J. F. Germain & Son Germain's Brown Flake

I'm not sure what to make of this flake.

Given the generally positive reviews I was excited to try it, and ordered a 25g pouch from my usual place. The pouch note is earthy, peaty, and reminded me of a decent cigar. I find this to be generally true of the smoke, too, and while that isn't a bad thing I'd rather get my cigar fix from a cigar.

I don't know. Either my palette is unrefined, my pipe is meh, or the flakes I received were iffy (they were very dry), but I didn't find much to like here. Nothing I smelled or tasted lined up with anything the majority of the reviews here have mentioned.

I'll be jarring this up, perhaps rehydrating it a little, and trying it again in a few weeks. I get the feeling my experience is more of a "it's not you, it's me" thing.

When I originally smoked this blend it seemed like it might have promise with age, so I stashed away several tins. Nine years later I am revisiting the Germain Brown Flake that has been tightly sealed in a mason jar all that time.

The tin aroma is plum and red wine vinegar; the flakes are dark and still moist. In the pipe, however, this is underwhelming. The flavor is earthy, a smidge sour and ever so occasionally cigar-like. There are no bright notes and whatever grassiness it might have once had is now gone. The cadence of flavor is somewhat akin to SG Lakeland Dark: dark, brooding and monochrome; but for me Brown Flake's flavor is muted in volume - it never quite has an intensity of flavor to offset its monochromicity and thus is ultimately underwhelming.

On the plus side, DGT improves it's cigar notes and nuttiness slightly. Also, I am sensitive to tongue bite and this never even hinted at biting.

To be fair, this is probably a good flake for many people. It's presentation is great, with a easy to peel apart flakes, in a nice small tin. But that taste, though. Brown Flake has its own thing going on. It tastes like a big flake has been store in grandmas shoes in an attic for a few decades. Its almost moldy, with notes of dirt earth and the tang of Worsestershire that FVF is similar to. Maybe it's the burley mixed in that just doesn't do it for me.

I got swept up in the "must have" of its recent popularity and have gone through a couple tins now. Honestly, the second tin I didn't finish. It's taste is suitable, if you want something different (like Haddo's different with new components) but for me, it's not very appealing to smoke grandmas shoes. Germain has a Special Latakia Flake that is head and shoulders better in all regards, in my humble opinion. I don't think anyone should bend over backwards finish locating this blend. Actually, I have a tin I'd love to trade for a FVF tin.

Smoked this consecutively in the same pipe with rich dark flake from the same maker.No contest! For me the brown flake,although packing and lighting well,has too much of that astringent lemony grassiness that my tongue detests.It burns slowly,but way too hot.Maybe it's down to chemistry. Can't really understand the rave reviews The tin,however,is a nice pocket sized affair,allowing me to upgrade to two stars. A day later in another pipe; pleasant enough to start,showing the qualities expressed by other reviewers,however last half of the bowl became clawing ,hot and acrid despite very modest puffing. My rating stands

I love Germain tobaccos,but I am not really a flake fan.That being said,this stuff is pretty good.It has that Germain casing and burns and packs relatively well.This is a much less stoved version of Stonehaven.My major reservation was this burns a little hot and never really takes off in the flavor dept.If you really want a treat get Stonehaven.There is a tobacconist in California who sells a lot of Germain by the ounce (bulk),The name is Briarpatch and their address is Briarpatch.biz.All in all a pleasant smoke but I would not go out of my way to get it.

02-11-2005 Stonehaven Light anyone?

Appearance and Tin aroma: Smells like a matured, stoved VA. The flakes are stacked neatly in the small rectangular tin. The moisture seemed perfect in my aged tin(2 years).

Packing and Lighting: I preferred to rub this out due to it being oily. After rubbing out 2-3 lights was all that was needed.

Initial Flavor: Stoved VA, not sure how else to describe it. There were some cigar type notes that wafted in the side stream smoke.

Mid-Bowl:Delicious round flavor, not quite as dark and "winey" as stonehaven. Cigar notes are still present, this blend will scare away non-smokers.

Bottom of Bowl: There is a slight build up, not too much nicotine to bowl you over. ash is mottled grey, but left much moisture in the shank.

Overall: The problem I had with this blend is that there are two other blends that I prefer over this one, namely Stonehaven and Tilbury, which are also made by Germain. Other than that, this is a fine, light, stoved VA blend that can be smoked all day. it may be your cup o' tea. try it.

Rating: 3 out of 5 points.

Don't look for sweet toppings, flowers or fruits with this baccy. This is all good "Mans" smoke. The Burley is out front , strong and satisfying. I found it very similar to GL Pease's "JackKnife Plug", but it's a broken flake and it burns better than JKP. Sip this slow and you get a nice sweet high note of "bread flavor" with a strong base. I found you have to let it rest for a few months and PUT A BOWLS WORTH IN THE MICROWAVE FOR ABOUT 6 SECONDS TO DRY IT BEFORE LOADING THE PIPE. I'll keep this in stock. Oh, and in comes in a nice little pocket tin.

Updated 1/30/12 I found one problem with this blend,it has a strong ammonia scent wafting off the bowl as you smoke. I have noticed this with a number of tobaccos but most to a lesser degree.This is quite strong, it doesn't transfer to the taste but you don't want the wind to pass this to your nose , it's like getting hit with smelling salts! downgraded one star.

Updated 6/19/12- I sealed and cellared this tin for about 6 months and just unsealed it. All traces of ammonia scent are gone ? I believe this was a mold problem. This tobacco burns on the hot side due too the fine cut and gets "ashy", I have other choices in "Brown flakes that I would rather buy. This has a slight hint of snuff tobacco in it, makes it high in "N" but slightly harsh.

A beautiful, rather dark flake, wrapped by a piece of wax paper; very classic, traditional.

Aroma is rather weird, a bit on the sour side, combined with more natural tobacco aroma. Hard to define...

Lighting is not too bad, smokes rather well, but I was not appealed by the bakkie which couldn't manage to retain my attention for too long.

I retried it in different sized pipes, but the conclusion was the same.

SWEET,MUSTY,CIGAR

This truely taste like a nice mild cigar. Upon intense investigation- you can detect -earthy brown sugar, sweet potatoe like, but the mild cigar like quality definately predominates in every way and is fairly unilateral.

IF YOU LOVE A NICE CIGAR- This is so much like that how could you not like it? A little sweeter than most cigars, less caustic, SMOOTH and milder- is the only difference.

I bought an ancient unopened tin stored in a humidor at a pipe shop that discontinued it. It was 30 % off as it had some rust. I cannot age it, But there was no tax stamp if that tells you something.

Therefore- Mine may have been milder and smoother than some. And man- was it mild and smooth.