Velvet: a Review

Velvet is an OTC blend that has been around for decades. It consists of Burley tobacco and is served up as a ribbon cut

I’ve been working my way through some of the drugstore blends trying to decide which is my favorite so I have something to run to whenever I have a hankering for something cheap or when I’m traveling and can’t find B&M. I was pretty excited about this one because an older gentleman at my church has been smoking it for ages and I generally consider him to be of good tastes in other things.

Velvet smells delicious! I thought it was like cocoa but not just a passing scent, instead it was like chocolate fudge. It is a tobacco with a very pleasant odor IMO. The consistency was good out of the pouch and the moisture was just right. It was easy to pack and very “springy” in the bowl. It lit easily and took 5-6 matches to get through the pipe although I walked away from it a couple times.

From the first puff the smoke was thick and voluptuous. Based on the smell of the package I expected it to be sweeter with a pronounced flavor. While there was a faint sweetness, its primary attribute was its magnificent creamy smoke and the cool burning tendency of the Burley. I found it to be similar in taste to PA in some respects, but the smoke was silkier and I don’t know if you could get this stuff to bite even if you tried hyperventilating through your stem. At one point (about halfway through) the smoke became more “woody” and slightly more sharp but it remained far from biting.

The room note is moderate. It certainly can’t compete with a good aro, but it won’t chase people away like an Oriental heavy blend. All in all I think this is one hell of a tobacco for the price point ($3-$4 for 1.5 oz). Right now it is certainly leading the pack in the running to become my “go-to” drugstore blend. Up next I plan on trying Mixture no. 79. After a recent thread my curiosity has been stirred