Very disappointing experience, especially as I hear this can be a very good tobacco indeed.

It feels a bit unfair to give this a poor review after having a bad tin, but I feel that paying for a tin of Latakia flake and finding no Latakia is not really acceptable, and it sounds as though variable quality is a feature of this blend. I may try again one day and will update this review then, but I doubt it. If I open a tin of Balkan Flake, at least I know it’s going to have Latakia in it.

It is a well blended and typical English blend. The quality and blending skill is unquestionable. You can taste the Virginia and the Latikia is a bit forward but not overpowering ... the orientals provide just enough spice to keep it interesting but not particularly complex. A very nice tasting smoke that your really don't have to think about. When properly dried and properly packed it will burn cool right to the bottom of the pipe with only and occasional relight. Your pipe will be dry with only a bit of gray ash remaining. Thjis is an outstanding blend ... now if I could only get my hands on some more....

Like my tin of Medium Flake, I found several of these in my cellar with between five and ten year on them. I had opened one of these to find spectacular plume (sugar crystals) developing across the veins of Latakia! Normally, one sees this on the VAs, but to see silvery lines of it on the charcoal-black Latakia strands told me I was in for a rare delight.

Even a green tin is a delight. The appearance is of golden and jet marble, with long veins of shredded leaf, packed into a plug-like brick, which is aesthetically perfect, as as with my review of Medium Flake, it smokes lovely in small-bowled briars and clays. I have found that this one prefers smaller to medium bowls, as this keeps it consistent, and that in my ODB, it became a bit bland toward the bottom.

Although some seem to claim it is a true English, I classify it to be a VA/Lat mixture with very little Oriental at all, at all. The Lakeland scent in this is extremely muted, but still there, and I happen to find that delightful, but others my not.There is also a higher percentage of bronze, and possibly some red leaf in this, as compared to Medium Flake; this lends toward more Nicotine, however, the Latakia is timid in this regard, which leads to an overall balance of about the same kick as medium Flake, but nowhere near Brown Flake.

Unlike Medium Flake, which I have daily, and then-some, I do not keep this in my regular rotation. That isn't to day that it isn't a treat, but I try to keep it as such, as I feel that Special Latakia Flake doesn't hold up well for more than one bowl a day. I also prefer to have at least a year on my tin of it, if not more, and it is hard to keep something in daily rotation that you need to age.

Although, as I stated, it is a good smoke when green, it is fabulous when it ha some time on it, and I would rather wait with a dozen in the cellar, and two green tins that I can sip while the others mature.

Special Latakis is smokey, slightly sweet and soft, with a woodsy background. It is especially good during the winter, or on rainy days, and if you have a small-bowled briar or a clay in which to set fire to it, so much the better.

I also find that toasting SLF, unlike medium Flake, does not improve it: It is best as-is, and should not be allowed to dry.

The only downside is that because it is primarily around a 70/30 mixture of VA and Latakia, you may find it lacking dimension. This is where the tin aging helps dramatically, but that, of course, requires patience.

Odd in the pipe as well. I could not fold-n-stuff this in flake form as the flakes stuck together like glue. However, it was very easy to simply peel off sections for loading as a fully rubbed out mixture. I got the most success when I made sure to use a full flake or two, depending on pipe size, rather than take a chunk off one flake and a chunk off another. As mentioned, it's like they laid a strip of latakia next to a strip of virginia next to a strip of oriental rather than blending the three together and pressing. To get the flavor the blender was likely going for required some care in loading.

At its best it was a salty, smoky and barely sweet blend with a fair amount of depth. At its worst it was a bitter conglomeration with no "vision". The trouble was that I never knew which I was getting until I lit up. One tin just wasn't enough to figure this one out. The latakia was never overpowering and I couldn't get this blend to bite no matter how I intentionally provoked it. The orientals and virginia did a little bob and weave routine and were often MIA. But sometimes this mix just turned on me. Reminded me of GLP's Cumberland in that respect, another blend I have yet to figure out. This is for the most part a worthy blend, although nothing special as its name would indicate. I find this one good but ordinary - nothing to see here.

Update 23/03/2013

I've decided to update my review as I finally took the plunge and bought a tin having reviewed a five gram sample above. I've been rather reticent about finally taking the plunge as I keep strange habits of smoking Latakia in the morning and flakes last thing at night so, somehow, the two didn't quite go together for me. However, I'm glad I finally decided to give it a go.

The small tin reminds me a little of HD's Royal Navy Flake even if it is a little bigger and a little more worn-looking. I was a little suprised to open up to find what appeared to be a formerly soggy now dried out mass of flake welded together inside a gloop of greaseproof paper, as if it had been rescued from some flood in Tewkesbury Cathedral.

My initial attempts to liberate said flake for democracy and my pipe proved fairly fruitless until I got stuck in with my reamer, it then came away pretty easily, if you scrape away at the edges and then the surface you should get an almost ribbon like mass forming - good stuff, worked for me, makes packing very easy. Lighting's not too shabby either. The Latakia isn't too strong in this one, even at the start but there is a bonus to this. The Virginia comes through very nicely with really nice hints of lemon and toffee, with the Latakia providing enough "pepper", if that's the right word, to keep it interesting. The room note too, is pretty good, following much the same line as the smoke.

On the whole then, an absolutely fantastic smoke with a really interesting and slightly complex flavour. It's not too strong on the Latakia, maybe why some people have thought it's in there, but that is to it's credit. This is probably a good starter for both flakes and Latakias. And if you're a wierdo like me who likes to keep Latakias for the morning and flakes for the evening, well, this will do in place of both.

The pipe starts out a bit spicy and later into the smoke, the Virginia sweetness comes through. Although it might seem to be a bit wet out of the tin, it smokes dry and clean. Well done Germain and Son!

Straight out of the tin this tobacco is slightly too moist to smoke immediately, but it doesn't require a lot of drying time and I find filling a bowl before dinner and smoking it afterwards to be sufficient.

The latakia gives this tobacco a full bodied, savoury taste, but at no point did I find it overpowering. If prepared in the way I did, the virginia sweetness is present all the way down the bowl and makes this good for a slow, contemplative smoke. The orientals are noticeable but not enough for me to consider them a defining point of the blend.

If you hold back and wait a few minutes or so for a relight the sweet aspect really shines through, but sipped in a slow rhythm I get a balanced taste of coffee cake with meatiness in the background. It's fairly well behaved and can withstand some absent minded heavy puffing for some time without giving tongue bit, but obviously you'll get the best out of it when you take it slow.

Overall, SLF isn't a mind blowing tobacco but I can't fault it either, three stars.

As with Germain's Brown Flake, the 'baccy comes in a very small tin into which a wad of flakes has been crammed. The tin aroma is pretty much unique, as is the presentation: a layered cake of some of the brightest leaf I have ever seen, an irregular, thin stripe of black Latakia, and another generous layer of bright leaf. My imagination ran wild when I saw this; I could vividly imagine the tobacco master at J.F. Germain's standing in front of the press, carelessly throwing in a few handfulls of VA leaves, scattering a little Latakia on top, scratching his head trying to think of what he had left out, then turning and emptying a sack of Orient into the press. The tin note is rather dry, little sweetness, Latakia almost unnoticeable, but a good amount of spice from the orientals fighting for first place over the VA grassiness.

The flakes can't be separated properly; I find myself scratching off the uppermost layer piece by piece until I have enough for stuffing a pipe. Lighting up is easy -- the leaf needs no drying at all -- and apart from the occasional tamp-down, there is no maintenance necessary. The burn is remarkably cool even under adverse conditions, with no condensation.

The taste has little sweetness, but is spicy with a touch of bitterness. The room note is minimal and non-intrusive; just a hint of Latakia in there, with the Orientals and VA running the show.

Beautiful stuff, which I accompany with a good ale or dry white wine. I'll have to order more.

*Addition, 2012-01-15:* After several more tins, I find that the proportions of the tobaccos in the blend are highly variable from tin to tin; I have had tins with practically no Latakia in them, and one that was almost 100 %. This certainly makes for a lot of interesting smokes, but I would prefer to get this sort of variation from different blends, and not on a by-chance basis. All of the tins were very high quality tobacco, but I expect much more consistency from a four- star blend. Hence, downgrading to two stars; the high variability in the blend makes it too inconstant for a regular smoke. For me, anyway.

Updated 11/3/11- This has had a few more months to age and breath and much of the steam is gone. I'm a little disapointed with the amount of Latakia, as you hit mid bowl all you get is Oriental and Va. the last 1/3 is all Va. You also notice some bitterness in the aftertaste.

As far as the cut and blending, I have to agree with reviewer, "The German" above. As you load and pick out the flakes, scraps and pieces from the tin I almost think you could change the taste of this blend with each pipe. I would actually classify this more as a Virginia/Oriental with some hints of Latakia . Probably won't buy again, not that it's bad, it just is not interesting nor smooth enough for me.

Updated 12/13/12-I opened another tin, why ,I have no idea, same "Blah" results. It needs drying , no Latakia flavor, no sweetness, no Oriental. It doesn't bite!

Updated 12/17/12 OK, THE NAME OF THIS TOBACCO, "LATAKIA FLAKE", THREW ME OFF, AS LONG AS YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE NAME SHOULD BE "MILD VIRGINIA FLAKE WITH A HINT OF LATAKIA", I CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TRYING TO SMOKE .

This stuff has been sitting in the cellar for a couple years, and for some reason I kept fondling the tin but never opened it. So glad I waited! The paper was stained a beautiful golden brown, with some sugar starting to precipitate. It's a crumble cake, and rubs out very easily. In fact, you just can't keep a flake intact.

This stuff really is fantastic. I think I like it better than Penzance. It's smoother, more refined, richer, a bit sweeter. The smokiness is a rich warm smokiness, not the oily kind common to some European Latakia blends. It is absolutely delicious all the way to the bottom of the bowl, burned beautifully and I burned through the tin very quickly.

Very highly recommended if you can find it!

Upon opening I discovered a dense brick of tobacco, tightly wrapped in heavily stained wax paper. The aroma was quite divine. Closer examination revealed that although the brick had been sliced into flakes there was no way I was going to be able to peel one off intact. In fact, I suspect that this is rather what a ‘crumble cake’ tobacco is like, as I ended up breaking the block into chunks of various sizes, then slamming these into a mason jar for storage.

Having selected a likely looking lump I rubbed it out thoroughly and put the strands on one side to dry. As would be expected given how the flakes had congealed together, this was very moist in the tin. I figured an hour of drying time would do the trick, but in actual fact the weed was obviously even wetter than I had initially suspected and I ended up with a steamy smoke that scorched the insides of the lips. Nasty.

Take two, and this time I rubbed out enough for a bowl and put it under a hot desk lamp for about forty minutes. I have never had to subject tobacco to this much ‘lamp time’ and I always feel it is preferable to let it dry naturally where possible. Some folks suggest that you can give your baccy a quick blast in the microwave to dry it out, but I have found that this results in a harsh and less flavoursome smoke.

Anyway, the desk lamp did the trick. The result was a delightfully smooth, balanced and refined latakia blend with a room note that should please any pipester. It’s a perfect smoke for those dark winter evenings when you want to curl up in a comfortable armchair and listen to the wind howling outside. A roaring log fire, oak panelling and glass of fine scotch would complete the picture. That is the kind of pipe dream that Special Latakia Flake evokes!

Some reviewers say that Esoterica’s Penzance, another latakia flake from the same blending house, is fuller flavoured and easier to prepare for the pipe. Well, despite the fact that it is manufactured in the UK it isn’t for sale here, but I can’t say that I feel too hard done by. Once Special Latakia Flake has been allowed the considerable amount of drying it requires it is truly a top smoke, and I shall definitely be getting a few more tins in next time I am placing an order at my online tobacconist. Highly recommended!

Edit: I am knocking a star off as I am becoming increasingly convinced that the reason this blend clings onto its moisture is because it is treated with humectants, much more so than other blends I usually smoke. I am finding that unless I get it completely dry (and a lamp is necessary for this: 24 hours air time seemed to have no effect) I suffer mouth discomfort to some degree. A shame, as I still think the basic flavours it offers are top notch!