Tobaccos Hearth & Home - Virginia Memory #10 (Marquee Series)

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Trumpetboy (19)	2012-01-24		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I'm very pleased to be the first to review this mixture. Back in the day, I was a big fan of Sobranie Virginian no.10. It was one of my " go to " baccys at any time of day, and I found it especially nice in the summer, in the warm weather. Russ' new mixture, Virginia Memory #10, is aptly named in that I feel as if he's not trying to duplicate this tobacco, but inspire a memory of it. Upon opening the tin, I was struck by the very light, almost grassy appearance of this weed, and I must confess my first though was "what the..?". The tin aroma is fairly light and hay-like, with a very faint cigar aroma if you concentrate. The tobacco came fairly dry, so there is not much need to air it-- although, I must confess that I like to air all my tobacco and load pinch method from a paper rather than a tin. Upon lighting I was honestly surprised by the smoothness and "core" of flavor from such a lightly colored blend. This does take me back to the old no.10 in it's taste and fantastic smoothness. The N content is much lighter on than the original, but I'm really enjoying this! Great in a fairly largish bowl on a sunny afternoon with a good cold beer (sorry guys, I'm in Florida!) Easy on the palate, I think this is a fantastic very unique tobacco and the Trumpetboy highly recommends!!

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Lit a Kia (69)	2014-05-11		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

I can't improve on Trumpetboy's description of the tin in his 2012-01-24 review. Very light in color, very subtle aromas.

The stuff comes quite dry and reminded me of Semois in that regard. Just pack, stuff and go; no dry time or fancy loading method is required. Also like Semois, it burns a bit fast. So it's a great choice if you have limited time for a smoke; otherwise, be prepared to use a large bowl or smoke more than one. Some of the maduro leaves are chunky, but a quick roll in the fingers will crunch them down to size.

It lit easily and no relights were needed. The smoke was surprisingly think, rich and cool for a yellow VA. I got some really enjoyable flavors from the orientals, and everything played nicely together. There's enough cigar leaf for a distinctive cedar note to pop its head out now and then. I think you'd really have to push this to risk tongue bite, and I'm still not sure it's possible, as the sugar levels seem low in comparison to other yellow VAs I've smoked. My one point of disagreement with Trumpetboy is the nic punch. I sure felt this one, but it sounds like he's been at this longer than me. :)

This would be a great intro to VA-based blends for someone who's not too sensitive to vitamin N, imo. And while I'm not an every-day (much less an all-day) smoker, this would be an easy all-day smoke, as it leaves very little behind. I also agree with Trumpetboy that this should be an excellent hot-weather smoke; plan to put it it into the summer lineup with McClelland's Drama Reserve and Tudor Castle. Should make for a very tasty mosquito repellent!

If you prefer a heartier VA blend (a VaPer like Escudo, for example), you might find this one a bit too light in its loafers. But in this reviewer's opinion, it's another solid offering from Russ Ouellette.

Pipe Used: large cob

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2015-03-04		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I liked the sweetness of the Virginia employed here to offset what could have been the more straight forward campfire woodsy taste of the Maduro leaf employed. It certainly is a blend that presents the cigar leaf, but off in the background while the Virginia shines.

Pipestud

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	King Weed (228)	2015-08-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I ordered this tin of VM#10 last year but just got around to opening it. I needed a Virginia to blend with and thought, why not? It has been a very long time since I smoked the Sobranie original and I was a younger and newer pipe smoker at that time. I had already smoked Mixture and 759 and loved them both but found the Virginia blend to be, well, boring. I never bought a second tin. Now, decades later, my tastes have matured and I rather enjoyed Russ's look-alike blend, although I really can't say how much it is like the Sobranie original. The Virginias perform as expected and, yes, there's some cigar leaf in there but I thought it was rather weak compared to other cigar leaf containing blends I have smoked. Also, there were a few flakes of a dark tobacco but, again, it was present in such small quantity that it had only a slight effect on the overall taste. I lit it up and was happy with the results; however, if I puffed at my normal level and cadence, I began to get tongue rough-up. I could only avoid this if I slowed down and, otherwise, managed my smoking of the blend. This is something I don't like in any pipe blend and, usually, this is the kiss of death for continued use. However, VM#10 has been a solid blending tobacco for me and I will use the whole tin this way. I doubt I will be hoarding this blend in my "Apocalypse" stash but, all in all, not too bad and I recommend it - three stars.

Pipe Used: Northern Briars LX half-bent billiard

Age When Smoked: 1 year old

Purchased From: pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: kind of like the old Sobranie blend, I guess.

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