For me, this is a very reliable, rewarding, and easy Virginia to smoke. It's my "default mode" when I don't know what else to smoke, or when I need an all-day companion that needs no preparations or rubbing out. There has always been a bit of a broken flake component to it, which I think gives it a richer and deeper flavor than so many other loose leaf Virginia blends -- which tend to suffer from a harsh, grassy note. None of that here, and no annoying casing applied, either. This is a sweet, relatively cool tobacco which brings the raisins and dried fruit from the first puff to the last. If you're trying to learn to love Virginias, there are few more forgiving yet profitable blends to try, because tongue bite is minimal with Hal. I have several large truckloads of this excellent blend in long-term storage in the salt mines, because I can't imagine doing without it.
