Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Grasmere Flake

Little brother of Ennerdale. I like the English Rose and Geranium smell. And has a mild taste, not intense. Very enjoyable smoke. Easy to light and stays going to the end. The flowers sense and taste is always in background. Like it better than Ennerdale.

This is for English - Lakeland aromatic lovers only. If you don't like these type of tobaccos, don't try it. Personally for me this is heavy aromatic with Chanel no 5 topping on the top 😊. One smoke and your briar will be ghosted forever. From other side I like it because this is something different. At least worth to try it.

Grasmere Flake is definitively on the rose and geranium side of things. When I received my 4oz bag, the tobacco was bursting with these floral notes. However surprising an encounter, it was, curiously, not unpleasant. It containing a clear majority of Golden virginias. After a few months in the bag, when the flakes started to separate from each other when I was manipulating them, I decided to rub the flakes out and transfer them into a jar and let it sit there for another number of weeks, to let the drying process continue. Now, the casing has toned down some, making the floral notes rather discreet, but nonetheless present, and, yes, still pleasant. The moisture level seeming almost ideal to me, I packed a bowl. My first impressions were similar with my experience of Kendal Flake. The casing does not truly transfer into the taste. It is there, but much more toned down. The main flavours are floral with some very light sweetness and the tobacco taste, mostly "hayish" Virginias, dominate. However, the tobacco being mostly golden leaf, it is more an unidimensional (but not boring or bland!)smoking experience than Kendal Flake was. I still like Grasmere Flake, but not as much as Kendal or Glengarry Flakes, for example. I will rebuy, as it is very good, but not as often as Kendal Flake.

I have left a very similar review of Ennerdale. Both these blends had the same extremely overpowering, pipe-ruining flavoring strength. This one is just a different sent. WARNING! After smoking only one bowl, the flavoring is extremely strong in the pipe. I have tried cleaning with alcohol, reaming, even the "GL Pease activated charcoal oven" trick. Grasmere flavoring is still very prevalent a month later. The flavoring is what I would describe as very strongly scented bath salts or what my friend accurately calls, "old lady's house" (try it and see for yourself, it's true!). It is overwhelming and gives me a sour stomach after only a few puffs. I truly would like to know why they would ruin such a beautiful Virginia flake with this overpowering flavoring. After reading the positive reviews here, I honestly wonder if I got a goofed batch or something. It is truly unsmokable, in my opinion and my friend's opinion, due to the ridiculous amounts of scented flavorings added. I've smoked Virginas, Burleys, heavy Latakia blends, even the occasional guilty pleasure of super sweet aromatics. I never thought I would find a pipe tobacco that I truly could not smoke but Grasmere and Ennerdale are just that. You have been warned.

update:

I've turned back to smoking this again, in my old age and in the warm weather. I like it better than Ennerdale because it has some underlying strength . The fact that the flavoring in Grasmere is dominated by Rose (Geranium) is second to the balance of flavoring/strength. Where Ennerdale is mild to medium, this is a solid medium, and the burley can be detected in the taste and smell, but not to any great extent. My main objection is still that the flavoring is too intense in the first third of the bowl, but I just overlook that. Nothing is perfect.

I had to update this review as I've found the intense Rose scenting of this one to be just too much, too overpowering and the underlying taste isn't there for me either. Had me fooled and I reviewed it too quickly. However that doesn't mean that I do not recommend it to someone trying out some of the floral Lakeland flakes. I put it in the same group as Kendal, Rum, and possibly Bosun Cut Plug in terms of strength.

I bought 25 gm of Grasmere Flake in Keswick out of curiosity: it was one of the few Lakeland flakes I hadn't tried, and a friend of mine has smoked quite a lot of it and liked it. To my (rather undiscerning) palate, there isn't much difference between it and Ennerdale Flake. The casing is perhaps laid on a touch less heavy- handedly, but there's not much in it: Grasmere Flake has the same rosewater/Turkish delight/”soapy” flavouring – which, to my mind, spoils an otherwise high quality tobacco. But that's just me: I know some people enjoy this kind of thing, and if you like Ennerdale Flake, you'll like this; if you don't, you won't. On that basis, somewhat recommended. Apart from the casing, it's a well presented and well behaved flake; slow-burning, and it won't bite you unless you beg it to.

I popped a one ounce sample of this blend right after finishing a container of Ennerdale Flake. I found my enjoyment of these blends to be pretty similar. One thing I can't do with any of these Lakeland blends is accurately describe the toppings. I don't know flower scents or the differences between them. I do know that I often smell perfumes and soaps that resemble the scents of various GH tobaccos. I guess this is why many americans refer to these blends as soapy.

So this is another heavily topped lakeland blend from GH. I would really love to try one of these with no trace of floral scent, but I don't think it exists. I can't really say how the Virginia/Burley base on these aromatic blends tastes since it is always overwhelmed by the topping, but I do know they won't bite regardless of how hard you try to make them. This is one common trait with GH tobaccos if you can stomach the toppings.

So far I will say Ennerdale is by far the most heavily topped of these blends and just the most in your face of them. Grasmere was a touch lighter and I found it a touch more enjoyable. I also like the fact that it didn't ghost everything within a few inches of it as Ennerdale is prone to do. I really enjoyed puffing both of these in cobs and found them to get tedious in my large meers. I choose not to use these types of blends in my briars for ghosting reasons.

Based on performance of the leaf, I have nothing bad to say. This, like many of the GH offerings, really comes down to what you think of the toppings. If you like the topping a lot (as I do Top Black Cherry) it deserves a four star. If you don't like the topping, you may feel compelled to give it a one star and talk about how it reminds you of urinal cakes (1792 Flake). In any case, from an objective point of view IMO, no GH (or SG for that fact) blend deserves less than three stars as the leaf is done so well and for much longer with more success than any other company out there.

I will leave this at three stars as the topping was alright to me and will further recommend that if you plan to try any of these blends start with the smallest amount you can buy, because if you don't like it, it will be hard to make it through more than a couple ounces.

This was the thickest, densest, flake I have yet encountered. No amount of rubbing broke the strands apart, so I just waded up the knotted mess and called it a day. The density and possible light moisture, sure kept the ember rolling far longer than the usual bowl, which I appreciate.

The aroma is tamer than their Ennerdale Flake, but Grasmere Flake still carries the hallmark Lakeland floral/soap note that is very polarizing when finding an audience. Now, while the flavor with this one was more bashful, it still has plenty of ghosting power, so be careful which pipe you use.

I did find it harsher than I would of liked for an aromatic, not from any bite, just a denser "choking" smoke that took away from really rolling the flavor around on the tongue. This is the kind of smoke you puff on occasion and certainly not in succession.

I would liken the experience to drinking Rosewater lemonade. At times it is fun, unique and refreshing, but sometimes when you are thirsty... just some cold water is better.

I ordered some bulk of this one wanting to experience the "Floral" tobaccos which I had read about.

Opening the bag the scent I got was my mom's geraniums. The taste was Grandma's rosewater when I broke up a flake and tried it.

This is NOT something that I personally could see as an all day smoke but it is quite unusual and I found myself enjoying the experience much more than I originally expected.

Strength wise this one was much stronger than I expected with the burley's delivering a kick under the garden notes.

I've dedicated a cob to this and I look forward now to trying some of the others in this genre.