After a few more bowls, I am not recommending it unless someone wants to try something totally different. Also felt that the blend leaves a strong reminder in my pipes that I am masking with heavy latakia smokes. Not for me. Too much like smoking incense.

A very full round flavor. Hint of cocoa, with a great blend of tobacco. Fortunately I get only a faint hint of the Lakeland region in this 'baccy. Comes off with almost an incense quality. I've got nothing but compliments from passer byes. Not that I care that much.

Oh I'm such a caring individual. Just ask Cargosizedrumor, he'll vouch for me.

I'll buy this one again, it's one of my favorites. Though I am going to try Samuel Gawith's first.

In the pipe, however, that signature Lakeland soap comes out way too aggressively for my tastes. And instead of a happy kid with Cherry Blossom on his face, I'm a broken kid with a bar of soap in his mouth who just got caught saying f@#k. And worse, the kid realizes that his mother can still kick his ass.

None of this is designed to impugn the tobacco, which I think is first rate. Increasingly I think that the Lakeland scent is one of those geographical signatures like Islay peat or Burgundian rabbit poop that some love and some shy away from. Frankly, I admire the Lakeland products for their consistency and uniqueness.

I find, however, that a little of Bob's Chocolate Flake goes a long way. It is a superb blender (thus spake the heretic) with Virginia and Perique and I've found that I'm slowly whittling away at those pretty brown flakes by blending them with equal parts Hal O' the Wynd and McLelland Perique. It's like chocolate covered figs dipped in honey.

I call it "Bob and Henry's Chocklique Flake."

Then again, I am a bit of a goof.

Setting personal taste aside, I think it's a solid tobacco.

Update:

I'm not normally inclined to update reviews (or to change my old fuddy-duddy mind for that matter) but I have to confess that BCF has managed to grow on me to the point that I reach for it almost daily. Maybe I've just gotten used to the Lakeland scent, or maybe the scent has dissipated some from the open tin. Doesn't matter. I'm not changing the number of stars, but I did want to tell the moral of this story: give BCF a chance. You might not like it at first, but if you step back and give it some time, you might find that you find something worthwhile in it after all. Some tobaccos are like workplace romances.

It is what it says it is.

I find the bulk version of this to be a little less flavorful than the tinned version. A little flatter.

Comes in flake form with brown strands mixed with a few blonder strands with a sort of birds eye look. I find this to be an excellent Virginia based blend with a good portion of Burley to add body, with a tad of Latakia as the reenforcing element to the plain unsweetened Coco flavouring. There is a tad of Vanilla in here as well that I find unobtrusive yet adds a satisfying perfume to the flavor as well as the room note. Very pleasant indeed yet not aromatic. Yes this blend had a bit of the Gawith baby powder-like flavor and scent but I'd say the lowest amount than any of their other blends. To me it is only apparent when first lit, and fades into the backround during the smoke to where I don't detect it. The Virginias have a nice zing to them and at mid bowl the flavors get more concentrated as the strength increases a little. Sometimes this can smoke a little hot if pushed. Back off and go slow and all will be well. At first I smoked this strictly in pipes reserved for Virginia blends, but now I smoke it in my English blend pipes with no real flavor changes to worry about.

This is a zesty blend and great with a cup of joe. High quality Virginias. Great anytime but I like it best as a morning smoke or late at night reading. Excellent!

Like Best Brown #2, this came in flakes of a more consistent thickness and of a more crumbly feel than Sam Gawith flakes. I like BB2 better when it was first opened; the opposite is true with Bob's. The smoke was more "soapy" at first but got better later on.

As with SG Chocolate flake, which I will review soon, I noticed very little to no latakia or chocolate flavor here. Had this been a blind taste testing I would likely not have mentioned chocolate or latakia. It just seemed like a medium-strength, slightly Lakeland-scented virginia. Not bad...I enjoyed it but not enough to bring me back later. I preferred the Sam Gawith version.

If its a big hit of chocolate you want, you will have to go to MacBaren and try their "Honey & Chocolate". Hello Hershey's !

In the second third, the three flavors merge, the latakia loses some of its sandalwood character, and the smoke tastes more like spiced dark chocolate. However, at least for me, the latakia keeps it from tasting really good with coffee until the last third.

By the last third, the flavor is a nice rounded very mildly flavored English blend, and the aftertaste of smoking a bowl of this blend is delicious. But for me, the first two thirds make it somewhat difficult to get there.

This dense speckled dark brown long flake smokes cool and dry, the smoke produced being of medium strength with good body.

This review was made possible by generous samples from pipesandcigars.com of both this blend and Samuel Gawith's Chocolate Flake, both smoked in a few different pipes. For its better balance, I prefer this blend.

The combination of Latakia and chocolate flavouring I found very odd so I was thrilled to try it. On my surprise, BCF showed itself as very well balanced blend enough strong in smoking characteristics and without prevailing aroma which could cause headache.

Definitely this tobacco is worth to try and to be included in regular rotation of pipe smoking.

This stuff is TASTY - that is the best way to describe how I feel about it! It changes its flavor nicely down the bowl: starts off with a distinct chocolate flavor and gradually gives way to a spicy, rich tobacco taste.

If you are reading these entries and trying to decide whether to purchase some of this blend, let me offer this questionnaire:

1. Do you like dark chocolate? 2. Do you appreciate latakia in small, subtle doses? 3. Do you like tobaccos that burn cool? 4. Do you like to pair your pipe smoking with one of the following beverages: coffee; espresso drinks; hot chocolate; porter-style beers?

If you answered yes to the questions above give this a try!

Lastly, IMHO this is not really an "aromatic" in the typical sense. It is a subtly-scented English blend. Fantastic stuff!

Not a chance.

Ok, I don't mean that as an insult. The tobacco is indeed quite good, but I can't imagine for a second how the casings can translate into a discernible chocolate flavor. I can detect something approaching chocolate in the tin aroma--it's sweet and gives off hints of cocoa. But when lit, I get that familiar Lakeland signature cleansing variety. It wears off a bit, after the initial char, and doesn't take away from the essential goodness of Bob's Chocolate Flake. Just don't expect a choco-blast of the candy bar type.

The tobacco is rather stout for an aromatic, and Gawith puts the blend together in a superb fashion. The American ideal of an aromatic...cheap Burley soaking in sticky goop...is absolutely foreign to the design. I often wonder why we can't embrace the British formula to produce anything better than a cheap imitation, like No. 79.

The list of tobaccos that goes into Bob's Chocolate Flake has me scratching my head a little. There's a small portion of Latakia, which I completely miss, and a healthy supply of Virginias. But this tastes nothing like the Virginias I'm familiar with. As the bowl winds down, I'm left with an amalgamation more unique than I can imagine. I only know that I must seek out more Lakeland examples in search of another fine smoke.

I bought in bulk and am impressed by the thin cut of the slices and the ease to rub out completely to near shag strands. The Latakia helps keep this from becoming a confection instead of a pipe tobacco. The flavorings are of good quality and applied with a gentle hand...no goop in this one.

Packs and lights with the greatest of ease and stays lit. It does leave its ghost in the wood, so I dedicate a few medium size classic shapes to this flake exclusively.

In the colder times I like to sip a high quality dark hot chocolate liberally spiked with Rumpleminze schnapps...sort of a sweet "fire and ice" combo.

First of all smell it?for awhile?.Then there is the medicinal like floral aroma that is present at the match which you did not smell and what others describe as a soapy taste. It is an acquired taste to be certain (as is Samuel Adams lager which I also appreciate on occasion). This is then combined with a strong vanilla taste with cocoa in the background. What makes this so amazing (as if this is not enough) is that there is wonderful hay like Virginia underneath all of this that flirts with a subdued smoky Latakia aroma. Your mouth should be watering. Simply remarkable.

To some this sounds overwhelming and to some it just might be. It all comes together quite nicely and is comparable to nothing else. G&H has managed to ?blend? all of these wonderful tastes and aromas together making BCF a contemplative smoking experience. I guess this is what I appreciate about it the most. It is serious when it needs to be and not so much when it doesn?t.

BCF does come very moist and needs considerable drying time. The moisture can wreak havoc on the roof of your mouth if you are not patient. Steamed gums are not cool.

And one last thing about BCF, it is an aromatic tobacco in the sense that it produces a very alluring room note but I would not agree it is such as far as taste. It is a heavily scented virginia flake in the traditional British style and a superb one at that (it has chocolate). This tobacco has a lot of character and should be given some attention to be fully appreciated. It will be well worth the effort.

No wonder I kept away from this product since then. But after gradually getting used to the G&H Kendal soap, I found I could try once more to make sure I did not have a faulty sample. I was told that the bulk version which I tried sometimes can contain a trace of lavsan which can ruin the smoking experience. So be it, one year passed and I have obtained another sample to commemorate the anniversary of Smoking the Famous Bob's Formaldehyde Fake.

The result this time was different. Dried out, the weed lost at least some of its tonquin aroma, and was smokable. I was also more careful with packing, and lightly packed BCF can even be nice. But I really can understand the one-star reviews. I'd have given minus four after our first encounter.

So here are some suggestions for the ones in doubt:

1. Make sure you're really ready to accept tonquin in your pipe. It's definitely not for everyone. If you have not tried Kendal weed before and want to experiment, start with Samuel Gawith production. Most of it has only got notes of the Lakeland scent (be sure not to choose Grousemoor as the first one though as its loaded with the perfume, although more of a grassy than soapy kind, and forget about 1792 for the time), as opposed to Gawith & Hoggarth's blends that I find are bathed in tonquin.

2. If you find that you don't object to Kendal perfume try Bob's Chocolate Flake, also known as the Beelze Bub's Chalklit Make among some of us. Practice shows it can even become your morning smoke.

3. Check the tobac carefully so that your beloved pipe doesn't get traces of whatever G&H use in production, be it lavsan, church candles, panties... I'm sorry

4. Dry it out.

5. Dry it out again.

6. Rub out some.

7. Pack very lightly.

8. Light up and see if the above steps were actually making any sense.

Two gravestones for this zombie as I can only recommend it to adventurers like myself.

Yuck.

After reading the reviews of BCF I though that it would be a good tobacco to try. I eagerly looked forward to my order arriving. Unfortunately my supplier was out of the BCF in a tin so I opted for a few ounces of bulk.

Quite honestly the aroma when the bag was opened was very disappointing. It has a rather strong soapy, perfumy, artificial smell and much to my disappointment I smelled not a hint of chocolate. And even more to my disappointment the flavoring when smoked is just as artificial and soapy as the bag aroma.

Furthermore it burns too hot for my liking. Maybe I just don't get it but I would not recommend this to a beginner it really doesn't have much of a good tobacco experience for my liking. IMO it is an acquired taste and one I am not likely to try again.

In the end though I found an acceptable solution. I bought some McClelland Vanilla Black Cavendish and blended two parts VBC with one part BCF and the result was a pretty good smoke for me. The mildness of the strength and flavor of the VBC toned down the strength of the BCF making for a decent smoke.

The bottom line is that I enjoy this tobac, but not as much as I enjoy Samuel Gawith Chocolate Flake.

Bob's is a very well behaved offering and it has that trademark Lakeland flavor not found in the Samuel Gawith offering. Most seem to experience the Lakeland essence as soapy and/or floral, and I certainly can see their point, but I experience it as an astringency that approaches bitterness. It plays very well indeed with the cocoa and vanilla flavorings of Bob's.

There are some great tobacco flavors here, too, and they are well-blended enough that picking out one particular leaf isn't something I can do with ease.

Virginia lovers will find Bob's a pleasant experience. Aromatic smokers may have an eye-opening experience, particularly if they are used to the more heavily-cased, goopy offerings. English/Balkan smokers will find this a nice change of pace, especially if they are of that ilk that can pick out the Latakia in this blend.