Sillem's Mayor 1814 Flake

Sillem's - Mayor 1814 Flake.

When I picked this from my cellar this morning I was still half asleep. I fancied a flake, knew by the tin shape this was one, so grabbed it and opened it before I'd even read about it. As I sat having my morning cuppa I looked on my iPhone at the type of leaf used and what flavourings, if any. I imminently regretted my impetuous choice when I saw the word Orange amongst the ingredients, but as I'd already popped the lid and was feeling too tired to go back and switch to another tin I progressed with it. As it goes it's a very good smoke!

The build of the flakes ensures easy filling. All they need is a gentle rub and they turn to a perfect consistency. The nose from the tin has a notable orange, honey, touch.

The smoke's not what the appearance of the word Orange in the description implies. In a tobacco orange can often take over with a fragrant, sharp, acidic, flavour. But the oranges in 1814 work to embellish the Virginia's natural citrus, with a touch of inimitable orange, but none of the harshness. The honey gives the smoke a definite honey sweetness, it couldn't be mistaken for any other kind of sweet addition. The Virginia gives hay/grass/citrus, as opposed to the often found doughy/bready flavour; so is the more sprightly variety. The burn from 1814's as good as any, and the mid-temperature smoke remains bite-free throughout a bowl.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Sillem's Mayor 1814 Flake? I'm glad I never bothered to read the description prior to buying. If I had I would have been instantly deterred by the orange flavouring, wouldn't have bought it, and would have missed out on a wonderful smoke. Highly recommended:

Four stars.

This is a very pleasant smoke. A smooth note of hay from the Virginias is accompanied by a tasty orange/honey topping. The honey brings a fair amount of sweetness as well as an extremely mild floral note. Very nice. Usually, in this type of Virginia flake, an earthy note will develop in the second half, but here we get just a deeper, darker hay which really hits the spot. The topping refuses to fade and stays to the very end. Delicious. 4 easy stars on this one.

Mild to medium in body and taste. Flavoring is mild. Burns very well.

The matured Virginias offer a wealth of tart and tangy citrus, grass/hay, bread, sugar, mild vegetation, straw, floralness, spice, slight tangy darker fruit, earth, wood,and a touch of sour lemon. The honey and orange toppings mildly tone down the tobaccos with the honey being a tad more obvious. The strength and nic-hit are a couple steps past the center of mild to medium. The taste barely reaches the medium mark. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. Barely has any rough edges. The mildly moist flakes easily break apart, and need no dry time. Burns cool, clean, and slightly slow with a very consistent deeply rich, fermented sweet flavor. Has a very pleasant room note. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. An all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

A really deep K & K flake , dark in color , pungent in tin note . Sort of the usual K & K flake with more depth of flavor . The honey and orange are very subtle . I would not call this an aromatic tobacco though there are those that would . The flakes are subtle and easy to work with . There is no bite and the flake tobacco , if packed properly , lasts a long time I use it as sort of a mid day smoke when something a little more flavorful is called for . It seems to be sort of a F & T Vintage flake with orange and honey added . Personally , I enjoy his tobacco very much but considering it's topping , it might not be for the pure virginia smoker .

Two stacks of neatly manicured flakes greet the nose with a bouquet typical of fermented, grassy Virginias; but Mayor 1814 smells a bit sweeter and more raisin-like than most, and that translates faithfully into the smoke stream as well. There is the merest suggestion of pungency in the background, but it’s more of an impression than a sensation.

Mayor 1814 is outstanding for the clarity and brilliance of its flavors – a truly harmonious mix that is softly grassy, but not particularly sharp; wine-like, if slightly citrus; and as sweet as honey. The flavor matrix holds together from start to finish, with perhaps a slight deepening of the sweetness. It delivers a medium-full Va. flavor with great body, good volume, medium strength, and luxurious full mouth feel.

It smokes coolly, dryly, and bite free whether folded and stuffed, or rubbed out. Nicotine level is medium; and there are no rough edges, which makes it ideal for breath-sipping, and a joy to channel from mouth to nose and back. In short, there is very little to criticize here: it lights and burns well, whether folded or rubbed; it performs nicely in both wide and narrow tobacco chambers – deep or shallow; and it always smokes to the very bottom of the bowl, where an amazingly small amount of ash is scant evidence of the 45 minute ecstasy that produced it.

This is a very tasty and well behaved Va. flake at a best buy price – which is unusual for a tinned tobacco of this caliber.

Being a fan of much of what Sillim’s has to offer, 1814 somehow slipped under my radar. Buying three tins late in 2010, tossing them in the cellar and then somehow forgetting about them, I finally opened one a couple of days ago. In the tin, the appearance of it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite aged VaPer’s, Solani Virginia Flake 633. However, it’s not really in the same ballpark. The golden colored flakes appear to be of high quality and the tin scent, even with slightly more than five years of age, offer more of a grass/hay scent than other similar aged flakes. The subtle sweetness seems to be of a topping more along with the hay. This holds true in the pipe as well. I choose to partially rub them out with a medium pack for my best result. The citrus topping, leaning more toward orange (although I wouldn’t call it straight orange flavor) add to the mainly high notes of a brighter Virginia. As a reference point, I wouldn’t say that the topping is as heavy in flavor as Orlik Golden Slices. It smokes sweet with little to no complexity, but I find it enjoyable just the same. There is no bite although I wouldn’t push it. I enjoyed this flake, although I have the same issue with this as I do with Golden Slices in that when aged, the added amount of flavoring makes the flake a tad bit too sweet (and I like sweet!) to be an everyday smoke for me. I do wish I had cellared a few more tins just the same.

Sillem's virginia flake line-up is very welcome these post McClelland days. This is a very straight forward virginia flake, mildly stoved. No telling the composition but id guess a lot of bright in there. Its aged enough to give it character. Its not FVF or anything that would rival the old McC line, but its a very high quality tobacco, and Mayor 1814 is likely their best.

It is mild in strength,but not in taste. It probably has a touch of orange or apricot added, but it is VERY mild. Reminds me a bit of John Aylesbury's Classic Flake. A bit darker than the aylesbury, but similar in taste. No bite, smooth, cool and long burning.

UPDATE... this IS now a john aylsebury offering. Major Flake....i guess they bought the recipe. SO its german made and perhaps even better than the Sillem version (though i suspect they are nearly identical). Its a bit like Reiner golden flake but deeper. Reiner has orange notes...but its more orange-bang....this is more Cointreau.

This is a very nice tobacco, mild but full of flavor, it burns amazingly cool and has a very nice natural sweetness to it. The flavor and quality of this tobacco reminds me of old Murray's era “Dunhill Light Flake” which I smoked exclusively for many years.

Nicely prepared and presented flakes; ideal moisture content from the tin for easy fold packing; very mild flavoring but a bit too bland for my taste and little change from start to finish; smokes cool without bite

These neatly cut flakes smell sweet and only vaguely orange-like. They are mostly bronze colored Virginia with a few punctuations of bright and near black (perhaps Cavendish?). Taste is fairly mild run of the mill Virginia with some nice earthy undertones of hay and light spicy orange. Yep, I will not be spending money on this one again.