Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Dark Flake Scented

A wonderful strong Lakeland style flake of superior quality. Along with the flavors mentioned ( tonquin, maple, and licorice), of which are background notes, the main flavor is I believe bergamot (same flavoring used in Earl Gray tea). I find the scent dominates in a small bowl, in a large bowl the tobacco dominates. Your choice, I like both but find large bowls smoother tasting, if you can handle the extra nicotine. Also this smokes very good moist, just rubbed out and packed light, no bite. Dry I find it bites! Don't know why. This seems to be a common experience for me and G&H tobaccos.

This tobacco could serve as reference as the gate between childhood and adulthood metaphorically speaking. I bought it 2 years ago while i was experiencing the ARO´s fever, that odd stage in which you act like a kid in a candy store, dismissing all what is also sweet but resembles anything adult like, traditionally alike. At that point (and since i can define my tastes as exotic and even proactively daring) i wanted to try something different, something that even if could bring a sweet touch will definitively be totally into other charts. Something which tasted totally opposite if not at least distant from the more conservative aromatic blends. Then, after researching I found that there was something that somehow resembled "Licorice", a very strange mix from my perspective since this is not faved by the majority of people. Dark flake scented was my option since "Blackpool" from Esoterica is absolutely difficult to obtain and is usually very expensive also.

Let me tell you aromatic lover, this is the portal to the adulthood for those that want to experience. And what it is like? Well, it is like in ancient times a sort of a full of emotion thrill, a rite of passing. It is all about Subtlety with caps included. If what youre searching for a ride at the town carnival, full of lights, emotions evoked by popcorn and cotton candy, this is not the thing for you. This is more likely like going to the woods with your elders to hunt. The first part of the ride is tranquil, peacefully like, you observe through the window the last traces of your childhood as the woods emerge, engulfing slowly but inexorably the wholeness of the trip and as the thing advances you find yourself within a world that is incredibly vast and powerful and you have to rely on your senses in order to understand how to proceed, how to capture the moment.

Innocence is over. Dark flake scented has a very strong tonquin, anis, licorice, little wine and prune smell, it is pleasant, you capture the essence of a tabacco that is full bodied yet tailed with a sweetness that seduces you. In the end we all have a child in ourselves no matter how hard we may be. I packed not a deep pipe with it but a small one since i knew that it had a potent kick of nicotine, and it was wise to do so. When you grab the flake it is dense like, very compressed mildly humid, once i rubbed it was ready to pack. Once in the pipe it looked-and-felt like very tiny leather ribbons. It takes a while to lit and generally it demands several lightnings to ignite, which is good as it may help you to tolerate the ever increasing nicotine kick.

The quality of the smoke denotes inmediately the quality of the tobacco. In here there are no tricks, no possibility to hide the bad quality over a truckload of casing and toppings. This is extremely good tobacco in the very traditional english sense, very old school. Curiously the strong smell present in the pouch is not noticed while smoking, the whole tonquin-licorice remains distant, very mild as an aftertaste while the tobacco displays his full bodied essence. No bites, no overheating, the smoke is thin and delicate and as such enters your palate. The first quarter is sweet, just like my metaphor on entering the woods, but as you proceed, the first thing you´ll notice is the nicotine kick, like when you take a deep breath while deep in the woods and next thing you notice is that youre on your own. This is pure subtlety my friend, there is nothing notoriously obvious in here, just traces of the background flavour and the further developing of the tobaccos, the ocassional whip slash from the burleys, the sothening whisper and adult sweetness of the virginias and the tranquil peace of the topping of the tonquin that remains as a distant protectour in your round to adulthood.

All in all a great experience, from start to finish, it requires patience for both feeling what you are getting both in terms of taste and nicotine and the full development from the whole conjunction of its terms. Perhaps this is a place where aromatic and english blends lovers can gather together for a cordial hunt.

I don't like how this tobacco smells, it's just too strong for my nose and comes across like some awful cheap men's perfume. The colour, texture and moisture if the flake on the other hand is spectacular. It looks totally edible and is a joy to rub up for the pipe. Lighting took a good few attempts though with the first Charing light going out almost immediately after removing the flame... Took me another three attempts to get a good stable burn established. Initial tastes aren't great. Don't get me wrong the tobacco flavours are great but the added flavours come in intense bursts to the palet and destroy almost all enjoyment. The licorice flavour has a peppermint hot edge that could be extremely pleasant if (in my opinion) it were added in much lower levels so as to give a subtle hint rather than this destructive tone. It burns slow and stably and could be the perfect kind of bowl for an afternoons fishing session or a nice radio play. There's a lot I like in this tobacco but I'm kicking myself for trying the aromatic variation over the unflavoured dark flake. The palet does mellow out and settle down towards the middle of the bowl... Thank god. Won't buy this again but it has made me want to get my mouth around the unflavoured flake.

I can't stand the flavoring of this tobacco, but this may be the most Vitamin N I ever smoked in a pipe. I have smoked Five Brothers, straight ST. James Perique and many other very potent pipe tobaccos, but the niccups I get from this is unbelievable. It takes me several hours to fully smoke a bowl of this as I am constantly getting niccups off a couple puffs. I love the strength of this tobacco, but the casings do no agree with me at all. I have ordered some of the unscented and hopefully it will have the same kick without the horrible flavor. I would not recommend this based of the flavor, but if it is Vitamin N you are looking for, look no further.

The smell and taste of Tonquin reminds me of opium incense. The smell would be suitable for perfume or incense, but it does not belong in my mouth. Yuk. If there was licorice or maple, it was overrun by the tonquin. If you think you'll like the taste of bitter-leather with a hint of mint, you might like tonquin.

Usual G and H bag note, had high hopes for this one. Dried it out several hours (it IS G&H after all, and I prefer dry tobacco). Rubbed out and smoked in my "lakeland bulldog." Fairly disappointing though. Smoked like warm air. Tasted like smoking OGS or Sixpence, which is to say, there was no flavor at all. The smoke didn't even give me a whiff of pleasure, usually the best part about smoking an aromatic.

Dark brown/black flakes are a little wet, they could use some drying.

‘Tin’ note has medium intensity, it smells of dark fired tobacco with a rose petal perfume together with a headier vanilla-like, tonquin note. While still floral it is a different kind of perfume from most Lakelands I have tasted which are more on the lemongrass side of the aromatic spectrum. It burns well and tastes of of dark fired tobacco, a little ashy, with a rose petal scent and traces of tonquin and liquorice.

If you like 1792, you might also like DFS which is more approachable and more polychromatic than the 1792 Flake. It is also a strong tobacco, good for a relaxed slow paced smoking, preferably in a small pipe, not one of my favourite Lakelands though and this is because of its strength which is too much for me, not its taste which I find wonderful.

Toned down with some bright or other Virginia, Dark Flake Scented is a superb tobacco with a wonderful rose perfumy smell. Perfect to scent your blends.

Well, I was blown away by this blend. It's really confusing as to what this is actually topped with because it seems there are many different versions of Dark Flake. This one, the one that is available in the States through www.smokingpipes.com definitely has some floral essence added but the major player is bergamot. Think Earl Grey tea, in fact, Earl Grey tea makes a perfect pairing while smoking this one. Very strong nicotine but always smokes soft and cool, no harsh notes to speak of. If you're like me and crave a good stout smoke, put this at the top of your "to try" list as it is truly a delight. Most people won't find this to be any every day smoke but it's coming close to being just that for me. I do prefer this more in the winter months.

I received a few ounces of this in a trade. Seems fairly fresh in the bag. I chewed tobacco for several years, and the aroma of this smells exactly like Skoal Classic. I'm not even sure Skoal makes Classic anymore, I remember chewing it back in the mid-nineties.

Anyway, the long flakes rub out well, and my batch seemed to light fairly well. The topping seems to transfer to the smoke in it's true form. The only way I can describe the aroma, is a smoked rose witch hazel. It is truly unique!

Does have a decent nicotine hit. I wasn't a fan of the DGT with this. It seemed a bit sharp. If you are looking for a true Lakeland tobacco with a decent punch, give this a shot!