is dark and sweet, reminiscent of leather.

The darker colours are inviting, of perfect moisture, and lights easily. Delivering more leather on the palate than other, more fruity, virginias, this was a pleasant surprise, despite being not what I was looking for at the very moment. It has a sweet tobacco taste, but is not overly strong and no more than medium bodied, making it a truly pleasant smoke.

Pipe Used: Norrøna Lillehammer 1254

Purchased From: Sol Cigar Oslo

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BrokenRecord (124)	2019-06-19		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

Vintage Flake: A straightforward medium-bodied Virginia Flake

This flake is composed of mostly dark Virginias with some bright leaf scattered throughout the flake. The smoke has a nice medium body with mostly earthy flavors with some grassy-bright undertones, though I would not consider it to be complex.

Similar Blends: I find Vintage Flake to be similar to F & T, Special Brown Flake and Capstan Blue without the rum topping. Vintage Flake also has a bit more body and is a tad less sweet than its rum cased compatriots.

It is a good middle ground between Capstan Blue and Sam Gawith FVF.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	½ bowl (103)	2017-07-27		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Vintage is a good tasting if somewhat unremarkable straight Virginia flake. It is precisely what I would recommend to a newbie who wanted to sample a benchmark, or representative member of the Va. flake genre. There’s lots of quality here, but nothing distinctive – no pizzazz. However it does have good balance between taste, strength and body (mouth feel). What you get is a rock solid Va. taste that is at least as fruity as it is grassy, and perhaps even a little wine-like. The flavor rides on a good volume of chewy smoke, but there is little in the way of complexity. Sometimes that's a good thing, like when you want to reset your palate.

Lest I seem dismissive or imply that this is a mediocre blend – let me emphasize that this is a high quality smoke. But it resides at the less complex end of the Va. flake spectrum. I get the impression that this is exactly what the folks at F&T had in mind for Vintage because their product line is populated by the likes of Cut Virginia Plug and Blackjack, both of which possess the mosaic of flavors and nuances of which the genre is capable. So if you’re interested in sampling your first Virginia flake, or in exploring the entire F&T product line, then Vintage is a good starting place.

The tin note has sweetness tinged by the sour of fermentation, and the grassy aroma you would expect of a Va. flake, but there’s nothing particularly alluring about it. There are no lighting or burning issues (at least if you rub it out as I do); and it smokes coolly and dryly to the bottom of the bowl without a hint of bite. I experienced delicate hints of citrus tanginess, and a gentle sweetness that becomes increasingly caramel-like as the smoke progresses, but don’t expect it to rise to the level of a confectionary treat. To me, the bottommost portion of the smoke feels a bit ashier than I would like, but at that point it’s “lights-out” anyway, so it shouldn’t dissuade one from trying this blend.

I recommend Vintage, if for no other reason than “what’s not to like?” I wanted to rate this at a strong 2-stars, but that would appear to be excessively negative. For 20% less money you can get the same “plain Jane” goodness from Mac Baren’s Virginia Flake, which is very similar, albeit a bit brighter in flavor.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-07-29		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Decided to try this particular flake, as I have never tried anything by Fribourg & Treyer. Was not disappointed, an excellent and high quality Virginia flake, that burns evenly, and fairly slow. Out of the tin, the flake was neither too moist, or too dry....just right. For anyone whose a fan of quality Virginia flake, this one shouldn't be passed.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-10-24		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The tin opens to a single pressed slice. I rubbed out a bit, put it into the pipe, and smoked a fine light cigar. Honest. Except that unlike a cigar, it doesn't "accumulate" from one end to the other because it's a much smaller dose, so the pleasant taste stays with it throughout. I also tried it with minimal rubbing -- instead folding it into the bowl. Now the cigar taste is subdued and some buried spicy tingle comes through -- almost as if it were a different blend.

I think I prefer the flavor of the former, but since I only really enjoy the flavor of a good cigar a few times a year, I'll leave this one to others.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2004-08-15		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Given my unbridled enthusiasm for F&T's Cut Virginia Plug, I find myself quite disappointed in this perportedly similar blend. It falls flat, and appears devoid of the humble yet endearing charm displayed by CVP.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Matel (6)	2020-08-10		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Tin note.

Not a whole lot to talk about here. Produces a "wet" fermented grassy smell, which is rather typical for straight virginias. The only thing to point out here are those terribly ugly tins with no decoration, however flakes themselves look clean.

When smoked.

I need to say this. My first bowl of Vintage was a big disappointment. The first experience was not pleasant and reminded me of mass produced cigarettes. This made me wait for another two months. After the time I have tried it again and absolutely fell in love.

The taste is "smooth" and sweet. The best comparison for me is a sweet vanilla cream, that you would add to an evening coffee.

It burns flawlessly with no relights needed. Has no tendency to bite. Sometimes gets well lit from a charing light alone. Does not produce a lot of moisture, even when smoked right of the tin, what I recommend.

I like it best in narrow, deep bowls like the one my Duncan pipe has.

Room note.

Doesn't bother the company if not smoked in excess.

Final thoughts.

Next to Amphora Virginia this is my favourite blend and a strong candidate to be my lone island tobacco.

Pipe Used: Various briars, Duncan Sleeve Paddington

Age When Smoked: New, and 2 months old.

Purchased From: Sherlock trafika, Warsaw, Poland

Similar Blends: Milan Tobacconists - Mac Baren Virginia No. 1 .

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pryhosm (248)	2019-05-21		Very Mild	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant

F&T makes some very nice blends, mostly mild, top quality VA blends (at least those are the ones I am familiar with). This one has a great tin note and despite having a topping it is pretty much all for the tin note as I detect none in the flavor. Tin note is very sweet with grass and citrus, fruit a touch of vanilla and even some bread.

The flavor eludes me in this blend. I love Cut VA Plug and Blended plug but this one leaves me wanting more. I am a moderate puffer on a good day but when there is no flavor I tend to puff harder and faster, especially with known quality blenders, looking for more flavor. The one thing I can say as despite a few bowls of freight train like puffing, I nerver got tongue bite. That is impressive. The flavor is so mild I find it hard to describe. I get very subtle hints of bread and sweetness, some earthiness and a bit of hay. If you want a mild, thoughtless smoke this may be the thing for you. I won’t be buying this one again but it is a quality blend.

Pipe Used: Briar's, meerschaum and cobs

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Virginia lover (218)	2018-10-13		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A Navy cut Virginia flake that looks more serious than it really is. The flavors are slightly enhanced by a topping that I can't really pinpoint, maybe cloves or cinnamon. A spicy almost peppery flavor is constant during the smoke, accompanied by some dry fig tartness and what is akin to a pastry with wine like undertones. Now those flavors are not very strong and they mingle very nicely during the third part of the bowl. It's also a heavenly tobacco for the retro inhaler.

An interesting if not odd fermented Virginia flake that slightly reminds me of McClelland Virginias in character. 3.5 stars, highly recommended for a beginner.

Virginia lover

Age When Smoked: 3 years

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Berzerker (28)	2016-10-31		Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

The strength is mild. The leaf is top quality with a hint of casing or even just an absolute small dose of latakia, I reckon I can taste that at times although this is what makes it interesting. It's worth trying, I just fell out of love with this one, not sure why but I just don't reach for a tin of vintage all that often anymore. That said, this should be tried if you like straight Virginia. It smokes well and although I don't go for it any longer that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it, it could just be the one for you.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2013-07-02		Medium	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is my third straight VA I try after walnut flake and FVF. It is also my second favourite.

Needless to say, SG FVF is by far better. This is a seriously good Flake tobacco, easily put to pieces, easily packed, easily lit and stays lit! A big advantage over FVF.

Smell from the tin is really faint (hints of honey, something a bit floral as well). N hit is stronger than FVF. Very decent smoke. Smokes cool... Not too aromatic, but there is also a sweet honey taste to it that I like.

Recommended!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-12-09		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A good solid 3 star tobacco, well behaved, good quality and nice all day smoke.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	eamonclever (48)	2010-09-29		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

mild and tasteful mixture, very distinctive for tastebuds and nosetrils.Out of the tin it comes a little dry for my liking, but this is navy cut. i smoke it in small and medium pipes, easy to light, not much effort to smoke it down to the bottom of the pipe. this makes it a pleasure. if mac baren navy is too sweet for you, but you like navy cut, this is the tobacco one should try. good for starters and newbies.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-08-23		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I havn't smoked this excellent flake in years. But I must have read Eulenburg's expressive review a dozen times. That man sure has a way with words and I agree with everything he says about this blend. The taste is very fresh and delicious. I could see myself smoking this regularly for the rest of my life. It is not boring or monotonous; just an excellent mellow flavor that's satisfying and enduring. I've read all the previous reviews, both positive and negative, and have come to the conclusion that this is the most elegant and refined red virginia flake I have ever tasted. I regret that my recent reunion with this esteemed tobacco took so long to occur. Vintage will remain one of only a handful of mixtures that I will enjoy till the end of my pipesmoking days. Definitely a 4 star blend and one of my top 5.

Update: My pipesmoking days have not ended, but my love affair with this blend has. I now rate it three stars.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jakob Kiilerich (120)	2004-06-14		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant

Vintage is soft as velvet. It is the mildest VA flake that my palate has encountered, ever... Upon opening the tin, i smelled dried fruit and alcohol. It has a very pungent odor, but also a very pleasant one. Like Cognac and raisins.

It is a bit moist so i would recommend drying it before packing. Now.. here comes the weird bit; I'll bet my fur that this little flake here contains oriental leaf! I may be way out in the woods here, but i'll bet my fur that this blend contains a tiny dash of turkish...

Besides from that, it is quite similar to Astley's 109 i think, and has flavor notes similar to those in Osborne 63... Nothing new here, good quality VA; i'll be stashing several tins for later.

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pounder 5000 (178)	2004-06-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is not bad stuff! As opposed to the CVP that I tried, this stuff smokes quite cool, and has some very nice darker flavors. The Va experience is all red for me and this makes the overall experience very nice indeed. I'm not a big fan of the lighter Va's and in this blend they stay out of the way. This is the flake to share with your upscale friends at the local club when you want to show off. This isn't really a priority for me, but who knows? Someday it might be just the thing!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Paddy (127)	2003-11-17		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

A very well made Virgina flake, typical of the F&T cut plugs. The flakes are medium brown and neatly packed side by side in the tin. This is a lightly sweetened flake and provides pleasant Virginia flavor. The uniqueness of this tobacco for me is in the nose. Clearly, there is a top dressing that provides a distinctive scent throughout the smoke, and faintly reminds me of a woman's perfume I smelled as a youth. This is not a typical full blown English scented flake. The scent is far more delicate, ephemeral, and it is there in almost every puff. It is not overpowering or distracting, but adds an interesting dimension, very subtle and satisfying. This should be an enjoyable smoke for both the lover of English scented flakes and for those who enjoy the taste of Virginia tobacco. Highly recommended. Paddy.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Noorrmm (192)	2001-06-27		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The tobacco is mostly red, with some light and dark flashes evident. The flakes are of average thickness and easy to rub out. They are also soft enough to fold and roll. The aroma is what I expect from a well matured, but not heat treated virginia. It's slightly sweet and pungent, but lacking the McClelland "vinegar" tang.

The flavor is absolutely delicious, a perfect medium body with a hint of natural sugar. It burns slow and cool, and allows you to enjoy the flavor without having to concentrate on the pipe. I think it makes an ideal companion for most daytime activities, like writing this review. I'm smoking it right now in a vintage Sasieni Four Dot.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tillmanj (73)	2001-04-26		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Tin Aroma: A pleasant blend of sweet and sour notes. Mellow compared to some Virginias I have smelled, particularly those with Perique.

Physical Characteristics: A mostly light colored flake, approximately 2.5 to 3 inches long. The flake is well put together; does not crumble to dust, bends enough to be rolled up and inserted into the pipe that way. Rubs out nicely into approximately 1/2 inch long ribbons, with very little 'shake' created in the process. It usually takes one and a half flakes to fill my pipes, but I don't know if that means I smoke small pipes or big pipes. I have yet to find a flake that fits any of them in whole flakes, whether it be one per pipe or two per pipe.

First Light: Hints of vanilla and something sweet that I cannot put my finger on. The vanilla note dissapears almost immediately, replaced by the clean, almost stringent taste of the virginias.

Notes: Responds well to DGTing, but I had trouble letting it sit around long enough to discover that. I had never encountered the 'soapy' flavor that ome have spoken of in relation to Lake District tobaccos until I smoked Vintage. This is only odd in that Vintage is NOT a Lake District tobacco, but sure enough, the soapy flavor showed up a couple of times over the course of a bowl.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tomcat (213)	2022-01-02		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Fribourg & Treyer Vintage- Flakes range from a little bright but mostly red and brown and a little dark from pressing I assume . On the sweet side and I taste honey and a little vanilla but lightly cased it seems . It smokes more like a bright Virginia that’s grassy with citrus and a little floral that gets a caramel like sweetness about half way down the bowl . It has a little of the red Virginia tanginess but it is fleeting . Has some brown flake qualities near the bottom of the bowl . DGT works great on this type of Virginia blend . It burns great and has perfect moisture from the tin . The Vanilla is a little annoying as I still taste it near the bottom , reminds me of nilla wafers . It is a little boring for me at this stage . I would have probably loved this flake a couple of years ago . I do recommend it for those who like bright Virginia flakes . It has its moments . 3

Age When Smoked: 1 yr tin

Similar Blends: Marble cake - Capstan Yellow.

Nobody has rated this review yet.