Samuel Gawith 1792 Flake

I tried this because of overpowering curiosity, as many others no doubt have done and will continue to do. The tobacco itself has the sickly sweet smell of old garbage, or a landfill. Seriously, it actually smells like garbage - old, fermenting garbage. I tried the flake both folded and rubbed out to give it a good chance, but both tasted roughly similar. The taste was, to be honest, boring and yucky at once. The smell however (of the lit tobacco), was honestly one of the most unpleasant aromas I've ever experienced. It was smelt worse than dog doo. It was the sort of smell that is so bad you find yourself smelling it again, because it is so unusually pungent and awful. I seriously can't believe anyone likes this tobacco, and I find myself wondering if the people at Samuel Gawith are actually pressing their rubbish into flake and selling it as a premium tobacco. I declare that the emperor has no clothes; worse actually, he has no clothes and really, really needs a bath.

I too was drawn in by the nostalgia of smoking a 200 year old style tobacco. Let me tell you, if this were the first tobacco I tried, I would have never continued smoking a pipe. I always get excited opening a new tin, taking the first whiff and then packing the bowl. It reminds me of the excitement I had as a kid when getting a new album. Tell me you didn't smell the record when you first pulled it out of the package. Anyway, from the first smell, I suspected there was a problem. Tonquin is to vanilla as carob is to chocolate. They are horribly different. Regardless of the sickly sweet smell, I continued to pack and light the bowl. After about five minutes I began to feel horrible. It felt like I was being poisoned. I had to lay down and relax until it wore off. Just thinking of the smell and taste makes me queasy. It wasn't until after my traumatic experience that I read the reviews warning me of the ill effects this tobacco might cause. All of you gents that gave this 3 or 4 stars must be tough old devils. I have read that if you let the tin dry it will make it much better. Since I am a glutton for punishment, I am going to try this method and give it another whirl, but if it fails me again, I will burn it in the back yard fire pit!!! Maybe Napoleon was smoking this stuff while brewing up his plans for world domination.

I tried this a while back and actually after puffing on this (gently!) for about 20 minutes I got the cold sweats,the shakes and actually threw up before feeling better..all of which took several hours to pass! I am a huge fan of full flavored, latakia based tobaccos and love a good "kick".....but this tobacco is flat out dangerous, not to mention disgusting with it's Tonquin flavoring. If given a choice between this and mixture no. 79, I would smoke 79!!!!!!!!!!

This is an update and a downgrading from a previously Highly recommended review - in September of 2005

I found the latest iteration of 1792 Flake to be far off the quality mark. The tobacco was stuffed in the tins and the flakes were not at all uniform. I was totally disappointed in the manner in which this was packaged.

As far as quality - it's downgraded too. It was as though someone rushed to get this out the door. This is not a tobacco (in my opinion) that should be smoked without at least some moderate age on the tin. One would expect that when it's purchased it's ready to smoke, and I don't believe that to be the case here. I'll leave the sloppily manufactured tins I have in seclusion and visit them again sometime next year. In the meantime I'll be very harsh with my review based on the departure from quality that SG displayed in this batch.

VC

Putrid is the only word I could find to adequately describe this blend.

To sum it up, YUK !!!

It has been said that smoking is bad for your health but this over-dose of tonquin is yukky. "Check out the web re. tonquin.

I have tried very hard to like this blend - it's apparently very close to how some of the earliest tobaccos tasted and I consider it a piece of living history in that regard. All I can say is I'm glad I'm living in the present. No matter how hard I tried, up to and including blending it with other tobaccos, the Tonquin flavour was just too overpowering. It reached a sickly stage within a third of a bowl.

The tobacco looks gorgeous, smells ok (if you like Tonquin/Vanilla) but unlike many vanilla-flavoured aromatic I just couldn't taste anything but the tonquin.

So if you like tonquin - fill your boots, but if you prefer the taste of tobacco (like me) then I'd strongly suggest looking elsewhere.

Good Golly is this a strong tobacco! If you like nicotine then give this one a try. Me, I got woozy and had to sit down for several minutes after half a bowl.

Not my thing.

Sorry guys this one just kicked my butt. Very good flavor just too strong. Smoking this is like playing with a gorilla, the first 5 seconds are great after that you're screaming for mercy.