Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Best Brown #2

I really do not understand some of the reviewers complaining about the floral and soapiness. This blend does not have that at all.

This is just a great old fashioned Burley and Virginia flake. In my opinion the sweetness is merely from the high quality Virginia used and not a topping.

No need to reinvent the wheel here.

Rub it out, let it dry some and smoke it.

Highly recommended.

I love the taste of a good virginia, but usually can't smoke them because they bite me so badly. This one is tolerable, if I take it very slow. It reminds me of Rum Flake, but it obviously has a higher virginia content as it burns a good deal hotter.

This definitely does have a light floral topping, but is the lightest I have experienced in this genre. If this is too heavy for you, don't smoke lakelands.

I gently puff this in grp 5 bowls, rubbed out just a bit, and it is creamy and smooth, always wanting to follow up with another bowl. If I have any criticism, it would be it lacks a heavy nicotine hit.

My stock of Best Brown #2 is now nearly two years old and I visited it again recently. I'm so glad that I did! The Germolene-antiseptic cream scent is much milder, to the extent that if a pipe is packed and left for an hour before lighting it is hard to notice. The tobacco now has a rich 'tang' on the tongue and palate without much tendency to bite. Truly delicious!

Edit 13 June 09: This flake continues to grow in my estimation. Rich, strong tobacco with just the combination of flavours and scents that make the whole process worthwhile. It is one of the few tobaccos that would make me happy if I could have no other for the rest of my days.

I suspect the previous reviewer ended up with one of this flake's topped cousins. Best Brown #2 is most definitely an unscented offering from G&H, in my opinion any lingering odours are from packaging and not from the making of this fine virigina flake.

Admittedly, there are more complex VA offerings out there, there are stronger, there are sweeter, but for BB#2 has the right combination of a good strong flavour, reliable burning and taste characteristics and it's not too strong, sweet or anything else.

If I want a light, sweet VA flake I'll go to McConnell's Scottish Flake or Glengarry Flake. If I want something that's dark and strong in the way of VA I'll turn to one of the ropes maybe. But if I want something I can puff away on when out walking in the daytime (my favourite time to smoke flakes - just stuff them in the bowl and the breeze and the slow-burning characteristics of un-rubbed flake cancel each other out) and enjoy a reliable and consistent smoke.

Finally! I have been waiting for some time to be able to review this tobacco and the wait is over. This is an incredible tobaccco from G&H. Rum flake is an all time favorite. They pulled off using a buttery rich burley to tame a nice sugary VA better than any others so far. Now I love the casing used in Rum Flake ( Maple sugar, rum, and a light smattering of the Lakeland florals in the bvack ground). But sometimes it seemed a bit too sweet. Enter Best Brown #2. This phenomenal flake is almost identical to Rum Flake minus the sweet topping. It's got the same musty richness with absolutely no tongue bite. This could be an all dayer for sure! It seems to smoke better in a larger bowl. The ending isn't real intense and it smokes all the way down to a dry ash. The Lakeland floral perfume is lightly used here, and you either love it or hate it. This flake does need some drying out time. A winner!

This one is another fine flake from the master tobacconists of Gawith Hoggarth.

It smokes cool and smooth using the old fold ‘n stuff. Requires slightly more than the usual amount of relights.

This one has an unusual, kind of musty, smoky-spiciness lurking in the background. Call me crazy, but I think this blend has a little whisper of latakia. It’s not mentioned, I know. But as anyone with any substantial time as a pipe smoker knows, that doesn’t mean anything.

Maybe I’m wrong. It HAS happened.

Otherwise, this is a great little vabur. I really think GH sources my favorite Virginias, and they’re pretty forward here.

Like most Gawith Hoggarth tobacco, this one smokes down to an almost completely dry ash, with usually little dottle.

Will I buy this again? Maybe, but not as long as better GH offerings are on the table. I prefer both Brown Flake Aromatic and Unscented to this.

I would however absolutely recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with GH as a decent intro to the brand. The Lakeland essence is minimal here.

Or, quite possibly, I’ve become such a regular GH smoker, I no longer detect it in lighter applications.

After having spent many years smoking hundreds of bowls of Gawith's Best Brown Flake, I was introduced to this blend of Virginias and Burleys by G and H. Being a confirmed Virginia flake man I thought, "how good can this stuff be with just added burley"? Well I was underestimating the fullness that the burley this flake brings to the party, while maintaining the rich sweet flavor of the Virginias I found the bit of Burley weed to be a great compliment to the overall flavor profile, the Lakeland presence was definitely noticeable but in a very slight way, kind of like Stonehenge flake but without the chocolate notes present in that top notch Pease flake. Very tasty stuff.

The initial bag opening delivers a sick pungent rotting-thing smell, but once some fresh air bellowed in, things settled back to a familiar hay-in-the-barn Virginia affair with some added sugar spray. The flake also has a burnt musty smell. Ultimately this manure air freshener is what I would expect from a quality Burley/Virginia blend.

The batch was quite fresh and need some definite dry time to tame the moist bits I just rubbed out. The first few puffs put some hair on my chest, then midway I got used to it. Maybe I was just off, but it I found it too be stronger than most reviewers and was I wishing I still had the Missouri Meerschaum Missouri Pride (Burley/Virginia) I had earlier in the week.

Because of its strength, the taste was overwhelming and I didn't experience the natural tobacco taste I was hoping for (nor any Lakeland soap I enjoy), just a lot of pipe beef. It's likely it would develop if I aged the batch, but who has time for that.

This is the kind of thing folks with grease on their hands may enjoy, but this tenderfoot is simply too fragile.

Lakeland.. a joining of two words.. but the complexity that can happen between 2 worlds.. oddly, one could never mistake a gawith hogarth from a sam gawith.. and yet they are neighbors and frequently get grouped together (common relative aside very different).. brown #2 is a 'light lakeland'.. and although I do like it very much.. I'm fighting grandma to find the tobacco.. thankfully it is worth it.. wonderful marriage of virginia and burly.. and fortunately the botanical garden does blend well with the leaf.. I just gotta be in the right mood.. when I am in the mood it kicks up to 4 stars.. Added note. . This was the bulk version.. gonna try the tinned soon as there seems to be some dispute about the essence.