Samuel Gawith Bracken Flake

The Bracken Flake is a wonderful weed indeed.Upon opening the tin your greeted with an earthy tobacco smell and something that reminds me of clover honey.I dont find the aroma of the long-used essence intimidating,but those around me have commented on it.The flakes are dark and a little moist.This blend is just slightly cased and the fact that only a small amount is used will prevent it from having more than an infinitesimal effect on tobacco ignition and combustion-if any. One of my tins had what looked like in the sunlight sugar crystals.

Unlike SG's FVF where I prefer to smoke the flakes whole,the Bracken smokes better for me if I rub it out well.Upon lighting, the fire-cured and a hint of the topping work nicely together to deliver a somewhat sweet but stout smoke,after the first third of the bowl the topping gives way to the burley,and the taste becomes a little creamier and fuller.Its at this point if I puff too fast my tongue gets peppered with nicotine and an unpleasant hot sauce taste,easily remidied by slowing down.

The last half of the bowl is the best,the Kentucy and Virginias are perfectly matched and have deepened in flavor and strength,but not overly so.Try your hardest to get bit by the Bracken,it just wont happen.This is a very satisfying smoke that burns cool and clean.I have not DGT'd this but suspect it might do well.If you enjoy dark and robust tobacs you'll find a winner here.

Notes: I smoked this in a number of pipes, including a corncob, but I ultimately found it best in my Lakeland-dedicated Ashton, size 2.

Appearance: Dark brown to black with brownish streaks, a moderately densely pressed 6" flake, topping is evident.

Aroma: Black cherry, cough syrup, lemon curd, bitter collard greens. The familiar vanilla-bitter medicine scent of tonquin is easily detected.

Taste: The strong vanilla-bitter medicine flavor of the tonquin bean is immediately present and dominates the flavor profile. The taste is quite full and strong on the palate, earthy, with suggestions of cherry fruit and Brazil nuts.

Comparisons: Similar to Gawith's Cobb (1792) Flake, but with less nicotine and less tonquin. Those hoping for 1792 without the tonquin will be disappointed. This falls between 1792 and Gawith's Rum Flake in my estimate.

Bottom Line: For scented/Lakeland flake lovers, if you find 1792 (Cobb) Flake too strong but enjoy the tonquin flavor, this will be a welcome blend.

Quality tobaccos with weird flavouring added. Much like it's brother 1792 it is strong but not as bold. The smell in the tin IMO smells like pine tar or cedar oil.The taste of the smoke is quite different however and I (almost) like it,though I tasted no black cherry. Hard as you might tug on this tobacco there is no bite. I'll let the tobacco dry out more and try it again later, and update. But for now (to me) it just isn't that great a smoke.

UPDATE

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This is crap,and I'm dumping the rest of this awfull mess in the ##@$#%% rubbish bin. Even after drying this out it had no real significant taste,though it did smell like an out house that had caught on fire. It's amazing that Samuel Gawith even produces this dung.If you like smoking this you would probally like smoking Labrador.

I have come to love this tobacco. Too bad it’s no longer in production.

Slightly floral, perfume-like, sweet, with a vanilla undertone. it reminds me of old lady perfume counter smells. When I do taste the tobaccos they’re delicious, dark, earthy, spicy Kentucky with a slightly sweet cigar note coming from the air cured. I get hints of unsweetened cocoa and a pronounced woody character overall. It is definitely a “dark” taste, leather and oak. With some floral notes from the heavily stoved dark fired tobacco.

I’ve had this in my cellar for over a decade now. I bought a tin wanting to try a Lakeland style back in 2009. I tried it and shelved it then because the topping just didn’t meld with the tobacco taste for me. Seems that nothing much has changed in the cellaring. It’s still tastes the same but now I can appreciate the dark earthy air cured and dark fired tobaccos more. The Lakeland essence seems to play off the top notes of the dark fired tobacco.

It is a whopper of a strong tobacco too. I don’t think it’s any stronger than Irish flake in the nicotine department.

Having been cellared for so long it burns well, no tongue bite, took about two or three charring lights to get it going tho.

The only thing I have to compare this to is the Brown No. 4 rope. To me that tastes just as full flavored but with a more pure tobacco taste. It too is very dark on my palate, almost cigar like.

If you like Lakeland style blends with their toppings you’ll like this. I’ve heard it’s the less “aromatic” little brother of 1792 Flake.

As a regular V Flake smoker with occasional touch on English mix, my first try on this Flake was really harsh, I thought i’d never finish this 50g.

By chance, I was smoking Rattray’s 7 Reserve, always felt too plain. An idea came up to mix these two to get a balanced taste and more complexity, it works well, and more interesting when change the portion of Bracken.

This probably be another fun from pipe tobacco, to mix your own!

I'm amazed I've not yet reviewed this flake, which may be my favorite tobacco of all time. I've been pretty distraught since I learned it was discontinued, and am making my remaining stash of it last. It is, to me at least, the perfect dark flake.

Open the tin and you find a stack of (usually) very thin, very dark chocolate coloured, raggedy looking flakes. The scent is heavenly: coumarin jumps off the top, with other medicinal aromatic scents. Under this I can smell leathery, earthy tobacco, with a bitter chocolate aroma. There's a hint of fruit, like cherry liqueur, and just a hint of fire, with woody, rotting leaves in the background.

The flakes break up with ease, and I find it works best just lightly rubbed. It takes a light with no difficulty, and burns long and slow. I don't find it to smoke wet, and tongue bite is impossible. What is possible is nicotine overload for the uninitiated, smoke in a small pipe if that's an issue. I'd say it's a shade short of 1792 in this department.

The flavour is glorious, at first I get the aromatics and a mild tobacco taste, with a moderate sweetness. As the bowl progresses the topping recedes into the background as the strong tobaccos take the fore. The fired leaf is more apparent, and a bitter chocolate taste appears at times. It burns to ash and crumbs, every puff is delicious, and sometimes the topping will reappear at the end, as if waving goodbye. It leaves me perfectly satisfied.

I've enjoyed this on climbing expeditions in the Lakes and Peaks, and in Scotland: perfect hill walking companion. Ideal in the late autumn or early winter. Smokes well in a falcon or briar, I've never tried it in a Meerschaum, doesn't seem like that sort of a tobacco.

Comparisons to 1792 are apt, it's in the same vein. Less tonka and a more subtle blend in the topping, the tobacco is a little less potent and it's a little less sweet. I think its also related to Kendal Cream flake, and that they share the same topping. KC flake isn't as strong though, and the effect on that lighter leaf is quite different.

I once got a slab of the stuff uncut from the factory, painted with the magic formula and bagged up: what a treat! But now I have four tins remaining and happy memories...

Here lies another departed tobacco from the old world. A lot of people say this is just 1792 with a different topping but I strongly disagree. Yes there are some similarities as they are both dark flakes that contain a nice dose of nicotine but that’s about where their similarities end. Samuel Gawith has stated that they stopped producing this blend because they could no longer source some of the necessary ingredients. I have to give it to them for having the integrity to axe the blend rather than keep it in production with sub par ingredients and honestly I wouldn’t expect anything less from the honorable Gawith house. I hold them in the highest regard and I’m very thankful to still have the wonderful blends they have in production today. The topping on this beast is very unique and hard to pinpoint but I definitely pick up on some rose. This is not like the Lakeland toppings that I would describe as “perfumed” but more of a singular rose note more in line with what I get from Condor and St. Bruno. It’s nothing like the two I mentioned just shares some similar toppings… Nothing beats this blend when paired with a nice cup of coffee, it’s the perfect wake-me-up. The nicotine is very potent in this tobacco so be careful if you are smoking it first thing in the morning. Go slow with this one as with any strong tobaccos it can get a bit bitter towards the end if you are rushing it, I also prefer it in a smaller bowl for this reason. I will miss this blend very much when I get through these tins…

Absolutely essential (if you can find some).

Samuel Gawith - Bracken Flake.

Although this has been discontinued, I stumbled across some tins for sale from My Smoking Shop U.K.. It said Samuel Gawith found a few remaining tins, had badged them with a simple white label (due to the previous artwork being redundant), and My Smoking Shop bought the lot! So, I snapped some up, and here's how I find it:

Removal of the lid reveals some thin, almost black flakes. With the blend being Sam Gawith they're too wet of course, but in all fairness not the worst I've had from them. When I took my first puff the first thing to come to mind was the word 'Stout'. It doesn't lack strength in any department: strong nicotine, very full flavour, and an exceedingly strong room-note; not one to smoke in company. Although it has a lot of power, it's quite feeble in a couple of areas: temperature and tongue bite.

I get only a mild added taste at first, and it's quite pleasant: maybe vanilla like. After a quarter this can develop a chemical likeness, unless I puff with ease; this lingers as a ghost. There's also a note of hay from the Virginia, this is like a breath of fresh air against the heavy taste.

The rest of the flavour's robust: earthy, woody, bold, and fired.

Bracken Flake has to be one of the slowest burning blends I've piped, it seems endless!

The first couple of pipes were quite a novelty, but after a good few (half a tin) I can only somewhat recommend it.

Two stars.

I was lucky enough to procure one tin from my local B&M, not knowing that this tobacco had been discontinued for years already, even more lucky considering it was a blind buy based solely on the fact that i wanted to try something from the house of Gawith. The tin obviously had some age already, with some nice sugar crystals. The tin note from the ''long used essence'' truly reminds me of star anise, and the whole aroma reminds me of a particular kind of chinese stew with beef/potatoes/carrots whose whole flavor profile revolves around this spicy/sweet accord between ginger, sugar, anise and cinamon.

On to the smoking. Since I'm relatively new to pipe smoking, I tend to rub out my flakes. Some reviewers noted the inconsistent thickness of this flake from tin to tin: it seems i got a ''thick'' one. I let it dry for about 15 minutes and proceeded to smoke. I was surprised to find very little taste reminiscent of the smell, the taste was, to me, pure tobacco. Dark, dark tobacco. Not very savory, no high notes, no ''obvious'' notes. The first time i smoked it i was able to make a side by side comparison with Solani: Black and White, not because i consider them related, but simply because my dad happened to be smoking it then. This comparison really highlighted the ''fuller'' feel of Bracken Flake. This also allowed the slight smokiness of Bracken to shine (a dry smoke, peperry smoke, not campfire-ish), due to the DFK i suppose (at this moment i was reminded a bit of MacBaren Old Dark Fired). Around mid bowl (and a few relights too many, i have to fight with this baccy !), it sometimes gets harsh, though this may be due to lack of technique.

As for the strenght noted by other reviewers, since i smoked it in a rather small bowl, i didnt feel it at all (and i am no nicotine heavyweight...).

All in all, it is a bit too ''muted'' for my taste right now, as a novice, i guess i am looking for some high notes in my baccy, while this one is dark and hard to describe. I have jarred most of the tin, and once ive cut my teeth, ill go back to it. Still glad i got a tin before it was too late !

2017-07-05 UPDATE: well after a year, i can still say that i don't really know what to think of this tobacco... sometimes it seems almost tasteless, sometimes it is unbearably piquant at the beginning of the smoke... sometimes it develops a great honey-like sweetness, sometimes it remains earthy... what remains true all along is: 1) with those mega thick flakes, its hard to prepare 2) if you get smoke in your eyes, you'll regret it