Looking at dipping my toes into FLV Tobaccos but I just want to keep it very simple to start off with. I think I’ve only ever had one tobacco vape I liked so I want to just start with 2 flavours and see if these Tobaccos are for me…
I had narrowed it down to Red Burley + something like Native T or Kentucky.
But now I’m seeing Ligero which came out last year looks like it could be a real recipe backbone like Red Burley tends to be.
I know Virginia is very popular but it seems like it is dry and wouldn’t contrast enough with the dry Burley and Ligero? So I thought Native or Kentucky might be good for their lighter grassy notes to contrast the darker Ligero or Burley? I’m not looking to recreate the taste of a burnt cigarette, I haven’t smoked one for close to 10 years. But I have always loved the smell of tobacco and want to have some fun with it.
Does any of that even make sense? Or am I overthinking like I usually do? Lmao
I basically just want to know which 2 FLV Tobaccos you would choose if you could only have 2. Maybe I should’ve just said that? Lol
“cured tobacco” is really good. It’s a darker rolling/pipe tobacco that’s earthy, light nut and smokey notes.
I find myself using “Turkish” quite a lot, it’s a brighter loose leaf rolling tobacco with light spicy notes and I like mixing it with"Virginia" to create a brighter rolling tobacco type flavour.
“Native” is also very good, use It as an accent to other lighter leafy tobacco’s.
“Ligaro” is really good, it has a musty dampness that doesn’t sound appealing but is really good in a tobacco.
You will be surprised how many others non-tobacco flavours you can use to compliment tobacco.
I think I would go with “ligero” and “Turkish” as my first 2 because they are quite different to each other and mix really well together to create a lighter rolling tobacco with the “ligero” adding a darker character and damp musty note.
Ahhh I forgot to say Cured is not available to me. I know it’s a popular one. Sadly I see I can’t get Turkish either.
Would you say Native and Ligero have enough differing characteristics to be used as a pairing? Just to dip my toes in? It seems like Ligaro is dark and bold and dry while Native is lighter, grassier and ever so slightly sweet? I’m just going off notes I’ve made so please correct me if I’m wrong.
And yeah the reason I’m just looking for two good flavours for now is that I have plenty of other stuff to add more depth to these 2 if need be and I’m not strictly looking to replicate tobacco per se.
Yes “Native” and “Ligaro” work together the “ligaro” is actually quite damp, it has a musty type wetness that I really like. I would use “native” as an accent to "legaro, They do work together though. I started by making more dessert type tobacco with not a lot of tobacco so you learn which non-tobacco flavours work well with each tobacco and tobacco pairing. I now use more tobacco and less flavourings, but use flavours I know work really well with my tobacco base. I learn something new with each new recipe I mix.
Thanks so much for your advice. Do you utilise Red Burley much? It seems like at one point it was the real go-to flavour tying so many flv tobacco recipes together?
Tell me about it! The main thing I’m learning is that I suck at organising my note keeping. I’m a pen and paper person and this is getting out of hand! Lmao
“red burley” is really good, it’s a strong and full flavoured. Pipe/cigar type tobacco I tend to use It as an accent at maybe 0.5% - 0.75% with a more bright leafy tobacco like “Virginia” Turkish" or “oriental”. But you can use It higher.
@RandomlyAssigned for a good example of Red Burley and Kentucky look no further than Fears Cardinal.
Kentucky Blend (Flavorah) 0.25
Red Burley (Flavorah) 0.75
Holy Grail (DIYFS) 8.00
It uses both Burley @.75 and Kentucky @.25 with an RY4 as the base of the recipe. I’d suggest grabbing Holy RY4 from Flavor Jungle as it is as close to Holy Grail As you’ll find. I’m not big on RY4s as I don’t care for the caramel notes in tobacco. I prefer pipe and cigar tobaccos. My favorite FlV tobaccos are Cavendish, Burley, Ligero, Connecticut Shade, and their Virginia.
Ligero is very good, though to me it’s more of a cigar tobacco, it does pair very nicely with Connecticut Shade as the cigar wrapper.
Yes, I’ve mixed this also and I think it’s a good recipe if you’re just getting into tobacco’s. It’s got just enough tobacco from the 2 (flavorah) flavours. It’s a a good example of using those 2 tobacco’s low.
Hi RA - I tend to like tobacco infused desserts so my needs are simple. I have a couple (TPA RY4 Double (of course), FA Soho, FLV Mild Tobacco, and TPA Cigarillo (which I bought for one specific recipe)).
When I was searching for a tobacco to buy, I did this:
FLV Tobaccos
# of Recipes
Red Burley
532
Cured Tobacco
328
Kentucky Blend
309
Sweet and Smokey Tobacco
209
Native Tobacco
195
Virginia Tobacco
158
Tatanka Tobacco
140
Turkish
142
Connecticut Shade
92
Mild Tobacco
70
Oriental Tobacco
66
Classic Cigarette
63
Vanilla Tobacco
62
RY4
61
Cavendish
36
Arabian
33
Commercial Cigarette
22
Ligero Leaf
10
Some of these (Tatanka, Oriental, Arabian) I don’t think can be found anymore. @SessionDrummer did some write-ups on a few of these but all contain reviews here in the flavor index:
When I see a FLV Tobacco in a recipe, I just usually substitute FLV Mild unless its a cigar flavor. I also use the Cosmic Truth Calculator to compute substitution ratios. and I use ELR Median values to do that:
I like Virginia tobacco, unfortunately cured pairs with it very well (why’s it unavailable where you are?) I find Arabian tobacco very spiced, like a lot of Arabian things very heavy. Native tobacco is nice in small amounts to pair with lighter tobaccos like Virginia. Just gives it some character like cured does. Burley is a very strong tobacco as well, I like it paired at a small amount with a light tobacco. I’ve tried super concentrated Virginia tobacco and it’s just a very deep tobacco flavour of Virginia tobacco.
I’m not a huge fan of those deep deep flavours unfortunately i lean more into golden tobaccos or smooth tobaccos. Virginia by flavourah is perfect for that. The next ones I want to try are flue cured and commercial tobacco and see if they have any other light tobacco flavours.
I find a lot of the deep tobaccos lean into an almost cigar like flavour or an unfiltered cigarette.
I’m in Canada and was able to source Arabian tobacco but I assume if it’s unavailable it wasn’t popular and once it’s gone from that supplier it’s gone forever
You’re probably way ahead of me, and it sounds like you’ve tested most of these…
Yeah - I just placed a small order that may help me stave off the loss of European/other non US suppliers.
OK, let me be clear: I’ve never single flavor tested a flavor when I’ve received it. I simply put them into use and compute conversion ratios for other similar flavors that I add to my notes. (For example, if Flavor A Vanilla Custard is used @ 2% median value and Flavor B Vanilla Custard is used @ 1%, the conversion ratio is 1:0.5.)
I like FLV Mild because it seems to just add a bit more tobacco flavor when I mix it with RY4 and others. That’s why I bought it - as a booster. When I smell it, I get some RY4 elements, as @SessionDrummer described - a lot of caramel.
I’m not sure if this perspective helps, but I hope it does - Good Luck All.
okay good to know! and ive basically blended the flavours together since I just got off of the bottles scent and got a feel for how they modify Virginia Tobacco mainly! I may have to play around with them more but I hope you can get cured tobacco since it does add a nice tobacco flavour at .5% of the total flavour. they are strong so you won’t need much luckily! not sure if you can order from Canada but I got it off of DIY-ejuice or flvrs website.
That’s interesting because it seemed to be the main body for recipes several years ago. So that’s why I was tossing up between it and Ligero.
Yeah this is more the kind of use of Red Burley I had seen in my research. I guess everyone’s answers are just reminding me it comes down to personal preference. Like everything. Everyone will like different aspects of the tobaccos.
I appreciate everyone’s input so far and welcome any other tobacco fans to add their 2c.
Definitely a pipe tobacco id say, stand alone it will be strong but adding it to a lighter tobacco to push it to a mild tobacco is amazing. I find the deeper pipe tobaccos good for added profile. Just like cigarettes they usually have a special blend of flavour.
I find the same with native tobacco and cured tobacco as well, stand alone it will be very deep but added at low percents it compliments
What would be the lighter tobacco flavour you would accent with these darker flavours? Virginia?
I was leaning towards native/Kentucky and burley/ligero for the two flavours I was going to choose but I feel like perhaps I need a Virginia and burley or ligero to contrast it. I’m going to end up with 2 deep, dark flavours otherwise and that might not be the tobacco profile I like…
“Virginia” “oriental” “Turkish” I know you can’t get “Turkish” though. Although “Ligero” is considered a cigar tobacco it’s actually quite lite and can be used as a more lighter tobacco.