A GOOD OLD CLASIC

Virginia No. 1, which comprises tobaccos from the USA, Brazil and Zimbabwe, is one of Mac Baren's most sold tobaccos
 

And thereby what is now this 57 year-old classic, which was originally marketed by Jørgen Halberg in 1955, can claim the title of one of Mac Baren's most stable products. In fact Virginia No. 1 marked the beginning of the trend that is now being experienced in the pipe trade at present, where the mild, aromatic tobaccos have become very popular, so that people in the surroundings are also able to share the pipe smoker's pleasure.

3 kroner and 15 øre. That was the price of 46.7 grams of Virginia No. 1 when Mac Baren's former director, Jørgen Halberg, sent his first Virginia tobacco on the market in 1955 after launching the Burley dominated “Golden Blend” in 1951.

“Virginia No. 1 was created on the basis of the desire to make a sufficiently mellow tobacco which could be smoked every day,” relates product specialist, Per Georg Jensen. Per Georg Jensen

Virginia No. 1 is a pressed tobacco which is pressed in 6.2 kilogram slabs in a pressing chamber where it lies for eight hours under strong pressure and then for at least three days under subsidiary pressure. The tobacco is sent to the factory and stored, after which it is used as required.

"But we always have sufficient tobacco in stock to cover one and a half to two years consumption to safeguard ourselves against a poor harvest - so we can be certain of maintaining the same good quality," continues Per Georg Jensen.

In 1999 Virginia No. 1 was given a new design, both on the tins and the pouches, similarly to Mac Baren's other products, but up to that time the original design, which was created by a lithographer who drew the logo by hand in 1955, had been retained.

"The fact that Virginia No. 1 is one of our most sold tobaccos also means that we buy tobacco leaf especially for it. Roughly speaking we export Virginia No. 1 to just over 50 of the 70 countries that we sell our tobacco to, primarily countries in Western Europe where there is a pipe smoking culture and which, over and above Denmark, include such countries as Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria."

"Present tastes are either for the mild and very aromatic tobaccos, or the pure tobaccos where the flavour of the tobacco itself is most in evidence. As far as this goes Virginia No. 1 meets both requirements, as the flavour is due to a natural sweetness in the tobacco. The leaves have a very high natural content of sugar which is originally formed there when starch decomposes and turns into sugar. After the great cigar boom the industry has experienced it appears as though people are now moving on. They are asking themselves what alternatives there are. And at that stage many discover pipe smoking - predominantly with the mild, sweet, aromatic tobaccos in their pipes.

Today Virginia No. 1 is a classic in spite of the fact that we have made very little fuss about it. It has survived on its own merits. But we shouldn't forget that Virginia No. 1 still tastes precisely the same as it did when it first appeared, and that is something we are proud of. We must naturally make sure that the tobacco has the same flavour year after year, which may well be difficult when harvests do not always produce identical results, and Virginia No. 1 is composed of 12 different tobaccos out of the 90 types of tobacco leaf that are divided into what we call degrees - on the basis of their colour, flavour and strength etc. We cannot simply permit ourselves to write a new date on the tobacco, as is done with wine, for example, and expect consumers to accept it. We have a completely different tradition in that respect and quite an inheritance to live up to. This requires knowledge.

But we have that, so everybody can rest assured that Virginia No. 1 will continue to taste just as good as it always does."

More information about Virginia No. 1