Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake

Preparation & Burn: 4/10 Too moist, but drying too much makes it crunchy and hard, harsh and flavorless. Burns fairly cool, not much bite. A few too many relights.

Taste: 16/20 It's a great, pure flavor. I prefer it to FVF. Can be a bit monotone but if you like that tone, great.

Mildness: 7/10 My idea of a good smoke is a relaxing, low nicotine session. Therefore, the milder the better. Not much nicotine.

Total: 28/40

Divino. Un capolavoro di Virginia, ai livelli del FVF e del Capstan. Ottimo, sotto tutti i punti di vista. Consigliatissimo se amate i Virginia in purezza.

The flake look and smell almost identical to FVF, but a bit less fermented and slightly 'lighter'. Easy to load and pack, either with the fold and stuff method or fully rubbed out. I prefer the former. It stays lit better than FVF, but does require some relights. I find that, similar to FVF, the relights can be a bit harsh on both initial lighting flavor as well as the tongue. If you can keep this lit/rolling without relights, the experience is more enjoyable IMHO. Light but firm tamping, and a regular draw on the pipe will assist with this.

The smoke is creamy, flavorful, and light, but not too light. It reminds me very much of FVF, but less dense and slightly more subdued. More of the lighter VA flavors and tones are present and less of the deeper ones. I would say this is a perfect inbetween of FVF and Blackwoods flake. Excellent flake and can't wait to see what it does with more age. Plus I want to smoke it side by side both FVF and BWF so I can do a better job of describing the differences.

One of my favourite pipe tobacco. Partially cause I’m a straight VA smoker, but because it’s really good too!

Typical SG tin design, proper hay tin notes. Moisture is extreme high, almost like a wet towel. However, it dries quickly. Hard to light in wet state, but doesn’t tongue burn even when dried out fully. Stuff ‘n fold or rub out, works both ways.

Sweet, premium high quality VA notes with subtle fruits in the background. Isn’t overpowering, nor too light. It’s a medium bodied one, but for that case it’s perfect. An elegant, everyday smoke. Retains its aromatics all the way to white ash. No tongue bite, although has a decent “acidity”.

Smell of hay, figs, tomatoes (!?) and dried fruit. This is what we get after opening the (as usual) elegant SG tin. Flakes aren't so big and fat, but they look well moisted and have an attractive woodlike look. Leaving the flake in open air to dry up is a must, or you'll be swimming in a pool after a few puffs. Just a few minutes, then pack it up in your pipe, lit it up and go! This is in my opinion the best Virginia I ever tasted, even better than renowned FVF. Time flies when you smoke it. Do not underestimate it by comparing it to FVF, its smoke is creamy, fresh and full of the same aromas you smell from the tin, not so strong, but full of aroma, it can be smoked in the morning. A great everyday, everyseason tobacco, I seldom use a pinch of it to ease down the 1792 when I'm not in the mood for a strong smoke but love its tonquin/whisky aroma.

It’s early days but this could be my favourite SG Virginia yet. Being impatient I tried a bowl full straight from the tin and it was ready unlike some people’s experience. Boy this is a great Virginia. Not unlike SAF to me which I also love. I could smoke this for ever and a day. Smooth and mellow with a good medium taste. I didn’t realise that I would find that pure Virginias would be my favourite tobaccos until trying SAF thanks to this very wonderful site. Anyway if Virginia is your thing or even if like I was and you are not sure give this a go.

Best Brown Flake is most often compared here on TobaccoReviews with Full Virginia Flake, and rightly so, because both blends are quite similar in many regards. However, there is a clear difference between them, which I believe is easily explained by the origin of the source tobaccos.

There are plenty of Virginia varieties grown in each country, but Brazilian and American Virginias generally tend to be stronger, darker, grassier and drier (like in dry wine) than African Virginias, which in their turn are often lighter in Nicotine, brighter, sweeter and much more citrusy and fragrant (and also more prone to bite) than most varieties from the Americas. One may see how perfectly this describes the main difference between the stronger and darker FVF and this light and fruity Best Brown Flake.

It's well known that Best Brown Flake is made of Rhodesian leaves. And it's exactly Virginias from Rhodesia that have long been prized for their distinctive flowery fragrance. In contrast, I've never met any authoritative data regarding the origin of tobaccos sourced for FVF, so I may just speculate that FVF should be probably made primarily of tobaccos from the Americas rather than from Africa, or have at least a significant portion of them blended in.

Best Brown Flake is really fine and fragrant. But I find it also extremely weak (African bright Virginias are just meant to be like that, they're designed to be mild) and quite bity (which is a known feature of all flue-cured bright Virginias). That's why I definitely prefer Full Virginia Flake.

It's the lightest pure Virginia blend I've ever tried. I may honestly recommend this flake to those who have hypersensitivity to Nicotine and still want to smoke a quality tobacco. Other than that, Full Virginia Flake seems to me a better choice.

This batch came in a 250 gram box but the ziplock bag was not sealed all the way, and the outer box was mostly sealed, so it was a little bit dried out but actually had a perfect level for smoking. still pliable and a hint moist. It probably could have dried it a hair more before smoking, but I balled up a bit and stuffed it in a cob, musketball-style.

This sometimes starts off pretty bland and unimpressive. After about half of a bowl, the flavor notes picked up and there were some nice flavors of hay and cereal. More of the grain part of the hay than the fresh cut smell of hay or the barn smell of hay. Kind of like sweet Special K. I also get hints that reminds me of that sharp, coarse grass that grew around my grandfather's pond. Very mild creamy citrus notes on the tongue. I grew up next to a hay field. This brings up memories of walking across the field kicking the piles of drying, but still damp on the bottom, grassy hay. It also had moments that make me think of the buttered rolls we would eat at dinner.

I have never smoked a flake tobacco that I considered bad but I would rate this stuff as the least good of any flakes I've tried. The flavor was so mild that it bordered on being bland. It's ok but there are so many excellent flakes available that it's not worthwhile.