Peterson Flake

Very delicate and nuanced Virginia. When I first opened this tin I was struck by how much this smells like a champagne or maybe a nice crisp hard apple cider. It is wonderfully sweet, but in a natural way. Most aromatics that are almost sickly sweet, this Virginia, on the other hand, is just sweet enough for you to taste but is not overwhelming at all. Could easily become my go to smoke.

Nice, soapy baby powder undertone, light airy ash. Woodsy campfire notes. Great!

Tin purchased in August, 2012. Stored in mason jar.

Appearance: Brown with khaki tan streaks with lots of pockets of whitish flecks.

Tin note: I LOVE the tin note on this. Milk chocolate with raspberry fruitiness. A floral undertone. This is a rich tobacco. Reminds me of port: big, sweet and fruity.

Comes out of the jar fairly wet, so I let this dry a bit. Slightly rubbed into smaller strips and gravity packed into my Brebbia Fat Bob Bulldog. Probably got about 3/4 of one flake into the bowl. Topped with some extremely rubbed for easy lighting.

Taste: Start: On the charring light you're hit with that great VA sweetness. I recommend being a bit judicious with your initial light, it can be a bit stubborn in staying lit. Pepper and chocolate starting off with a apple/pear flavored sweetness. Now don't think when I say sweet that I mean saccharine. Think rich sweetness ala honey.

Mid bowl: Fairly straightforward. Sweet and rich with just enough twang so as to not make the sweetness cloying. Lemon and orange flavors starting to come through more too.

Final: The acidity is starting to pick up, not in bite territory though. The nicotine is starting to ramp up royally so I'm taking this last third rather slowly. It seems like everything is starting to concentrate nearing the end of the bowl.

Thoughts: This blend does it all. Rich yet sweet, light yet full bodied. I love latakia but this is tobacco at its unadulterated finest.

Great Virginia 3 stars only, I reserved 4 stars for SG FVF.

"Barnyard." How many times have we used the word to describe pipe tobacco or cigars? Too often. And I'm not an innocent party. It's a vague word in that it encompasses everything in the barnyard from the barn's hay loft, to the calf barn, to the machine shed, to the silo, to the cow pasture, and even to the cesspool. Dunhill Flake is the sine qua non of so-called "barnyard" tobaccos, in pipe or cigars. It is the beam of light illuminating the hay loft on a 65-degree autumn day. Okay, that's over the top. But not really.

When I opened my first tin of Flake, I was mesmerized by sweet earthy grass and hints of natural spice. The medium chestnut flakes are consistently beautiful and well constructed. I've learned that folding, twisting, and rubbing one flake yields a mound of magic that fills a compressed 3/4-inch diameter bowl just fine. The rubbed-out tobacco strands burn cool and slowly. Allow a char light, tamper, and second and third lights and tampers while using a match and shallow puffs to ensure coolness, lest face bitterness, bite, and ash, as is standard for all Virginias.

For a Virginia, it's remarkably complex. You will detect sweetness but also dry cocoa, white pepper, cream, and yes, everything good about barnyard. It's a fresh, sun-grown style Virginia that evokes memories of visiting my uncle's farm on a September Saturday afternoon.

One of only two tobaccos that I'm willing to rate four stars.

When I first smoked this I was not too happy. The problem was my ignorance about smoking flake. Through my reading I found someone suggesting this should be smoked in a pot shape pipe. The large area is favorable to this tobacco. Another suggested to cut up the flake into small cubes and gravity pack the pipe with only a slight packing down before you char it and tamp it down ever so slightly for the second light. I also let the tobacco dry out a little. At least for me this made a very big difference. It smoked down to the bottom. Small puffs never heated up the pipe to the point it was painful to handle. It actually was pretty cool. I'm really enjoying this mild and flavorful tobacco and now understand the high rating.

This is a good tobacco, sometimes is a little boring but must of the time is really good. the more you let it dry, the more taste you get

I find this flake to be milder and lighter than Orlik. Although the taste is mild, it is no doubt a Virginia flake. I find milder tastes, and in this form an entirely mild experience to repeat

Great tobacco. Very similar to Orlik Golden but a very subtle difference can be distinguished only when smelling the tin or blowing smoke through the nose. Orlik is a little on the brighter/lemony side. Even if you prefer Dunhill flake a little I doubt it can be as good of value as Orlik.