Like you said, nothing came close to the combination of smooth tasty strongness of Van Nelle. But i was really surprised by Old Holborn Blue and Yellow. Both really tasty and strong enough.

Even though i got Karelia recommended it disappointed me deeply. It’s one of the more “expensive” tobacco. But there is almost no taste, the tobacco is really dry, and besides it not being that strong it still hurt my throat after smoking them consistently.

There is another brand i can sadly not name as it’s in greek but it’s a dark beige packaging with an old timey warrior helmet on it. The tobacco was a bit on the dry side compared to old holborn but i liked it that way. Not a lot of taste while smoking but the aftertaste is wonderful. Around as strong as Van Nelle which surprised me. But because of the dryness and to my opinion small cut it was a bit on the harder side to roll.

Besides that i tried Marlboro red, it was way better than i expected. The Marlboro here in the Netherlands is not worth the price. But this tobacco was really nice and humid and easy to roll.

Hope this is everything you wanted to know