Park-Lane Tobacconist The Connoisseurs Flake

(3.53)
A rich and elusive mixture of over 15 different tobaccos! The best ribbon cut Virginias, Virginia flake, pressed Virginia cake, mild cavendish, and a tiny bit of lightly flavored sweet cavendish all come together to deliver a rough but ready rubbed tobacco that delivers a big Virginia taste, with a slightly sweet finish. If you were a fan of "Scottish Ribbon", a fantastic tobacco made by Ed in the Connoisseur shop in NY, you should give this one a try!

Details

Brand Park-Lane Tobacconist
Blended By Paul Bonacquisti
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Virginia Based
Contents Cavendish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ready Rubbed
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Extremely Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.53 / 4
11

4

2

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 17 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 31, 2017 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
The various Virginias and cavendishes offer a multiplicity of flavors, though this blend isn’t as complex as it seems. The aspects include a light tanginess, some earth and citrus, a little dark fruit, grass and sugar, and a smattering of honey and toast. The strength and taste levels are a step short of being in the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is mild. No chance or bite or harshness, and has no rough spots. Burns cool and clean at a reasonable pace though the flavors waft and wane with some inconsistency. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a very pleasant, short lived after taste. It’s not a flavor bomb, but is an easy going smoke that has just enough going for it to hold your interest as you go about your day.

-JimInks
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 18, 2015 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
I'm not quite sure what to make of this blend. I smoked about six bowls over a period of a week and got six different flavor presentations. Mostly, a sweet (only lightly) Virginia with some odd overtones of other leaf that just didn't ring my chimes. Also, this one smokes a tad on the hot side - but then, some Virginias do that to me. I suppose this one is going to float some boats but it really kinda sorta sank mine.

Pipestud
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 22, 2017 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
in the pouch, I see mostly tan ribbons of short to medium length. There are a few pieces of mostly rubbed out brown flake. The pouch note is tobacco with no evident topping or spice leaf, and it is slightly sweet. I had some "shake" in my sample. My sample came it a very good moisture level.

The cavendish in this is a brown cavendish and it gives a mellow smooth quality to the Virginia-forward blend. The Virginia is sweet and there is a little citrus. There is some wheat toast in the flavor when sipped that reminds me of Mac Baren's Mixture Scottish Blend. Puffing brings out the sweet.

This was a very good smoke and I enjoyed it. It is easy to recommend.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 16, 2015 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Soft, tasty and easy on the palate. Has a semi sweet taste on the finish. Not overly complex but I certainly don't think this a monotone or "pedestrian" type of smoke. Goes great anytime of a day - especially with a cup of Joe. This tobacco comes out in a rubbed out form - so it's easy to pack. I don't really tadte cavendish - so if it's there it's completely subtle. Mixing a little Perique in it might make it pop a little more but then it wouldn't be what it is - which is a very well executed VA blend that deserves a place in one's cellar.
Pipe Used: Radice Rind Canadian
PurchasedFrom: Park Lane
Age When Smoked: New
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 16, 2014 Mild Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant
It seems that I'm to be the voice of dissent where CF is concerned. This is a blend that I very much wanted to enjoy, as I tend to like all things Virginia "plus" (whether that be perique, burley, cavendish, or oriental). Unfortunately, the tobacco and I never got around to seeing eye-to-eye.

To its credit, it looks and smells to be very well executed, it is very low maintenance, burns steadily but not too hot, and is low enough in nicotine that it could be an all-day blend for those who enjoy it. In short, this blend has everything going for it, with the unfortunate exception of the taste. I tried the blend multiple times in differently shaped/sized pipes, briar and cob, and with different approaches to packing, hoping to hit on a winner.

The results were uniformly unexciting. There are brief moments when it shines - peaks of tart virginia with the underlying natural sweetness of the cavendish. These moments were few and far between for me, though. Most of the time, I found the blend to be monotonous. For me, great blends alternate between which component tobacco gets to be the star of a given puff...in this case, it seemed like both the VA and the Cavendish were both trying to melt into the background to stay out of the lime light - that can work if both/all components marry in the background to create something special. In this case, the result was bland.

This is a two-star blend for me - not because it's bad...it didn't bite me, didn't taste ashy, and seemed to be made of quality leaf. It's two-stars because it was too pedestrian. I wouldn't refuse to smoke it again, but I can't imagine ever wanting to purposely reach for it, either.

Hopefully, and I mean this sincerely, your mileage will vary. For my part, I prefer MacBaren's Stockton by a wide margin, even though it requires a bit more attention.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 15, 2014 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Having never tried Ed Burak’s Connoisseur’s “Scottish Ribbon” (foolishly walking by the shop many times and never going in) I cannot make any comparisons. But on its own, Connoisseur’s Flake from Park Lane stands up independently very nicely! Lots of great Virginia flavor intermingled with just enough Cavendish makes for a tasty blend. As another reviewer pointed out, looking at this blend in the pouch, doesn’t give any indication of how well this blend tastes. I am not normally a Scottish blend smoker, but this clean burning; mild blend is a real treat. Normally, I smoke my tobaccos quite dry, but I find that this blend needs a bit of moisture to bring out the best flavor. Having jarred this for nearly three years didn’t hurt either. I can’t say that it tops my current favorite Scottish from Compton’s, but it is good enough to make me wish that I had cellared more than just a couple of ounces.
PurchasedFrom: Park Lane Tobacconist
Age When Smoked: 3 years
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
BC
Apr 01, 2017 Mild None Detected Medium Tolerable
This is a favorite, as was the Ed Burak's "Scottish Ribbon" from his Connoisseur Shop in Manhattan. This is a clone of that mixture. I think it is a little rough out of the tin, but it is great aged at least 9 months. It is an all day smoke for me; it is my "go to" especially in the Summer and Fall when I am working outside. It is easy to pack, burns with a minimum amount of relights, and with very little dottle. I taste citrus and grass, and a little earth, but the attraction to me is a subtle sweetness I always look for in Virginias. It is fairly consistent, but I do not find it boring at all. It will bite if your cadence is too fast.
PurchasedFrom: Park Lane
Age When Smoked: 2.5 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 13, 2014 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
My PL journey is well underway. I know nothing of the blend CF seeks to emulate and that's probably a good thing from a reviewing standpoint. It is mostly light in color and smells all natural in the pouch. It's looks are quite deceiving for there is far more flavor and complexity at work than first appears. There is a faint sweetness at play but it is so far in the background it could be overlooked. Excellent grades of virginias are clearly at play and I find it most enjoyable with no tongue bite and it smokes dry right to the bottom of the bowl.

A very pleasant surprise and I'm looking forward to more bowls!

1-20-14 Update: I have found myself reaching for CF three days in a row, this tobacco is surprising me and seems to be on it's way to a fourth star!!
Pipe Used: Il Ceppo Panel billiard
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 17, 2013 Mild Mild Medium Pleasant
This is to kind of get at least an annual review on this posted.

This is indeed one of the best blends out there of a specific genre. The genre is one perhaps only I use for classifying blends. There are a group of blends that I really enjoy...all are a melange of various tobaccos using VA as a base, and rounded out with any of a number of others...Burley, Perique, Turkish, Cigar Leaf, etc. But whatever the ingredients or proportions, the keys are balance and nuanced mingled flavors. Also, they tend toward being fairly mild. Their 'thing' is that I can stuff them into a bowl, light it up, puff away absently without having to be tended to and exhibiting a very forgiving attitude to both the wild ass puffer (they are low or no bite blends) and the one whose bowl keeps going out...so DGT is good. And the bottom line is that the flavors are natural tobacco flavors, a little tart, a little sweet...and totally delicious. They are invariably designed by one of the gurus of modern tobacco blending, as these things really are works that only a genius could come up with. After all, perfection isn't easy.

Now whether or not you go for the above song and dance, this stuff is a seriously excellent blend that you really do need to try.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 06, 2011 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
After Ed Burak closed his Connoisseur Pipe Shop in Manhattan in Feb. '09, I received many requests through my Connoisseur Pipe Shop Online site for his tobaccos, none of which were still available. Ed had chosen not to pass his recipes on to another blender. He had told me that Scottish Ribbon was a fermented Virginia cavendish, pressed with a spray of sugar water between the layers of leaf. I sent a sample of Scottish Ribbon from my cellar to Paul Bonacquisti who blended a few slightly different interpretations of this blend and sent them out to a number of regular Scottish Ribbon afficienados for comments. Park Lane Connoisseur's Flake is one of those interpretations and the one I found most approximated Scottish Ribbon. To my palate (but apparently not to everyone's), it's spot on. Another reviewer found it unlike Scottish Ribbon. Another of Paul's testers thought that a different batch was closer to the original and Paul now offers that one as Liebman's Scottish Flake; delicious, but not quite Scottish Ribbon-y enough for me. The differences in opinion may be in part due to the fact that the Scottish Ribbon sample I sent Paul had been cellared for a couple of years and, to my mind, improved thereby. But, for those used to "fresh" Scottish Ribbon, this could explain the discrepencies.

The Connoisseur's Flake is definitely an all-day tobacco and earns my highest recommendation. It is mild enough to be smoked repeatedly and flavorful enough that you'll want to do so. I don't believe it contains Perique as was suggested by an earlier reviewer. Scottish Ribbon didn't and Paul's description of Connoisseur's Flake does not mention any use of that condiment.
1 person found this review helpful.
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