Luxury Twist Flake by Peter Stokkebye – Tobacco Review
Blender's description:
A pure Virginia blend from the best fields of Zimbabwe and the Eastern United States. Rolled Twist Flake, then Cavendish pressed and cut.
These square flakes have leaf ranging in bright to medium brown. They are easy to rub out or burn well stuffed in the bowl. I prefer wadding one into a ball, rolling it a little, the stuffing the whole works in the top of a narrow-chambered pipe leaving an air pocket underneath.
The overall flavor includes a lot of high notes, considerable citrus-like tang, much like lemon or orange peel with bright Virginia's characteristic grassy flavors. The darker leaf provides an appropriate amount of balance with body and a clean sweetness. Any added flavors are very subtle and not readily apparent during the smoke.
I'm surprised to find so little propensity to bite the tongue. I expect a little tingle and irritation from leaf of this sort, but this leaves my tongue ready for another bowl. This is one of the rare Virginia-only blends I could smoke bowl after bowl all day. The burn is cool and clean. No unpleasant aftertastes. It arrived in bulk with perfect moisture content ready to smoke as-is.
This is not the most complex Virginia blend I've smoked, but it does grow deeper and the sharper tastes yield to richer, earthier, sweeter flavors as the bowl progresses. There is a nice interplay between the brighter and deeper sides of the smoke with the later gaining ground as the ember floats to the bottom.
Virginia lovers will likely find this a very agreeable companion and it makes a great introduction to those new to Virginia blends.
hey, eric-
What is that pipe i often see you smoking on your videos?
Hi, Eric
I just smoked a bowl of luxury twist tonight and I find it full of wonderful flavors. It starts out with a bright vir taste with cigarette type aromas and vanilla. It then develops a buttery brown sugar/molasses character, which then evolves into a lemonade/ orange rind type fruitiness. After it goes through the progression I like to let the bowl rest a few minutes and I typically find that after a relight it goes through the flavor progression again. Of course the flavors deepen and sweeten the further down a bowl you go, sometimes it becomes almost as fruity as something like full virginia flake (almost).
As for packing I have tried the air pocket method (thanks for the video–couldn’t get it to work before) and a more traditional packing which I kind of prefer for this blend because the pipe goes out and reminds me to set it down. I find that If smoked too hot (my fault) you lose the delicate flavors, but occasionally resting the pipe restores them.
Next you really should try the luxury bullseye flake, it is sweeter and richer than the twist but still really well behaved. I really like them both especially in summer!