Samuel Gawith Bracken 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!

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

This damn flake makes me nauseated just as 1792 does. The difference is that I love the flavor profile of this weed...absolutely fantastic. This burns moderately well, yields a good volume of smoke and is more than satisfying from one bowls worth of indulgence. I really wish this came in a light version, just too much for me. MTLOGBY

Strong yes, but nothing disturbing here. Description says "unique and alluring aroma" hmm.. not so sure about it, actually the scent reminds me indian incense sticks which I don't like. Bracken flake ghosts your pipe big time. Infact the next time you reach for your pipe, it will still be smelling like it was just out of an extreme yoga session.

Great tasting tobacco with repulsive aroma.

I love SG stuff, usually, and daily smoke FVF, Best Brown Flake, Golden Glow. My favourite being BBF I went for something that had "cocoa-chocolate", a bit stronger than BestBrown. What a mistake. I almost ruined my pipe! This tobacco is strong, the room note is simply impossible, and I found no chocolate or cocoa flavour (but probably that's because I was overshot by the strenght). I can only recommend this tobacco if you need to digest a mouse, a nail, a piece of iron, or something similar. It is perfect for arguing with wife and escape to the bar.

As someone else here as correctly stated "this is for lumberjacks". I can only recommend it to people looking for strong experiences with their pipes.

Good quality Virginias, Packs and burns well, this tobacco realy does make you smoke it slowly, an excellent disciplinarian, it basically comes down to whether or not you like the taste of the essence used, unfortunately for me, I do not. One star for quality, second for the reminder to smoke slow, but this is one SG I won't be buying again, SG do too many other tobacco's which IMO are far superior.

Update 23/1/2019

A shame this is no longer in production, I think at the time I tried this my palette was simply not ready for the stronger tobaccos with the more robust flavours.

I hesitated reviewing this too quickly so I spent the last few months trying to be fair. Like all SG tobaccos it is certainly of high quality. It's "special essences" are difficult to determine exactly what they are. I do not find the tin aroma to be particularly strong but I can see how some might make the observation of a medicine smell. The taste is somewhat blah and undistinguished but the overall strength of the blend is immediate from puff one and the nicotine hit too major for my tastes. If you like a lot of nicotine grab a tin. Everyone else should bum a bowl from a friend before buying.

Having enjoyed Grousemoor so much, I decided to try several SG Flakes, Bracken and Bulkan Flake. Bracken Flake is a very dark and fragrant burley and VA, with a good amount of that famous Lakeland essence, which I guess is Tonquin. Wow, this is strong stuff, and this is supposed to be milder than 1792!

This flake was little too much for my taste. Grousemoor seems like a beginner tobacco compared to this tobacco. I am convinced I don't like the taste of Tonquin. This is still a high quality tobacco that will be suited to full flavor smokers. I'll finish the tin, but this won't be in my rotation.