John Aylesbury Luxury Flake/Classic Flake

Planta has always done a good job with the Aylesbury blends and Luxury Flake is a dandy mid-stroke. in the pipe world, it would be a Stanwell, always counted on to give a good smoke but nothing outstanding. This tobacco, for some reason, was bugger to keep lite. Still, the flavor was very worthy of any Virginia Flake lover's pipe.

Pipestud

Another very good K&K virginia. Is similar to F&T vintage, and to their Special Brown flake. This is often hard to find. Its a straight virginia... darker than one might expect. Whatever the very mild casing, and it IS very mild....its got a nice subtle sweetness that works well with these darker yet mild virginias. Reminds me too of Dan Tobacco's Hamborger Veermaster. It is a very solid VA flake in a time when that is all too rare a commodity. nic hit is mild...maybe a notch over mild. 3 and a half stars.

I was sent a very generous sample of this fine flake and I thought it warranted a review.

The flakes where very uniform and had that lovely VA smell I have come to love. It rubbed out very easily and needed about 25 minutes to dry before I could load my pipe.

After the charring light and subsequent relight, this blend took me back 25 years ago when I first took up the pipe and was smoking Dunhill Light VA Flake. It was a mild, flavor full and smooth smoke. It did burn a bit fast and hot even though I was sipping. That keeps me from giving out 4****

I like this and I believe I will have to purchase a few tins to put in the cellar.

3rdguy

Just finished a full tin and this is an excellent smoke. Smooth, easy to light, burns to a nice white ash. It did not quite give me the depth of flavor that Sir John's Flake does but otherwise highly recommended.

Appearance: a 50 gram tin contained a really classic flake, cut into plates of standard size (40x65 mm), consisting of two or three varieties of Virginia of different light shades. After a couple weeks, the flake darkened a bit, but was still quite light. The humidity is slightly excessive, I recommend drying the blend.

Flavor: from the tin, meadow floral variegated herbs, a fair amount of honey with a slight dash of lemon. The woody tones are very faint. In the mashed form they are noticeable, but they are well muffled by the honey-citrus ensemble. Perhaps, there should be less sauce in this dish.

Taste: Once again we are greeted by the honey-citrus ensemble, which plays winningly on the background of herbal notes of Virginia with a light bread flavor and even lighter earthiness. A small amount of tannin slightly knits the tongue, but does not dull the underlying notes. The sweetness of the blend is great, but a slight lemon acidity cannot be overlooked. However, the topping wears off by the second half of the pipe, leaving the classic notes of Virginia - sweet herbal note, bread and a little bit of wood. The tobacco is quite uncomplicated on the palate, with unchanged notes from the middle of the pipe. Like most pure Virginia blends, it doesn't like overheating and starts to get bitter, however, it doesn't bite when smoked quietly, it doesn't have sharp edges in the flavor, and bents make the flavor even smoother. The blend burns out into a light gray dusty ash, leaving a small amount of moisture in the pipe. The strength of the tobacco is low, well below average. Aftertaste is sweetish, extremely weak.

Smoke from tobacco has a sweet-woody odor, being almost indistinguishable in the room, and is easily weathered.

The bottom line. The third Virginia flake in a row in my reviews - and with a new flavor, this time in the Danish style, in all its glory, but unlike saucy Danish blends, only topping is involved here. This tobacco can serve as an excellent bridge between Danish flavors and natural blends. It's also likely to age superbly, although I honestly don't see it that way - as it turns out, the tobacco is good fresh as well.

The aroma in its tin is very rich and smooth. Bright Virginias and others somewhat darker that provide a light, fresh and very smooth smoke. At first I was missing a little more flavor, but after the third pipe I started to like it the way it is, in such a way that I have seen myself going to this tobacco regularly, and quitting smoking it for a few days so that it does not run out (I think you all understand this). It has a slight note of chocolate. It burns slowly and well, and this, together with its characteristics of freshness and smoothness, makes it produce a very relaxed smoke. From my point of view, a fine and quality tobacco, which I go to when I feel like smoking something more relaxed than the usually more intense flavors in my rotation. On the other hand, I would like to see how this one ages...

This is indeed a classic (definitive, standard, traditional) straight Virginia flake. The tin reads “Classic Flake” (I wouldn’t go so far as “Luxury”), but beautifully sliced flakes present a supple tobacco that is easy to work with -- it rubs and/or folds nicely (it nearly crumbles). Lovely notes of hay, grass and earth from the tin. Gentle Virginia sweet + citrus; mellifluous and honeyed – a restful, relaxing, soothing and satisfying smoke. Good stuff! 3-stars.