Samuel Gawith St. James Flake

I opened a tin I had cellared for two years. Inside the tin there were spots of rust and the tobacco itself had a considerable amount of crystallization. The flakes are mostly brown with some black and yellow striations throughout. The flakes were also very pliable so I let them air dry for a couple of days to allow some of the moisture to evaporate.

I rubbed one of the flakes out and stuffed it all into a bowl, lit it, and WOW! Talk about being Periqued. This blend definitely has a generous amount of peppery Perique. I did manage to finish the bowl, and I really do enjoy VaPers, but this blend is over the top with Perique. As a matter of fact I wouldn’t even consider this a VaPer. It’s more like Perique blended with a little bit of Virginia (PerVa?).

I won’t be buying any more of this tobacco and unless someone really, and I mean REALLY loves Perique, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone else either.

Just a bit of a sidebar: Even after 2 days air drying ( left lid off of tin ) there was still significant pipe gurgle. There are two distinct pipe designs that never gurgle. These are the Tyrolean pipe and the Calabash gourd meerschaum pipe. Both of these designs have the bowl exit hole directly dead center at the bottom so moisture never pools in the bottom of the bowl. Needless to say, I'll be finishing my SJF with my briar Tyrolean pipe... Pipe gurgle can be rather annoying.

And here we have another of my favourite tobaccoes! This morning I was buying another tin of 1792, rising my supply to 300 grams, it is a tobacco that must always sit in my living room! I was skipping tins searching for something to go along and I spotted one last tin of St.James Flake, Kendal Mayor Collection, which I already tasted and was enthusiastic. So I bought it! Simply as that! The flakes are woody, thick and smelly of fresh virginia's, I cannot detect any perique from the tin, I know it's there, but it is overwhelmed by Figs and Leather and a hint of Choco from the virginias. The smoke is thick and satisfying, Perique starts making its way out after a few puffs, adding depth and fullness to the taste, rounding it, yet it stinges a little, like some tobasco sauce sprinkled on scrambled eggs. A great great great tobacco

UPDATE! After one month in air tight jar, it developped awful taste and aroma.

A tin note of chamois leather and caramel. Some say this is a perique bomb but I'm really not getting that. I see this as a Virginia blend, rather than a VaPer. Some slight pepperiness, pleasant retrohale, not overly complex and rewards a slow, gentle draw.

Needs careful rubbing out and packing if multiple relights are to be avoided.

Not particularly memorable but it does have the most pleasant room note I've come across.

this was my dirst virginia-perique tobacco.i can say it dissapointed me .didnt like it too much.i noticed im not a perique man!this was similar to FVF but with perique taste .i liked FVF much more.

As far as VAPERs go this is a good one. I detect some sort of flavoring, but truly not sure what it is. Either way it does not detract much from the nicely added perique and tasty VAs. I don't know about you folks, but I find SGs flakes can be quite yummy while offering so much of a challenge with initial light, continued light and smoke production. This will be the last SG flake I'll try most likely, but it has been a fun ride. TLJCSAWA

First I have to state is I am not a big fan of flakes (you know: all this rubbing or unfolding job is quite boring for me... and I have noticed many many times that flakes normally offer less bowls per tin)

Of course, some flakes give you delicious undertones and overtones... but just prefer good mixtures on ribbon cut. I preferred them 25 years ago, and I still do prefer.

St.James Flake is a decent combination of Virginia and Perique. Good taste, a little bit peppery... and nothing more.

I am not especially fond of Perique, so this is not a regular for me. Just a change of pace. With Perique, I prefer the style of Artisan`s Blend (because the other components are strong and tasty enough)

So finally, I think this can be recommended for fans of VAPers in the mild to medium side.

Rdx score: 85.90 (I regularly smoke tobaccos over 90)

Sweet natural virginias, with a nice amount of perique (not overwhelming) make this blend a must have to perique fans. The perique comes and goes, giving space to taste all the glorious sweetness of the virginias, making it very interesting and not boring at all. Perique is not really my favorite leaf, thus the 2 stars... Looking forward to taste it aged.

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.