Peretti Cambridge Flake

(3.48)
Combines the sweet zest of fine matured Virginia with the rich nutty flavor of Xanthi, Turkish and Latakia. This gives an uncommonly rich flavor and a smooth and zesty smoke. Here is a combination of two great English traditions. A mixture of Latakia, Turkish and mature Virginia pressed into a flake to provide a unique smoking experience. If you're an English smoker looking to branch out into flakes, this one is for you.

Details

Brand Peretti
Blended By L.J. Peretti
Manufactured By L.J. Peretti
Blend Type English
Contents Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.48 / 4
12

7

2

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 21 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 17, 2018 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The woody, earthy, leathery, rather floral, herbal, vegetative, sweet and sour, mildly spicy, nutty Oriental/Turkish take a little of the lead over the other components without dominating. The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia takes a secondary lead over the fermented dark fruity, tangy citrusy, earthy, lightly grassy, woody Virginias. They also sport a slight stewed fruitiness. The Virginias are obviously made by McClelland, and the “vinegar” notes, as small as they are, last to the finish. The strength is just short of being medium while the taste level is 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 as flakes tend to do, with a mostly consistent, fairly rich, complex and nuanced sweet and savory flavor from start to finish. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and needs some relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran.

-JimInks
20 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 10, 2015 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
Based on a 1 oz sample, this is a broken flake of darker brown color and a mellow musty and smoky bag aroma. Rather different in scent. Easy to rub and load and once again, drier is better as it brings out more of the tobacco flavor.

This is an oriental-forward Scottish-type flake with a twist. I'm not sure if it's the interplay of latakia with orientals or if there truly is Syrian latakia in here, but I tasted it every bowl. I'm thinking this includes both types of latakia because I smell Cyprian but taste more Syrian. Could be wrong but there is a musty spicy flavor I associate with Syrian lat, but again it could be the orientals. The flavor was rich but fairly mild and easy to smoke... leathery and woody, which are two descriptors that are WAY overused for latakia blends but fit very well to describe this one. A nice spicy character to this one and it reminded me of a well done homemade beef stew with all the flavors coming through at various times. Not sweet and not sour... nothing skewed the balance of this one. A remarkable blend and one headed for my cellar.
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 27, 2008 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
This may be my favorite Peretti. The delicate little flakes are mostly dark with sparse tan and light brown streaks throughout. It feels a bit moist, and the rubbed-out tobacco readily clumps together when squeezed between the thumb and fingers. But this lights and burns very well when packed very carefully in a small flake pipe. The tin aroma is primarily dark-sweet, almost molasses-like.

The flavor smoked is honestly very well described in the above "tin description" (bulk only as far as I know). You are immediately greeted with the tangy, zesty sweet Virginia, which maintains the lead throughout. The Orientals very much sing harmony, but they are certainly there, and they wax and wane in intensity. When I'm looking for a latakia punch, Cambridge Flake will not do. But for a really satisfying and complex smoke, it is hard to beat.

As a disclaimer, I have special memories attached to this tobacco. I had the distinct pleasure to visit Boston this past March, and I spent my birthday with the fine gentlemen at 2 1/2 park Square smoking a bowl of Cambridge Flake. If any reader here ever has the opportunity to visit this historic shop, it should not be passed up. There is magic in L.J. Peretti, and Cambridge Flake has been touched by that hand.
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 06, 2010 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant
I am a big fan of all the Peretti blends. This is very good.To me an oriental blend but in a flake.Oriental forward with Latakia in the background.Sweet Virginia form a nice base. Unlike their mixtures,this flake arrives quite damp and will benifit from half an hour out of the tin to dry,although it smokes well out of the tin. I like the way that Peretti sells its blends in pound and half pound 'paint tins'. Good for aging, no need to transfer to a jar. Anyone who enjoys virginia or Oriental tobacco should try this. Excellent.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 28, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
This is a rich, complex smoke. The Latakia smokiness is there but it doesn't overpower. There's sweetness from the Virginia and a wonderful sour note from the combination of Virginias and Orientals. The Latakia complements these so well. Hats off to the blender - this is masterfully done. It captures what I'm looking for in an English and what I'm looking for in a Virginia flake.

The texture isn't a McC broken Flake but more of a shredded flake. It burns well as is but benefits from a bit of drying. Either way I get no harshness or tongue bite and only a few relights.
Pipe Used: Billiards, bent billiards
PurchasedFrom: LJ Peretti
Age When Smoked: New
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 04, 2018 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
I normally try to wait a month or so before reviewing a tobacco but this one really got me inspired. I was in Boston this week and stopped in the shop on Monday and picked up a few sample bags (so I would know what to buy online...less 40%) and I scooped up the last 2 oz of this jewel. They said they couldn't get one of the ingredients... and I hope they meant temporarily. This stuff blew me away. This is one of the most unique blends I have tasted. An English Flake tobacco, that is Turkish/Oriental forward and I am not sure if it is the Xanthi or the use of stoved red Virginia in this blend that makes it so unique, but whatever the master blenders have done at Peretti I really like. The tin (baggie) note is reminiscent of McClelland Virginia's. There is some smokey Latakia in the aroma but the familiar sweet ketchup/vinegar smell from the VA is front and center, although not as strong as McC's VA's. I find that Peretti nails the moisture content in their blends. They come perfect and ready to smoke, but some say it on the dry side but that is where I like it. The flavor. This stuff is a real treat. This is a full flavored tobacco but not in the lat bomb sense that is oh so popular lately. The first flavor I get is roasted nuts followed by a slightly spicy woody flavor. The toasty and slightly sweet VA's are ever present. That Latakia is sweet and smokey, with a red wind like flavor. I think I saw a review that thought they detected Syrian Latakia and I can definitely see why. I am not sure if it is the blending and light hand that makes Cyprian taste more like Syrian or what...but it is good, very good. The retrohale provides a malty and Balkan like flavor that I only get when I exhale through the nose. I have never had the storied original Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture or the flake version (It think that was the original Bengal Slices), but if you are like me you guess what those old legends tasted like. I imagine that this is what it was like, and if it isn't...it should be. This will be one that will be mourned if it were to go away for ever. It does burn a bit quick so a slow cadence is a good idea.
Pipe Used: Briars and Morta
PurchasedFrom: L.J. Peretti
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 28, 2016 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
The description of this blend is identical to McClelland's #2020 (Matured Cake), which I love. The tin note (well, "bag note" in any case) is remarkably similar to #2020. This is fine, since I adore #2020.

However, I think this flake is rather different from #2020. I don't know if Peretti sources its flake from McClelland or not, as the internet sources seem to suggest. If they do, though, I think that this flake is made to somewhat different specifications.

Overall this blend is, in my opinion, a perfect Navy Flake. Despite whatever other ingredients may be in there, this flake is squarely Virginia and Latakia. Further, it doesn't have any of the other "flavorings" (or whatever it may be) that McClelland often uses--the Virginia is honest and simple, and the Latakia is well balanced. No toppings or any embellishments otherwise.

I wish I had some #2020 to smoke side-by-side to rule out "batch effects." This is a great Navy Flake, and I'd consider it something of a standard (in the good sense) of the genre.
Pipe Used: billiards
PurchasedFrom: Peretti (Mail Order)
Age When Smoked: bulk/fresh
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 27, 2011 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Why does no one mention the incredible sour note this tobacco has? Certainly the Orientals play a big part here. Not a Lat bomb by any stretch, this is firmly in the McClelland camp of mild mannered Lat blend.

But that sourness, wow. Big and persistent to the bottom of the bowl. You get glimpses of this in a lot of Lat blends, but here it is like a big, blinking neon sign. One dimensional? I don't think so. There is other stuff going on, but if you appreciate a sour Lat blend that may be a little light on Latakia but still big on flavor, this is it.

Not the whole package the way Penzance is, not as deep and big as Omega, but this one has something no other tobacco I've smoked has, and for me that makes it a hoarder. I find this much better than the reviews indicate, and it always distracts me when I smoke it because it makes me smile. This is not a complex tobacco but it does one thing really well. It consistently provides access to the big, elusive sour notes that really good Lat blends give. That alone makes it worth visiting.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 04, 2020 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
1/4 inch thick brown mottled flakes that are hefty and well pressed. Crumble easy like a crumble cake. These are beautiful flakes.

Pouch aroma of a smoky sweet, mildly sour dark fruit tobacco. the Orientals are really obvious in the pouch note!

As stated, these crumble and run out nicely. Perfect moisture content for immediate smoking.

Initial lighting shows the Orientals up front. Floral and slightly spicy. The Virginias don't offer much in the way of sweetness but seem to balance out this blend as intended They do contribute a slight bready note mid-bowl. The perfect amount of woody-earth smokiness comes out from the Latakia. Not the most complex English I have smoked, but enough to keep it interesting. The burn is slow and even, clean and cool. Never hints at biting. Leaves an extremely clean and refreshing feeling on the palate. This is a great morning blend with a dark roast coffee, black.

Right now, a solid 3.5 stars. I'm going to age this for 4-6 months to see if it can't be changed to 4 stars
Pipe Used: several
PurchasedFrom: Peretti
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 07, 2023 Mild Medium Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Perfect tobacco. A little smoky, a little soapy, this is kind of incredible. Really easy to sit with this and just let the world wander by. Contemplative, a rich experience.
3 people found this review helpful.
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