Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Dark Flake Aromatic

The Virginias are boldly vegetatively earthy with plenty of fermented tangy ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, floralness, and a touch of tart and tangy citrus, cigar and spice. The nutty, woody, earthy, toasty, lightly molasses sweet burleys feature a bit of strength in an important support role. The tonquin is a little more obvious than the maple and licorice toppings. They moderately tone down the tobaccos. The strength and nic-hit are strong. The taste level is just past the center of medium to strong. Won’t bite, or get harsh, but it does have a few rough edges. Needs some dry time. Burns cool, clean and slow with a mostly consistent sweet and rugged, earthy, woody, mildly savory flavor from top to bottom. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a fair number of relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, and stronger room note. Not an all day smoke, and I recommend a small bowl for this one.

-JimInks

Gawith Hoggarth - Dark Flake Aromatic.

This is the sort of blend I expected I'd want to run a mile from! I remember smoking a some of the scented flakes over the past few years and finding them totally nefarious, but this, although it goes against the grain of what I consider myself to like, is a good smoke.

My 25g pouch contained four long, dark (no surprise), flakes. Very often loosely sold blends have a good hydration but Dark Flake's too damp; it needs airing. The colour was no surprise, and nor was the pouch-note: it smells a bit like perfume.

Now, the smoke is very good. A little perplexing, the perfume note's absent from it, but there is a fairly strong liquorice and maple note. Although the topping's quite heavy, it doesn't cancel out any of the tobacco flavours: of the two the Burley's far stronger than the Virginia. I find that Dark Flake Aromatic's a far more enjoyable smoke if it's sipped gently, that's not due to tongue bite, instead it can develop a bit of a yucky taste on the sides of my tongue when it's chugged. The burn from DFA is absolutely superb: it gives quite a cool smoke, doesn't require much attention, leaves a very white ash, and burns dottle free. Tongue bite? None of it!

The topping's not as ludicrously strong as I anticipated, but something that is very strong is the nicotine! And the room-note's quite pleasant, not great, but not bad.

I like this, I think it's a very good, no-frills, aromatic blend.

Highly recommended.

Oh boy, what a baccy's here! Black, moist, ready-rubbed flake made of East African Dark Fired Virginias, Dark Indian Virginias and Burleys. It's double-sweet, being laden with licorice and dry fruits essence.

It's deceptive just like sweet sherry: you may drink a lot of it and it's too late when you realise you're completely drunk. After the first third of the bowl the sweetness fades away and what starts afterwards is bearable only to a really tough smoker with lots of curly hair on his chest, neck and shoulders. It's one of the strongest tobacco I know. After years of smoking strong Kentucky roll-your-own cigarettes I thought I got a hypertolerance to nicotine (f.ex., I routinely inhale Black Birds Eye, and Nightcap barely satisfies my nic crave). But this weed almost gave me spins!

Super-sweet and super-strong. It pushes to the limits in just everything: fullness, flavour, aroma and strength. If you are after some FULLER stuff (as I am), definitely try this sweet poison.

Just tried my first bowl today. I love it. Burns nice and slowly. A robust smoke. Still trying to get around the flavours and how to describe them. After reading the reviews I was apprehensive regarding the nicotine hit, as I don't really know how to telll what that means. Hoping I wouldn't fall on the floor while cooking. I smoked it with a wee drop of whisky. Thoroughly enjoyed it, didn't fall down but felt very satisfied. I like it and will probably be buying some more.

Rich campfire wood-smoke, charcoal, tar, licorice, clove, anise, raisins, peppercorn, molasses & chocolate. Deep, rich and powerful flavors, but still yet manages to be smooth as silk and a tad sweet. The floral "gawith essence" is here-a-plenty, but it is matched so well by the robust leaf that it hardly stands out. Smokes well and doesn't bite, even without dry time (in my experience).body is full, Strength full as well.

It's almost as if Peterson's Irish flake and st.Bruno flake had a love-child. It's everything I want in a powerhouse dark-fired blend and more. Strong and heavy, yet sweet, subtle, and just a little bit medicinal. Not an everyday smoke, but definitely one I'll treasure.

This flake surprisingly shot to the top of my list of favorites almost immediately. I’ve been working my way through Gawith Hoggarth’s catalog as finances and inventory allow, and I’ve found I like most of their blends. With a few exceptions, I like what GH does with tobacco.

But this Dark Flake Aromatic is truly special.

I must confess I had my reservations as I added it to my most recent smokingpipes.com order. For starters, I don’t like aromatics. At least, I don’t like aromatics as we know them in America. I did read that these GH aromatics are unlike THOSE aromatics, but I didn’t really know in which ways they’re different. But something told me I should give them a try, and I’m glad I did.

I’d put Dark Flake Aromatic in the same ballpark as Irish Flake and Stirling Flake: rich, bold, strong flakes with a little added flavoring to sweeten the proceedings. But DFA leapfrogged those other flakes to become my current heavyweight champion.

The added flavoring (purportedly tonquin, maple and liquorice) doesn’t necessarily taste like something recognizable to me. But the way it melds with the strong tobacco flavors is an artistic achievement of no small measure.

Maybe what I’m tasting is in the neighborhood of a very strong, spicy, sweetened tea. Maybe not. Whatever it is, it works. And I like it a lot.

I liked it immediately, too. But I’m wary of that sort of thing. Sometimes I’ll like the first bowl of something, but each successive bowl is less enjoyable. DFA has continued to be something I enjoy and crave for a week now, so that’s very promising for the future.

Four stars, easily.

Well, well, well. My first review.

Take this as a beginner's notes for other beginners.

What an experience! I don't like at all the effects of nicotine. Yet, this powerhouse became my most beloved tobacco yet. The taste of the tobaccos themselves remind me of vietnamese smoked prunes, without the acidity, plus some woody earthy slightly medicinal goodness on top. Then the toppings, oh, the toppings! I love lakelands, especially the slightly perfumy kind. This falls into that cathegory; they are floral and fruity with what I assume must be the liquorice, although I wouldn't see it as such if I didn't know it was. They marry with the tobacco in a way that makes me want to wander throught a moor in the rain. I usually smoke lakelands when it's raining outside, the two sensations marry perfectly for me. Which brings me to – the umbrella note is slightly sweet, tobacco-y, heavy and floral. The nicotine makes it so that it is imperative to eat something heavy and preferably sweet beforehand and smoke the tobacco while strolling; whenever I sit down the world starts to spin. That being said, shallower, wide bowls (around 20mm) do it the most justice. I tried smoking it out of narrower bowls but it didn't fare too well. The moisture is a bit of a peculiarity here, I find; when I first opened the tin, the paper was WET, not moist, WET. Yet, after rubbing out and a slight air time it burned well with no bite whatsoever. On the other hand, when I rubbed it out and left to air for around two hours, the toppings mostly said aiós and left me only with a vague memory. I have yet to find the perfect approach – for the time being, I rub the flakes out completely, air for around ten minutes, pack lightly, light dilligently and sip slowly. The flakes also smoke well fold-and-stuffed, surprisingly enough, but the amount of tobacco, and therefore nicotine, is too much for me to handle. To reiterate: I hate the effects of nicotine, yet the taste of this fine leaf is worth enduring them for me. If you, asi I did at first with the unscented version, try this two weeks into pipe smoking, you're likely to have an awful time. If you eventually find a way to endure heavy doses of nicotine, this tobacco is well worth it.

Oh Man this is the tobacco from Heaven! this was the first words from me after lighting. Very woodsy musky and that Tonquin bean very much present there. I still have a bottle of Dark Obsession which consists of Tonquin bean I immediately recalled that smell. A very balanced Aroma of musky and Lakeland present through out the bowl which faint toward end and nutty burleys takes over. A very fantastic and enjoyable smoke definitely not for a novice as nic hit is felt very early from quarter of a bowl. Bravo Gawith Howard! All the way four stars!

Dark Flake sprayed with maple sugar, licorice and tonquin. Not a tonquin bomb like 1792.

Everything said about Dark Flake applies here. The toppings here do not overwhelm the tobacco and are pleasant and complimentary. I don't get much individual flavor notes, but the three toppings create a nice potpourri. Not as strong in flavor as 1792, but I think the base tobacco blend is superior here. Strength about the same as 1792.

Probably my second favorite tobacco in the world, after 1792.

This is one of the best blends one can buy. It is bought loose, and when first smelled in the pouch you are greeted with subtle, incense-like florals. A fantastic smell, one of the more refined Lakelands. The smell almost reminds me of a garden centre.

It is highly unique, and it's flavour profile is truly intense. Mostly the dark, smoky virginias and woody, nutty burleys. The toppings sit in the background which is very nice for those who enjoy a subtle aromatic. These toppings, especially in the first half of the bowl, add brief, fleeting floral wafts with an added liquorice edge, and a slight (dare I say pineapple) fruitiness - delicious. If I were to summarise in plain terms, it tastes like a full cigar with a bit of perfume floating around in the air around you. Delightful.

Of course, the centrepiece of this blend is the nicotine. This is by far the strongest blend I've tried, even more so than 1792 Flake.

I like smoking this after breakfast, it really sets one up for the day. At the moment, my post-breakfast smoke is always either this or 1792 Flake.

One of the best blends around, worth trying for anyone who is a nicotine fiend (in my case, an ex cigarette smoker). Also a great introduction to the Lakeland genre, considering that the toppings are a lot milder than some of the others. 10/10