SHF arrives in the tin very moist, completely unlike most C&D tobaccos. It is mostly a broken flake, even though it is supposed to be in flake form. I don't hold this against it, as I rub out most of my flakes. What is unacceptable is the moisture level, which gathers in the bottom of the bowl and requires several pipe cleaners throughout the smoke. I suppose I could spread each bowlful out and allow it several hours of drying time but this is just too much trouble with so many superior burleys on the market.

The taste of SHF is to me an unpleasant burnt flavor, possibly caused by the excess moisture and steam of the tobacco. It requires a lot of relights, too, match and lighter fluid companies will love this one. If there is one redeeming factor to SHF it is the pouch note. It has a very pleasant baking bread aroma. So if you buy your tobacco to sniff, this one may be for you.

I notice that C&D has four new burley flakes on the market and I will eventually try these. Hopefully they have learned some lessons from SHF.

Scores for SHF: flavor- 6 of 20; lighting and burn- 5 of 10; value- 4 of 10. 15 points equals a sad * for Safe Harbor Flake.

smell reminded me of corn silage from when i was a kid, pleasant on the nose, earthy.

easy light and stayed lit. lots of smoke and a pleasure to smoke.

even with the broken up flakes i'll buy again

Ok, relief! A friend sent me a large sample of this and what I bought was NOT Safe Harbor Flake. I can't imagine what was in my original tin, and I hope to never smoke it again. The sample was a very good burley with tons of flavor. Nice flake cut that crumbled when rubbed out. Made it easy to plug a draft hole but that's a small complaint. The topping was discreet and the burley flavor and aroma came through. I'd buy this again but only a tin at a time until I'm sure of what I'm getting. If you like burley and prefer something mild in strength and taste, give this one a try. Upgrading to 3 stars

ORIGINAL REVIEW

I sincerely hope that this tin was mis-marked! I see no reference to this blend having latakia in it, yet my tin contained this condiment. The cut was nowhere near a flake; not even a broken flake. It was sort of a rough cut. The smell of latakia was very noticeable amidst the burley. One of the worst tin aromas I've ever experienced but then again, so was Burley Flake #2 and that was an excellent smoke.

Nothing wrong with latakia in a burley blend... except maybe in this one. The latakia seemed an afterthought in the taste department but certainly took over the room via its aroma. Even though it wasn't easy to taste (but was still obviously latakia), it totally covered up the burley's typical nuttiness and body. I've seen references to this blend having no character. Believe me, no character would have been an improvement! This seemed like a blend that failed and yet was released. I'm keeping this tin and I challenge anyone to smoke it and like it. What happened on this one, C&D? You're WAY better than this! I can't read the date on the tin - did I get one from 2007 when you took it off the shelves???

Sorry for the snotty review, but I have great experiences with C&D in the past. Even their blends that I do not like have enough character to make me understand that tobacco taste is personal. But I can't believe they put their name on this blend and I can't believe it's really the same SHF that others have smoked since it definitely contains latakia.

The tin aroma was awesome, close to something like molasses.

The broken flakes were dark coloured, which I enjoy. But they would break easily into the hand and were moist.

Smoking proved to be a disaster. It just got more and more peppery and hot.

But not this one.

It is well made, discreetly topped, and smells good in the tin and while it burns.

However, where is the flavor? I smoked it rolled up as a flake, and it burns well. Rubbed out, it burns hot, and tastes like absolutely nothing.

There just isn't much flavor to it, and the cost makes it completely untenable for me.

My tobacco came in a ready rubbed format, more or less, nothing like 2015 or 5100, much less FVF or other full sized flakes.

It lit easily and burned well, if a bit hot.

The mouth feel was much like other burly tobacco, a bit dry in the mouth, and a bit acrid.

I did not get much from this other than a traditional burly taste.

Flavor and strength were both similar to Prince Albert, and I'd rather smoke Carter Hall or Prince Albert, especially given the $4 per ounce cost of this flake.

Lighting: Took two lights to start it, whereupon, itstayed lit, burning to the bottom of the bowl. The tobacco, being moist, obviously has to be lightly packed. Produced moisture in the stem, the bottom of the bowl burned hot, but the smoke remained warm. May want to air dry, to minimize the moisture in the pipe.

Aroma: Top of bowl--gentle nutty burley. Bottom of bowl--very strong molasses and licorice, nutty.

Taste: Not much, vaguely burley, not sweet. No tongue bite.

Nicotine: light

Room Note: lingering, heavy nutty, licorice, medicinal burley smell; not smoky.

Petersons Rule! (especially with C&D blends in them!)*UPDATE* Apparently what I have IS the old version. I will have to try the newer version and see how it compares for myself!

While I acknowledge that I'm not a real huge fan of most burleys, I do ocassionally enjoy indulging in a simple and robust smoke. I have an affection for Carter Hall, and smoke this when I'm out and about running errands, or doing yard work. So I'm not a burlyphile, but neither do I harbor any ill will toward burley. This stuff, however, is quite simply downright crappy. If it is simply due to the fact that there were some bad cans that got out to the public, then I would be curious to know why C&D never bothered to issue a general recall.

Upon opening the can, I was greeted with a warm, slightly fruity aroma; something like Prince Albert on steroids. The even brown flakes were extremely moist, even in a can more than a year old. I dried a couple flakes for awhile, just to get them to smokability, and then loaded up and lit. The initial flavor was actually a lot like Carter Hall, only with a slight peppery feel on the tongue. The flavor bloomed and filled out for about a minute, and then disappeared. It seems that whatever flavoring agent used that resembled Carter Hall had quickly burned off. I was left with what I can only describe as "very Sir Walter Raleigh Like" (the regular, not the aromatic); very disappointing given the price.

About halfway through the bowl, the tobacco finally left SWR behind, and became absolutely chemical tasting. I realize that C&D creates a lot of their blends to be similar to some of the classic American blends of old, but I think they came too close to creating a classic drugstore blend. It lacked any real flavor; it created a very harsh smelling smoke; and it had the same acrid chemical taste found in the OTC drugstore blends. They have managed to create an exact replica of a $1.89 drugstore burley, but packaged in a $4 an ounce can. By the time I got toward the bottom of the bowl, this stuff was tasting like a bad bowl of Granger; same icky plastic like taste.

I'm not sure what the folks over at Cornell & Diehl are doing, that they have had so much trouble with the quality of so many of their blends. I cannot believe that they intentionally produced this blend to taste the way it does. And I cannot believe that they intended for Haunted Bookshop to be so dry that it nearly all blows away when you open the can. Nor do I believe they intended for cans of Kajun Kake to swell and pop while sitting on store shelves. I am now afraid to even open the remaining tins of other C&D blends I have cellaring. This experience has shown me once and for all that C&D is a company that still has many problems to work through.

I'm a bit out of my league, as I know nothing about 'lost American classics'. Usually I smoke English blends, sometimes aromatics. My main issue with SHF was that I couldn't taste tobacco. Rum or brandy, yes. Molasses, yup. But not a hint of burley. Might be good as an after-dinner aromatic, but not for my larder.

Initial review: This is about as pleasant a burley blend as you're going to find. It would be a perfect "all day" blend if it were cheaper or available in bulk. I wouldn't really call this a flake -- it's more like a loose crumble cake. Just tear off little chunks and let them crumble into your pipe, light and you're off! This stuff burns very well (if a little bit hot) but seems to have no ability whatsoever to bite. It does, however, dry my mouth out somewhat (most burlies do that to me, however). It seems to have a mild topping, but the topping has little impact on the flavor or room note. I never sampled the "slices" it's supposedly reminiscent of, but I can definitely say this is the highest-quality burley blend I've encountered except for Stonehaven (which is a different beast entirely).

Don't fool yourself, if it tastes like all hell, it's not because it hasn't had time to grow on you. This was a single mistake amid a host of Classics from Cornell & Diehl and I have no doubt that it was only a sad fluke.