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

The flakes have an overall bright appearance and are already sliced, so you cannot take out one piece as they fall apart. They are very soft with perfect moisture and rub out very easy. Once rubbed you get a mix of ribbons and shag(!) cut. Tin aroma is a distinctive hay-like Virginia with yeasty tones and there is a fruity topping as well which may be apricot as others have mentioned. Upon opening it smelled like a corked wine - something cardboard-like - but once aired it is certainly fruity. Yet this is not an aromatic tobacco, it's just slightly scented as most tobaccos are and here it is only more obvious.

Lights with ease and produces a rich, yeasty, succulent and creamy Virginia taste with honeyed sweetness and a nice counterbalancing hay-like sharpness. Smokes cool, dry and fairly slow. This is pure tobacco taste and the fruity scenting is barely noticeable, always agreeable and after some time vanishes. Moreover as the bowl progresses the flavors deepen becoming even more yeasty and show a mild spiciness. It is of medium strength with medium nicotine. A perfect tobacco!

For me this is a superb Virginia flake, deeply intoxicating, surely one of the top I've ever tried. Could be an all-day smoke, but it's too good for me to use constantly. Comparisons with Best Brown Flake and Golden Glow are unavoidable and I find Medium Flake much more pleasing and less fussy - actually it is one of the easiest tobacco to handle. I think Germain's Medium Flake is a much underrated and underappreciated tobacco.

The tin opens to give way to scents of tangy fruit mixed with leather and fermented hay. The tobacco is in almost broken, loose, flake. They are beautiful medium brown flakes with specs of yellow that easily rub into a long, thin, shag that is easy to load in the pipe. Lights easy with a charring light and then a second. Remains lit with gentle but firm tamping.

The smoke is creamy, tangy, and almost sharp, but not in an overpowering way. It seems to be a perfect balance of natural sweetness that is deep and rich that is offset by the citrus tang mixed with cream. The room note is wonderfully sweet, but not cloying. I'm lucky to have had a friend gift me some of this hard to get tobacco. It's very good stuff. It reminds me of Long Golden Flake, but the citrus is a bit more subdued, until the 2nd half of the bowl and the flavor seems to be more deep and rich than LGF.

Medium Flake is what is says ON the tin - Medium Flake is what you get IN the tin. If you are looking for a no- nonsense , easy packing 'all day smoke' , look no further. Presentation is not as a 'traditional' flake , but more like a 'block' of loosely pressed 'flakes' , lacking any real form.Don't be put off by this description - MF is very easy to pack and handle - tease & fold the 'golden 'strips' , or rub out if you prefer. The result is the same either way - sweet , VA's of superb quality , with a very slight peppery note - adding another dimension from time to time. MF is not complex or challenging , however , its simplicity and easy going nature is its strength.

This up to now is by far the best I have smoked. After seeing a review by Tokin Tommy on YouTube, I was intrigued and had to get some. I wasn't disappointed. It has a lovely orange aroma too it, a really nice smooth Virginia smoke. Nice mellow sweet notes and hints of orange. I am definitely stocking up on this tobacco. Its beautiful.

I'm not one who likes toppings in tobacco but there's always exceptions. GMF is a pseudo flake of mostly golden with some brown tobacco that has a citrus topping. The taste is mellow, creamy, yeasty and hay with the topping more present at the beginning than at the end. Very good burning qualities, especially after a few weeks and easy packing, ensures this to be an all day smoke.

I must say that I had the bulk version so there was probably no aging on it. I didn't experience any bite or hot smoke and the topping never produced any gurgle. I would compare it to Reiner's LGF but with a creamier and rounder taste from the beginning.

Virginia lover

Dear god in heaven, no this is NOT an aromatic, although it does have a more prominent topping than some Virginias. Picture a field of freshly cut hay. Next to it is an apricot tree with lots of ripe fruit, so ripe it's ready to fall off the tree. This is the tin note. Absolutely mouth watering.

The smoke is straight sweet medium Virginia tobacco with just a SLIGHT HINT of the apricot topping I was talking about. Midway, the topping is gone and you're left with nothing but top quality Virginia smoke.

Another outstanding offering from Germain.

Medium Flake is one of those tobaccos that tends to go un-noticed by many, much to their unbeknownst disappointment, for they are missing a fine experience. This is essentially a golden and bronze VA flake, but it is not cut or sliced, making it more like plug tobaccos. You can select to sheer off fine strips, with a texture like horsehair, or cut a cube of it for your favourite clay.

The VAs are scented with violet, s it typical of a Lakeland, which I find most enjoyable. They are exceptionally delightful if you slightly toast the leaf before you pug it in your pipe, and I generally take the lid of an old tin and place it over an oil lamp (with a trimmer) with lay out a bit of Medium Flake on that, which brings out the violet scent and unfolds its hidden sweetness.

Like most VAs, Medium Flake is greatly enhanced with age. I managed to uncover a 10-year tin in my cellar and opened it, not realizing how long it was in there until I flipped it over, as the experience was so amazing, I had wondered what I was doing differently. Two years at least is what I suggest for the full experience, but if you can manage to sneak one away for a decade or two, you will e i for a divine treat.

A green tin is still very pleasant, and I keep one in regular rotation at all times. I find it exceptional early in the day (just after rising), with tea, or after dinner. It does not mix well with scotch, as the delicate ambrosia of Medium Flake is easily overpowered by any strong serums that you may care to partake with it. I find that simple water is best here.

A to bowl size, unlike some VAs that tend to bite, I have never had an issue with medium Flake. I have smoked it in everything from tiny (Group 1) bowls and clays, to my trusty OBD. The experience is perfect in any size, and as it is close to a plug from the tin, if you don't sheer it or rub it out it smoulders cool and fresh for a very long, smouldering smoke, and makes a good companion for reading.

The control you have over consistency is remarkable, so if you want a faster burn or fewer relights, you need only rub it out a tad more and it behaves admirably. It is also a good DGT candidate, especially in larger bowls. My only regret is that i can't buy it in 1Lb bricks.

The overall composition of Medium Flake is a very mellow Lakeland background note, with motes of honey, cake, copper, and a mead-like quality that you need to experience to fully appreciate.

I am not sure what the casing is for this Medium Flake but I can tell you it is just amazingly good! It is so good that it makes me crave another pipeful everytime I finish one. The flakes, once rubbed out, provide you with a shag cut leaf that is easily packed, lit and burns extremely well. As where it would have been rather bland without the casing, well the casing enhances the tobacco beautifully. Medium Flake is becoming a favorite.

Finally got ahold of some of this due to a very generous piping-friend who did send me 12 sample from the UK. Mostly G&H, but Germain's Medium Flake was one of the few that were not.

Stuck my nose into the baggie and was flashed by the very fruity scent. Clearly aromatized, but not in a way I'd call this a aromatic! The flavoring flatters the natural Virginia aroma. I get lots citrus/lime and few fruit notes along with some tea and bread in the back. I got mine rubbed out, so I can't comment on the slices.

Packed it into a sweet corn cob I got granted along with the samples (one with a small, stick-licke mouthpiece from wood; and rough corn (so not finished) on the bowl).

On first light I instantly got hit by a citrusy, and very tea-like aroma of the tobacco, before some fruitiness kicked in to enhance the experience. Dcent sweetness, but not overly. Stoved-fruits, citrusy freshness, lots of tea and minor breadiness create a exciting smoke that I instantly fell in love with! I also get some grassiness as I proceed the bowl. The flavoring really enhances the Virginias natural qualities. I love the intense tea-like aroma, that I have found in very few straight Virginias that intensly. Even tho I usually prefer most natural smokes, this one will certainly make my rotation, as soon as I get ahold of a few tins of this, as its pretty darn delicious! Also the flavoring fades a bit as you progress through the bowl.

I wouldn't even consider this a "Semi-Aromatic" as the flavoring is really just tweaking up the Virginias natural charme. Yet you can clearly make out its been flavored. They've hit a sweet-spot here for me. Perfect balance of natural taste and (enhancing) flavoring.

4/4 stars for a very, very delicious straight Virginia!