From 6 years ago, this is a comparison of my home-flue-cured Virginia with the flue-cured offerings of WLT at that time:
My leaf is in the bags. On the far right, my "Tip" leaf looks a lot like WLT's current "Ripe" leaf. I have not sampled WLT "Ripe" Virginia. With my own tip leaf, the aroma and nicotine were more intense than my "Upper" leaf, and the acidity of the smoke not as pronounced. Its burn, like that of all tip leaf, is not robust, and requires blending with leaf from lower stalk positions to get an easy combustion.
Bob