I have been burning some Black Velvet I got many years ago.  Just bought a 250g bag from Smokingpipes and opened it yesterday.

The original was quite sweet smelling in the tin and nearly all black leaf from the process they used.  It was probably around 15-20% Latakia.  

This new blend is mixed light and dark leaf and smells very smokey / English in the tin and is 50% Latakia from the Dan website.

The original had a very smooth but thick mouthfeel and a rich flavor in the mouth with a very pleasant room note for others.

The new one is a lot drier in the mouth and while still an enjoyable smoke, is not nearly as flavored as the original.  The room note is disappointing in comparison , but not awful or completely off putting.

I will post some comparison pictures of the tobacco and label, so you know what to look for. I was fantastically lucky and my local shop has some of the old blend left, which I am going to grab a bunch of today.  This may be the case in your area if you like or want to try the original.

New Black Velvet on the left and old Black Velvet on the right. Labels and tobacco.

Attached File

Attached File

Could the aging process have darkened the older stuff? Kinda allowed everything to "blend" with each other? Although I must say that I've aged tobacco for many months, maybe even a year but never paid attention if it got darker. It certainly got smoother, though.

I talked to Keith at Smokingpipes, and he actually talked to the retired owner or CEO of Dan tobacco and it had indeed been changed.  Keith had mentioned the aging change of color, but when he saw the pictures above, even he was shocked by the difference and said that no amount of age would turn the new one that dark.  I did get an invite down to see their back of house operations at some point.  

Road trip!

Road trip indeed! That's neat that he invited a tour, I'll bet it smell gooood in there.
I wonder why they changed it, did he give a reason?

No reason that I found from the Internet or any contacts.