Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Louisiana Perique Flake

January 2006.

Before lighting,I removed just enough tobacco to fill my pipe and let it air-out on a sheet of paper for about 10 to 20 min's.

It lit with-out alot of fuss,and just a few tamp's along the way was all that it required.

Here's a real treat that doe's not blow you away with any tongue bite,but doe's have just the right amount of delicious flavour's of both the virginia and perique.

Delicious,but not overpowering at all,and is a great all day blend.

My top 4 Virginia-Perique's are,Escudo,Three Nun's,Mc's 2015 & Louisana Flake.

Highly recommended.

El olor en lata es el de una onza de chocolate con leche. Es de fuerza media y sabor un poco más de medio. El perique se nota poco y y el sabor jabonoso yo no lo noto en absoluto. Sabe a cacao, a chocolate, a bombón. Es dulce y suave con un pequeño toque picante y algo terroso. No es un vaper típico pero está delicioso. Ideal como tabaco navideño y a los que están a tu alrededor les agradará la nota de habitación que deja. Recomendadísimo.

LOUISIANA PERIQUE FLAKE (a.k.a. Louisiana Flake): Without any doubt it is a superior tobacco compared to a lot of junk you can find around. However, I will not give it four stars, but three and now I’m going to explain why (my review refers to the 50 grams tin). Excellent Virginia (really pleasant), perfect Perique, but Louisiana Flake is also a flavored mixture. The Lakeland flavoring is extremely mild but noticeable and it is on the side of the casing. Nothing to say, it is perfect, it integrates completely. Not so for the chocolate topping which seems to me a jarring note (for this reason only 3 stars). Obviously, it’s a matter of taste and this is only my personal opinion. Anyway, a very good tobacco with a medium strength (I confirm). Despite being a Virginia based blend, the Perique is well present and you can taste it from the beginning to the end of the bowl. Justly not overwhelming but in the right proportion (a spice must be felt, it must not cover). So, in my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) my score is 9 and three stars.

I thought I would give this a try after recently deciding to try Virginia perique’s again. So I ordered 50g as a starter. So the flakes are as I would expect from Gawith and Hoggarth. They are very long about 1mm thick, straggly and rough around the edges. Rustic really. The smell in the bag is actually quite nice. You get the grassy hay sweetness from the Virginias, some sour notes and a very subtle smell of cocoa. If you pick up a flake and rub it out, you can smell the cocoa a lot more. The moisture level was excellent but I don’t know how it has been stored previously. So with a whole box it might be a bit moist.

It lit really easily and I only had to do the charring light and the full light. The burn was consistent and the tobaccos burns into a fine white ash leaving nothing at the bottom of the bowl. The taste is what I would describe as subtle. You get the sweet grass/hay notes that you would expect, I did have a little tingle which would be the perique and this is topped off by a sweet cocoa taste. It’s not overpowering though. In some of the G&H tonquin blends that is all you taste. It is not like that with this. I think with a big bowl you could spend a good couple of hours trying to pull out of the flavours. The beard note is very pleasant! There is not bite, I smoked some this afternoon between rain showers and in the wind, nothing at all. It was very pleasant.

What I would say is that it doesn’t leap out and grab you. It’s very middle of the line. It’s enjoyable and tastes nice but it feels very “meh”. It would be a good place to start with flake tobaccos and Virginia perique’s because it is middle of the line, doesn’t bite and has a nice cocoa after taste.

The past month or two has been very exciting and productive, as it pertains to my discovery of new tobaccos. I’ve been on a very lucky streak it seems. It’s as if nearly each new blend I try becomes my new favorite.

Such is the case with Louisiana Flake. I’d only just discovered—and fallen madly in love with—Dark Flake Aromatic (also by Gawith Hoggarth) and Rattray’s Marlin Flake, only to be even more blown away by this great VaPer from our dear friends in the Lakeland region.

I’m not one of those pipe smokers who loves most VaPers. To me, a little perique goes a long way... but if there’s too little, it may as well be a straight Virginia. The master tobacco wizards at GH have found the absolute perfect ratio of perique to Virginia.

I’m not going to get into tasting notes, just that this one is absolutely amazing, and I now understand why it sells out within minutes of being released to the public. The pouch note I found vaguely reminiscent of Escudo, and the perique flavor reminds me of that one as well, although there may be a touch more of it in this blend.

That’s not to say that this one smokes like Escudo. While I consider Escudo good, this one’s great.

The flavoring is light, and simply enhances the flavor of the tobaccos. Perfect. Just perfect.

I “only” have a 500g (and rapidly shrinking) stash of this fine product, and an already sweating how I'm going to be able to keep some of this perpetually on hand.

Because you see this is one of those rare blends I suddenly find myself needing instead of just wanting. Louisiana Flake from our friends at the house of Gawith Hoggarth may be the best thing I’ve ever smoked.

I just finished a one ounce sample of this I purchased 5 yrs ago and I really wished I would have tried it then, because I would have put a few pounds in the cellar. This is just a great tobacco, albeit not for the lakeland haters as it certainly has a bit of that floral essence so common in many(or all?) of the GH blends.

I am not a big fan of Ennerdale or some of the other heavily scented GH blends and this is definitely not one of the heavier ones, but I would put the essence a touch over what is within Best Brown Number 2.

I had read some of the reviews and most of the disdain for this blend does develop over the aforementioned essence, but I was surprised by some who claim the Perique to very light to almost non-existent in this one. I found it quite prominent in the second half of the bowl.

The first half was mostly floral essence with little Virginia or Perique. As you work into the second half of the bowl there is a very fine flavor that develops as the essence transitions to a deep sweetness that can only come from fine virginia and perique. While the Virginia is in the lead, I found the Perigue relevant in that is added both body and spice.

This was a special smoke for me and I loved every bowl I had out of the one ounce sample.

DK's review hits the right notes for this blend. I'll add a few thoughts of my own here.

Louisiana Flake has a heady chocolate nose when fresh, but this subsides with some reposing. I get a bit of chocolate essence on lightup, but it's largely a whiff, rather than an underlying taste. I also much prefer this very dry; it nips me otherwise.

Taste is on the 'oaty' end of the virginia spectrum, and the perique is very light. If I was tasting this blind, I'm not sure I'd know there was any perique present, but that could be a good thing for those who prefer a gentle hand with the stuff.

Medium in terms of strength, and decent nicotine. I prefer this in cooler weather, as it's a bit flat for warmer temps. Still, very pleasant. Doesn't do anything extraordinary, but I like the G&H flavour profile generally, and am slowly working through a big jar that is about 4 years along.

Recommended if you like Empire virginias and a trace of perique, and chocolate isn't a turn-off. Dry it well.

It's been a while since i tried a vi/per so my next choise was this flake.once the tin opens a nice sour smell comes out.a deeper smell reveals some sweet citruses smell.the mostly brown and dark brown flakes are in proper moisture either to fold as they are or to rub wich a prefer for easier lighting with fewer relights.while burning you realize that perique has the lead.lots of figs,dried fruits,raisins,plums and spices are there from the beginning till the end.virginias are mostly citrusy with grass and some earth notes.there is a light lakeland style topping with some cocoa hints and soapy notes.generally the flavours combine very well giving a pleasant and naturall taste.burns cool at medium speed to perfect ash with some moisture left at the end of the bowl and more at the filter.room note is bareable with a nice sweet and sour aftertaste and no tongue bite.nicotine level is almost medium.an all day blend.in conclusion i liked a lot this blend and i recommend it specially for those who like perique in lakeland style.recommended.

Yes, I agree with previous comments: it is a VaPer for those who think they don’t like VaPers. So, logically, it is not a real VaPer! For more than one reason: perique is hardly noticeable, flavours -imho- don’t fit in with a VaPer (which is already full of natural lemons, figs, peppers..), the classical and well known interplay “ketchupy” va-per does not show, vecause of flavours. Last, but not least, the usual Kendal soap appears. (If so many Kendals are so,d, it means that the soap has its fans. But I am still sorry everytime I smell it, because some of the unscented (u/s) Kendals are oh so great! why do they keep on wasting them with flowers and soap?)?

Said that, the smell is nice, though very little perique reaches the nose. Flakes are well moisted, dark and stiff, with nice sugar crystals blinking here and there. Easy flake to rub and pack, smokes quite humid, so pack it loose. Finally, a vaper flake which doesnt look like a vaper flake, so try it if you don’t like vaper flake! (Huh? What have I just written?)