Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. No. 7 Broken Flake

The grassy, very tart and tangy citrusy, lightly floral flue cured Virginia is the major component. The woody, lightly nutty, earthy, herbal, lightly spicy, dry dark fired Kentucky is a supporting player. The nutty, earthy, woody burley is in the background, and has a slight sharp note. The lightly soapy, rather floral sweet Lakeland topping is the main one; a little less so than in many other G&H products, though you may not think that in the first quarter of the experience. The vanilla underscores the taste. The toppings sublimate the tobaccos to a fair extent, but after the half way point, will diminish some, and you’ll notice the tobaccos a bit more. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. No chance of bite or harshness. Burns cool, clean, and a little slow with some richness in its floral, sweet flavor. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl, and requires a fair amount of relights. Has a pleasant slightly lingering sweet after taste, and room note. Can almost be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Gawith Hoggarth’s No. 7 Broken Flake, like all GH blends is made up of very high quality tobaccos. The thing is that if you don’t like the flavoring, it won’t matter how good the tobacco is and for many these are love or hate blends. I love them. The description of No. 7 Broken Flake as the reversal of Coniston Cut Plug is spot on. The Virginia tobaccos lead the way rather than the Burley, offering more natural sweetness (in addition to all the flavoring) than CCP and NO7BF has less of a nic hit although it is far from wimpy. NO7BF is “floral sweet” and smokes without a bite. Unlike a lot of American style aromatics, this blend ages quite well as the Virginia component further sweetens to complement the flavoring. The topping/casing also holds up well over years of storage. With the exception of the flakes with added chocolate or tonquin, I have long since given up on pulling out the flavoring other than the either soapy or floral qualities. But with NO7BF I can definitely taste the added vanilla although it melds into the casing rather than being an upfront player. The added flavors in Lakeland style aromatics can really ghost a pipe so use caution before smoking them in a treasured briar. No. 7 Broken Flake is no exception and will leave strong ghost behind. Even from Lakeland blend to Lakeland blend, they can really distort the flavor left by a prior blend. So if you smoke a wide range of them like I do, be committed to dedication several different briars to cover the gamut of different blends. I prefer to use inexpensive cobs for many of them. Great stuff!

GH & Co produce four most excellent tobaccos: Ennerdale, Bosun Cut, #7 Broken Flake, and Hyde Park (which they make for Peterson). Each has the unique "Lakeland Essence" that is loved by many - and loathed by just as many. For us Yanks, it tends to be a love it or hate it relationship. As you might surmise, this Yank loves it.

The subject of this review is their #7 Broken Flake blend, which is my favorite of the four afore mentioned blends. It's the lightest of them, Lakeland Essence-wise, but also the blend that best allows the outstanding tobacco base to shine through. As far as Lakeland Essence goes, I've never really been able to figure out what, exactly, is in there. I get some almond, geranium, and tonquin bean notes - but there is a whole lot of something else in there as well.

#7 Broken Flake is a solid VaBur blend, with the underlying tobacco being similar to Pete Irish Flake but not nearly as stout. The light dose of "Kendal Sauce" (aka Lakeland Essence) really does a lot to enhance the wonderful VaBur base, but the addition of the vanilla extract is what makes this a truly sublime blend. This Vanilla-Kendal Sauce topping is definitely noticeable for the first few minutes, but then it tones down and disappears into the background where it adds a wonderful dimension to the outstanding slightly nutty and deeply hay-like VaBur base. As far as the room note goes, it's neither foul nor fair: it won't run anybody off, but it won't endear you to anyone either - it merely smells like pipe tobacco with a slightly floral essence.

If you've ever been curious Lakeland blends, this is the one that I recommend you try first due to the light dose of Kendal Sauce. If you're a long-time fan of these blends but have never tried this one, then I also recommend it and for the same reason: the light Lakeland essence allows you to fully appreciate the base VaBur blend and adds a wonderful dimension to it. However, I recommend that you dedicate a pipe to it because it will ghost any pipe that you put it in, and if the pipe is already ghosted by another Lakeland blend then you won't be able to truly appreciate this fine GH & Co. offering on its own merits. It smokes really well in a cob, so you might want to start off smoking it in a MM. That's what I did, and it turned out well for me. Just don't use one of those dinky little Legends - go with a Diplomat or Country Gentleman. An Egg or Spool will also work (if you can find either one), as will a Park Avenue or a Mark Twain. The larger bowls on these pipes will allow for the blend to really open up.

It's a truly wonderful blend, and I can't recommend it highly enough. However, as with any GH & Co. blend, this is not really a blend that I would recommend to beginning pipe smokers. It's a bit fussy when it comes to preparation. The broken flake format requires a bit of rubbing-out, and it does require a bit of dry-out time. It requires care when filling and lighting, and the wonderful flavor will be lost if you don't sip on it ever so slowly. This is a blend to which you want to devote your full attention, and the odds are that it's going to require at least a couple of relights. This is not a bad thing, because the pay-off is a truly sublime smoking experience.

No. 7 comes with a rustic broken flake appearance. It reminds me of Condor Original Long Cut flake in the bowl. It doesn't carry the strength of Dark Flake, or the topping of Ennerdale. It is lighter on the nicotine than Cannon Plug, but it is as semi-sweet as that honey dew topping. The essence fades to reveal an outstanding VA component. The vanilla is just detectable. This one might serve as all day smoke if I smoked all day. This smokes cool and bone-dry right out of the bag. No drying necessary. No bite potential. No challenges. This is a very pleasant Lakeland District broken flake.

G&H has a long list of bell ringers with me. I love the quality of their leaf and the way they can add a little something extra to their blends that somehow works. A classic deep Virginia Mixed with Burley and a wisp of Vanilla that somehow manages to tie the whole thing together. No. 7 is not as strong as many of their other blends along the Virginia line, but is no limp-wristed little blend either. And, as is the case with all the G&H line, this one burns clean to the bottom with few re-lights. Just an awesome smoke!

What a boring name for a good Lakeland! Did GH run out of Northern landmarks? In any case, the florals in this are a bit less than Bosun cut plug, but more than made up with the vanilla and light spice. A solid blend that lit easily and smoked well. Lakeland fans should not miss this. All others, stay far away!

I find this blend to be pitch-perfect. The added flavorings are moderate at best, the faint lingering sweetness is divine and this mixture is superbly balanced with absolutely no mid to end-bowl bitterness. It’s nowhere near as scented as the pouch note suggests and the smoke is quite delicate both in flavor and overall mouthfeel. Altogether the ubiquitous G&H soapiness is present but with adequate dry time the side stream hints much more at vanilla extract than it does a floral or herbal flavor. Liberal dry time also reduces any chance of bite.

With a name like No. 7 Broken Flake, this one is going to fly under the radar of many pipe smokers, even those of us that adore these quirky old world Kendal products. I wish I had discovered this one earlier. Probably one of the only scented Lakelands that I could easily smoke all day.

I have only smoked a few bowls so this is preliminary at best, but the tobacco deserves recognition. It is slightly perfumy to my nose and taste, but in a good way. When first smelling it in the bag, oh boy that smells good! The flake is broken into irregularly sized pieces so you can pack it as it is, or rub it out some more if you want. It burns beautifuly with a clean white ash. As already mentioned, the taste is a bit perfumed, but there is the creamy taste of the Scottish Cake there too. This is in, my opinion, an outstanding tobacco that can be smoked as often as craved. I find that craving does occur with this tobacco which tells me I like it a lot.

Gawith Hoggarth - No. 7 Broken Flake.

Let's start with the initial aroma of the unlit product, very incongruous, sort of like opening my wife's make up box as it is so perfume like. The moistness of the tobacco is really good, neither too damp nor dry. It crumbles with ease and does not necessitate much preparation time.

It takes to the flame with ease, burns even and steadily. The nicotine level I find quite pleasing as its about their Louisiana flake level and if you choose to inhale the smoke it causes no discomfort. On the negative side it does have (like the unlit tobacco) a perfume like taste with a flowery touch which is not completely egregious, it just gets a touch too much after a while and you can't ignore it anymore. That spoils this a bit as it impedes upon the lovely Virginia and Burley flavors. It doesn't bite me, no matter how hard and frequent I draw. The room note is not as perfume like as the smoke, just very mediocre.

Shame about the excess perfume taste, if it were abated a touch it would make for a better smoke and score more points!

Effervescent is the word that keeps popping up in my head while smoking this blend, something in the flavoring makes it taste bubbly to me. I love it and I'll be cellaring this one DEEP, along with the other Lakeland blends I love. This one is refreshing, it works well in the warmer weather especially in humid climates but it helps keep ya warm in the winter too. This is said to be the exact opposite of Coniston Cut Plug and I certainly can't argue with that statement. I love CCP but that one is more of an "every now and then" type smoke whereas this one is more like a daily smoke but it is still no weakling either as I don't think anything from GH&Co. is. I would say the nicotine level would fall in the medium spectrum. Those folks know how to make masculine blends with just a touch of femininity and the femininity in this case happens to be the floral notes added in the top dressing. I love, love, love tobaccos that have floral notes in them as it seems to work with the tobacco as apposed to completely drowning out the natural flavors. Most folks that say they only get perfume from these scented tobaccos probably haven't gotten passed the first couple of puffs as anyone who has smoked a whole lot of this stuff knows that the tobaccos really open up and bloom and the added scent becomes a nuance that helps keep the leaf interesting. I think our friends out in the Lake District are absolute genius blenders and are some of the great artists of our time and times passed.

Essential (only if you are man enough to handle the florals... : )