Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown Flake Liquorice

Gawith Hoggarth - Brown Flake Liquorice.

I enjoy this more than I thought I would.... a lot more!

The 25 gram pouch contains three long flakes; that's about 7 smokes in one of my bigger pipes. It smells only very slightly of liquorice, nothing to imply it's a strong aromatic. Although the flakes aren't too wet, they need a touch of tenacity if you require a well rubbed blend: they're quite tough!

Usually I loath liquorice in tobaccos, it makes the smoke thick, sticky, acrid and bitter, in my opinion; this is the exact opposite. I only get an extremely mild addition of liquorice, just enough to be able to identify it but nowhere near enough to turn the smoke into false pandemonium. Although the additive makes its presence known, it doesn't do anything to compromise the tobacco tastes: the Burly and Virginia amalgamate together in quite a fair fashion to create a pleasing nutty/grassiness. This accounts for a lot more of the taste.

The nicotine amount is the same as their Brown Flake- no surprise there!

Due to the light addition of added flavours this remains bite free, no matter what.

I never in my life thought I'd give a liquorice tobacco full marks, but like the old saying goes, "there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip"!

Highly recommended.

The Virginias are slightly dark fruit sweet floral and earthy, with some wood and minor floral grass notes. The burleys offer some nuttiness, earth, wood, and a little chocolate as a strong supporting player. They also have a light toasty quality about them. The dark fired Malawi adds a little wood, earth, floralness, and a hit of spice. The lightly applied liquorice topping tones down the tobaccos just a little, allowing most of their inherent properties to show through. I also catch a slight essence of Lakeland. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns cool, clean, and a little slow as flakes will do with a very consistent flavor all the way through. Leaves a minimum amount of moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Has a pleasant, slightly lingering after taste. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I have been smoking this flake on and off for several months now. In general, I’m a fan of GH brown flakes but I have to admit that a licorice flavored tobacco wasn’t at the top of my wish list. Like most GH flakes, it arrived a bit moister than I prefer and needed some dry time. The scent offers up a very mild black licorice smell. I have smoked this fully rubbed out, but I prefer the flakes just lightly rubbed out and not packed too tightly. In the pipe, it burns cool, and the flavoring doesn’t taste artificial. The licorice offers a nice undercurrent, but doesn’t dominate the smoke. In a strict sense, due to the added licorice flavoring, I can see why this is referred to as an aromatic, however, I wouldn’t call it anymore of an aromatic than a straight Virginia with a light citrus topping. It definitely isn’t in the same category as GH’s somewhat new Brown Flake Vanilla, or Cherry Cream Flake. Without knowing for sure, my guess is there is a greater proportion of Virginia in this flake than Burley and the Virginia is of the African variety from a flavor standpoint. BFL isn’t an everyday smoke for me, but a solid addition to the extensive GH lineup.

Another one oz sample, so take this review for what it's worth. Beautiful brown flakes (duh!) but with an almost overpowering licorice scent in the bag. That concerned me, as I was afraid this would be overflavored. Mixture 79 is less heavy smelling before lighting!

Not to worry. This is an aromatic, not an oversauced, waxy tasting goopy American-style job. The flavoring was extremely mild and served mostly as a light sweetener, although the taste was clearly licorice. The room note was a bit more potent, but neither taste nor room note were nearly as heavy as the bag aroma. The predominate flavor was of a rich, sweet Virginia with, as in Brown Flake, a little too much heavy boisterousness from the burley. I enjoy the regular Brown Flake from time to time but it suffers from being a bit too coarse in flavor, unlike Best Brown #2. It's best after a meal. Ditto this one. The scenting just makes it a trifle smoother and sweeter without much toning down of Brown Flake's...err... vigor! What I enjoyed most about this was that it's a tobacco blend with a slight enhancer. G&H (and Steve Books) make the finest aromatics in the world IMHO. This one is no exception. The trick is to get just the right amount of flavoring so that it works in simpatico fashion with the tobacco rather than smothering it. This one works admirably. Try it if you found Brown Flake Unscented a little too rough. This smooths it out somewhat.

Despite being labeled as Licorice, it's not like strong black licorice in flavor. If one has come across licorice root powder, this is along the lines of what this flake is being cased with. It's subtle woody sweet that very naturally enhances the tobacco but is used a bit too much in my opinion for what it is. Licorice root has a subtle bitter aftertaste even though that doesn't come through in the smoke but too much leaves a slightly chalky or bread flour texture to the smoke. It would be better if it was additionally enhanced with a bit of anise and perhaps molasses to emphasize a familiar licorice character without being too strong. In the spectrum of Brown Flake varieties this would be one notch above Unscented followed by Best Brown #2. This is worth a try for someone who found Best brown Unscented a bit flat but found Best Brown #2 and especially the scented version too aromatic. Also, reminiscent of older dutch cavendishes but with a bit more body being comprised of virginia and fair amount of burley; Fairly mild and simple for a smoke.

This is a simple, but very nice smoke. Sweet nuttiness with a touch of wood and a very mild liquorice flavoring. There is a bare hint of chocolate as well. Not terribly strong, but strong enough to satisfy. The overall flavor is pleasant. I can smoke this all day and never tire of it. Good stuff.

Medium in body and taste. Flavoring is very mild. Burn is decent, requires some relights.

This flake has become one of my go to blends when I want a change from my regular Latakia blends. It is mildly scented and flavored. Good Virginias and burley. Smokes cool and slow without any bite or excess moisture. Plenty of tobacco flavor with a mild overlay of licorice and some Lakeland essence. Consistently good throughout the bowl.

I picked up some of the Brown Flake Licorice from two different vendors, Mars and P&C. They were quite different, that from P&C having a very noticeable anise pouch aroma while the one from Mars was markedly less so. Been puffing on the bag from Mars of late - and even with that lesser scented one I still get that subtle anise hit. I would classify it to be done in the same manner as the GH sweet twists...very light, just to take the edge off and sweeten the smoke slightly but not get in the way of the brown base flavor experience. To me this is a nuanced smoke...not in any way akin to the heavily scented Lakeland blends commonly thought of when the name Gawith comes to mind. I snagged some Brown Pigtail Licorice once upon a time and this Flake has much the same character. For those wanting a heavy licorice flavor...move along citizen, nothing of interest here. But for someone capable of appreciating a more gourmet approach...this is one to try. Very highly recommended for Gawith fans.

I'm just a little disappointed by this blend. I like liquorice a lot. The aroma from a fresh bag of BFL had me eagerly anticipating the smoke I would experience, once I dried out the tobacco enough to make it convenient to smoke. Sadly, getting rid of the excess moisture also got rid of most of the liquorice flavouring.

And two years later, I can add that the light touch of liquorice which at first disappointed, I now think a great idea. It means that I can enjoy the blend all day for days on end without fatiguing the palette.

Now, if only we can ensure a steady supply of GH blends...

I have been smoking brown flake liquorice for over seven months now. There’s something about it that keeps calling me back and drawing me to it. I really enjoy this flake. Part of what took me so long to write this review is that I can’t figure out how to accurately describe it. The tin note does not smell like traditional black licorice/anise. Maybe it’s unsweetened liquorice root? To me it’s a sweet pleasant tobacco scent with a slight tang if you will. It’s also slightly spicy. Cloves perhaps? A slight peppery note as well. The traditional Lakeland topping is very muted and different than other GH offerings. No floral notes at all. When I received the tobacco, I promptly rubbed out all of the flakes and jarred it up. The moisture content is a little high and requires a little bit drying time. The smoke is very tasteful and thought provoking as you try to figure out what the topping is. I still can’t put my finger on it. The flavor is pleasant, smooth and not overwhelming with no hint of bite. The aftertaste is very pleasant. The true winner in my book. Love it.