D&R Menthol Brands - Wingate, Silver/Gold

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D&R's Menthol Blends - Pure Menthol Crystals and Premium Tobaccos.

• Wingate
  A traditional mentholated tobacco blend for the purist and connoisseur. Wingate provides a satisfying and full-bodied menthol experience without a bitter aftertaste on the palate. If you prefer a milder flavored menthol cigarette, mix with one of D & R's other fine tobaccos to obtain the desired strength.
  
  
• Wingate Silver (previously Light)
  A lighter menthol flavor combined with specially selected light-bodied tobaccos create this fulfilling and smooth tasting sensation. This satisfying blend contains flue-cured Gold Leaf, air-cured Burley and Oriental tobaccos. No casings added.
  
  
• Wingate Gold
  Premium quality 100% flue-cured tobaccos mentholated with pure menthol crystals create this smooth tasting Gold Leaf blend, Wingate Gold was specially developed for those who requested a premium mentholated RYO tobacco based on a Virginia Blend.

Soon after taking the plunge into RYO and reading RYO Magazine and everything else I could find online, it became obvious that one of the most highly recommended manufacturers of RYO tobacco was D&R. And since we are both long-time Menthol Light smokers (Kool Milds for me, Virginia Slim Menthol Ultra-Lights for her) it seemed like D&R's Wingate Light would be the best fit for us.

So our first order from D&R, a couple months back, was for a bag of Wingate Light and a Rizla 'Cigarette Size' starter kit.

Great Delivery, we ordered on a Friday and received the package on Tuesday, the only problem was that instead of sending the starter kit, they just sent the tubes, the HH injector wasn't included... so here we were with nearly a pound of well regarded tobacco and 2 boxes of tubes that we couldn't try out since they wouldn't fit on the Zig-Zag Hand Held Injector!

I emailed them the next day and mentioned I was disappointed in the service because we had been hoping to try out a few other D&R brands like their Wingate Gold and WinterGold in the future but they were off to a rocky start. Within 30 minutes I got an Email response that they would check the shipment.

The following Monday we received the package with the MIA injector, and to my surprise and delight they included two sample packets of tobacco, Wingate Gold and WinterGold!

Well, we really enjoyed the Wingate Light, such a smooth smoke without the harshness of the Gambler or Top Menthols that we had tried previously, yet without the overpowering Menthol smell and taste of Kite.

The Wingate Gold sample seemed even smoother!

But neither of us cared at all for the WinterGold, although smooth on the inhale, the WinterGreen Mint flavor was rather overpowering for our tastes. I tried blending some with the Gambler thinking that it might help smooth it out, but that just ended in disaster, it only seemed to accentuate the things we didn't like about each one separately! I still haven't figured out what to do with the 3/4 ounce or so that's left, it must be good for something?

So, here we are a couple months later and there's about 2 ounces of Wingate Light left, but it's mostly shake now There's still a couple cigs worth of the Wingate Gold left but I reckon it's definitely time to place another order with D&R!

[Capt U-96 AKA Mike]

There is a way to prevent your tobacco from turning into shake. First off, you need to keep your tobaccos at about 65% Relative Humidity, and not over handle the tobacco. You can keep the amount of shake to a minimum by doing what I mentioned above. I would suggest you go over to RYOMagazine to their Multi Media page. It's vary instructional, and informative. http://www.ryomagazine.com/multimedia/
Capt Mike

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Yep, I'm aware of the cause of the problem and have read all the articles and watched most of the videos at RYO Magazine.

Currently I just don't have enough good storage containers for the 6 currently open bags of tobacco And when I first started I was digging into the bag quite often instead of making batches.

One other tip I've found for any newbies who may read this is to gently squeeze the excess air out of the bag when reclosing it, this seems to help alot, especially if your air is dry like it is here in the winter.

[dz]

To my palate, Wingate delivers a very satisfying blast of menthol. After smoking the WG for a day, its easier to taste the regular Wingate in relief. The Vengeur base in the regular Wingate really stands out. Vengeur, being one of my favorite american blends, makes Wingate the best menthol I ve had to date! It takes stepping back for a minute sometimes to truly appreciate how good something is. I cant comment on the Gold yet, as it usually takes me at least 20 or so sticks to really get the feel for a new baccy, other than to say its really unique. But I think that, in the RYO world, Wingate stands apart from any other I ve tried. And its got such a generous menthol blast that makes it perfect for blending in various percentages and still retain its menthol character. I m wondering Dan, as you stated in here, that the Gold is missing something, could it be the burley?

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I haven't tried the Regular Wingate yet since I'd read that the Menthol was quite heavy. But since I've got quite a few non-menthol tobaccos here now that I could blend it with, I'll probably get a bag in my next D&R order.

We really enjoyed the Wingate Light, it was a smooth and refreshing smoke with just about the right amount of menthol for me. But I'm pretty picky about Menthol, smoked Kool Milds for many years and tried most of the other major brands when Kools got reformulated a couple times but always ended up coming back. This time I'm not going back, that much is certain, but I'm still searching for that 'perfect' menthol blend out of the pouch or tin or cup or bag for when I'm feeling lazy or rushed and not inclined to make my own custom blend (which so far always seems to include at least a pinch of Kite).

The Wingate Gold we have now is extremely mild, but as I mentioned elsewhere, I think it's a different Menthol than Wingate Light. To me it's got some Mint tones rather than, or maybe in addition to the Menthol. In fact now that I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if it uses a little of the wintergreen flavor that is used for the Wintergold (which I found overwhelmingly minty and somewhat repulsive).

The Wintergold is the only tobacco from D&R that I've tried so far that I'm pretty sure I won't ever be ordering and would highly recommend anybody considering it to first ask for a small sample.

[dz]

I dont find them too strong, but w/ all theses tasty baccys I only smoke a few a day now, and usually blended w/ Ryback and\or Rambeck. I smoked the House of Menthol (Kool FF) for years but switched to Newports; the Kools oftentimes didnt taste right, not so much w/ the Kool milds, they, to me, didnt change much. Well, these are obviously much better, the Stokers Iceberg is a more subdued menthol, still FF, but not over the top.

[dz]

Their Wintergold is quite nice. Many menthol smokers may think it underflavored though, as its quite light(my sample at least). But I really liked it and was sorry when it ran out. The bag emptied itself much quicker than the Vengeur sample. I read some people are mixing it w/ menthol, but my tastebuds arent sensitive enough for that I guess, as the menthol totally obliterates the delicate wintergreen taste for me. I think ill stick w/ the Wingate though. Any other really good menthols? SYO is sorely in need of some other than Wingate. A 100% Va menthol sounds nice. Skip the burley.

[dz]

Interestingly, after I made a post about SYO not having a straight Va menthol, I found out thats what Wingate Gold is. I should have know as the Gold gives it away, duh. I ll be ordering that soon. But I hope its not minty like marlboro green lights! Dan, you say its minty? Nice new look BTW, congrats!

[db]

If you liked the WinterGold, you'll Love the Wingate Gold. As I mentioned it has just a touch of that mint flavor but it's very subtle and I really only notice it on the very first hit when I light up a freshly packed stick and only in a FF or Nearly FF tube. And the Menthol is very subtle as well, it doesn't Need to be blended down to tone down the Menthol at all, but it seem to play well with other tobaccos. I should also add that it seems to have a fairly low nicotine content, usually with RYO/MYO I'm good for an hour or two after a smoke break, but with these I find myself thinking about having another much sooner.

The Wingate Gold does seem to blend well with regular tobaccos, I took Mark's advice and got some Rowland Light (and a few others) to blend with it, and that's a pretty nice combo. Now I'm not a big chocolate lover, but man whenever I open the Rowland it blows me away. I love that aroma, like stepping back into a Bavarian chocolate shoppe! But there again, I don't really taste the chocolate, but it does stiffen up the Wingate Gold quite a bit. I'm thinking it might make an interesting smoke if blended with some Ryback as well.

Glad you didn't have any trouble logging into the new Forum, and like the new look. I'm going to try to finish a couple tweaks to it in the next couple days and probably add the ability to use custom avatars to spice things up just a tad. Then we'll just need to add a few dozen more smokers to get the place rockin'

[Alist]

I do not smoke full flavor. Having smoked ultralights for 24 of the last 27 years, full flavor is just too damn strong for me. I also don't smoke menthol as a rule, although I did smoke menthol lights for 3 of the last 27 years. Menthol is a very occasional thing, although I wouldn't be messing with menthol at all if I hadn't discovered syo last September.

I have tried the Wingate Light and did like the tobacco ALOT. However, the nicotine hit was a bit on the strong side for me. At Xmas, I received a tub of the WinterGold. I am really not sure what to do with it. Understand, I knew nothing of Virginia until Xmas. I have Windsail Light, Penhooker Light and the WinterGold. The Windsail Light is too strong for me nicotine-hit wise, although the Penhooker Light is perfect. (Again, lights are an occasional thing for me. Ultralight is my daily). However, I LOVE both the Windsail Light and the Penhooker Light and will most likely always have these two on hand in the tubs.

The WinterGold is just too strong for me and comes across as a full flavor, or almost full flavor as far as the nicotine hit. The wintergreen oil seems to be barely there for me and certainly not overwhelming. I think I need to experiment with blending it with Ramback, since the Ramback is perfect for lightening up tobaccos, nicotine-hit wise. I especially like a third of the Ramback with two thirds of the Windsail Light, so will probably try the same proportions with the WinterGold.

Among the next D & R flavors I plan to purchase is the WingateGold.