Tin aroma is sweet and fruity, rich and redwine-like. The tobacco comes rather moist, but behaves perfectly well after folding. No excessive moisture buildup disturbing the peace. Sadly, the tin doesn't hold moisture very well (typical of all K+K 50g flake tobacco tins), and it does seem to lose a little of that delicious flavour as time goes by. A solid three stars never the less. It has a good unit price, too, which is never a bad thing.

I like McConnell's Sc. Flake very much. preferring it to Scottish Cake, as it seems more honest and less honeyed or topped. There is a creamy, butterscotch mouth-feel, but its not overtly syrupy or unnatural and still has that "brown" tobacco goodness. This could almost be a fine cigar, re-worked for a briar, with slight chocolate & vanilla overtones which don't overwhelm the main body of the smoke, which is subtle yet satisfying. It always has me wanting more and I find myself anticipating the bottom 1/3 of the bowl, where it gets richer and at times somewhat caramelised, in a very pleasing way. I find this easy to manage when well-rubbed and is a fine smoke, tho I too experienced the "mashed-up flake" problem, which was a tiny bit exasperating after several tins of perfectly prepared McB's Navy Flake. The most important thing about this to my mind is, it doesn't try too hard, having confidence in the smoker's palate. I could imagine some smokers wanting this a bit stronger and think a couple of strands of Peterson's Irish Flake would darken and and enrich this beautifully.

updated review: okay, i surrendered out of curiosity, to the brutal method of "baking" a tin of s.f. - and the change was radical. not only did it develop some deep natural fruity notes it had been missing, it also suddenly appeared a good deal stronger. a very nicely balanced tobacco for smoking in the afternoon, really. oh, and do yourself the favour of smoking it in a rather narrow bowl, as the flake is thinly sliced.

upgraded from 3 to 4 stars.

original review: tin aroma: fruity, winey, raisins. a topping is present, but not in a way that scares me away. i find it quite inviting, as it seems to accentuate the kind of notes you get from an aged flue cured tobacco.

the rather light brown flakes pack and light easily - and then comes the disappointment: this virginia is rather flat and monocromattically sweetish in taste for the first half of the bowl. i think it could have done with some more aging to match the topping. also, i seem to sense some of that infernal propylene glycol. still, smoked slowly and carefully, the second half gets a lot more interesting, it gains in strength and flavour, and it ends up as a very nice smoke, with a hint of kentucky and turkish. the room note, though, was not appreciated by my wife for the last third of the bowl...

not the most interesting of tobaccos, perhaps, but quite decent. it will almost certainly benefit greatly from a few years of aging (if there's not too much topping and pg in it). i may be back with further comments by then!

I'm not someone that normally seeks out or enjoys a "kitchen sink" type of tobacco, where every known weed is thrown in to the mixture, but this one works and is excellent.

Very smooth, and initally started off like GH&Co Broken Scotch Cake (which is a lakeland scented VA flake). after that, it gave way to a nearly syrupy sweetness, not like a nasty goopy aromatic, mind you... almost like it coats the tongue with a sweetness. Again, it's silky smooth, with a little tingle if you push it out the nose, where you can catch a little floral notes. It's got a little nicotine hiding in it for those of you that require that feeling.

Too bad "Pardner" didn't send me the entire tin!

It's not complicated, just tasty. I like it better than Scot Cake and will order more.

Like some of the other reviewers have stated, most of my flakes were stuck together so there was no way for me to fold and pack this one. I ended up having to rub out most of it. Maybe this detracted from the taste because I found this blend to be a bit boring.

The taste was pretty monochromatic through the whole thing. There were no surprises, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.

I didn't find it to be Scottish Cake without the Perique but rather a different blend all together. Straight Virginia smokers should really like this blend. Smokers who prefer some kind of spice added will find this one subpar.

An excellent eye opener and good daytime smoke, flake during the day and Cake for the evening.

Having said all that, there are a couple of cons, but nothing that would stop me from buying it, the first being the "orangey" aroma exuding from the tin, I like a pure tobacco smell, but as I'm more into burning than sniffing, thats only a minor, the second being that the flakes in both tins so far are all stuck together, and as the tobacco is quite dry, they must have gone in pretty wet. So in order to get any out, I find I have to take the whole lump out and break a peice off to rub out, finaly, maybe it's me, I do get a few gurgles from this one, (in the first quarter of the bowl) even though it's pretty dry, so I always make sure I have plenty of pipe cleaners on hand for this.

Burns a little faster than I would like, but then this is one of those tobacco's that I want to go on and on.

All in all, the taste outweighs any drawbacks, will definately keep a few tins of this on hand. Four well deserved stars, and come to think of it, this might well be a good one for new smokers of the pipe (I hate the term Newbie's) and for aromatic smokers looking for a good quality flake.

Edit: popped a 10yr odd old tin....It ages superbly....heavy laden with crystals...supereb....this one cellars extremely well.

Packing & Lighting: I was a little put off by the way the flakes rubbed out, but it packed easily enough, and of course, started with one match. It was surprising that there was a fair amount of gurgle, given that the tabacco did not feel moist, requiring several relights towards the end of the bowl.

Taste & Aroma: Nothing really stands out, no subtle or strong flavors to delineate amongst, just rather mild and monochromatic. Right at the end of the bowl, there was a fleeting fruity sandalwood aroma, slightly grassy, not sweet. The bowl is left with this same scent. A smooth smoke with no bite. Two stars, not bad.

Nicotine: medium, borderline strong

Room Note: Nothing until the end of the bowl, then mildly winey sandalwood; no unpleasant smokiness.

Overall: Unimpressive; no strong VA component. It's not a quality oriental blend. It leaves a sandalwood and wine scent to the room, leaving no unpleasant smokiness, just nothing special; there are better VA blends.

Second Effort in large Bowl:

Top third: monochromatic.

Halfway: fruity sandalwood

2/3: complex mix evoking bursts of mild VA, Kentucky, oriental, sandalwood

Bottom: sandalwood-oak scent, which is a contrast to the fruity tin aroma.

Smoke this in a tall bowl, to develop this aroma transition. One could be tempted to call this a plain, uninteresting tobacco if smoked in a small bowl. It was never really sweet. 3.0 stars

Addendum: After consuming about 1/2 of the tin, the tobacco had become bland, losing any contrasts in taste and aroma. At this point, it is plain VA that is light, smooth, and has no unpleasant qualities, vaguely sandalwood, leaving no sharp or smokey aspect lingering around. Moderately recommended for not leaving oa sharp or strong aroma. But, by the end of the tin, SF had lost any topping which could no longer hide a lingering, slightly sharp, smokey, mildly cigarish aroma. 2.7 stars

The tin aroma was unusual but inviting -- a VA plum/raisin aroma along with a "grassy" aroma. I did not find it "musty".

The flakes were compressed into the small tin, and it was easy to peel off roughly 1/4" wide pieces of broken flake as needed. Moisture content was only a smidge higher than optimal. The flakes themselves were variegated/mottled, with the mostly dark color interspersed with lesser amounts of various lighter colors.

Given the good moisture level, I did not bother to rub it out, but simply folded a few strips into the bowl. Upon lighting, the flavor of the VA was superseded by a burst of other brigher and lighter flavors. Spicy, grassy. I could imagine that it is from some combination of the Carolinas, Kentucky and orientals.

The flavor strikes me as a rather complex mixture, and definitely not a monochromatic blend, or a rich VA-only, nor the binary flavor combination of a VA/Oriental blend.

The flake burns very nicely, is smooth and has little tendency to bite. The orientals dry the throat a little (which Dunhill Durbar also does to me) and perhaps it is the Havana (which I've not experienced before) which lends an odd pungency in the background that is a bit offputting. This has a fair bit of nicotine - not SG-Brown-Rope#4-strong, but stronger than Dunhill Nightcap.

As it burned further down, I found the room note to be fairly strong and not entirely pleasant - somewhat like a mild spice-scented candle mixed with cigarette ash aroma. The bowl also became somewhat "ashy" and dumping out the ashes on top allowed the remainder of the bowl to return to the "brighter" flavor it had at first light. After its all done, the aftertaste of orientals and a bit of ashiness lingered quite awhile.

I think this blend has to be considered on its own terms, and not as if it were a VA flake, because the import of all the other flavors renders it quite unique. It's simply not in the same genre as Marlin Flakes, Old Gowrie, Hal o'the Wynd, Best Brown Flake, Peacehaven, etc. If I were looking for a strictly VA flake, I would bypass this one.

I do think some aging will improve it - I kept feeling that the flavors were more "raw" than they ought to be. I look forward to finding out what 3-6mo on the shelf will do for it.

Appearance: A firmly pressed thick broad-cut 3" flake, compactly stacked in a 3" x 2.5" tin, very similar to the way that Krumble Kake presents itself. The blend however comprises a melange of light to darkish brown strands.

Aroma: Quite sweet as natural flakes go. Honey, salted peanuts, vinegar, cupcakes, natural tobacco flavor, whole grains.

Taste: Flour tortilla, steel-cut oats, wheat bread, vinegar, plain tobacco flavor. Can burn a bit if you are overly aggressive with puffing. A complex flavor profile, for such a quiet, mild blend, with everything bubbling below the surface of perception.

Comparisons: Very much in the same line-up as Rattray's Hal O' The Wynd, with a similar nutty-Virginia disposition, but less nutty, harsher, austere.

Bottom Line: If you enjoy nutty Virginias, like Rattray's Hal 'O The Wynd, but are searching for a less expensive, more portable alternative, this may be a good choice.