Peter Stokkebye Bulwark Flake

I found this to be a perfectly adequate tobacco. No more, no less. I consider myself to be generally a straight Virginia/VaPer fan, but I also have a passion for English blends and expected this to deliver a combination of the two due to its presentation - but this just really didn't do a great deal for me to be honest. I was expecting something different with the added Orientals etc., (I have never smoked an English Flake before) but to me this came across as very plain and uninteresting. As with some others I have reviewed, I was enticed by the opinions of others on various forums, most of whom I am in agreement with a lot of the time, but it seems like I was smoking a different blend to the others this time (this happens only occasionally)! The form taken by the tobacco is a long flake, solidly formed. The strength is medium to medium-strong, the room note is a standard Virginia room note, with a slight added creaminess from the Orientals/Latakia. In many ways that is the problem for me, nothing stands out about it - the Orientals seem so muted as to make this a fairly Virginia-only taste to me - they only really came through in the room note. I tried it folded & stuff, roughly rubbed & fully rubbed-out. The only time I could get moderately excited about it was in its fully rubbed-out form - all other times it was a nightmare to keep burning (moreso than any other flake I have ever smoked), and it's taste was fairly plain to be honest. I tried it in a number of pipes, the result was always the same. I will give it two out of four stars, but in terms of the overall impression I am left with of this tobacco is an unimpressive standard, nothing to really recommend it, but nothing to make it too evil either. Rub it out fully (maybe leave a few bits of broken flake in with the mix - as long as they're spread thinly amongst the rubbed-out material), fire it up, and smoke away. It may satisfy the need for a smoke, but you really won't be writing home about it. This was from a sample that had been aged 2 years, and I disagree with the other esteemed reviewer here - and others elsewhere - about just how good it is.

Peter Stokkebye - Bulwark Flake. From my notes.

Quite a simple, uncomplicated smoke. The loudest flavour was a sort of sharp, cedar one, with a creamy Oriental in the supporting role. The burn from Bulwark's good, but I smoked this fully rubbed. It didn't cause me bite problems, and nor was the temperature too warm.

The nicotine was medium to strong, and the room-note was only pleasant to tolerable.

It's a shame this is no longer made, as it was a four star smoke!