Samuel Gawith Chocolate Flake

I had found that the SG line of flakes were very inconsistently sized. The cut would be thin for one flake and then thick for the next flake. Also the flakes were a little difficult to rub out. Lastly, I had trouble keeping this stuff lit and producing an acceptable amount of smoke. These flakes had a really nice flavor though. Eventually dropped the whole line of flakes due to these drawbacks. This was my favorite of the SG flakes and I am still disappointed that these flakes didn't work for me.

Well, my first review... here I go: I had heard of this blend for so long and I decided to give it a chance but it showed nothing to me. Plain and weird, I couldn't taste nothing but chocolate and a little sip of subtle latakia sometimes... NOMORE!!!

Objective: Very wet flakes. Flakes not uniform in size, results in uneven burn. Difficult, but not impossible to break up. Hard to light and stay lit even after drying very well. Only a slight to moderate amount of smoke produced. Hard to find online and at local B&Ms. Can be quite expensive.

Subjective: I like the flavor very much, but considering it is such a pain to keep lit and does not produce a great amount of smoke, I will pass on this flake.

I tried this tobacco in my search for a replacement to the now non-existent Sobraine Rich Virginia Flake - the saddest loss to pipe smoking in its annals IMO.

However, back to Sam Gawith. I purchased this blend not knowing it had Latakia in it. Now if you want to totally ruin a smoke then put Latakia in it! This Flake would actually be nice if it didn't have Latakia. It smells good (unlit and lit) and tastes mild and burns really very well. Clouds of smoke to boot.

For those of you who can tolerate mixtures then this is worth a smoke. For those of you who really like Virginia as it is "supposed" to be - don't buy this stuff.

I don't like this. It tastes like a combination of Hershey's chocolate syrup and McClelland Red Cake. There is no consistancy; they're both just there and the flavors don't work. It makes me feel sick. Avoid.

My tin was sealed and tobacco was 2022 fresh and somewhat moist. The flakes were bend-able without breaking and requires you to either bend them or roll them and insert them, you really can't rub out this tobacco. Tin reads Virginias, with a touch of Latakia flavored with rich chocolate in medium strength flake. I definitely tasted Burley in it too.

The tobacco presented a dry smoke with almost no Latakia (which I enjoy) and was really a Burley forward, somewhat spicy smoke. Very slight sweetness from Virginias. The chocolate taste couldn't really be found in either a sweet nor dark chocolate variety to me. And only slightly as a bakers-chocolate room note after half a bowl.

Best to smoke by sipping it slowly, but you really can't because it doesn't stay lite for long requiring constant re-lights.

Overall, a disappointment that is either a mis-marked Burley blend or the mixture is so convoluted and over-mixed as to not present any definite tobacco variety flavor at all. Latakia was MIA. My only positive comment here is that the flakes themselves looked and felt good and they were formed well.

One of a very few tobaccos I wouldn't buy again.