John Aylesbury Dragon Flake

The dark fruit and citrus Virginias have a little grass and some earth as well as a light bready quality. The double fermented black cavendish plays a sweet support role. The nutty, earthy burley is in the background, and barely detectable. The maple topping takes a small lead over the caramel. The vanilla is very lightly applied. The toppings have some richness and depth, and sublimate the tobaccos to a fair extent. As is customary with Danish processing, there is an ever present light spiciness that, in this case, almost reminds me of a ginger spice. The strength is in the center of mild to medium while the taste level just passes that mark. The nic-hit is mild. No chance of bite, and has no rough edges. The flakes are a little moist and easily broken apart to suit your preference. Burns cool, clean and a little slow with a mostly consistent flavor all the way to the finish. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has a pleasantly linger after taste and room note. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

To date this is the best aromatic flake I have smoked besides G&H products. This is a very heavily cased aromatic, that does so in the best possible way. It smells very fruity and sweet, but not in such a direction that you can pinpoint. The room note is the same way... hard to discern any particular scent but sweet and pleasant. The flavor is the same, and seems to burn nicely without being too hot. Does seem to smoke a bit wet if smoked directly from an easily rubbed out flake, but not terrible. I can recommend this if you are looking for a superb room note and a nice dessert smoke.

John Aylesbury - Dragon Flake.

Unlike the picture here mine arrived in a round tin. But, the tobacco inside is still contained in the paper insert that's shaped for the square tin, so it doesn't look 'right'! The paper holds two rows of wide, dark and medium brown flakes which have a few light flecks over them. Although they're wide there isn't much thickness to them so fully rubbing is a doddle. The moisture's good.

At first it's the sweet toppings that rule the roost, the maple and caramel, it takes until about a quarter of the way in for the vanilla to join in; albeit, it still doesn't have the power of the other two. At the start the sweetness seems a little overpowering, but when the vanilla arrives it abates some of this. The tobacco character's constructed of just Virginia and black Cavendish, I get no Burley. But, the added flavours are heavy, so they might be masking it! It burns steady, and very cool. I've not had one bite from it.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

Dragon Flake? A well put together smoke that deserves four stars, from me. But, should you not like sweet aromatics steer clear!

Highly recommended.

I received a few bowlfuls of this yesterday from a friend of mine at our weekly pipe club meeting. I noticed as one previous reviewer described that this was in a round tin with a square paper doily upon opening, not the square tin as pictured on the web page. Is there a square tin shortage? This, to my knowledge is the first aromatic flake I have ever tried. I detect a spicy berry liqueur smell and flavor to the tobacco. I cannot say I notice maple, caramel or vanilla per the description. It produces a lot of smoke. Maybe I have not smoked enough of this for a real review but this is my 2 cents worth nonetheless since I am not planning on buying this any time soon. Good, but not my cup of tea but a 3-star due to quality, it’s uniqueness and taste.

I first saw this on smokingpipes.com and thought it interesting. It arrived in a round tin. Tin aroma was that of maple and an essence reminding me of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. I couldn't detect much of the vanilla, but the caramel was there in the background. The flakes were similar in size and cut to Mac Barens Navy and Mixture Flakes. Although the tin says manufactured in Germany and this site states by Kohlhase & Kopp, Mac Barens may be the producer of the actual flakes (based on size and thinness of the slices) as I read that K&K outsources the actual production of flakes from their bulk mixtures.

The flakes were a medium brown with light flecking and the moisture content was similar to a fresh tin of the previously mentioned Mac Baren offerings and was ready for a smoke. Loading and lighting were easy and it remained lit without relights. The taste was a bit harsh on the tongue and somewhat chemical in nature. I couldn't really discern the individual components all that well; basically a somewhat harsh sweetness. Not much of tobacco taste or flavor for me either. No real bite other than the occasional nip to the tongue with this one. Not bad but not one I would purchase again. It's also a bit pricey at $13.52/50gm tin. The room note was quite pleasant; overall sweet without the typical maple syrup smell. There was a fair amount of gurgle while smoking. I'm sure this will smoke better for me once this dries out a bit. I enjoy my flakes more on the drier side as it helps bring out the natural tobacco flavor for me. Time will tell. With some of the negatives I've described I will give it 2 stars. over time, perhaps that will change.

Magic Smoke. Right out of the tin I folded and stuffed a flake into a medium size bowl Canadian, tamped it’s down a bit and sprinkled the crumbs on top. An easy smoke with immediate and lasting sweetness and a slight spice to it. No tongue bight even when I puffed the ember back to life. This burned perfectly after the first light until I had to leave it for dinner. I came back to it the next day and it continued to burn well.

A great smoke.

Smell: Wow, that's good. Quite natural. Sweet and creamy (if possible for a smell). It reminds me vanilla, maybe some pastry. Even some caramel, not overwhelming or extra sweet. Really delicious.

Taste: So far, one of the best aromatic tobaccos I tried. Maybe the best. It is very well balanced. I would not say that this is a light aromatic, even though this was my first impression. A more careful smoking suggested me that this is more on the strong side of aromatics. The smoke is sweet, very flavorful and consistent throughout the whole bowl. The main note is something like vanilla, but far from artificial and chemical vanilla aroma.

Ratio Smell/Taste: The smell of tobacco reflects very well in the smoke. Not a common feature for an aromatic.

Moisture: Wonderful flakes. A bit moist. Some drying time is necessary.

Filter: With and without.

Ghosting: Mild.

Very nice. Aromatic flakes seem like a great concept. The flavor here is very similar to MacBaren vanilla flake , with a little less vanilla. I don't get much caramel but I do get a bit of a fruitiness (get the same with Mac Baren). It's a very pleasant flavor that get a little darker half way through. Definitely need to dry in order to avoid excessive relights. I was a little disappointed I. The room note, it's pleasant, but less 'aromatic' than you'd expect. Will be cellaring some of this to see how age changes it. An all day smoke.

Dragon Flake was one I really looked forward to trying. It has that Danish mixture of fruity, caramel, vanilla and although it doesn't say it, I found coco in this too. The Virginias and double-fermented black Cavendish and Burley were formed perfectly into well formed dark golden moist flakes. I rubbed out some and gave it 5 min drying time.

The flavors are up front and med/strong with a caramel /coco blend that is unique, not really that fruity. Flavorful with an excellent room note, was like eating a Cadbury Chocolate Bar.

I smoked it in a Meerschaum billiard and here is my one major comment above all >>>> This Tobacco Burns HOT - VERY HOT!

In fact, it is probably the hottest burning tobacco I've ever smoked. And no idea why, It must be the toppings used, its way beyond a Virginia/Burley blend temperature would be. I was actually thinking it will crack the Meerschaum - that's how hot and I didn't smoke it fast either. With the intense heat, it burns quickly too - Next time I will fold it to slow down the burn time.

Overall, an excellent tobacco with great taste and aroma. Not an all day smoke for me, but a rich flavorful dessert smoke that is top shelf all the way - Just beware of one scorching hot bowl. You must sip this very slowly. I thought of adding some Latakia to try and cool it off a bit.

Buy some you will love it, but wear asbestos gloves 🙂

This is clearly a quality aromatic; it’s just not four stars for me because sweet fruits are not my favored flavor profile (I was expecting more of the maple syrup and vanilla). Straight from the tin, I compared in a Savinelli (with 6mm charcoal filter) and a Falcon (briar bowl, no filter) I got an aroma and taste of bowl of fresh sliced apricot, peach, and nectarine, sprinkled with brown sugar and drizzled with maple syrup. So yeah, it’s sweet and fruity, but somehow (for me) not as unctuous as something like Molto Dolce. Next round I allowed to dry on a paper plate for five hours and that may have been more than necessary as some of the flavor may have been lost. Still, smokes steady, wonderfully aromatic to the end of the bowl, and some of the golden Virginia showing through. After settling in the jar for about two weeks the flavor profile was now more of a really ripe peach that is starting to turn brown in a few places, very little maple, but the Virginia and Burley base are mild and well-behaved. Had an enjoyable session (solid three stars) in an old Algerian briar.

These kinds of fruits served as a dessert bowl are considered a real treat in northern Europe, so I can see the appeal to that market. Or maybe if you’re a peach farmer in Georgia, LOL! In the end it depends on what you like in an aromatic blend, but I wouldn’t question the quality here, and the lack of overdone PG is appreciated.

Is it worth putting on your TAD want list? Well, even with the super Black Friday sale price and free shipping, by the time I paid all the new excise taxes they are collecting this came to $15.39 for a tin. I know, those overseas are saying “that’s cheap!!” but here in the U.S. I’d say we have options that are just as good, or better than this, at more attractive price points.