J. F. Germain & Son Germain's Special Latakia Flake

Let's get it out in the open right away. I like this tobacco A LOT! Easy to rub out, this tobacco lights and burns well. While the latakia is there, it is not dominant. The orientals play a significant role too. They fold in seamlessly with the latakia, to the benefit of both. The smoke is dry and cool. This one won't bite. There is no deterioration of flavour as the end draws near. The flavour is never as big or strident as a full Balkan blend; it is more contemplative than that.

First Disclaimer, this is my first review, second I’m still a newbie at about a year and a half of learning and enjoying the pipe

That said, I find it wonderful, it is Latakia forward IMO, and I love Latakia, so this was wonderful, at least 10 years of age before opening as I bought an aged tin, it took till the end but it ended on a barbecue taste that just topped off the wonderful experience, it’s room not is pleasant in my opinion but over the course of sipping it on a mini-meerschaum church warden it smoked well throughout, no bite, just pleasant, if you like Latakia this blend is thoroughly enjoyable!!!

A friend gifted me a generous sample of this eight years ago. I remember having to smoke this fresh and being a little put off by the dominance of the Latakia. The reader should note that I tend to be fairly sensitive to the presence of Latakia. It is not that I don’t enjoy it, but find that it tends to drown out other component tobaccos.

Revisiting this blend with 8 years of cellar time is much more pleasant. The Latakia is still a formidable voice, but the Virginias are speaking much more loudly this time around. While I did see some sugar crystallized on the outside of the various flake pieces, I did not perceive this as a set of particularly sweet Virginias. They are much more earthy, dark, toasty than sweet or grassy. The once golden bright leaf that flecks this mixture when fresh now blends in with the darker brown hues that currently prevail. This is a great blend to smoke fresh if you are a Latakia junkie. If one has the cellar space and patience to leave it alone for years, it certainly does become a wholly different smoke. Per my tastes it is much better now than back then. The Latakia is more incense and less “campfire” now.

Comes out of the tin a little wet. I let it dry for about 30 minutes and it was good enough to smoke. It doesn't come in cut flakes either. The flake is ripped apart along the grain and then formed into a sort of kake.I found this quite odd. Because of this I went with the rip and rub method instead of the fold and stuff. The flavour isn't strong. Very much on the mild side. The first thing I notices is this really earthy fruit flavour. It's quite good. In the retrohale I can taste the spice of the orientals and latakia. The spice is very subtle as well. There is a lot of nuance in this blend to appreciate. Little to no bite, even in the nose. I consider this blend my perfect nightcap. Doesn't excite with strong flavour, but instead relaxes with gentle subtleties. 9.4/10

UPDATE 1/18 I may have had a different palate a year ago because I find this to be the best Lakakia flake made. Creamy, sweet, woodsy ...and earthy. Every puff has a nuance that makes it unique from the previous puff. I really can't figure out what i was thinking when I originally reviewed this but this is a must try for every English pipe tobacco enthusiast.

This one is an enigma to me. After reading the reviews and hunting high an low for a tin. I finally got some. J.F. Germain & Son are truly master blenders that have a unique processing and blending art that is truly unparalleled. After 5 bowls I am ready to review and also commit this to the cellar, half a tin and an unopened tin. First off, almost nothing in my review will reflect others on this page, from presentation to tin note I get nothing other reviewers have seen, well some of the tastes are there but that is about it. Let me get this out of the way, this is good are hard 180 from what I expected but it is good. The tin note seems more like a virgina cavendish blend than a Latakia flake. It is sweet and subtle with some of the woodiness you would expect from orientals. If you relabeled it as a VA blend I would believe it. This came as one large cake, at first I thought it was flakes pressed tightly together but it looks like a crumble cake that doesn't really crumble. Very beautiful with light and dark ribbons pressed together that cut off and rubbed into nice ribbons. As with all Germain tobacco's it was wet. I rubbed it out and let it partially dry for 20 minutes but also tried cutting a slice and leaving it for an hour then rubbing out, rubbing out for and leaving for an hour and a few other variations in that range. The flavor is mellow, burns cool and requires few relights if dried properly. The Orientals and Virginias are what are the stars in this blend, odd for a blend called Latakia Flake (maybe that is where the special comes in). I get a sweet, nutty, creamy and woody forward taste. Spicy tingle when exhaled through the nose indicative of the orientals. The Latakia comes in and out in the sweetness and an occasional smoked meat like flavor. Very nice blend. This would get 3 or more stars from me if it was what I expected, now that I know what it is I will smoke it when I am in an oriental kinda mood. I am also curious to see what age does to this. All the other reviews are too consistent to be wrong, maybe with age I will get something similar.

Well this is a very interesting tobacco indeed! After many good reviews I decided to give it a go. Upon opening I was surprised to find the top flake was of purely a very light coloured tobacco layered over a flake that appeared to be fully consisting of Latakia and further down again a different coloured flake. As others have mentioned the variations between tins seems to be significant and in this case if the first flake had been used the "blend" would have shown only the profile to the first tobacco.

Faced with this dilemma, I realised I would need to pull the contents apart and blend it again to get the mix closer to what was obviously intended. As I dug down in the tin a bit I did find that the mix inside the flake was a bit more consistent and it pulled apart easily so that helped a great deal when compared to the trouble others had getting it apart.

This is a bit like being given a Lego set with all the pieces but having to build it yourself! I actually enjoyed this "challenge" because the result was a wonderful smoke that others have described better than I could.

Highly recommend you get a tin for now and maybe a few to cellar since this tobacco will only get better with age.

Yet after another great mixture, my opinion about Germain has improved even more. For a long time I was trying to find this beautiful tin, with the very good content, and I was finally justified. It has the same flake form as Medium and Brown Flake. I was under the impression that I would get a tin filled with flakes that would contain more than 85% Latakia, allowing me to create nice mixtures by adding few Germain flakes. Some flakes are “golden”, brown and some others jet-black. It is as if Virginia, Oriental and Latakia were separately placed in the tin. The moisture is very good once you open the tin. It reserves its outstanding taste up until the end of the bowl and it leaves almost no dampness at the bottom of the pipe. It doesn't cause any tongue bite no matter how nervously you smoke it. A really wonderful mixture. Ooooo and something else: when you ask for this blend, don't let any German seller mislead you by telling you it is similar to McConnell's Latakia Flake (as was my friend “Litsa”). They have nothing in common what so ever

years of pipe smoking experience. i smoked two tins of this and found it bland and blunt.i could never taste the latakia.the penzance beats this and is a far better smoke and the best.also samuel gawith balkan flake beats this.i would not waste my money this again.i think this is a poor blend by jf germain.

I tried this blend after trying and very much liking Dunhill Nightcap. It seemed to be the next logical choice for a Latakia blend. Upon opening the tin, I got a very similar aroma to Nightcap, I figured this must be the the distinctive smell of Latakia.(?) Upon lighting, I liked it immediately, it has quite a smokiness to it, which I enjoyed. I also noted some of the virginia flavours which seemed to go well with the Latakia. It burns beautifully with little or no re-lights to a thin grey ash, and has a consistent flavour all the way down the bowl. But as other reviewers have stated, it does need some drying out time before packing in your pipe! I enjoyed this very much, but so far I think Nightcap has the edge, with this coming very close second. Still, an excellent smoke, four stars! I think I'm slowly falling in love with latakia.