Samuel Gawith Firedance Flake

I'm surprised this tobacco is held in such high regard! Ok, it's pleasant, but in my opinion nothing more. Very moist from the tin and needed drying out, it did however have a very nice tin note. When I first lit the flake (rubbed) it was ok, nothing special just a slight berry-ish flavour with a pleasant room note. Happy New Year Pipers

I have come to like this blend over the course of smoking the 50g tin purchased. It does have a nice blackberry aroma out of the tin. It was a little overpowering, so I figured it may translate into the taste. But I was pleasantly surprised to find it a fine tasting blend without the nicotine kick of some other SG blends. The flavorings and the tobacco married nicely into a fine tasting blend that smokes down to a nice ash at the end of the bowl. Highly recommended when it is available.

I am still a little confused by what I found with this tobacco, and I will continue to try and figure it out, but I figured since I often wax romantic about the wonders of SG blends, I should be honest when I find a stinker, and to me that is what I have on my hands here.

First of all, I have smoked a lot of Best Brown in my day, and what came of out the tin for this was not Best Brown. Best Brown is BROWN. This came out of the tin a light reddish tan. It looked, smelled, and smoked a lot more like Golden Sliced than any SG flake I have ever tried. Second, it had almost no odor at all out of the tin. I was expecting something aromatic, with a berry smell, per the description. None of that was found. I made a buddy stick it under his nose to see if I was crazy, and he agreed that there was little to no odor, other than the tobacco. WTF?

I had ordered a second tin, so I cracked that one open to see if somehow I had gotten some strange defective product, but the second tin was exactly like the first. This sounds crazy, but I really thought that maybe someone had switched the tobacco with something else, or was selling fake SG tins, given the lack of availability recently. I am going to buy another tin in the future from a different source to see if I get something different.

As noted, this, at least from my tin, was moist flakes of a very light golden tan color, with no real aromatic casing odor. Perhaps they use the BB flake mixture, but do not steam press it like their other wonderful flakes. If so, than that steam pressing really works wonders, because this tobacco has little to no flavor, no aromatic flavor, and burns much hotter than a typical SG flake. It is hard to even find something to review, because it was just bland, bland, bland.

This is the worst SG tobacco I have ever smoked, and I have smoked Grousemoor, which tastes like you are smoking a prom corsage! If I got a ringer, and my tins are somehow not representative, then I will do a new review, with apologies to SG. If this is what they are claiming is a cased BB flake, than shame on them, because this is light years away from the venerable and wonderful BB, and besmirches its good name.

I quite liked the idea of a more interesting aromatic, but straight out of the tin this stuff may very well be poisonous.

After drying out it becomes just about smokeable. Yes, the flakes smell of blackberrys (well, blackberry flavoured sweets anyway), but it still tastes vaguely how I'd imagine belladonna to taste.

I don't know which "lady smoker" developed this, but I bet she wears too much perfume.

I hate to give a tobacco full score on the recommendation, but this one definately deserves it. The flavoring here is far from subtle, but it's so tasty that I just cannot stop smiling when smoking this tobacco.

Aromas of Blackberry, liqeur, fabric softener, sweet-sour candies, floral incense and an underlying high quality Virginia that just keeps you diving into the bowl for more and more and more! 😀

The downsides to this tobacco perfection: Absolutely boggy in the tin. You need to dry it out. I broke up the flakes and set them on a paper next to a radiator for three hours before reaching a smokeable consistency. Price... You are going to want to buy many many wonderful tins of this tobacco (spoken with a commndt Lassard-voice) and that is going to cost you a couple of bucks. Take out a second mortgage on your house, sell your kids or burn your wife's credit card... Then you start buying all you can! 😀

whoa.. this stuff is crazy good too. just finished a tin and opened another. i sure didnt experience any bite and the flavoring is far far from overbearing. I gave this a whirl because i really liked the chocolate flake. I'm also a big fan of the gawith best brown flake which is used in the choco flake and firedance. well done samuel gawith and company.. thanks.!!

Holy tongue-bite-in-a-bag, Batman! There's a reason the first word is "Fire." Admittedly, I've been smoking since the Stone Age and I tend to smoke a bit faster than my tongue appreciates, but this stuff will burn the enamel off your teeth!

The tin description says it's "subtly flavored." Subtle like a train wreck, maybe. I kid you not, after storing this in a ceramic canister for a year, hoping it would mellow, the ceramic canister is permanently flavored with blackberry. When I still couldn't smoke it, my wife used it as potpourri for a couple of months. The flakes were still wet and sticky when I threw them away.

The best thing I can say about this blend is that if you like blackberry cobbler (and I do), you'll start salivating the instant you open it up.

By the way, lest I be typecast, I freely admit I enjoy a good aromatic. I'm puffing on Mac Baren's Vanilla Cream Flake right now, and I'll probably enjoy some Erinmore Flake before bed. But this "Fire" Flake gives aromatics a bad name! Not Recommended for anyone without an asbestos tongue.

At one point in time all I would smoke is aromatics. Then I discovered English blends and flake tobaccos. I turned my back on aromatics because I wrongly judged them to be of the same ilk as borkum riff and captain black... overly cased goopy garbage. I was wrong and to aromatics I owe an apology. Firedance is what aromatics are supposed to be. Flavoured with natural ingedients just to the point where it compliments the wonderful Va tobacco that is the base for this flake. The tin aroma is wonderful with a blackberry/brandy aroma and vanilla hiding in the distant background. This caries through with lighting and can be fully appreciated when gently puffed. I smoke this flake in a Bing's Favourite from Savinelli and I can say I've had a few 1-1 1/2 hour smokes from this flake with minimal relights. Yes the tin benefits from some drying before smoking. I am excited to cellar some tins and revisit them in a year to see what affect aging has on them.

This one grows on me.

The flakes in my tin have a pleasant aroma and are thick and hefty with moisture. I rub out the flakes or fold them, but I never dry them, and I have no problems. The berry/brandy/vanilla flavor is not syrupy, but delicate to elusive. The tobacco is sweet and combines with the flavoring to produce a cool burning, expansive and rich smoke. I frequent many Lakeland tobaccos, and I do not detect any "soap" in Firedance.

I have experimented by tossing in a wee bit of Brown Bogie or #4 Twist, and while the addition ratchets up the strength I think it also disturbs the balance. Firedance is a mild to medium Virginia with a subtle aromatic counterpart. I think it works when you go slow. If you like a mild to medium tobacco and are not put off by a dash of flavoring, then I recommend you try this.