Samuel Gawith St. James Flake

I searched everywhere for a tin, and found of the last few available online at Iwan Ries. Yes, the hype is true. This has more perique than other vapers, and it's too moist to smoke out of the tin. Flavor is a peppery brine with dark rainy figgy stuff. Flakes are thick. My flakes appeared twisted and disorganized, not like in the photos.

Very good things, I like it is mellow and quiet, every day must have a bowl of it, this product can only be produced, serious attitude and patience to Flake, I it could be folded twice, and the distortion, and then in the appropriate bowl, is not the kind of, narrow and long and thin or suggest using apple brandy, tobacco swells after burning, So don't use too much tobacco at one time.

2023.05.23

I now have a satisfactory treatment, which is to use an old electric coffee grinder (which controls the thickness of the tobacco), break up thin slices, the taste is very consistent, and it is easy to ignite. I even knead a piece into a ball and put it in the bottom of the bowl, and then add the broken tobacco, for a different kind of fun. This method also works with other pieces of tobacco, of course, The choice of pipe shape is important.

Smoking now:

This is the bulk version. Long strands of deep brown flakes. Smells tangy with a fair amount of spice and pepper. A lot of dry time is recommended. As with all SG blends I’ve had they are as wet as the ocean in a rain storm. I toasted this on a plate on top of my toaster for this review.

The taste is a dark fruit, toasted bread, wood, a little tang, some earthy flavors, with no doubt plenty of spice and pepper. Not sweet as far as vaper blends go but a fair amount of dried fruit flavor. This is at the limit of how much perique I would like in a blend. Deep dark plumy fruit with a retrohale that’ll tingle your nose and made me sneeze. Pretty mild mouth feel, almost no after taste except for the pepper tingle. Didn’t bite even when smoked harder. Not an all day smoke but probably repeatable. Above average nic hit. Not in my wheel house as far as Virginia and perique blends go as this is the limit of perique in a blend. I suspect some aging will help this blend. (Update in 2023 and yes it did). Drying this out considerably will also help with your experience.

If you like perique then you’ll friggin love this.

*update*

Got my hands on some 4 year old St James flake and all of this still applies it just seems smoother.

Onward with my foray into Virginia/perique blends. As I’ve said before, I don’t usually seek out Vapers, but when anything from Samuel Gawith crosses my path, I’m going to snatch it up, more likely than not. Found the last two tins in a tobacconist the next town over, and didn’t hesitate. I did take my time cracking the tins. Maybe I oughtn’t have. The flakes are brittle, bark-dry, making a rub out the only way to smoke them; no fold-and-stuff.

The flame takes readily, though the initial flavors are not promising. This tastes like cigarettes, and not high quality ones. Smells like it too, that ashy dull odor. Sour and slightly acrid, so that the smoke from the top of my pipe makes me sneeze. Very quickly, however, about the time you want to give it its first tamping, the smoke settles down into a mild, even understated experience. Very simple flavor profile: wood smoke, raisins from the perique and graham crackers from the very fine Virginia. All very muted, very gentle, but consistent and— most importantly— very tasty. Sweet without being cloying, subtle without being complicated. The quality of the constituent tobaccos are quite obvious.

I wish this was more full-bodied, that this had the exact same flavor profile, just kicked up two or three notches. That sweet, dusty graham cracker flavor— delicious! I paired this with a dram of Old Forester 86 proof, and it was wonderful. The sweet vanilla and muted oak character, the mild florality of the bourbon went really nicely with the tobacco. Neither drink nor leaf are going to smack you in the face with their flavors, but they reward a slow and measured tasting. Definitely a dessert kind of experience.

If I ever get my hands on another tin of St. James Flake, I will most definitely open it earlier and smoke it wetter and younger. I hope those flavors remain, but in a more robust manner. This is quality stuff, worthy of repeated smokes.

The perique is peppery and throat catching if you let it. Very moist, straight from the tin, rubbed out – delightful. Medium strength. The slower you take it the more you receive. This is multiple times a day smoke for me. First class, very moist tobaccos beautifully presented and ready to go. Larger pieces at the bottom, then medium pieces and finally dust on top to ensure an even burn.

Bought the 250 gram box in 2020, jared it up and let it cellar for a year. Even a year still a pain to light but boy is this hands down my fav VaPer! To my tastes the Va are similar to FVF and the perique is the real deal. Just a fantastic blend from SG.

Unlike Full Virginia Flake, which takes about six months to dry to a moisture level appropriate for combustion, St. James Flake takes only about half as long - about three months.

Once it is acceptably dry and can smolder for longer than three seconds between relights, you enjoy this lovely interplay between the soft, tea-like Virginias and the rounded spices of the perique. (Perique content is more than Escudo, Virginias don't have the yeasty/bread quality unless you're smoking it with an English muffin.) I get a cinnamon spice when the blend gets heated, which happens more often than Joe Pesci - I therefore recommend you smoke this very slowly, carefully, quietly, respectfully, and certainly without making the mistake of calling it "funny."

Despite its fickle behavior, I much prefer this to Full Virginia Flake. If this demands the kind of carefulness needed to not wake a sleeping dragon, Full Virginia Flake is dead in the bed, or bog, given it's moisture level.

Better to buy in the box, the 250g serving - the 50g tin comes way too wet.

Things I've learned. Never review after first pipeful. SG flakes are a lot of work . Because they were designed for long voyages on a sailing ship, they retain a lot of moisture . I have found SG flakes have to be dried almost to crinkly touch They do not smoke properly unless dried and then left in closed tin for almost a week. I have read a number of reviews where suprise! the end of the tin tastes better than the beginning and this is why. Then you can pack lightly, smoke and give review . I guarantee your review will be far more favourable. I finally got to get this tobacco after a few years away from SG flakes and had to learn all over again. I didn't dry it enough and didn't let it stand, and I was not impressed especially after opening and was confronted with one congealed lump. Not a good start. After breaking,drying and letting it stand, I tried again. BTW, if you have to relight, you're doing it wrong. Don't blame the tobacco. It is very pleasant, mild and sweet ,sour start but settles quickly . Has that syrupy taste that all SG flakes have. Not spectacular but it suits me just fine. I could smoke it,all day 8July Opened another tin and was surprised to see a neat stack of neat flakes. Who knew?

I lurk here on TR more than I contribute because there's not often I feel I can add to the body of knowledge compiled herein. This review is therefore unusual for me; however, St. James Flake is a unique blend. My exploration of Sam Gawith's catalogue is an ongoing labor of love, hindered both by availability issues & the fact that I want to sample every blend I can find, not just those from SG. I quite enjoy the Lakeland essence that is so strongly present in many Gawith Hoggarth mixtures, but most SG offerings have much more emphasis on the taste of the excellent tobaccos. St. James Flake is certainly no exception to that general rule. There is no doubt of the high quality virginias in SJF. Not as deep as Full Virginia, so I suspect the virginias here start out brighter than those used in FVF. The combination of heat, pressure, & time darkens the tobacco so I certainly don't see any brights, but the taste profile is there. Not grassy by any stretch, but a lot of the honey notes are present. The perique is generously added. Perique is grown and processed not too far from my home, and I love the stuff. It's use here is obvious from first light, and balances beautifully with the virginias. There is a true harmony here that I love. I also love the presentation. As a fold-n-stuffer I can see these flakes are thicker than the "Danish" flakes, and are perfect for loading the pipe once the appropriate amount has been torn off. ...however. I'm still learning how to properly prepare tobacco for filling a pipe. I'm learning mostly that having the right amount of moisture in the flake is a prime consideration that cannot be overlooked. As a scion of America's Deep South, humidity in the room greatly affects the rate of drying of the tobacco. St. James Flake, more than other SG flakes I've enjoyed, MUST be dried properly. And with my 1st bowl I was quickly reminded of that fact. I eagerly opened my sample, tore off enough strips to fill the bowl of my favorite Savinelli, and set to work getting a proper ember established. It was a struggle. I entered into a vicious cycle of match, puff puff, take a deep breath (or a reasonable pause at least), and it's gone out. I worked through ⅔ of a bowl that way. At the end my mouth was parboiled. Finally I abandoned the remainder of the bowl and headed for the nearest bottle of Biotene. Here's the thing: I didn't dry it properly. I knew it wasn't properly dried as soon as the 1st failed true light. My sore mouth was entirely - and solely - my fault. So why, you (a presumably reasonable piper) might ask, did I fight my way through most of the bowl? Because it tasted heavenly. I'm retrospect I should've stopped well before I did, but the stuff tastes so good that I didn't care. Learn from my mistakes. By all means try SJF if you are a VaPer fan; it's one of the finest of the lot. Just dry it first.