Dan Tobacco Patriot Flake

I can certainly understand how some people feel that there are oriental condiment tobaccos in this one. It truly does not smell in the tin like a straight virginia. I have no experience that I know of with virginia tobaccos from Mysore, but I would guess they are the "culprit" here, as there is no flavor of actual oriental that I can detect. Orientals in virginia blends with no latakia are becoming more common but are still fairly rare. This one smells like one of those, but as I said, if there are actual oriental tobaccos in this one, I couldn't pick them out by taste.

This is an interesting blend, with a nice spicy flavor and a hint of sweetness. More grassy hay character than overt sweetness and a bit of sourdough taste... kind of the difference between an English Muffin and regular bread. The stoving gives it a toasted character. I didn't have any trouble rubbing out the flakes and they are decidedly easier to break up than the McClellands Epitome that is also hanging around my tobacco bar. This one was best smoked somewhat dry but not crispy. Nicotine hit seemed normal - not too strong.

Overall, a good tasting blend but not one for my cellar. A definite must try for those that like a fair bit of complexity rather than something monodimensional. But at this point, the straight virginia genre is pretty well represented in my cellar, and this didn't do enough differently to merit inclusion. But it's definitely worth a try!

I never know which Dan tobaccos are their own and which they had made for them by K&K. Sometimes it's obvious, and the K&K flakes are never as good as what DTM themselves put together. I suspect this one may be made for Dan by K&K with tobacco supplied by Dan, as the flakes greatly resemble K&K. For that matter, Tordenskjold which I love, resembles the construction of Marlin Flake, so perhaps they all come from K&K.

This one I really like. The Indian sourced leaf adds an Oriental-like twang to this tobacco. It's sweet, it's sour, it has some backbone. It's pretty consistent from start to finish. I don't think it will make anyone's top 5, but if you love Va I think you'll find this an above average example. One that I would grab a couple pounds of if my cellar wasn't already so heavy. I predict you will either really appreciate this unique Va flake, or find it just ok. It's worth a tin to find out.

I recenlty bought 2 tins of this flake and I was very curious to try it after reading the reviews. The art work on the tin is very nice. Upon opening the tin I was delighted with the smell of the flakes. Raisins and a very subtle vanilla on the back.

The flakes, molstly of dark colors and regular size, look nice and yummy. Very easy to break and to rub it out. It's easy to light and to keep it lit and burns evenly throughout the bowl.

The smoke comes very harsh at first, it tends to settle down a bit after few minutes. In my opinion, it burns too hot, which increases the spicy feeling. It doesn't bite.

It is very different from other Virginia flakes I'm used to, such as SG Full Virginia and Capstan. I prefer more sweetness in my Va's and less spiciness, so I don't think I will be buying more tins of this baccy.

It's a quality tobacco and an odd one too. I recomend this because it offers a different side of Va's and because it's very tasty, to a certain point. And I don't give it 4 stars because, even tough I have enjoyed the experience, I still prefer the more "classical" approaches of Va's flakes.

For me, this is a very middle-of-the-road, straight forward VA, rather hay-like. I prefer my VAs on the darker side, but this is a servicable smoke. Fans of this style of flake or those who want to try a basic (in the good way) VA could do far worse than this, as the different VAs give this some complexity and keep it interesting. I'm glad I tried it, but I probably wouldn't rebuy it unless my tastes change strongly in this direction. Of course, this didn't have any age on it and so might improve with aging.

NOTE: My tin was made by DAN tobacco in Germany, and only distributed by CAO.

A lovely sweet Virginia tobacco with a hint of spiciness that keeps it from being one dimensional.

Tin note: Slight molasses, dried fruit, sweet hay (Wonderful Tin Aroma!)

Ready to smoke right out of the tin, no drying time necessary. Smokes equally well rubbed out or folded, but I find folded and stuffed gives a bit more flavor in the smoke. Definitely better smoked in a large bowl briar to extract the full potential of this blend. Very very slight tongue bite if puffed with extreme prejudice.

Sweetness seems to increase as the smoke progresses (maybe a very faint topping?) but never cloying. Just a real sweet hay Virginia taste with a spicy background that lingers throughout the smoke. Neither complex nor boring, a perfect all day smoke, with medium nicotine content. I often find myself smoking two bowls of this in a row.

The room note is pretty non-offensive, and this one smokes dry, down to a fine white ash with no dottle, no relights, no fuss... A relaxing smoke to be certain, better than SG FVF in my opinion due to the added spicy background of this blend. Very high quality tobacco, and must try for any Virginia lover. This one seems that it would age very well, if I could just keep my paws off of it long enough! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED indeed!

The flakes are almost broken, very thin cut. It was better to me just brake it down to small pieces then smoke it as a flake. It is mostly because the strage dampnes. I was not able to get it right in the flake form, always too wet. When it was dried right it was not possible to stick to a flake form, it always brakes apart. The fresh smell is sweet but not as sweet as I expected to be, there is a slight sour/zesty tone in it almost similar to some VaPer. The taste is quite good virginia with a nice caramel like tone to it, but only when you just carefully sip it. There is a sharp tone, almost seems periquy but that, I guess, comes from the virginia type. It is a bit shame because I would like it much more mild so it holds with that sugary topping. Those sharp tones distracted me a lot. If you puff that a little bit quicker it becomes really harsh. Burns nice and if dried properly then leaves almost none dampness in the bowl. I tried it fresh from tin, then tossed that to pick it again after almost a year but that made no difference and that is a little bit shame cos I expected that the sharpness would cease a damn bit but it didn't.

Three stars because I can imagine smone can enjoy that a lot but still there are better virginia flakes and there's a lot of them.

Smoke and Drive: Better not. This one is for very peacefull slooow puffing otherwise you lost that nice caramel taste and get only sharp unpleasant experience.

My basical tendency is to review a tobacco not before the end of the second tin? I have let half of this second one seasoning for months. Humidity has quite left, the remaining flakes are not dried so overly, let?s say they are still like a ?ruvid tweed?. PF is basically a deep brown (stoved?) Va flake, and yes a small quantity of oriental may be of the party. It?s round, has body and character; medium in strength and stays there until the end (with some momentarily reinforcements); modestly sweet, creamy and faintly spicy; smoke is substantial and satisfying; quite no bite and over-hot bowl. I find it?s right place is the second pipeful in the morning. Three stars and steady place in my cabinet. BTW: I would try Hamborger Veermaster just to build the CAO/Dan?s scale of flakes: HV being the ?treble?, PF the ?midrange? and Skipper the ?bass? ? unfortunately HV is not imported in Italy.

Until now the only virginia flake that I'd tried was Dunhill Light Flake. My last virginia experience was an unfortunate forray into the land of MacBaren Virginia No. 1, and especially compared to that junk, this stuff is quite nice. My impression is that Patriot flake is a bit spicier than the Dunhill, though a bit more mild overall. The taste is pure and clean, and the moisture content seems about right. I don't detect any flavoring at all, though perhaps my taste isn't as sharp as that of others. There might be a bit of rum in this or something, but perhaps I'm just tasting the sweetness of the tobacco itself. Whatever it is, if there at all, it blends in well with the natural flavors. Perhaps it's because the Dunhill is stronger and not quite as spicy, but I think I still like Dunhill Light Flake more than this. I'm looking forward to finishing off this tin though.

After a little more experience with this blend I can confirm what another reviewer noted: this stuff does indeed become fuller and richer toward the end. This inspired me to give it a try in a pipe with a tall narrow bowl like this Skaal freehand that I have (about 2" deep). In this pipe the effect was magnified quite nicely and the bottom 1/3rd of the bowl was exceptionally rich and flavorful, though toward the very end the sweetness really starts to overpower the spiceiness. Anyway, I recommend giving this a try in such a pipe.

Virginias from Mysore? What are these? Magical Virginias? Maybe they don't contain any Orientals, but from what I can make, the spice is prevalent, and very well received.

It's been three years since I reviewed a tobacco. I had a pile of tins that I threw in a box, and had neglected for some while. I admit to having slipped, and smoked a better half of several months on cigarettes. When I began to smoke again, I pulled that box, and this was one of the blends that I chose for a reintroduction.

My sample was dry, inadequately hydrated and preserved, yet I pulled it for the promise of a viable Virginia.

Patriot Flake is tasty, and fine enough for satisfaction. The blend, spicy as it is, offers a characteristic profile of Virginia leaf. Not quite sweet, but beefy enough to reward a reliable smoke. Is it imbued with notes of hay and grass or stewed fruit? I don't know, but I will smoke this concoction and revel in the spice.

Three and a half of five.