Samuel Gawith St. James Flake

The reviews with four stars says it all.

FVF + Best Brown + Perique

IMO there ar round about 8-9 % perique contained.

I use the flake not pur, since there is a plug too.

The Flake i use for mix with GH Brown Flake and/or SG Balkan Flake.

Its so good to combine. Look at GLP AMERICAN Stonehendge

Recommanded pur 3 Stars

In mix as above mentioned four Stars

I really like this vaper rubbed out, just fine tobaccos with great flavor.Stocked up on this one.

I must say I am not a fan of this VA/PER. On a different topic, SG tobaccos have started to seriously annoy me because of the high level of dampness of their products.

Aging their tins is difficult because of the rust that will develop in the inside of the tin, due to the too high a level of humidity.

Preparing them and smoking them requires patience, compromise and various strategies I came to realize I do not want to possess. A tobacco should not be so extreneous an effort to prepare.

Also, despite this tin being roughly 3 years old (a gift from an acquaintance that was marked "2010") this flake was still too damp and, despite over an hour of drying, bites.

There are too many good offerings out there that do not require specials skills and deliver an awsome, satisfying smoke.

This is my second Va/Per tobacco I try, the first one being also a flake from gawith and hoggarth (Louisiana Flake).

I honestly don't know which one I prefer... The smell from the tin is of strong fruity purée, with some notes of pot pourri which is amazing.

In the beginning, this one was more difficult to smoke as it was a bit wetter. I had to relight it a few more times.

However, this flake smokes much more neutrally and I just love it. It is strong, and really excellent, I think it has more perique than the G&H Louisiana flake. It has more body and character. Will definitely buy both again.

The smoke is thick and creamy, the taste is full and exquisite. No special aroma detected, maybe a hint of fig jam? I will maybe get more of a taste with the meer.

I just know it is a really excellent tobacco.

Description: The tin description is spot-on: A sumptuous blend of Virginias and Perique, this big, bold British style flake incorporates a generous proportion of St. James Parish.

First impressions: Like most SG blends, the tin label is simple and unpretentious. This is indicative of a quality pipe-tobacco blend, which should be judged by the contents and not by the branding. It has a picture of someone, whom I presume to be Samuel Gawith himself. This gives the tin a nice old-fashioned feel. Upon opening the tin, the aroma of matured Virginia and generous portion of Perique reveals an unmistakable depth of a quality flake tobacco. Unfolding the paper reveals beautifully presented tobacco with an almost motly-crue of leaf variation in the flakes. Due to the high-demand of this blend and drying time constraints, the flakes where on the moist side. This is a problem which can easily be solved though. I allowed a few days drying time until it was almost crispy. I received a good tip from my friend and fellow pipe-reviewer, Mo. After drying out the tobacco, place it back in the tin and allow for two-weeks "settling" time. I haven't tried this with SJF myself, but can take it with good authority from Mo. I'm not a big fan of the fold & stuff method as it is a recipe for inconsistent smokes. I rub it out completely and use the air-pocket method which appears to be working well for me. Upon first light I knew that I was going to enjoy this blend. The sweetish fullness from the Virginia and spicy strength from the Perique checks all tick-boxes in terms of what I classify a good VAPER to be. The burning qualities of this blend is excellent, requiring few relights common with many flake tobaccos. The remainder of the bowl was consistently good with not too much complexity. You don't have to concentrate too hard to enjoy this blend.

Last impressions: SJF has grown on me as I progressed through the tin. Due to the fullness & strength this blend offers, I have had consistently good smokes in various pipes/times of day/mood etc. This blend will age well and allow for some complexity to develop. St James Flake will have a permanent spot in my rotation. My second favorite VAPER after the king, Escudo.

Similar blends: I'm a bit hesitant to list similar blends as I haven't tried them all (I'm not pipestud:-). But I can say it reminds me of McClelland's St James Woods, although this is far better due to the strength & consistency. If you enjoy great vapers like Escudo, I think there's a good chance you'll enjoy SJF.

Final Notes: SG doesn't label the year of production, so I'm not sure how old this tin is. I presume its very young and I will update my review after I have aged this blend.

TBR rating: 4/4

Personal rating: 4/5 - For now I'm reserving one star to see how well this blend ages.

This is a joint review of full virginia and St. James flakes as I find them very similar. These flakes are between a traditional sweet and dried prune-y flake like old gowrie and a pungent beef jerky-ish kendal/lakeland rope. Fans of many styles of tobacco will likely enjoy this, including orlik golden smokers, heavy latakia blend smokers, kendal/lakeland smokers, and cigar smokers. It has more complexity and nicotine and a thicker body than a typical va flake like old gowrie but not so much as to turn off many smokers who can not handle higher nicotine tobaccos like irish flake.

Like Scheherazade, this tobacco has 1001 tales to tell. It seems that it's never the same twice.

I don't know why it's so variable: Perhaps it's the complexity and unpredictability of the perique, perhaps it's that the flakes vary from graphene-like monolayers to chunky slabs, perhaps SamuelG's QA department like a few too many lunchtime pints, perhaps it's how much drying time you've given these moist flakes or perhaps it's down to the alignment of planets when you light up.

I don't mean to imply that it's variable from good to bad - just that the way in which it's good is unpredictable.

As with all SamG flakes, a little drying time helps bring out the best (and stops it being flame retardant).

I suppose some adjectives would be helpful here. Sour, yeasty, salty, bready, malty, floral, sweet and (nearly) always brilliant.

Very dark brown tasty virginia spiced up with perique. I didn't need to smoke many bowls of this tobacco for it to become one of my all time favourites. Creamy and tasty and no tongue bite. The flakes aren't evenly cut, so some are thicker and some thinner. I don't mind since I rub them.

St. James Flake in bulk is dryer than tinned so you get more tobacco by weight for the money.

The reviewer SomkeQuest had latakia in his tobacco, but that was a mix up or contamination, and only one batch was affected.

On opening the tin a strong sweet smell hit me and I was rather worried the smoke would be a nauseatingly sweet one, my anxiety however proved to be entirely needless. The charring light brings a woodsy and peperry taste which is quickly balanced out by the sweeter malty notes which diminish in strenght the more the smoke progresses. Its taste is nice and full with the higher concentration of perique for a VaPer dancing on the tongue througout without being overpowering. It also leaves a persistant creamy aftertaste on the palate which is quite pleasant. This smokes surprisingly dry considering how wet it is in the tin and it's one of the coolest smokes I've had.

The only reasons I can't give this four stars are these: It packs more of a nicotine punch than I like which restrics me to smoking it in small bowled pipes, but if you're more inclined to vitamin N than I am, this can well be an asset to SJF. My main qualm with it lies with its lack of ease of packing, the flakes are uneven and tight, rendering fold and stuff impractical, and though it doesn't let itself get rubbed out as readily as other falke I've had, I find that rubbing it out to a ribbon like form works best.

Excellet leaf, and a must try.