Samuel Gawith Golden Glow (bulk)

A mild to medium tasting Virginia with a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, hay/straw and grass, a little tangy dark fruit, some earth, bread, and wood along with mild floralness, vegetation, sugar, and a pinch of spice. Won't bite or get harsh even if pushed. Has a few small rough edges. The strength is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a step past that threshold. The nic-hit is a rung below the strength level. It's easy to break up the flakes or fold and stuff as your preference allows. It burns slow and easy with a cool, clean, relatively smooth, very consistent flavor. Requires a few relights, and leaves little dampness in the bowl. Has a very pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note. An all day naturally sweet straight, uncomplicated Virginia smoke.

-JimInks

For me this is tied for best straight golden Va, along with Butera Golden Cake. Very different tobaccos, equally excellent.

This is essentially BBF/FVF before the processing. What you have here is an excellent quality of golden Va. Empire leaf vs the American leaf used by McClelland, which makes for a slightly less sweet, more tobacco-y smoke. Consistent and delicious, it's a great smoke during the warm months.

I frequently see smokers calling this one bland, which I don't get. If you're a Va lover, you're going to love MVF.

Appearance and Aroma: This comes in bulk form. It is mostly a medium to light brown blend in a broken flake presentation. Smells like hay but with a slight "Lakeland" scent to it.

Packing and Lighting: I prefer to pack "as is" and just rub a little on top for easier lighting. Lights easily.

Initial Flavor: Like "Best Brown Flake". It has that same "earthiness" that I enjoy, but with a little more "oomph" and is a tad sweeter and brighter.

Mid-Bowl: This is plain delicious!

Bottom of Bowl: I much prefer this blend over FVF because it doesn't have the strong build up of strength of that blend. This builds up nicely, but I don't have to let it go out so that the strength doesn't overwhelm me. Ends with a light, dry, grey ash.

Overall: This has now become a staple VA blend for me. More flavor than BBF, but not the punch of FVF. It does have an occaisonal flavor of the "Lakeland" scenting, but you really have to pay attention to taste it. I like that so it won't get any complaints from me. I look forward to aging some to see what will happen to this stellar VA blend... Meanwhile, go get some now!

Samuel Gawith - Golden Glow (Bulk).

Like it's tinned sibling, this is a remarkable blend!

Being from bulk, the moisture on arrival couldn't be any better (an improvement on the tinned version!). Like the sealed version it can easily be identified as a broken flake, I see some coarse pieces, but it hasn't been reduced to fine ribbons.

The smoke? I love it! Unlike some VA's, it isn't awash with citrus, rich fruit, or overly sharp. The smoke has just enough sweetness to placate and calm the sprightly Virginia notes. I find it a 'lazier' Virginia! Due to the moisture content a bowl burns without a hitch, And, because of the exemplary hydration, the temperature is fairly cool, and I don't get a scintilla of tongue bite.

Nicotine: medium at a push. Room-note: nice.

Golden Glow (Bulk)? Easily deserves a high recommendation:

Four stars.

Medium Virginia is a golden yellow straight Virginia flake, made by and for people who love that sort of thing. It starts out breezy and light, and then builds to a fantastic medium flavor as it stoves itself in the pipe. Smokes cool, remarkably with no bite at all if you smoke at anything approaching a correct Virginia cadence. Plenty of complexity to be found, if you know how to look.

I would not recommend this to anyone who doesn't know how to smoke flake, or to anyone whose palate isn't tuned to straight Virginia pipeweed. The flavor develops gently and never smacks you on the tastebuds like Pease blends do. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it'd be like handing a Montecristo No.4 to a Tatuaje smoker and expecting them to follow the thread.

For Virginia lovers, this is highly recommended either as an all-day option or as your break from more bold offerings.

500 gram box that's been sitting in my cellar for a couple of years. Review is based on about 1.5 oz. They tell me that this is the bulk version of Golden Glow, and I can believe that although I don't know for a fact that it's true. Same golden color, although the flakes here are much longer (then again, so are the flakes in a box of FVF as opposed to the tin), same lemon-citrus, grass and hay high notes.

This one was a textbook version of a light lemon Virginia, unlike two I recently smoked (F&T CVP and Butera Golden Cake) which reached heights this one can't match. It would make a good all-day until dinner smoke, when a richer, more complex blend would probably work better. This would also be a nice hot weather outdoor smoke and I'm saving the rest of my box for when and if winter ever decides to end! Perfect for smokers that find OGS too fruity, as this tones down the "marinated in orange peel" taste I get from that one. Overall I find this one worth a visit but not destined for my rotation, as I find it leaning heavily towards "ordinary". But I'm revisiting this again this summer, as I think it might improve... and speaking of improving, this one should age nicely. And I wouldn't puff this one, as she's prone to biting. Nice and easy on MVF to get the best out of her.

Background: I'm mostly a VA smoker, prefer flakes & straight pipes with VA's.

It's described as a FVF lite & most likely won't be a favorite of those who like stronger blends. But what it may lack in strength, it more than makes up for in flavor. This is one of my favorite VA blends, a light smoke, especially in the nicotine department.

The flakes are the thickness of a standard flake, but cut into 4" long, 1/8" square strings that are flexible and soft. Upon inspection, the medium to light brown tobacco looks to have been stripped of stems. The sample I bought was moist, but not sopping or oily. Just enough to be flexible, supple.

Preparing to fill, I dry it using the oven method (60 seconds in a pre-heated oven, 200 degrees). I then bag it up & let it cool in a Ziplock bag. Then I break the strands into 1/2" strips & fill the pipe. Normal packing works well for me.

Upon light up, the pleasant oats waft is apparent & welcome. The light semi sweet taste is so nice with a cup of sweetened Joe in the morning. The blend remains constant down to the last crumb and leaves a white fluffy ash. Only clue it's the end of the bowl is when it's hard to relight. Speaking of which, I required a couple re-lights mainly due to a lack of attention to tamping (requires a little more so than most). I've yet to get any bite from this blend, even when puffing like a loaded freight train.

** 5-15-08 update **

Still the same fine smoke as when first reviewed. KEY: Dry it just shy of crispy, I use the microwave for small batches (20 seconds on high spread on a paper towel).

VA's are like a Colibri butane lighter, persnickety to say the least. They favor certain pipes, require the right humidity, and can burn when worked too hard. I find Medium VA Flake to be like an Old Boy, a reliable performer, consistently good flavor. Many VA's are in my cupboard, this one gets the most attention.

* 6-07-2015 * update

Sipping some MVF bulk jared since 2007 in a Missouri Meerschaum Mark Twain Pipe. Pipe stuffed as is, not rubbed out. The grassy note has been over taken by a sweet lemon citrus note, a touch of zest still present. puff slowly as it can get hot like most straight VA's. It can be monochromatic (like McClellands 5100), but the lemon cream wins me over. If memory serves me correct, Golden Glow (previously Medium VA flake), it’s the same leaf stock as BBF & FVF, difference is the amount of time the leaf stock is pressed & steamed.

RCUSElder (who wrote an excellent review, IMO) enjoys this blend for the very reasons I find it only average, it's a weakling compared to Full Virginia Flake and I like more strength and flavor in my Virginia leaf.

Like FVF, this is a high quality flake Virginia that will burn clean and dry all the way to the bottom of the bowl. And, I think because I tugged too hard trying to find some taste, I got a bit of a nip on the tongue. More reasonable puffing should keep this one from biting.

This is my third most favored tobacco, right behind SG Best Brown and Full Virginia Flake. This a tobacco that for me requires a dedicated pipe. The Virginia tobacco flavor is pure and delicate and is to be enjoyed in small sips. Smoking this tobacco in a pipe in which another tobacco has been smoked will likely mask the flavor of this unique Virginia. I buy it in bulk, rub it out to a ribbon while moist, and allow it to thoroughly dry. I like to start with a bowl of Medium Flake, follow it with a bowl of Best Brown and finish up with FVF while clearing the palate from time to time with a jar of Guinness, exquisite pleasure for us simple folk. Most highly recommended. Paddy.

Back when I bought this 4 years ago, it was called Medium Virginia Flake and golden glow was sold in a tin. Although I knew they were similar, I didn't know they were one and the same. Well, at least so much as a SG tin and Bulk can be the same anyway. I reviewed my review of Golden Glow and it appears this will be yet another SG product I prefer bulk rather than tinned.

In my review I said BBF was better than the golden glow. Maybe it is just the 4 yrs. of age on this, but I would prefer to smoke this to BBF, although it is not by much as both are great Virginias. Ultimately though, IMHO, FVF is still the king. This is consistent with my take on Virginias. I just tend to prefer them to be fuller and golden glow is a little lighter than I prefer. Still it offers some very nice Virginia sweetness as should be expected being a Virginia produced by SG. It just doesn't come with the gravitas that FVF brings. I would think those who prefer Capstan Yellow to the Blue would really enjoy this one.