But having said all that it still smokes well and is easy to handle and is just simple to get along with. I really don't have any trouble with this stuff and I find its taste very agreeable. It smokes pretty evenly and there is a good change of taste about half way into a bowl that gets very nice; a deeper and more robust flavour starts to come out and whenever I finish the bowl it always seems a tad early, which I think is quite a good sign. Burns right down usually too, very little dottle.

I like it and it seems to still be a solid product, even though the packaging has been ruined. I would give it four stars but for the fact that I don't think it's as good as it once was and I hate all this thing where companies buy up brands and still stamp things like Ogden's of Liverpool when such a thing no longer exists. It is good tobacco I think, but there is definitely better stuff out there.

High density firm flakes, medium-dark brown with lighter specs. A "regular" tobacco smell from the sealed plastic ashtray. Stoved Virginias, Burley & Kentucky, this is going to reveal as a manly smoke. Something similar to Peterson's Irish Flake, IMHO.

A medium-small bowled Sasieni, prince shape, one of my best axes, was used for the purpose of this review. One flake and half were partially rubbed into three small balls. Lighting needs quite a bit of commitment and patience... but then the whole surface went in fire and I'm in the game.

A steadily dry and thick smoke, good volume. It's mainly a nutty/woody/earthy aroma, secondarily musty/sweet. The fire-cured leaf has been used with a perfect balance. No trace of soap into this... and whichever the imposed flavouring is, it's just over the "none detected". Strength starts medium and develops to the strong side, so my rating is the average. The body is firmly in the medium-to-strong territory.

Walnut Flake earns my highest rating. This is one I would have in my regular rotation.

pouch note is virginia-kentucky, a mix of fermented leaf and smokiness. a littele flavouring, not as much as there probably is in st. bruno.

easy to pack and light, and initial impression is first of all mature, sweet fruity/berryish tasting virginia - but it is immediately clear that this is potent tobacco. slowly the taste deepens, and the kentucky becomes more dominant. burns well all the way to the ash.

i believe it has a little less kentucky (and perhaps even less flavouring) than does st. bruno, but they're otherwise very similar. a splendid tobacco!

It's actually very similar to St Bruno, similar flavour and aroma, but with far less of the aromatics added, and less nicotene. I'd recommend it to anyone who like St Bruno but found it too strong.

Lights easily, burns SLOOOOOOOOOWWWWW............. and cool, no bite, no drip, no gurgling or sticky goo in the heel of the bowl. The flavour is natural tobacco, a little nutty, a tad leathery but but no so much as St Bruno. Some natural tobacco sweetness, and the aroma is very much pure virginia tobacco, no real aromatic scent.

I enjoyed it very much, it's a nice baccy to have going while reading a book, or washing up. Not quite strong enough for gardening though, I'll have St Bruno for that.

If you are fed up with not been able to get hold of fancy brands because the company has no idea how to market their product and you are looking for an even mannered slow burning all day smoke that will not offend company which light easily and does not leave sludge in the bowl. Look no further. I honestly can recommend this tobacco of the highest order.

I just noticed the reviewer below state that Walnut Flake is no longer available in the Uk. What absolute balderdash. It is widely available and also stocked in supermarkets.

Presentation was poor with not all of the flakes stacked uniformly and a couple of them not being intact. This being the case I rubbed out one and a half for my first smoke.

It's called Walnut because it tastes of walnuts. This however can sometimes equate to a dry, bitter smoke. I've never had a really "soapy" smoke before this one but now I know what the term means! It has little of the virginia sweetness of its Ogdens relative - St Bruno.

In its favour it burns well, is cool and mellow with no bite (in a 9mm filter pipe) It offers a satisfying nutty smoke without being too heavy on the nicotine.

The packet states "Rich in flavour and exceptionally cool". It's fairly accurate but whether the flavour is for you is a matter of opinion.

No longer readily available in the shops in the UK, I had to get it mail order.

UPDATE - revised review and upgrade to 2* after a few more smokes of Walnut

UPDATE 2 - Two weeks later and I've finished the 25g pack of Walnut and will be ordering some more. Despite my initial misgivings it's turned into a bit of a sleeper plus it's very economical in use. A good satisfying smoke that I turn to in the evening - probably a bit too heavy for during the day. The soapiness is always there but receeds the more you smoke it. Coupled with Gold Block (another Ogdens of Liverpool product), these two tobaccos are my current non-aromatic daily smokes. Recommmended.

Stay away from this junk.

Appearance: A firmly pressed four-inch flake of light to dark brown with some deep reddish strands here and there. The individual strands are fairly thin and the tobacco rubs out very easily. It gives the appearance of being a fairly solid block or plug, having some density.

Aroma: The first thing I thought of was the old red leather booths at the diner in the town where I grew up. Ripe black cherries, milk chocolate, damp autumn leaves after raking, river stones drying in the sun, the embers of the campfire in the morning, Jamaican cigars, tree bark.

Taste: Walnuts. Walnut shells. Walnut oil. The flavor was a big surprise, as the aroma did not suggest it. The first thing I thought was: Ugh! I won?t be able to finish this! My mouth was expecting something similar to St. Bruno based on the smell and appearance, but instead it tasted like I had just eaten a big mouthful of stale cigar butts and campfire ashes. After disconnecting my mind from my expectations, however, I could taste the tobacco on its own terms. Not at all sweet. Undertones of cigar leaf and iodine. Somehow capturing every aspect of walnuts: dry shells, slightly bitter oils, and rich savory nut meats. It burns quickly if you rub it out fully. It is rich and satisfying to the palate. It has some nicotine in it, but is not at all overwhelming.

Comparisons: This is like St. Bruno?s in its burning characteristics but not in the flavor, which is far more austere and not at all sweet -- less of that sweet cherry topping that gives St. Bruno its Virginia sweetness enhancement,d espite its being a burley-heavy blend. It reminds me of the Dunhill blend, Mr. Alfred?s Own, with it?s stale seaweed-y cigar leaf flavor.

Bottom Line: A nice traditional British burley-Virginia pressed flake. If you found St. Bruno and Condor too sweet and strong, this is a possibility. If you have a love for the now long-gone cigar leaf blends, like Dunhill?s Mr. Alfred?s Own or Cuba, this is definitely a blend you ought to try as it really evokes that flavor in some ways. As for me, stiff upper lip, I?ll get by without somehow.

At the third puff it makes you feel sick, and that is *NOT* because of the nicotine content, this I guarantee as it causes dizzines to anyone that stays in your vecinity.

The aftertaste is bitter from the first to the last puff, which is absulutely strange as I loaded my pipe with 2/3 of a light virginia first and 1/3 of Walnut ontop. The returning smoke you puffed is lightly bitter like any virginia but uninteresting, with no aroma, just bitter smoke. The room note bears a strong resemblance to those cheap incence sticks made of paper paste which have been impregnated with common cologne instead of aromatic incence oils; this said by my wife, and I agree.

I met stronger tobaccos, which puts this Walnut within the "smokable" cathegory, but it is not a pleasant smoke. Apt for smokers at the end of their given lifetime, for whom nothing would be strong or tasty or smelly enough.

This is somewhat like Peterson's University flake, and somewhat like St. Bruno, and can give you a gut punch of the highest order.

There's a kind of mysterious berry note which may or may not be an added flavoring. It could be a blend reversal of St. Bruno, I have no idea. In any event, the added flavorings are not as strong, and the presence of VA is further in the background, than in St. Bruno or Condor. I find it very tasty and chimerical.

If fairly moist, smoked slowly, rubbed out and packed lightly, it is only medium in body, a little soapy and fruity, and the strength stays in the background. When dried further, packed too firmly (with unrubbed chunks), smoked quickly or inhaled, it can send you to the showers.

A slightly tempermental but exciting tobacco for the lover of strong English flakes.

Upon opening the unique pouch, I was hit with the pungent smell of a cold campfire. The pressed flakes were almost black and appeared to have been stoved for an extended period of time. More dry that moist, the flakes rubbed out easily and an even pack job was simple.

At the match, the campfire smell turned into a campfire flavor (smokey and somewhat ashey) that did not overwhelm me with delight. This blend has some punch (which, I enjoyed) but the flavor was unrefined and became really harsh the farther down the bowl I progressed.

I tried Walnut Flake in a variety of small pipes but never found a compatible briar for this weed. Once half the pouch was suitably consumed, I took the rest to one of my pipe club meetings. While it didn't strike out with the group, it didn't get past first base either.

I thought Walnut Flake was fantastic tasting for regular enjoyment. It reminded me of Boy Scouts and campfires at the match. It will flat knock your socks off if you inhale. Not for all day consumption either; this tobacco will leave your palate satisfied for several hours after just one bowl.

Finally, this tobacco is not available in the USA. I purchased a pouch with a recent tobacco order from James Barber Tobacconists in the UK. You can order this and other non-imports by going to www.smoke.co.uk.

Easily rubbed out, easy to fill the pipe and easy to light.

The experience of smoking this ice cool tobacco is a once in a lifetime experience. The flavour is woody, and the nicotine content is just right if you like a full smoke.

If you like a good, low cased tobacco of the highest quality, then this must be the one.

Five stars and beyond with this one!

I first heard of it several years ago while reading a back issue of The Pipe Smoker's Ephermeris (Spring-Summer 1997), p. 70. There a Simon Shepard of England boldly reviewed some 70 exotic blends, in terms of strength, aroma, coolness, etc., and scored each from 0 to 10. At the top of the list, his "king of all tobaccos" was Walnut Flake, with a perfect 10 score! Condor Long Cut, a fine scented flake, was next with a 6.

Walnut Flake was described by him as having superb flavor, cool, slow burings, satisfying, tranquilizing, rich, not too strong so it can be smoked all day, good quality, never boring, etc. He wrote an inquiry to the manufacturer, Imperial, and received a reply on 9/26/96, reprinted on p. 19 of the Winter 1998 Ephemeris. Imperial was pretty secretive, but did say the blend was introduced in 1905 but that they did not know why it was called that other than it tasted as sweet as a nut(I guess also indicating a nut flavoring was not involved). They described the blend process as involving leaf from four continents, large blending units, flavoring, moistening, standing, caking, pressure storing, and cutting into flakes.

I had to try this!

After some time in looking, I found Walnut Flake a www.davidsweets.com in Wakefield UK. (About $10.00 a 50 gm. pouch with mailing. Stuff came in one week from England. Good service and a sample too boot. Thanks David.) I ordered three pouches, and have spent a week smoking 11 bowls in a 25 year old, unsmoked algerian briar pipe from the former Garfinkle, of Wash., D.C., a small squat bulldog; and about 7 bowls in a nearly new Nording high grade (#14). I had to smoke several bowls of this new tobacco to smoke some McB Navy Flake out of the then new Nording that I had broken it in with, but the olde Garfinkle broke in after just a few pipefuls. They don't make briar much like that anymore.

The tray in the pouch has some 30, 1" by 3" flakes, mostly brownish leaf, with some black (about 1/3) and a few flashes of blond leaf. It smells coffee like in the pouch. A right level of moisture too.

I am told by relatives that the buring aroma is earthy, foresty (more bark like than just woody). No artificial scent was noted.

I found that twisting a flake and pushing it in the pipe chamber worked fine. It was steady burning after the initial lites. It does burn slowly. It's medium/medium strong, with a mostly natural flavor. It is heavier than F&T cut virginia plug, and similar in flavor to but not quite as full as G&H's Brown Flake (unscented). It does not have a sweet scented flavor but has a relatively deep, dark flavor (but not nearly so as a true all dark flake). It is cool and relatively dry, but it does have some burley and fire cured leaf in it. So some smokers may call it just plain strong, but I've tasted stronger. Aging, beyond what it is already, is not needed.

Well, I don't know that I could call it the king, but it certainly should be knighted. I plan on smoking the other two pouches to see if my opinion stands or changes. I hope to be able to order more. But I did give it a fair test with smoking 50 grams in now dedicated pipes. If you like flakes on the fuller side without being too stout flavored, try some.