Sutliff Tobacco Company Cringle Flake (2019)

Several fermented, matured Virginias ranging from orange to red to dark brown provide a lot of very tangy dark fruit, tart citrus (with minute acidity), plenty of wood and earth, some sugary stewed fruit (plums, dates, figs) and bread, light grass, lemon, floral and spice notes, along with touches of sour and vinegar. There are light toppings: raisin, figs, and prunes, but they don't sublimate the tobaccos much, and compliment/enhance the qualities of the dark red Virginia. While I tend to notice the aspects of the darker Virginia (sugary stewed fruit, earth, wood, dark fruit) a tad more than the others, the percentages of the various Virginias are inconsistent from flake to flake, so what your taste buds observe will change as you smoke a bowl, and from bowl to bowl. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a step past the center of mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, but it does have a minimal rough edge here and there. The broken flakes are a tad moist, but I saw no need to dry them. They easily break apart to suit your packing preference. Burns cool, clean, and a little slow with a woody, earthy, sour, spicy and savory, deep, ever evolving complex, very tangy and tart sweet flavor from start to finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, but it will require some relights. Has a very pleasant, mildly lingering after taste and room note. Not quite an all day smoke for the inexperienced, but it may be for the veteran. Three stars due to the inconsistent flavors, but four stars overall for the complexity and age potential. I suggest a wide bowl (pot, egg, author) to capture all of the nuances.

-JimInks

Sutliff Tobacco Co. - Cringle Flake (Holiday Edition 2019).

Virginia perfection!

I received this a few weeks back but wanted to smoke a decent amount before reviewing it. Albeit, the impression I received upon first light is the same: magic!

The tin holds thick broken flakes that give off a rich, fruity, Virginia aroma. It smells more 'cased' than the taste; this has more of a matured Va flavour than a cased one. Because the flakes are partially broken I just stuff some into the bowl direct from the tin.

RICH, this could be the review! The smoke offers everything I love about a good red Virginia. It's as tangy as the McClelland Virginias used to be! I get no grass or citrus, no acidulous flavours, nothing 'fresh'; only opulent and deep flavours. I wouldn't say there's added flavours, it seems like a natural, mature smoke. The smoke is cool and bite-free.

Nicotine: just below medium. Room-note: nice.

Cringle Flake? Glad I have a few tins! Highly recommended:

Four stars.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I tried some of this expecting a mid quality tobacco. NOPE. This stuff is great! Whatever crop this was pulled from, it absolutely scratches my red Virginia itch. Is it as good a my McClelland favorites? Not yet but maybe it will get close with age!

If you like red VA's, please try this. You will be happy you did.

I would like to thank Sutliff for picking up where McClelland left off!

Every year I would purchase a tin of McClelland's Christmas Cheer and cellar it to be opened the next year. An annual rotation. It was, and now thanks to Sutliff, still will be a Christmas tradition.

I bought 2 tins of Cringle Flake 2019 and cellared them for next year. I'm already looking forward to next years offering "Cringle Flake 2020" and hoping it will be available in 3.5 or 4 ounce tins.

I'll have to wait until next year to give a review on the quality of the flake. However, after reading reviews already contributed by our esteemed pipe smoking community, I'm highly confident it'll be a good one!

Hats off to Sutliff! Hip Hip Hooray!

Cringle Flake, by Sutliff:

A sublime, limited edition Nutcracker Suite masterpiece release for the 2019 holiday season.

I'm not big on buying holiday blends, as I'm so often disappointed in them. But this being a red Virginia flake by Sutliff, I thought "why not"?

An exquisitely crafted artisanal blend, perfectly suited for the season (see JimInks' review). This will not only cellar very well, but also help to make for a magical and blissful holiday season this year (and for several more to come). God rest ye merry gentlemen -- and oh, what tidings of comfort and joy!

UPDATE 12-20-2019:

This is some uncommonly fine Virginia flake -- I'm lovin' this stuff. Quite remarkable, actually. Taste profile changes from bowl to bowl -- in a good way -- like an aluminum Christmas tree color wheel from 1962.

My first review here. I'm not a tobacco aficionado by any means, but I know what I like, and this isn't it. I bought this tobacco on a review (not here) that this tobacco was the answer to the McClelland brands that we know and love. Not even close. To begin with, the tin note is pure vinegar, not subtle and refined like the McClelland tobaccos, but rough and horribly acidic. But what the heck, I tried it anyway. On the first light, I tasted nothing but acidic tartness...that lingered...puff after puff. I gave it a chance, but halfway through, I had to dump the bowl. I felt like I was smoking Vinegar and Salt potato chips. Sorry Sutliff, nothing personal, because I love some of your other brands, especially the Crumble Kake series. I bought 5 tins, and I am returning 4. The sour taste still lingers in my mouth 45 minutes later.

So sorry to rain on the parade but I have problems with this blend. I found , upon opening , a fine looking virginia broken flake with an interesting tin note . I thought I had found a winner here . My mistake was lighting it up . My mouth was attacked with something that made it pucker up sort of like sucking lemons. It actually made my mouth sore . I knew it was not the pipe , a reliable pre lane Charatan lumberman . I let the tin sit for a while and tried it again , this time in a cob , not wanting to spoil another good pipe . It was even more problematic the second time . I needed to put the pipe out after a few puffs . I believe this would have been a good virginia flake had not someone gone around with a spray gun attacking the tobacco with some aromatic agent . Aromatic is one thing , tobaccoside is another . My mouth was sore hours after the smoke . It could be that , somehow , I was bothered by some aspect in the tobacco that others did not experience . Since others like it I will assume that I just had a bad experience .

A friend of mine from the pipe club gave me a nice sample of this on Sunday where I had one bowl and it was pretty good. Today is January 01, 2020 and I have finished up the rest of the sample that was given to me in a Missouri Pride Corncob throughout the day which was about four more bowls. I enjoyed the sweet hay grass smell of the Virginia. Always makes me wish I could live out in the country. Nice sweet tasting tobacco and the more I smoke Red Virginias the more I seem to like this variety of tobacco. No bite to this one and a real relaxing smoke. My friend and one other member both think that this blend would improve with age and no argument here but still was good right out of the tin. At times when I smoke a blend, I like reading others reviews and sometimes I look for buzz words to see how often they show up in the comments. For example, out of 7 reviews, 3 mentioned that the flavor profile of the blend varied as they smoked different bowls of this, about half. I cannot comment as I would probably need to smoke a whole tin of this and there is also the power of suggestion since others have stated varied tastes throughout different bowls which might make me more prone to notice it than I would have otherwise. I am sure a few years of aging can only make this blend better.

Amazing delicious Va tobacco. Rich sweet, sour tangy flavors. Sweeness that goes lighter to darker as bowl progresses. I will buy more. No bite, smooth and just an amazing delicious baccy. I am leery of holiday tobacco because i don't care for aromatics. This is nothing of the sort. Cringle flake is sublime in a briar or cob. Definitely up there in top 5 of the Va tobaccos I've tried to date. Huge fan of ps lnf and ogs. Cringle is different in a good way. Tastes more aged and tangy. Reminds me of a Va with the macbaren odf treatment. Has a delightful sour note and is so so smooth and easy to smoke for a Va. Highly recommended, please don't buy it all up. D.

This is the best Virginia Sutliff has released in my opinion, probably why it was so limited. I’m a Virginia lover, and ever since the closing of McClelland I’ve wondered if anyone else would come close to that flavor. Now I in no way mean there aren’t still amazing Virginia’s being produced, there definitely are, however this is the first one I’ve encountered that actually reminded me of the McClelland style/taste.

As soon as you pop the lid on one of these tins you see beautiful dark, Red Virginia broken flakes that are a little moist and smell of raisins, figs, and other dark fruits, I even picked up some ketchup. I prefer my tobaccos to be sipped which requires a dryer leaf so I did dry it for 20 minutes. The flakes rubbed out very well and packs nicely. It took to flame extremely well and provided lots of sweet at first. That flavor remained consistent throughout the bowl but you begin to get some bread, tang, and dark fruit after the first third. This blend burned incredibly well and was very smooth all the way to the end and left very little moisture in the bowl.

This doesn’t bite and is what I’d expect/want from a Red Virginia smoke. The aging possibilities here are phenomenal, I can’t imagine what this will be like 5-10 years from now. I am thrilled with this blend and really hope to see more of it in the future. Really great stuff here.