Samuel Gawith Kendal Cream Deluxe Flake

Mmmmm, the flavoring here seems strongly related to the one of 1792 and Bracken Flake: vanilla, cocoa, and probably tonquin. Luckily, the tobacco underneath is not as strong in nicotine, nor in "dark fermented stinkiness".

Actually, on the other hand, it's a very dull blend. Mild to the edge of boredom, monochromatic, no evolution. It burns cool and very slow thanks to the burley (after a slighlty harder time than usual to get it lit, due to the density of the flakes even when dried a bit), and goes on forever...

The problem for me is that it doesn't give me much satisfaction, not enough flavour or interesting moments. Nothing offensive, mind you... but it doesn't get much better than the taste from a (mild) cigarette. When dried a bit more, the only thing that stands out is the burley... but I have had some better ones.

The typical Kendal aromas are mild, too, and not too intrusive during the smoking experience.

Not much my cup of tea, but if you fancy a much lighter version of the classic S&G flavored flakes, it might be up your alley.

The tin smell was of raisins and other dried fruits like dates or something. I first tried smoking this folded and did not have a good smoke. It got better after I fully rubbed it out. I found that it gave a little tongue bite and smoked a little hot. Granted it was one of my first ever tobaccos so I may have had inexperience against me when I smoked it. It was a passible smoke so maybe I wouldn't buy it again, but I'm not going to toss it out. To each their own though, it's worth a try.

Since nearly all of my pipes are dedicated to straight VAs and English Mixtures I decided to try out this in a little savinelli apple, the only one dedicate to those casual aromatic days. Tin aroma definitely is about lavender and classic Lakeland scents but way too bold to be pleasant. I cannot sense that much chocolatey and lavender aroma as I'm smoking it, but I feel a little disturbed because of some "greasiness" I sense, maybe because of the Burley easily absorbing too much of that Lakeland essence. I expected much more taste and body too, anyway.

Maybe the cellaring gone bad for this tin, maybe it'll work better with a different pipe...certainly this is the less impressive of SG flakes I've tried so far.

Not bad at all but it doesn't drive me nuts.

And......"easy to rub out flake" may only mean "easier than other SG flakes". Anyway I don't care that much because I find it works better to use the fold and stuff method to enjoy the best experience with flavor and freshness.

This flake had an unusual tin aroma. If I closed my eyes and thought on it greatly I suppose it could be described as chocolate/cocoa. When I lit this one up I quickly discovered that it was not cocoa, nor was it creamy, it was quite peculiar tasting and acrid. I can't place the taste/aroma when burning, but I know I didn't like it very much. Though this was not pleasing to my sense of taste/smell, it burned very well and produced a nice volume of smoke and it needed no drying time before smoking. BTW, this is definitely not a "sweetish" aromatic. I suppose if you're like me you will try anything once just so you can give new things a whirl...Well I gave this a try and must pass on Kendal Flake. Lastly, I do not think the burley in this flake imparts any negative flavors since burley has a relatively neutral taste profile. It does lend to the overall body of the smoke and is an excellent vessel to absorb the flavoring put upon this flake...too bad I found the flavoring not to be, my cup o' tea.

In the container the smell is wonderful. The first problem is to keep this bacy going, it's relight after relight even after being pretty dry, the perfume flavoring doesn't taste that well in the smoke. It's one of does nah smokes for me, not worth the trouble.

This mixture is not my thing. Althout the tobaccos are high quality and enjoyable when you can focus on them, the casing is odd and kind of mismatching the base leaf. Towards the bottom half of the bowl, once you're past the yuck point, you can appreciate the great Virginias and the backing burley, but with so many great tobaccos on the market, what's the point?

I didn't react well to this flake - nor my pipes.

The tin aroma was wondeful, but smoking it proved disappointing.

It was strong, bitey and the casing was badly reacting with the briar. And the nicotine content make my head spin.

Only St -Bruno flake proved to be worse than this one...

Like others on here, this was my first foray into the Lakeland style blends. Out of the tin, the brown flakes emit a rich earthy smell that I went absolutely nuts over. The flakes themselves came cut fairly thick and very moist. From what I've read, this fares better folded rather than rubbed, so that's been my only experience so far, having let the flake dry overnight. It takes a LOT of relights for me, and the strands tend to harden into charcoal as the bowl progresses. This is probably my own fault for not drying it out better. Aside from my own fiddling and relighting, it lasts quite a while; a single bowl takes me all day with on-and-off smoking. The first half of the bowl gives me wispy smoke and a taste that mirrors the tin smell, while the second half gives me a richer flavor and body. The cocoa certainly comes out here, but doesn't overpower the tobacco by any means. I see why others have labeled this creamy: it's gentle on the tongue and rich without being overly sweet or smoky in flavor. Someone in a past review mentioned the taste of milky tea and I'd say that's spot-on. As for the room note, I was less than pleased. I'm not big on burley, neither the flavor nor the smell. It plays into the taste well here, but leaves a cigar-like aroma afterwards. My pipe smells like coffee (though I can't detect much ghosting), but the room smells stale. This one stays outside. No complaints there, seeing as this is great for sitting and reading outside. Lastly, this gives me a good nicotine kick. Not one of my better ideas to combine this with a big cup of french-press coffee on an empty stomach.

--- After revisiting this tobacco, I'm finding that my tastes are changing significantly. The above still holds true; it is an aromatic that is well-fragranced and based on great tobaccos, but the combination of Lakeland scent, nicotine, and (particularly) burley is not really agreeing with me.

I was rather disappointed by this flake. I truly enjoy FVF, BF and CF from Samuel Gawith. The added essence was definitively interesting and I was looking forward to start enjoying the flakes.

After 4 bowls, it came to me as being rather tasteless with a tendency to bite, even when smoked carefully. All I get is a nicotine hit, but flavor wise, not much. Too bad!

I will stick with the other offerings from this high quality tobacco house.

I will not rebuy KCF again. I did not even care to finish the tin.