Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Scotch Flake

Gawith Hoggarth - Scotch Flake.

Somewhat broken flakes, just needing a 'finishing rub' to load. Scotch Flake lights easily, and then gives an uncomplicated smoke.

There's a soft background note of creamy chocolate, but don't expect a casing such as Bob's Chocolate Flake has. This sits behind a hay/grass Virginia flavour which dominates the smoke. It burns well, gives no bite, and is one of life's simple pleasures.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: quite pleasant.

A good smoke.

Four stars.

The Lakeland scent is just a step or two past the mild level, and does sublimate the tobaccos a little.There's a very light floral taste mixed in with the bready, citrus, dark fruit and earth of the Virginias. They also offer a hint of wood and a few blades of grass. The cocoa notes are very faint, and not present in every puff. The nic-hit is mild. It didn't bite, but fast puffing may tingle your tongue. The flake is a little moist, and may need a light dry time. Burns a little slow and clean, and gets sweeter as you smoke it down. Needs a few relights. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Another bulk sample and beautiful presentation of flakes. This one is darker in color than Bright CR Flake and is infinitely more interesting to me.

Very slight bakers chocolate aroma and flavor but it's way in the background. Not noticed with each puff but occasionally rears its head, however slightly. It melds with the virginia and provides a nice, spicy, semi-sweet smoke. While Bright CR was in the grassy realm, this is more of a baked bread flavor. Somewhat more robust in stength and quite a bit more flavorful. Very faint Lakeland aroma but I can't be sure I tasted any. I'd call this an unscented flake. This is more prone to bite if pushed but a normal puffing cadence will show this one to be quite the lamb. Complexity is there but is somewhat subdued.

This is the one I'd most recommend for those who want to try a Lakeland flake but don't want the heavy floral flavors and scents. Strong 3 recommendation - probably closer to 3.5. I doubt I'll buy more, as there are other VA flakes I prefer, but this one is definitely worth sampling.

I know the description says no added flavoring, but dadgumit, the G&H perfume is in this one too. Maybe the crop dusting machines for G&H Virginia tobaccos spray Chanel #5 as they protect the leaf from bugs.

This one burns cool and dry with little or no bite. But, I find that Scottish Flake leaves some roughness in the back of my throat and a perfumy taste on my palate.

Like BriarNorth said, the tobacco is sweet and of good flavor, but just too much perfume to make this one a regular.

I just keep coming back to this great tobacco because I love it. It is a pure steamed/pressed VA flake that has a great natural tobacco taste with a bit of natural sweetness. Not like McClelland VAs, which are great too, but much more tangy. There is something about how Gawith steams and presses the tobacco that makes it so approachable. It is just so easy to smoke. You don't have to be in the "mood" for it like you do many other tobaccos.

None of that perfume stuff that taints (in my opinion) alot of the other Gawith flakes. Just good, mellow yet rich, tobacco.

The only thing I don't like is the hassle of the flakes. While thin, they are very long (6" or so long), and must be broken up to smoke readily. But heck, I will deal with that.

If you like good old-fashioned tobaccos with no frills, give this a try.

Scotch Flakes come in long, quite thick pieces of differing hues of brown, from bright to almost black. The ones I received were quite dry, yet moisture can vary depending on how and how long the seller has had them stored. Put in a jar they smell of a combination of dry hay-like Virginias with dark chocolate. Rubbing out was easy at so crisp a condition as I received them. Needs some effort to attain an even light, but then on it gets going fairly easy needing only a few relights.

The main flavours upon lighting are of a mixture of different Virginias: mildly sharp hay-like, citrucy and even some bready Virginias. Besides the Virginia flavours I think I get a whisper of Lakeland florals and even a touch of chocolate. The smoke has medium strength and it is quite flavorful with considerable sweetness but a little rough though I did not experience any tongue bite. There’s nothing here for a Virginia smoker to not like. Burns completely and at a decent pace, to a very fine grey ash. Does not produce much moisture nor does it produce a lot of smoke. Room note is rather discreet as is the flavoring.

With the caveat that the flakes I received might have dried out I have to say that this is a very mildly scented Virginia flake. Can be an all day smoke for those who enjoy good quality Virginias on the hay/citrucy end of the spectrum.

Scotch mixes are a fairly light and easy smoke and this thin cut flake is no exception. The cut of this flake is thinner than most from the same stable and this lends to an easy to use tobacco that will dry if needed very quickly. My batch was very dry when I got it and perfectly ready to review.

The pouch note is sweet and chocolate is detectable a light brown coco leaning towards white chocolate type. Also present is the so called "Lakeland topping" if you know this then one then skip to the next paragraph. If however you don't the topping is a floral type which may contain geranium a bean extract called tonquin and even rosehip. This topping is a secret I'm sure so the exact flavours are rightly so a mystery. The Lakeland style topping is a feature of many tobaccos from sam gawiths and gawith hoggarth.

The taste upon lighting is floral but not strong and to date this is the lightest application of the Lakeland I have found. The Virginia is a fairly light one and easy to smoke it burns quickly and smaller pipes will give a very short smoke. The tamper will be in use throughout to keep the whole lot tight due to the fast burn.

About halfway down I got a nice change of pace as the coco kicked in and rounded out the floral somewhat, the whole smoke became very solid and the light start was left behind. The Virginia was now also much fuller in flavour and became a main player, as opposed to a carrier to the toppings. I was enjoying this tobacco very much by this point and was wishing I had been more brave and chosen to load a bigger pipe.

Taste notes to me were, sweet, caramel, toffee. floral, (hay mild)(grassy medium to strong) chocolate and a medium dry style with no bite and moderate heat, Good temperature for a all vg smoke as my sample was very dry and I was expecting some fire.

So overall a pleasant smoker with much more going on flavour wise than a straight vg tobacco could offer. The topping is lightly applied but not so light as to be hard to follow. This was not what I expected from scotch flake but a very welcome surprise as the tobacco exceeded my expectations. So for this reason I can only give a full four star review. If you have never tried a Lakeland tobacco this would be a great place to start as it is the thin end of the wedge.

I'm either getting accustomed to the Lakeland scent or it fits in really well with this flake. Probably a combination of both. Either way, I really like this smoke. You can tell that the sweetness has two sources. Some from the Lakeland and some from the Virginia. The two have a contrast that I find very appealing. I love the way they interact. In my sample the Lakeland is just a little stronger than mild and I would classify the natural tobacco flavor as mild. Overall a medium flavor experience. Medium in body as well. Burns very nicely. This is a great flake.

I can't tell if this is scented. My gut is that it isn't, that it displays a pouch aroma created by steam-pressing and leaf selection. (Remind anyone of that never-ending silly rumor of vinegar being added to McClellands?) If it DOES have a top-note, it is applied more lightly than Glengarry Flake, and that is almost completely unnoticeable in the flavor.

Anyway, this is sweet (I believe naturally), friendly, easy-smoking. A good choice when you want a tasty blend that you don't have to concentrate on while doing something else. This would be a good choice if recommending a tobacco to a new pipe smoker or an aromatic-only smoker.

As usual with GH steamed Virginias, you aren't going to get a McClelland or Esoterica-type of complexity, but you won't have to walk that fine line of overpuffing either. The African Virginias are rounder, with a dark brown sugar mellowness to them. Highly recommended.

I am not sure whether the Lakeland essence was meant to be present in these flakes or if this is by accident, but you can barely notice it. This tobacco seems to comprise flue cured leaf, but it feels more or less like your ordinary straight Virginia tobacco. Quite mild as you light up your pipe, it gets somewhat stronger as you progress with your smoke, but never to the point flue cured tobaccos will. It is only as you go past half your bowl that you start thinking these flakes might contain a little bit more than just unstoved Virginia leaf. There is this sort of subdued smokiness, most particularly when you pass the smoke through your nose, that gives it away. I think there is a gap in the market for these kind of flakes, but due to its intrinsic complexity and sophistication I am not sure every Burley/Kentucky lover will be able to appreciate them.