Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake

Initial review:

Latakia is a bit like water in that it can take on different forms. Water can be solid, liquid or vapor; Latakia can be smoky, leathery, incense-like and occasionally downright pungent. Unlike water, Latakia can be multiple of its typical states at once. In the case of SG BF, it is of the leathery and pungent type.

Tin-note is very strong, and I thought in a generally bad way. Tar comes to mind. I wasn't optimistic based on the smell, but we all learned long ago that tin note only occasionally translates to the taste of the smoke. Aromatics smell wonderful in the tin but usually taste like dung in the bowl, and plenty of English types border on rotten but smoke wonderfully. This is the latter.

Smoked from a fresh tin with 30-40 minutes drying time, I found a workable moisture level. As advertised, it is remarkably cool smoking. Taste is delightfully salty, smooth, cool, leathery; the Latakia is the leader with the Virginias really only serving to prevent a lat bomb. No noticeable sweetness, a touch grassy. But what a Latakia flavor, downright divine. In a lot of ways this reminds me of what Plum Pudding was trying to be when smoked generally fresh, but this is so much more relaxed and balanced. The flavor is big, consistent and refined. Not much in the subtlety department, it starts with a delicious flavor and keeps singing the same song throughout the bowl.

Nicotine is pretty mid-range, burns down well although I did need a few relights, easy enough to work with for a thick flake, and no hint of gurgle. Bite isn't a remote consideration, you'd have to smoke this bone dry with a vengeance to get it to bite.

Mouth feel is pretty smooth and maybe even slightly oily, we'll see how this holds up with time since opening.

The coolest smoking experience in my very long piping life.Sometimes looks incredible savouring that fresh smoke coming fron a burning grass.The Punisher wrote a most perfect description.Not a show of subtle nuances,just straight Va-Lat flake.Veeeery slow burning.Once rubbed,not easy task,and,of course,dryed appear not pretty indeed but is delicious.If we insist about a slight fault,we can say that it lacks,perhaps,a touch of depth of the sibling Commonwealth.Both are fantastical on their ground.Also to say that BF needs a little attention to keep it alight.High grade virginias well matured,see the beautiful crystals,and powerful but not overhemly Latakia,maybe not so smoked than in other brands.

I can't add much to the already overflowing praises being sung for this blend. It's creamy and smooth and seems to almost have an opium-like quality. One thing I would like to add is that DGT'd bowls of this are amazing. I often leave a smoke for one reason or another and some do better than others upon relight. BF actually shines at the relight with an increased flavor at first that is fantastic. Another highly satisfied smoker here!

This stuff is lovely. Hay, smoke, strength, scent. I have found something I could smoke until Kingdom come. I started pipe smoking with EMP and love that, but this has opened my taste buds to Virginia blends. Clear, clean and non tongue bitey. Thank you!

I was very intrigued when my tobacconist suggested I try this. I am a big fan of flakes and I love English tobacco. The tin note was mellow, faintly sweet and ever so light of smokiness. The flakes were interesting to say the least. Black. Gooey looking and strewn with crystallization. I rubbed two flakes in my palm and gravity fed my pipe. It took a little bit of effort to get the bowl lit, but once tamped and re-lit, burned to the bottom of the bowl. I am an absolute fan of this flake. It is mild, smooth, and a true joy to smoke. I rolled the smoke around my tongue and savoured every single draw. Each draw seemed better than the previous. I sipped and rolled for a half hour before I reached the bottom. The taste is smooth from top to bottom. The flavour Is wonderful all the way through. There is no tongue bite at all. This is an absolutely wonderful tobacco and I am truly fortunate for finding an aged tin that was perfect for smoking.

Edited to add one more star. I highly recommend this flake. I bought out all of the old tins the tobacconist had, which he said were at least 5 years old.

**2015-07-29 Update**

1 full year jarred and this flake is even smoother than when I first opened the can.

Hello to all reviewers ,
this is my first tobacco review. I start with this tobacco because , is my favourite.
I like the taste of this amazing latakia/virginia mixture, from the start to the end of the smoke you will never have bad taste.
Also no tongue bite , only a fresh and natural taste of virginia and latakia.
The smell is the one of true cyprus latakia and virginia I think nothing is added , some one had sayed there is mentol inside , but for me nothing else than god tobacco .
Ofcourse it is moist, but let it dryed for 1 week and you will have a perfect slow burning tobacco, also easy to pack .
I prefer it to Brebbia Latakia Flake n°9 , that is one of my favorite, because the taste is very terrible at the end of the smoke.
Take it in bulk and you we will have your every day smoke.
I consider this an ascetic tobacco , to use when you want to stay away in the garden during the winter.
I smoke a lot of 250gr. bulk that have a god price instead of the tin that is very expensive.

Well this one is a keeper. What I noticed upon popping the tin was the resemblance to SG Navy Flake. As if the two were 80% identical in the tin note profile. Burned rubber, licorice, menthol. Some of the reviewers mentioned a topping/casing, and I agree that there is something added. The idea of menthol being the flavouring agent is not so bad. I indeed detect a hint (!) of spearmint freshness both when smoked and also in the room note. The flakes are quite chunky, so they need to be rubbed out well and dried for a few minutes near a heating. Packing requires some practice, if too tight the bacco can't expand, and if too loose it is hard to keep lit. The first quarter of the bowl is light, and most of the time I spend tampering, relighting, tampering, charring, etc etc. as usual for SG dark flakes (/rant off) The second to third quarter is the best part of the bowl, the smoke turns to be full, sweet (literally!), fresh (as in morning breath) and indeed "delicious". Probably not the ideal morning smoke, but similarly to Navy Flake this one tastes fantastic in cold or wet weather. 4.5 of 5 stars, as it is more complex than Commonwealth Mixture, and more "on the spot" than Navy Flake. A word of warning though: the stuff "stinks" (and that's a good sign!)

Let me begin by saying that this is a quality tobacco. The virginias are pretty tasty and the latakia is well, latakia. And as the description states, it is a nicely formed flake, which does smoke cool. However, my taste perception tells me the blend is missing something. Maybe it's the proportion of virginas to latakia, or perhaps the lack of orientals. But more likely it's that I thought this would be Commonwealth in the form of a flake. Well, it isn't.

Update 27-07-10: Raised two whole stars. I've had a batch aging in a glass jar for well over a year and decided the other day to try some. Sugar crystals abound. Even though this isn't a traditional Balkan, the Va's are so good that anything under 4 stars wouldn't adequately describe the quality. And yes, I could still taste the fruitiness of the Va's even with the large portion of latakia. Some age and a proper rubbing out did wonders. I find this an interesting blend for those few times a year I stray from my daily diet of straight Virginias.

And now a word about a rumor somebody is spreading on this site about Kohlhase & Kopp taking over the manufacturing for Samuel Gawith. Although I had my doubts that the legendary two hundred plus year old company would relinquish the rights to manufacture its own tobacco, I contacted Samuel Gawith and was assured that this rumor is "ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE." Thank heavens. In this unsure world where once great pipe tobaccos are being discontinued and pipe smokers as well as snuff users are being alienated and squeezed for every last tax nickel, it's good to know that staple companies such as Samuel Gawith are still around producing high quality tobaccos.

06/02/08 - Pure pipe tobacco delight. There seems to be quite a bit of debate as whether this superb blend is actually a "Balkan", "English" or a "Virginia - Latakia" blend. It appears each blender holds to his own standard concerning those definitions. Actually it is irrelevant as to what you wish to call this blend as the main point is that it is wonderful to smoke. I had just nicely reconditioned a lovely old Peterson Irish Army pipe (obtained as one of a shoe box full of old dust covered and very dirty and worn pipes purchased from a local resident) and chose my recently purchased tin of S.G.'s Balkan Flake for a "maiden voyage" with each. The tin opened with a pop and immediately my nostrils filled with the delightful sweet and sour aroma of the moist strips of pressed tobacco "flakes". I decided to rub them out and pack them. Some seem to prefer to dry out their tobacco prior to smoking. I never do. Like fine cigars, pipe tobacco if too moist may burn poorly but if too dried out all tobacco loses its flavor and will pick up some dull, acrid bitterness. A good pipe and smoking technique will allow you to smoke this and most other premium Tobaccos moist in the pipe but dry in the mouth. This tobacco lit nicely and burned well throughout the smoke only requiring one re-light near the bottom of the bowl. The flavors were absolutely marvelous; Mildly sweet/tangy and smoky, creamy with a round, ripe fullness. S.G.'s Balkan Flake's flavor is very rich but not at all overpowering and had not the slightest hint of tongue bite. While perhaps not as complex as Penzance for instance S.G.'s Balkan Flake is incredibly satisfying and leaves me craving and looking with anticipation to my next bowl. Highly recommended.

An update 06/07/08 - I tried folding a strip or "flake" of Balkan Flake instead of rubbing it out. I gently packed it into my Peterson Killarney, a nice, chunky, straight billiard with a generously sized bowl. The burning characteristics of B.K. remained similar as when I rubbed it out. However the taste became somewhat muted and while still quite enjoyable it lost much of the marvelous richness that makes Balkan Flake so delightful. If you desire fullness and richness of flavor I would recommend that this blend be enjoyed rubbed out.