Robert McConnell Black Flake

The mildly floral dark Virginia provides mild, lightly tangy sweet and slightly sour dark fruit, wood, earth, and light bread notes. The lighter Virginia offers a little tart citrus and some grass and hay in a secondary role. The dark Virginia is not as deep or dark as the Orlik version, and there seems to be a tad more brighter Va. here as well. No fermentation or sugar from the Virginias to speak of, whereas the Orlik production has a small hint of both. Despite the product description, there is a little raisiny, plumy, figgy, lightly spicy perique in the mix as a background player. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, and has very few rough edges. The flake is lightly moist and easy to break apart. Burns cool, clean and a little slow with mildly sweet, consistent flavor from top to bottom. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke. As this blend lacks some of the depth and sweetness of the Orlik version, I give it three stars (barely) for its own merits and two and a half stars as a match. I gave three stars the the Orlik version.

-JimInks

Robert McConnell - Black Flake (Heritage).

So, here be another blend offered as a Dunhill copy. I enjoyed Charatan's Dark Flake clone, which has the same name as this: Black Flake. That went straight into my favourites list, and this is as good!

The round tin holds a square paper insert, containing dark brown, slightly speckled, rectangular flakes. There's a touch of fruit in the aroma, and plenty of tang. The thickness is medium, and the moisture great.

Something else which I find great is the flavour. For the initial quarter I notice a lot more bready, sweet, Virginias. The Perique takes more of a back seat until this time has passed. When the Perique first joins in it has a spicier, sharper quality. About halfway into a bowl the Perique develops more of a fruitiness, and the spiciness from it diminishes. Toward the end I begin to get some vinegar from the Perique; nothing too bitter or sharp, just more zest! Don't get me wrong, this is a Virginia driven VaPer, it's just the Virginia doesn't fluctuate as much in flavour. I has quite a stable, character; doughy, bready, and sweet. It burns perfectly, just requiring sporadic tamps, and a run with the flame if neglected! I haven't had a bite from it.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not too bad.

Black Flake? Like the Charatan clone of the same name, it's a little more doughy than the original Dark Flake, but a fabulous smoke. Highly recommended:

Four stars.

This is a tobacco that you will not regret purchasing. I have been smoking a pipe for many years and have tried many different blends throughout the years, I never knew that a Virginia tobacco could be as gentle and as smooth as this one, it is stout, sweet and very smooth. This, in my opinion, surpasses Dunhill dark flake in taste, smoothness and overall smoking experience.

I couldnt find out dunhill dark flake recently.its one of my favorite ones.thanks god mcconnell heritage series apear. I tried black flake ASAP. Oh mine, it is good. Burn by 1st flame to end of chamber. Its smell fruity & sweet. But the tins are so fresh that i tought filled yesterday. When i start smoking, find out if i aged it, mightly be better than dunhill dark flake. All is balance. I taste bready, nutty, sweet grassy and citrus together to end of smoke. I suggest it badly for va/per lovers. There is no perique on combination k&k mentioned.but its a virginia/perique tobacco you can feel good perique slightly at whole smoke. I honestly rather mcconnell black flake to dunhill dark flake. you must notice black flake is too fresh and aged ones should be better than this i tried.

Having just finished a 4 year old tin of Dunhill Dark Flake, I decided to open a new tin of this to compare. My review of Dark Flake was of a new tin:

A touch peaty with remote hints of dark fruit from the Virginias, the latter reinforced along with a touch of spicy tang from the Perique -- altogether, an easy smoking VA flake, darker perhaps in appearance than in flavor. May be even an all-day smoke for those who really enjoy this category, although for me more of a change of pace.

This was pretty similar to the review of the new tin of Dark Flake (the aged Dark Flake seems to have grown a bit darker a bit more bitter), maybe not as much spice? I don't know if this has the same, less, or no Perique, but my guess would be some but a bit less. Either way, enjoyable.

Sadly, I'm not too familiar with Dunhills Dark Flake as it is vowed by many experienced smokers so I will just review this tobacco as a standalone.

Look in tin is not as nice as other Flake tobaccos among; less hard-pressed and not accurately stacked. Cold smell is very dark for a VA but sweet with spices and a bit of acidity in the back. Packs just nice and rubs itself a bit off when folded due to the low pressing. Takes flames easily and burns nice and cool until there's only light grey ashes left.

Taste is very characterful and a lot more spicy than expected; a small share of Perique in it would explain but it's not mentioned by K&K. Sweet body of high quality matured VA is topped by dried fruit and maybe a bit of flavoring is used for that taste. Sweet until the end but no grass or hey notes which gives the Black Flake a deeper personality.

For me this is more of an evening smoke in front of the chimney holding a dark Ale in the other hand. Nicely matured leafs of proper quality form a pleasant but smoky blend that has excellent burning properties.

A nice all day smoke ,with hints of hay, bread and leather. Not a very complex blend, but it suits my daily rotation. I am considering a good thing to have the Heritage blends as an option, though tins are somewhat dull. All in all, quite pleased with this blend in taste ,but not so in design tin and price.

I think this is better, tastier and richer than the Flake from the same series. Don't be fooled by that "black": it's not a stoved, leathery and heavy affair. It's a brown-red Virginia flake with plenty of sweetness, a certain grassiness, and overall a very pleasant, cool and fragrant smoking experience. This of something like Gawith's Best Brown, but lighter in nicotine and with better ease of packing and combustion qualities. A winner. (I have never tried the Dunhill original, so no comparison can be made)

A surprisingly full virginia flake. A bit of sour-ish fermentation that gets smoothed out with a musty sweet virginia taste ....its a pretty basic or classic (depending how you look at it) virginia flake. I find it a most welcome addition in these post mcclelland times.

3 and a half stars.

This review will be short and to the point. I'm not going over the various tastes a Virginia Flake can offer because Black Flake is fairly standard in that area. The flakes are beautifully cut, moisture was perfect out of the tin and it is comprised of quality tobaccos. The only problem is I don't like it. It has a decidedly sour, musky flavor on my tongue. It's not what I consider terrible and I will finish the tin but I won't be buying more. Black Flake is not my cup of tea.