Peterson Flake

once upon a time this was the gold standard for lighter virginia flake. It was superb. Now, made by scandinavian tobacco, its merely another decent sort of generic virginia. its fine...but there are certainly better virginia flakes out there (everything from mcClelland and gawith for example). In a pinch this is ok but god I wish one could still get the original.

And someone mentioned presentation and suggested gawith should take note. Im sorry but gawith makes tobacco on presses over 150 years old. Ill take their idiosyncrasy anyday over the new mass produced dunhill clones.

I never got the chance to try neither the original, nor the Murrays' version of the Dunhill Flake, so I'll have to concentrate on the current version made by STG in Denmark. In general, I don't care about all the discussions concerning the quality changes of the different Dunhill productions through the decades. The Dunhill and even the Murray days are over, what's now produced in Denmark is high- grade pipe tobacco overall. If some blends have changed in character and/ or content, the result is of course a subjective matter of taste. In my case, I enjoy many of the Dunhill tobaccos and I hope, they will be continued by the STG in 2018 when the BAT company drops the Dunhill brand. Having said that, I must admit that the Dunhill Flake is not one of my favourite presentations. Why? Well, so far....The flake is actually nice, smells good, smokes well without any problems, doesn't smoke hot too easily and has a pleasant taste. All good characteristics so far. The point that really puts me off about this flake is that I don't think it's a standalone or something special. But that's exactly what I'd expect from it, concerning its name AND PRICE. There are numerous other flakes offering excellent qualities for less money. Of course, the price isn't always the main point, but from a tobacco like this one- I think you could expect something that puts it high above the others.

This was the only flake I smoked for years until recently. It is a bit of a heavier VA flake; by that, I mean that it tends to be a bit darker than other VA flakes. The tin note is pretty typical: dry hay, grass, citrus, and a slight anise note in the background. It rubs out pretty easily, but you'll probably need to dry this out some. In fact, I prefer to smoke this flake as dry as possible because I believe it burns cooler and tastes a bit sweeter (you'll lose some of the citrus notes when doing this, however). I always seemed to get a slight coffee flavor during my last quarter of a bowl or so, which I found interesting.

It's not a bad smoke at all, but it seems to me that my tastes are changing. With that being said, I have found myself preferring Orlik Golden Sliced and Newminster 400 flakes. I may still pick up a tin every once in a while for nostalgic purposes.

Dunhill Flake (No longer in production)

As of December, 2018, I would say that this review is irrelevant due to the fact that Dunhill Flake is no longer being produced, except for the fact that Dunhill Flake is still being sold and traded online.

When I first picked up the pipe five years ago, I initially shied away from Virginias (straight Virginias, VaPers and so on). I gravitated towards English and Balkan blends. As my palate matured, I tried to better understand and be au fait with the straight Virgnias everyone was raving about -- Virginias that were all such a key component in the English and Balkan blends I was so besotted with. In order to really understand and better appreciate those English and Balkan blends, I needed to better understand the flavor profiles and characteristics of all those Virginias in all of their assorted varieties.

Upon learning of Dunhill’s corporate, shareholder-driven designs to shutter its pipe tobacco operations, I purchased ten additional tins of Dunhill Flake (along with some Nightcap, a [relatively] long-time favorite of mine, as well as some Navy Rolls, another eventual Dunhill favorite of mine).

Dunhill Flake perfectly illustrates the challenge I still encounter with various Virginias. After carefully reading all of the reviews on this tobacco (before even smoking it), I am reminded how subjective this subject of reviewing a pipe tobacco (offering one’s personal opinion) actually is.

On the tin note for instance, some of the comments were: “Milk chocolate with raspberry fruitiness”, and “hay” and “sweet feed”. I didn’t get any of that in the tin note. One reviewer commented “dried plums, figs and raisins” – and I definitely did get that – along with some earth (I don’t know what “sweet feed” smells like – I’ll have to ask my horse owning niece for a sample some time). The product description reads: “Lemon and bronze Virginias – ideal for sportsmen” . . . (?) If there were “subtle chocolate sweetness” and “citrus notes buried deeper in the background,” then they were a tad too subtle and perhaps buried a bit too deeply for my olfactory lobes to detect.

Upon ignition: I guess I kind of got the hint of lemon and citrus, and I got the “dark earth” part of Dunhill Flake. The high point of this tobacco for me was when I immediately and very definitely picked up on the ginger bread hit, and that was at the very beginning (on the char, in fact) and not towards the end (as was noted by one reviewer).

The 4-star ratings for Dunhill Flake outnumber the 3-star ratings by 2-1 (116-58), and on the 4-star ratings, some of the reviewers’ comments were: “This is my favorite pipe tobacco of all time”; “This is an incredible tasting tobacco”; “the quintessential straight Virginia” and “The one from which all others should be measured” (which is ironic, because this is exactly the same thing I said about McClelland’s 40th Anniversary Straight Virginia Flake in my 4-star review of that tobacco).

It is socially inappropriate to speak ill of the dead. (JimInks, unquestionably the most ambassadorial of commentators on this site, is ever so diplomatic and gentlemanly in the wording of his reviews, even whilst eviscerating some poor example of a tobacco with his single star). It is not my intention to demean Dunhill Flake in any way, but there are other reviewer comments that better reflect my own views of this tobacco, which were: “A straight, no-nonsense Virginia”; “Not a bad straight Va flake, just not my favorite”; “Not for every Virginia lover”; “Perfectly middle of the road”; “generic Virginia” and “boring” (the word “boring” appeared twice, and that is what I found this Virginia to be – quite boring). Personally, Dunhill Flake is not a Virginia I will bemoan the loss of the way I do the McClelland Anniversary editions and Christmas Cheer. A two-star tobacco for me.

I will revisit Dunhill Flake some time in the future, and if it improves with age (or my palate improves with age) I will edit this review.

Not what it used to be. Unfortunately Dunhill switched to a round tin and the once elegant rectangular flakes are now jammed into the tin; squeezed together in a wet glob at one end and then spread out ... they cannot be separated and must be rubbed out as a package and dried. The tobacco is still very good in the end, but sadly not as good as it was.

Orlik figured out how to package their flakes nicely in a rectangular paper package and then put the package in a round tin. Perhaps Dunhill is planning to exit the tobacco business and is just doing the cheapest thing to exploit the brand until the end??

It's not that I hate Dunhill Flake - Murray's version of Light Flake was the first pipe tobacco I smoked and a good part of the reason why I stopped smoking as many cigars and moved almost exclusively to the pipe. It's just that Flake - Orlik or Murray's production - is Virginia flake pipe tobacco with training wheels on.

The mechanics are super solid, the cut is precise, the moisture is perfect, it rubs out the same every time, it tastes the same every time, it tastes the same from start to finish. It's almost the perfect starter flake. If someone said they wanted to try straight Virginia pipe tobacco, I'd point them to Dunhill Flake without reservation.

But after a while I want the training wheels to come off. It has gotten to the point where it is a chore for me to finish a tin of Flake, because I know there's something out there with more nuanced and varied flavor, with more depth, something more interesting.

Two stars out of four, it would be three out of five in a more intuitive rating system. Perfectly middle-of-the-road.

Not for every virginia lovers but it must be try to grasp differences in the virginia blends.As a fan of FVF it has not given firm virginia taste like as FVF-BBF. it is a tobacco that enables us to give thanks to SG legend.

The presentation of the flakes in the tin is flawless the taste of the flakes leaves a lot to be desired. Folding and stuffing or rubbing the straight Virginia flakes out gives similar taste of grass or hay with an occasional sweetness. Boring. This tobacco just doesn't do anything for me.

Smoking a straight Virginia blend is not unlike riding a unicycle. You have to be good at it and not fall off, or else the scrapes on your knees will quickly make the whole ordeal not worth it. With straight Virginias, you have to puff lightly, keep the smoke cool, and keep the moisture level down or else it just tastes like every other Virginia blend and burns your tongue. If you can get it right, which I do not always do successfully at this point in my experience, you start to notice that the quality, nuance, rare varieties, etc. of Virginias can really make or break a blend. All of this to say, you get out of Dunhill Flake what you put into it. I personally prefer blends that have at least some Latakia and more depth of flavor. I look forward to getting better acquainted with this blend, but I can't say it knocked my socks off.