Planta Danish Black Vanilla Flake

First of all this comes in a nice, usefully small tin with a bling-bling gold wrapper around the neat stack of uniform flakes. I found the tobacco inside to be of almost perfect humidity for my liking, negating the need for the long drying periods I am forced to suffer with most other tobaccos.

The tin aroma is like egg nog - vanilla, light spice, general creamy yummines etc.

In smoking this tobacco doesn't come across like any other aromatic I've ever tried; it never gets hot or sour, it doesn't plaster your palette with sugar or flavourings, and it's not sticky or sickly and it leaves no gunk in the pipe. The mild, natural vanilla scent is present in the taste (but not the dominant flavour by any means) and it complements the natural taste of the tobacco beautifully. Combined with the fact that the strength is on the 'medium' side of 'mild to medium' this all makes me think of it more of a natural/aromatic crossover. It's just a good burley blend flake that happens to have a slight vanilla smell. Behaves brilliantly in all ways from opening the tin to tapping out the ash.

I don't smoke this every day because there's other tobaccos I like too much, but every time I go back to it I wonder why it took me so long. As far as vanilla aromatics go this is the best I know and the most like a natural tobacco. I would think every pipe smoker could find something for them here.

A real nice smoke.

This is the best example of how cut can make or break a tobacco. While the ready rubbed version is a strongly flavored, biting and totally unremarkable aromatic, the flake counterpart is a fine tobacco with milder vanilla and prune flavoring and no tongue bite whatsoever, where cavendish and burley are given room to show their qualities.

Maybe not the best aromatic ever, but it certainly deserves a place in the Aromatics Hall of Fame.

As far as aromatics go, this is their highest point. A blend which allows both the casing (vanillesque accompanied by something alcoholic) and most importantly the nutty tobacco to "speak".

Develops quite interestingly throughout the bowl and never becomes overtly sweet or overwhelming. Be careful nevertheless as it leaves significant aromatic traces in the pipe which may dissatisfy the non aromatic purists who set to try it. Importantly it is not as weak in strenght as most aromatics (without it being especially potent either) and hence delivers more of a tobacco feeling that just hot scented air.

*** UPDATE, I am downgrading this one star. Perhaps a sign of my own moving away from aromatics. It recently provided me with a disagreeable sweetenign numb of the tongue plus an odour of burnt tobacco which is not at all desirable. may have been the specific flake I burned as this has happened only once.

As a change of pace, I like this. It is an attractive dark flake (I didn't find it dry like others have) that rubs easily into the pipe. The burley is nice and nutty, and the topping is not overdone. It produces a pleasing room aroma. The initial vanilla flavor quickly takes a backseat to the tobacco. No bite, no palate coating. This burns cool and clean. Very well done.

This was a revelation blend for me. It made me see something that was right in front of me but I never realized. I really don't care to much for Burley. I don't hate it, I just don't prefer it. That being said, my opinion is this,

This is a top notch Vanilla blend for Burley lovers. For people who prefer a Virginia base Vanilla blend (like me) go to MacBaren for the Vanilla cream Flake or Loose cut.

This is perhaps one of the most pleasant tobaccos I have smoked. If you like the (mild to medium) vanilla flavouring then I would recommend it wholeheartedly. Its mildly sweet casing and vanilla topping does not detract at all from the flavour of the obviously high quality tobacco but instead enhance it. I smoke this tobacco in the Mac Baren fashion (not rubbed out) and find it a very cool smoke with absolutely no tongue bite. It comes as a dryish flake which also leaves behind a fine ash in th bowl with no wet dottle.

Superb and highly recommended. Only the highish price lets it down but it is well worth paying for for such an enjoyable tobacco.

I have not tried the ribbon version of this blend as of yet. I see that it gets panned by most reviewers. It appears that the contents are not identical according to the blend description.

I love the flake though. I smoke it in a Stanwell HCA and it is quite the unique vanilla taste -- supposedly Madagascar vanilla bean is used for the flavor.

I prefer straight Virginias and Vapers as a rule (with a latakia blend in the evenings), but I do like an aromatic once in a while. As far as vanilla-based aromatics go, this is probably my favorite. I prefer it over Stokebye's BVC, Dunhill's A21000 ( a close second) and Dan's Sweet Vanilla Honeydew.

I can't say that it is a tremendous value: The tin is small and the flakes dry out quickly if precautions are not taken to retain the moisture.

Nice packet note. Nice smooth smoke. Excellent flake, ready to smoke. Room note doesn't smell the same as the packet. To me room note is tolerable.

Tobacco and vanilla balanced very well. Needs a roomy pipe bowl. Great for smoking whilst in company and drinking Yorkshire bitter outside a pub. However, it isn't an all-day smoke for me.