Samuel Gawith Kendal Cream Deluxe Flake

Kendal Cream Flake. Or KC Flake, as it's known around here.

Out of the tin, you get a woody, flowery smell from it. Pleasant and fairly restrained. It's a Samuel Gawith Flake, so of course it comes on the moist side and needs a bit of drying time. Not too much, though. You don't want to lose the flavour with this one.

Once it's in your pipe, it lights up nicely and quickly begins to provide it's flavour. Much like the tin note, it's got woody, floral notes, with the occasional whiff of nutty burley. It's very pleasant and smooth.

That, along with it's moderate nicotine content and fairly slow burn, makes this blend true to it's name. It's a creamy, lovely smoke, peaceful in character.

In the latter half of the bowl, the Virginia leaf makes it's presence known a bit more, providing some spice to the sweetness.

It's an easy blend to handle, though if you do manage to smoke it too fast, it'll punish you with some tongue bite. Other than that, it burns clean and dry, though it does need some relights.

At the end of your smoke, you'll be left with some dottle, but zero moisture.

It's a massive recommendation from me. I like to call this stuff "peace in a pipe".

The scent of this tobacco is exquisite, almonds, lemongrass, tonquin, cinnamon, other sweet spices and who knows what kind of botanicals… And besides all these aromas real tobacco smell! I really wish I knew what aromatics they use at Gawith’s! In any case at this firm they have elevated tobacco scenting to an art form. And it all smells so natural! The flakes are brown colored with some black parts and a few bright spots. They are well formed and thick. Easy to rub out.

I smoked Kendal Cream from a 250g box which contains the tobacco inside a plastic pouch which is not vacuum sealed and the flakes came in perfect moisture condition to just rub and smoke. Contrary to most Samuel Gawith tobaccos this one needed no preparation apart from rubbing! It also had excellent burning behavior and without any bite for me whatsoever. I do not know how the tobacco comes out of the tin though…

Now to the actual smoke despite the heady scenting, you never forget you are smoking …tobacco. And it is a medium to strong tobacco with a healthy nicotine punch to satisfy most smokers. Virginias offer both sharp and darker yeasty notes. The first are accentuated in my opinion by the cool-tasting scenting. Overall Kendal Cream has a slightly bitter-sweet herbal taste, a combination I suppose of the botanicals used and the Virginias. Then around mid-bowl the smoke becomes earthier and nuttier, seems like the Kentucky is taking center stage. What a nice surprise!

I really like this tobacco as I also do Ennerdale Flake, both Lakelands but quite different. Kendal Cream is less heady and less perfumy, in the sense of real perfume. If you’ve never tasted Lakelands do not approach Kendal Cream with trepidation, it is just a high quality tobacco that is mildly scented and what's more the scenting is much less obvious in the smoke than the (heavenly!) tin note suggests. I also use it to scent other tobaccos with good results.

Another great combination for me is to blend half and half Kendal Cream with McClelland's 5100 Red Cake. Beautiful combination, with 5100 adding some more sweetness and a mild tang.

This is one of the most extraordinary flakes I've ever tried. Tin note brings a good café au lait to mind. First draws remind me of something nutty and dry, perhaps it's that Burley. I definitely taste some tonquin as well. Halfway down the bowl, all flavorings and burley tones die out, and wonderful Virginias start to shine and sing getting smoother and richer towards the end. N-vitamin levels are quite decent. Burns suspiciously cool and dry.

Nothing to add, nothing to complain about: 10/10

Presentation: Typical SG/GH flakes. Thick, grainy and moist. Mottled brown, dark streaks. Nice rows as always and I like that SG keeps to their tradition despite consumer complaints.People still are die-hard fans regardless.

Palette: To me, the tin aroma is very reminiscent of Ennderdale Flake and when giving it constant sniffs, I had to keep checking the tin just to make sure it wasn't. Black licorice, cardamon, anise, clove, cinnamon, lemon, nutmeg. I'm not too fond of the bouquet, but in no way does it translate to the smoke like Ennerdale does. A slight floral essence is there as well. Upon lighting, I can detect the Lakeland topping, but it is so light which was surprising considering the tin aroma. It comes up ever so often but in no way is this a Lakeland bomb. I'd put it on a scale of 3 out of 10. Nice creamy flavor. Hints of floral, heavy cream, baking spices and sweetness. A well rounded VA/Burley taste, and I detect more burley than VA. Mid ground strength and flavor. Not too heavy nor light. Not an all day blend for me but it certainly could be smoked everyday of the week without tiring your palette. Flavor doesn't linger too much in the mouth.

Performance: Dried out for about an hour and to be honest my tin came pretty moist, but this amount of time was perfect. Lit up well after a few charring lights. The last 1/3 was hard to keep lit but I dumped the ash and lit it again and away it went again. Mild nicotine. Can bite a little and it tended to burn hot when puffed more than an average pace, but that is my cadence.

Conclusion: An interesting blend. SG blends are not my favorite or blends that I gravitate towards, but it was nice to see this blend in the shop and just buy it on a whim. I'm a GLPease fan so this was a fun change of pace. Don't be intimidated by the smell of the tin. If you've never tried a Lakeland blend, this would be a good place to start as the topping is so lightly applied it's hard to detect consistently, but still noticeable if you focus. I think that this is a good blend for mid-day as it has just enough nicotine to make you feel a good fuzzy feeling. Nice relaxing flavor and easy to smoke. Probably won't buy again, but I can sure recommend it to others for something different.

Let's face it, scented flakes often come down to whether or not one likes the scent. Even if the underlying tobacco is of high quality, and in this case I think it is, and the scent isn't appealing then it just doesn't work. I like scented flakes very much, and I have tried this fresh from the tin and with two years of age on it and the result remains the same. It just doesn't blow my skirt up. I don't get the described chocolate at all and being too bored to pull out the thesaurus, I am going to go with a “minty” taste. Two stars because it is a quality tobacco, just not for me.

Thanks to Kendal Cream Flake, once again I'm convinced that;

a) I'm not fond of blends containing burley. I don't get those praised nutty fatty tastes from burleys. For the sake of comparison, it's just like those earthy, big bodied indonesian coffees for me, both leaves me with a ruined palate, muddy aftertaste, way too overwhelming to enjoy.

b) I should not take all reviews or reviewers into consideration but instead choose and follow a couple of reviewers whose taste buds I find similar to mine (ie. Claudius Stradivarius is one of them)

Shorter; I and my pipes share his thoughts on KCF.

Longer; Neither my small and big bowled meerschaums, nor briar ones worked well with KCF. The only exception being a left and forgotten problematic canadian shaped briar and that was "eh okay" only when 1/2 packed.

and tin aroma definetely not cocoa or chocolate. it's masala chai (or commonly known as chai latte) which consists of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, clove, black tea, milk. sometimes nutmeg, almond, fennel, pepper and liquorice added too. Anyway, kudos to SG they invented indian mixture.

What do you get when you mix a stoved VA/Burley flake with Glade air-freshener? This stuff.

Seriously, this is a high-quality flake made in the traditional fashion. I just could not take the flowery perfume that was added. The "aromatic" portion detracted from the tobacco.

I guess I am not suited for Lakeland style tobaccos.

No doubt the tobaccos are of finest quality from the house of Sam Gawith and I had some high expectations being the name Kennel Cream which not present in notes and even until... Wait... it's quarter of the bowl and I'm sipping and applying breath smoking technique and I'm getting this creamy texture filling my mouth and sinuses. Relight is not very pleasant and you get some tangy and hay like taste until you apply the above technique again and you're in creamy state again. After half of the bowl I'm getting nuttiness of Burleys and some medium nichit. I couldn't get any Lakeland flavor or any other floral scents etc. Overall it's a good enjoyable smoke from the house of SG. Anyone who enjoys flakes should give a try to this finest blend. As I write this from beginning I had in my mind to give three stars but Nay... Fours all the way...

I received this as a large sample from a friend. The sample was about an ounce in weight, and it consisted of fairly standard looking flakes. They were a mottled dark brown and came too damp. The first bowl was smoked as delivered and that was an exercise in frustration. I dried it to the point that the flakes would almost break when folded in half. I rubbed it out before smoking both damp and dried. The pouch note was slightly floral with a whiff of honey.

Smoked, this was very good when dried a little. There is a smooth creamy quality and taste along with a mild Lakeland. The tobacco foundation is not overwhelmed by the topping. It is a solid VaBur with some earth and hay and a certain mellow hint of a bitter edge when puffed. Every now and then there is an overripe citrus note. I found it an easy smoke to sip, and it was slow burning. Strength was close to medium in the mild->medium range.

I thought this was enjoyable and have no regrets. It did not astound me in any way or send me to buy it 500 g at a time. It is easy to recommend to anyone interested in this type of blend.