Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake

I was expecting something more from this blend. When opening the tin, I must agree that there seems to be a strange smell out of the tin. It does seem to have a just right amount of Vitamin N and once lit, seems to burn down to a nice ash at the bottom of the bowl. I just didn't think that this tasted as it should without at least some Orientals in the mix. I don't think I will be procuring more of this, but YMMV. I would recommend you try it, you just may like it. Just not for me.

I must admit that I do not smoke flake very often, but upon opening this 50g tin I wanted to bury my nose in it and never take it out. The aroma that this tobacco has in the tin is one of the best smells I have come across.

Unfortunately, the smoke itself did not live up to the hype. It was a little dull for having such a wonderful aroma. It was smooth smoke, however, even if slightly bland.

I would allow someone to try some before I told them to go out and buy a tin.

This was my first try of a VA/Lat blend without orientals or other condimental tobaccos, and I was a bit underwhelmed. Not really the fault of the tobacco, perhaps, just not a happy choice for my taste.

Quality is typical SG, and the flakes where just what I expected, fairly chunky and well formed, no clumping. There was no flavoring that I could detect, just good clean tobacco. The tin aroma was almost straight VA, I could just pick out the Lat. I tried it both folded and rubbed out to various fineness, and preferred the fold method. Moisture levels were good, near perfect actually.

Smoking this was a bit of a disappointment, though, just a fairly bland flat taste. I'm not a VA buff, and VA was too dominant in this albeit without enough sweetness to help much. SG's Commonwealth may have been a better choice, but I doubt I'll try it. I think this genre of tobacco is just unsuited to me.

Beautiful flakes BUUUT.... I tasted menthol. I probably wouldn't have picked some up if I had known. It did say "cool". My fault. If you like menthol, maybe you'll like it. Not my cup-o-tea though. Maybe time will tone it down. Cheers!

It is a tobacco that did not attract my attention too much. The absence of orientals makes it a fairly simple tobacco. We must avoid falling into the temptation of comparing them with other tobaccos that also bear the title of "Balkan" since the absence of orientals makes it similar to the Commonwalth or DUNHILL MIX BB1938

Tin notes of sour and smokey. Flakes are mostly black and dark brown, not too moist, rubs out easily. Burns a little slow, once lit, relights were minimal. Strength is medium, nic is mild and no flavoring detected. The taste is med at most, with notes of smoky wood, leather, slight sweet grass, and peppery in the retro. Seems like the latakia leads with Virginias supporting. Room note is tolerable, and has a good after taste

A generally OK balkan flake that's maybe just a little bit too strong for me.

First impression is the wonderful fireplacey tin note, but it does also have a dark fruity undertone to it which you need to savour for a moment to detect it. The tin is nicely packed with neat flakes, easy to rub out in any fashion you like. Straight from the tin it's quite moist though and not so easy to light - but this seems to be characteristic for this blend, even when well dried out it's not that easy to get going. Generally speaking it's also probably the most slow-burning and long-lasting tobacco blend I've ever had; a bowl packed only about 1/3 lasts about as long as an average blend when packed full, so despite the relatively high price this is actually surprisingly good value for money.

Smoke: Totally wholesome Balkan enjoyment, about as thick as it gets. Unfortunately, just as Balkan Delight it's a tad bit on the strong side for me and definitely not suitable as a daily (after buying this and opening it pretty much straight away as I couldn't wait, I took this to use as an "after-dinner" evening tobacco only). It also doesn't seem to have any particular characteristic in the taste that would draw me to it; in that department it's pretty much just a standard balkan blend.

Verdict: Not a first choice but would buy occasionally, if available.

Flakes were little bit drier than you eould expact. Especily talking abou SG. Smell was sweet, smoky after latakia, but also spicy. I thought it was from oriental leaves, because I taste some spicenes also during smoke. Than I read, VA and LA are only components. This leads me to idea, there must toping in it.

Smoke is cool, smooth and sweet. As tobacco is dry, does not need relights. Overall good average tobacco.

Pouch note is OK, not as pokey as 1820 flake. I could smell a whiff of the Latakia but for me it smells more Virginia's than anything. Dried it out and it crumbled and flaked out nicely, loaded it in a cob and applied the flame. Tasted OK for the first light and then beat 7 shades of crap out of my tongue. I wouldn't call it tongue bite, this was more like I would expect a heavy perique blend and then some. So much so that I had to look it up to see what the blend contains. No perique and the flake was dry enough to rub out easily. Can't say I'm very impressed with it tbh. I much prefer Germains 1820 flake which ticked all the boxes for me in every sense. I'm not giving up on it, I will try a fold and stuff in a briar and come back with my thoughts later. Gremlin weed!