F & K Lancer Slices

Without all the bullcrap, it's good. Respect a slow cadence on this as it can bite. One of my favorite blends, but not an all day smoke for this palette. Burns down fine with little dottle, just do a thorough job of rubbing it out.

Long, dark, semi- broken flakes with the scent of the middle eastern tobacco, (Latakia). Mingling in the long strands, are the most incredible naturally sweet Virginia tobaccos. The smoky Latakia and the sweet Virginia are reminiscent of the sweet and salty effect in confections. I initially ordered only four ounces to try. I have now ordered a pound. In my forty-five years of smoking a pipe, I have smoked all the old greats when they were made by the original blend company’s. I would often think that this or that tobacco was the greatest. None, not one of those English style tobaccos has pleased me as much as Lancer Slices. This tobacco is glorious! Notice that this blend is ranked number fourteen out of hundreds of pipes tobaccos on Smokingpipes.com.

No subtlety here, but good smooth flavor in a cool smoke. As soon as I opened the bag, I smelled pine smoke. I love pine smoke, especially in rich latakia. The VAs here are light and sweet. Blended and aged well, and in bulk the slices were long & pretty. Packs well by any method.

Never tried the Bengal Slices, so I cannot comment if this imitation is on par.

2 to 4 inch stringy broken flakes makes up this offering from F&K. Dark brown makes up the majority of this flake, with strands of bright blond Virginias. Rich, wet campfire mustiness permeates through the pouch. I love it!!

The flakes arrive quite broken, which makes the piper's job of loading much easier. Flakes have a bit of moisture, which the lighting could benefit from a little dry time. I found if you smoke these straight from the pouch, they don't produce a voluminous amounts of smoke as when dried for a short period.

Initial lighting takes a few. Just when you think you may be able to settle in, it peters out. After you get it going, it's an amazing smoke.

Thick, chewy smoke, perfect aroma of leathery Latakia, with nice toasty undertones. Virginia adds the perfect amount of sweetness to this flake. Very well balanced and well rounded Never harsh nor dull. Burns clean and cool, with just a bit of moisture in the heel. Does make my mouth tingle a bit, but I would consider it tongue bite. Leaves a cool and refreshing palate!

First impressions: Meaty, sweet and smokey. I get a little bit of a floral or fruity note at the top of each puff. Is that the Virginia? I can't quite place it, reminds me of a Lakeland. According to the description it's not flavored. Maybe that's just the herbs in the Latakia? Having grown up with a lot of campfires and spent a fare amount of time trying to keep the smoke out of my eyes and throat (though it annoyingly seemed to follow me everywhere) I don't mind a bit of the woody smokiness but ive had my share of that taste already and I'm not that enamored with Latakia in general because of it. I need a lot more in a blend to make it interesting. For me, this can be a fantastic winter smoke but not a daily.

Update: few more bowls, actually the Latakia seems pretty well balanced with the Virginia. Kind of growing on me.

The jar note smells smokey, camp fire, leather, with a slight sun dried tomato tang to it. It’s nice. Long thin strands of almost black broken flakes. I like it. Lancer slices is such a cool name. Packed and lite just fine.

The smoke is very much a smokey, dark, leather, camp fire, musty, wood, slightly herbal, with a tiny little sour tang to it. Little sweetness some spice. It’s rather simple but in a good way. Heavy Latakia with some Virginia pressed and broken up. The taste and flavor is above medium to strong. For me it’s a bit too smokey/creosote and can come off as harsh. If you like Latakia you’ll love this. Burns slow, no bite, little mouth tingle.

After letting the jar air out a bit and smoking it some more it definitely mellowed out. I’ve been smoking this a lot more lately and I find this really good. It’s simple, Virginia and Latakia, but it’s rather nice. Bold in flavor but milder in nicotine.

This one benefits from some aging. I have three jars of this, each from different vintages, and the transformation with age is noticeably beneficial. Of course I don’t know the actual date of manufacture, as these come in bulk, and who knows how long something may have sat at the seller’s end. So this is based solely on how long I’ve had possession of the product. My newest batch is a little over six months old, my middle batch is about three years old, and my oldest batch (now down to just a few bowls) is about six years old. Just sniffing the jars tells the whole story: the youngest is reticent of aroma, the middle is showing some personality, the oldest smells awesome, with a deep, rich inviting aroma.

The range of my ratings also varies according to age: fresh batch 2.8 stars, middle batch 3.1 stars, oldest batch 3.5 stars. I sure do wish I had another untouched jar of the oldest vintage so I could see if ten years bumps this up to true four-star greatness. I thought about seeing if somebody on a forum had an older supply they were willing to trade for. But all along, from my very first tasting notes, I’ve always considered this a poor cousin to Sillem’s Commodore Flake, specifically this being slightly lighter and less complex. They both end up getting nearly the same tasting notes: salted meats or jerky, burnt molasses, graphite and pencil shavings, creamy malt (like a dark lager), and both have a unique flavor that seems to be in the casing that I compare to a dash of Dr. Pepper. Not saying that was really used, although I’ve used root beer before in my casings (unique!), but this is certainly a very specific tasting note that I’ve not encountered in any other of over 600 commercial tobaccos.

Charles Fairmorn was originally a tobacconist and distributor of cigars in Lübeck, Germany, so perhaps Lancer’s Slices and Commodore Flake (made in Germany) share a common DNA (?). For a wonderful evening sipping session they both pair well with Köstritzer Schwarzbier from Germany, or among domestic choices, Shiner Bohemian Black Lager.

Lancer’s does seem to develop more aromatic expression (although my stack of cellared Commodore tins will need a couple more years before they hit that age). I do consider Commodore to be a truly great flake, and that is something quite evident even when you sample it fairly young. Lancer’s needs time to really hint at its hidden potential. Lancer’s is substantially less expensive, so it doesn’t hurt to put aside some for long-term cellaring. I like to keep both on hand. Incidentally, I have a wonderful tweak of Lancer’s which is an effort to bring out more complexity and a little more contribution from sweet, well-aged (10 years!) Virginias. I call that one Sir Lancelot, because he’s a noble, warm-hearted but seductive son of gun.

Lastly: since these are flakes with well-homogenized flavors, I find the wide bowls I normally favor for complex mixtures don’t really add to the experience, whereas a tall narrow bowl helps focus extra deliciousness at the end of the bowl.