SC/FE Virgina Flue Cured

Setup: mtl STNG 0.55 Ohm 2.5 ID 26/30 fused clapton 26W

nose: Slight variation on AP blend

2.5% - At 8 days, this reminds me of a local juice I tried a million years ago when I first started. It's got a nice golden flavor with a bit of dry leafiness and a fair amount of that AP graininess, that isn't quite nutty. There's a bit of a darker undercurrent of sweetness that isn't the regular chocolate note that SC leans towards, isn't bad, but I kind of wish it weren't there. I am kind of used to FLV Virginia which is pretty bright and not sweet which lets me use it as a really specific top note. This one seems more of a fuller flavor and would need to be used a bit differently. Despite that, it's a really deep and rich flavor.

I kinda of have to get over my FLV expectations and say this is a tasty flavor, easily lending itself to dessert tobaccos as it's plenty sweet and dark without any standout notes. It is holding up just fine for complexity as a single flavor test and I can see finishing this easily without thinking to add anything to it. It has a fair bit of moisture to it allowing it to be paired with drier tobaccos and a nice slight leafiness that comes on the exhale and lasts through the finish. There is the faintest of 'bites' at the end too, like the slightest bit of some kind of spice that almost translates to ashy or spicy yet just isnt. I guess it just is throat hit. It kinda has that little punchy mild throat hit and I like it.

The most relatable flavors I can think of is like it has the bottom dark syrup base layer of a tatanka/molasses type, golden mid range sweetness of gold ducat without the floral honey notes, combined with the moist thickness of red burley without any of the red burley stuff. Pretty solid as a single flavor mix, I'd say. This is the first one that I think I tried out of this line that isnt screaming for anything else to be added.

Suggested percent: Single flavor 2.5 seems great; in a mix, 1-2%? not really sure what notes would show through at lower percents and I'm fairly curious to see what would happen.

Pairing ideas: I'd probably pair this with drier tobaccos to match the dark, wet, almost syrup like bass notes. I could also see some custard/creams working very well with this to soak up that dark sweet bottom leaving room for a brighter vanilla top and some caramel bending as it's already halfway there. I think this will be a versatile flavor if paired with just the right flavors but can stand well enough on its own for less adventurous mixers that just want something all-in-one enough to have some complexity without the aggression of other flavors. For a simple mix, I would pair this with something like WF Ruyan Custard and maybe a hint of vanilla and be done. Or add some actual nut to take advantage of that hint of AP to translate it to an actual nutty taste.

For a more complex mix, I could see pairing this with FA 7 Leaves to boost the leaf and add a little dryness, and layer in some flavors to boost the body which is a little lacking. FLV Cured, FLV Kentucky, FLV Virginia, HS No5, and maybe a little TPA Western for some leather and DNB for some ash... some combination of that would pack a wallop and tamp down some of that sweetness.

Second Opinions:

Noted review mostly mentions how sweet it is.

ELR user Kinnikinnick writes:

> This is a very bright and lively, sweet-ish Virginia tobacco, bordering on being a bit rose floral; definitely more floral than most VA flue cured tobaccos out on the market. Perhaps with time, the floral note will steep out a bit?
> Mixed at 5%, 40p/60v; will mix at a lower percent as a "lift" tobacco in Turkish blends; good use for the floral tobaccos.
> Preferred single flavor mix: 3.0%

Final Thoughts

Honestly, this was a fairly good tasting flavor, despite the intense sweetness. I think this flavor is best suited for beginner easy dessert tobaccos and may make a great entry point into solo flavor mixes with new tobacco mixers who still like it sweet. Plain tobacco blend heads may also enjoy this as a sweet indulgence due to its fairly complex flavor with hints of leaf and a decent throat hit or it might be a sweeter flavor substitute for FLV Sweet Cig when that extra funkiness isn't welcome as it can be held up to boost almost any other note you might want out of a richer, bolder tobacco mix. Lastly, I could see this being a simple mix maker like adding SC VaFC to something like SoHo Time and maybe scaling down the soho and meringue a bit. SC VaFC 2 / SoHo 4 / Meringue 1.5?

I did try this with the last of my tester: 2.5 SC VaFC / 4 SoHo / 0.75 FLV Sw'nSm / 1.5 FLV MnH and boy was it sweet but yeah, Sw'nSm added just that right layer of bottom and top notes and SoHo boosted that nutty without the actual nut. An improvement would still be adding actual nut and something dry and unsweetened to balance it up a bit. Either way, it was a nice indulgence.