Hearth & Home Lakeland Brickle

A gift from a fellow smoker who knows I like many 'Lakelands' -- well, this was different! Where others get the Virginias or the flavors foremost, I got the burleys, which seemed to fight the toppings (and the burley won). The tonquin was there, hiding under the taste of burley, along with the VA. Every once in a while in the first half of the bowl, some indistinct floral would pass by. However the flavors were imparted into the blend, they just didn't come through for me. Not a bad blend by any means and I'm very glad to have finally tried it, but I won't mourn its passing.

1-22-12 Edit: I think I finally figured out why Lakeland Brickle is an inspired, yet ultimately failed experiment in creating an American Lakeland. Tonight, I smoked some in an old estate Yello Bole I recently spent a lot of elbow grease making smokeable again, and a couple hours later, followed up with a bowl of GH Kendal Flake in the same pipe. Now, Kendal Flake is a real Lakeland. The difference in these last two tobaccos I've smoked, a real Lakeland and an American imitation, is in how the scents are married to the flake (or "mat," in the case of Lakeland Brickle). In Kendal Flake, the tobacco is good and the flavors are strong, but the marriage is perfect. I like both the tobaccos used and the scents employed in Lakeland Brickle, but sadly the marriage is troubled and discordant. Divorce is always a threat with Lakeland Brickle, when the scents seem to stand so far removed from the tobacco as to create sort of a conflict between the two. With Kendal Flake, no matter what smoking rate I employ, I can enjoy both the strong flavors and the underlying more basic flavors of the quality Virginias in perfect harmony. Still, I'll leave my rating at three stars for effort, and because it is an intriguing experiment, and because despite Lakeland Brickle's faults, I still get a good smoke out of it.

(I wish all blends would be listed by the blend name only, not by the name of the "series." This makes it really hard to look up tobaccos sometimes.)

The flavors are very much like a GH Lakeland Flake, but the presentation is much different. Lakeland Brickle is like a crumble cake, but really sort of more like a "crumble mat" of tobacco pressed into that vacuum bag. As to the tobacco itself, it's pretty mild. No nicotine spins here, but still the tobacco is there through all that rose and tonquin. It's really cheap right now, and was fun to play with as I cut it into chunks and put it in a mason jar. I have had maybe 5-6 bowls by now, and have enjoyed this blend so far. I said the flavors are very much like those GH flakes, but still this is not an exact match. It is an American imitation, but good in its own right. If you like the Lakeland flavors, you won't go wrong here, but there is one thing that stands out for me: with those GH flakes, the flavors can be strong, but they seem to be "married" to the tobaccos. This blend is more like tobacco with Lakeland flavors poured on top. I wouldn't really call it a quality issue-flake takes a lot of time to make properly, and I think this blend was more of a quickie. Since most of the blends we most associate with the Lakeland style are presented as flake, and since I suspect Pipesandcigars didn't have time to mess with a flake, they pressed this one into a vacuum-sealed bag for a rough-and-ready crumble cake presentation, and voila! American Fakeland Crumble Cake! Now that I've had my fun, I don't mean to deride this blend. It's really quite nice, and a great value. The flavors remind me more of Samuel Gawith Cannon Plug (yeah, that's a rare one, but the topping is redolent of Patchouli!) than the GH flakes such as Kendal and Ennerdale that I've tried. This stuff is kind of chunky, like fish food, when rubbed out. It burns a little fast, but that is ok by me, since this one seems to be more suitable than the GH flakes for heavier puffing, and does not seem to have much bite potential. I know tastes (and smoking rate preferences) can be highly subjective, but I have to say again that this is one more element this blend shares aside from its topping with SG Cannon Plug. (Again, I realize not too many folks have tried that one!) All in all, I think this is really good for a "house blend," and though there is bound to be some disagreement as to how close it comes to traditional British Lakelands, it can still be enjoyed for its own merits. I'm leaving the rating at three stars for now, but really every bowl is growing on me, so you never know.

As soon as I saw the ad about Lakeland Brickle I had to order 8oz ! It came in a vacuum packed slab about 8"x8". I cut the slab into about 2" strips just long enough to fit into tall mason jars. It arrived moist and easlily flaky. I thought Oh man I'm going to have to dry this stuff out a while. But like anything else I had to dive straight in and fire up a bowl just to see where it's at. Now, considering it's moistness , we all know that when packing moist tobacco we fill'er a bit loose. To my surprise it took a light really well and no drying for me is necessary. Brickle Does have a very slight across the pond soapiness and that's a good thing for me. The soap's alright but Russ's level is good in my opinion. I was surprised that it is as mild tasting as it is. What comes forward Va or Burley , heck I don't know, I was hoping for more strength. But to no avail it's a medium to mild smoke. However, I did find it starts to get stronger towards the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the bowl, Hmmm. Now what I did was to load up a TALL bowl with Brickle and this just happened to be MM General a 2 1/" bowl. This does the job nicely as it seems to resinate as the bowl is smoked and therefore gets a bit stronger alot quicker. But that's my take on Brickle. And that's how I smoke it. The General is only about $8USD so for any who finds Brickle not up to snuff IMHO the Genreral is the ticket. I' giving it a THREE star rating in the General.

It takes an amazing aromatic to make me smoke it on a regular basis. I have found one in the new Marquee Series blend, Lakeland Brickle. This is a very perfumed, Lakeland style aromatic that is outstanding. Unlike the tobacco's in this class, this one lacks the "soapiness" that is the chief complaint of many that dislike this type of tobacco. I was very skeptical as the cake was sticky and moist when I rubbed it out. However, once rubbed out, the stickyness disappears and it packs very nicely. LB starts out sweet and grows sweeter and stronger as the bowl progresses. However, it lacks the nicotine and body of the Gawith Hoggarth blends which is a good or bad thing based on individual tastes. I would prefer a little more strength. I enjoy it most "sipped" in a churchwarden. Pipes and Cigar's blender Russ Ouellette has always made some good bulk blends, but all three of the new Marquee Series has raised Pipes and Cigars to a whole new level. This tobacco won't be for everyone, but if Lakeland tobacco's are something that you enjoy or if you want to try a totally different type of aromatic, this is a good start.