Dunhill Light Flake

(3.10)
Medium strength flake of selected grades of lemon and bronze Virginias. One of Dunhill's most expert blends of highest quality.
Notes: Currently sold as "Dunhill Flake" due to new laws banning the word "light" in connection with tobacco.

Details

Brand Dunhill
Blended By Dunhill
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Straight Virginia
Contents Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country United Kingdom
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.10 / 4
44

45

15

9

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 113 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 21, 2014 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
There's a natural Virginia tart and tangy citrusy sweetness along with some grassiness and a touch of earth, wood, bread, spice and dark fruit. The topping is tart citrus, which doesn't sublimate the tobaccos much. I also get a little lemony taste with a slightly noticeable honey essence. I notice the tobacco flavor is a tad more obvious in the last quarter of the bowl, but the flavors mostly hold their own all the way. The nic-hit is a slot less potent than the strength level. The strength level is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a step past that center. No chance of bite, and sports no harsh spots. It breaks apart very easily, and burns at a reasonable pace, cool, clean, and mostly smooth. Leaves very little dampness in the bowl, and has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste. Needs a few relights. A fairly gentle all day smoke.

-JimInks
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 23, 2002 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
Tonight (5/23/02), I finally had my first bowl of Dunhill's Light Flake--a bit surprising since I like Royal Yacht so much and have heard that Light Flake is similar to RY, but without casing.

Well, what I heard is true. This blend burns a bit warmer than RY since it is a straight virginia blend while the other has a little burley added. I prefer Royal Yacht to Light Flake, I suppose because of the light flavoring added to RY, but this was not a bad smoke. And while it is a straight virginia, it did burn mostly cool and stayed light well. I rubbed the fool out of the flakes and then gave it a whirl in my blender before packing and smoking. If you want a subtle, refined virginia flavor without the usual heavy overtones of an unstoved flake, then this is going to be delightful to you. If you want a little more punch in your bowl, look elsewhere. This won't be one of my everyday smokes, but I will keep a tin or two around for occasional pleasure!
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 22, 2007 Medium to Strong Strong Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
I believe this to be one of the world?s great flakes, though not a classic example of the genre. The name Light Flake refers to the color and leaf component of pale Virginias because in actual strength it is a nice, middle-weight smoke, perfectly able to stand on its own. The strands of which the flakes are composed are long, soft, and of a variegated brown and beautiful gold that serve to make it a tobacco that is as much a pleasure to see as its soft pliability and fresh aroma make it a joy to touch and smell. It is that very aromatic addition which makes Dunhill?s Light Flake so appealing to me, though, oddly, I have read no other reference to it in any review or tobacco literature. All the same, there is a flavor with this flake other than that of pure tobacco, thus making it an aromatic in the modern sense.

I have an inexhaustible fondness for mixtures of the Lakeland style and I find Light Flake to be a wonderful variation of that ancient and glorious tradition. I say that it is a variation because as where in quintessential examples of the style such as Grouse-Moor or Westmorland Flake, the floral perfume essence of the aromatic agent is lain on so heavy that the leaf is subdued completely and transformed into something else entirely. With Light Flake, an aromatic not nearly so potent is applied with what would appear to be a more niggard hand. As a result, the toasty sweetness of bright Virginia is noticeable throughout the bowl. There is also a greater smokiness and a heavier mouthfeel than in other such scented flakes. The combination of these factors with that wonderful floral aroma, which would also seem to feature notes of lemon and apple, make for a most pleasing and summer-like smoke which generally puts me in the mind of new-mown hay and other such agrarian pleasantries.

As if there were not enough to recommend this tobacco to all save for the most stereotypically thick-necked whom will shun anything not containing either Latakia or cherry sauce, this is a flake that burns equally well rubbed out or packed whole into a pipe. I always prefer my flakes rubbed out, though.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 12, 2015 Mild Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
I smoked quite a few of these older tins & enjoyed every one. Not a complex smoke, but alternately grassy, sweet, spicy, all in good proportion. Good for an all-day Va if you need one. I look forward to the new "Flake" version.
Pipe Used: clay, cob, meer
PurchasedFrom: various
Age When Smoked: various
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 16, 2013 Medium None Detected Mild Pleasant
First opening the tin the smell reminds me of unfiltered wheat beer. Very light and sort of citrusy. Also the flake is not as tight as a plug; it feels flimsy and falling apart, even though it is staying intact. Presentation is beautiful. Layer upon layer of earth colored leaves with hay colored speckles dotting the flake, almost reminding me of a perfectly marbled NY Strip steak. One hour later and the scent of wheat beer is overwhelmed by grass clippings and sour grapes or apples. Very pleasant.

A whole flake stuffs my Bertram easily with about 2mm Of space left to the rim. Now for the fun stuff: The smoke itself is veerrrryy smooth. Very Virginia, not much else. It smokes nicely, no need to relight or bother sipping slow; it doesnt matter whether a long or short pull this stuff smokes the same regardless. Also, exhaling through the nose has minimal tingle, which is a nice change to the horseradish tingle I get from other Va-per blends Ive tried. Not having the tingle allows for the woodiness of the VA shine through. There is a nice sweetness in the aftertaste as well.

The smoke is light and creamy, and it smells nice when it lingers about. The scent is warming like boiling spiced tea in the kettle. Overall great flake and mellow enough to be in an everyday rotation.

Update 10/31/13: the more I smoke this stuff the more I love it. For those of you with a sweet tooth, that don't enjoy aromatics, TRY THIS! It's excellent in a corncob. Also goes well with Grand Mariner liqueur.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 27, 2006 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild Pleasant
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi - Thus Passes the Glory of the World. How sad that the old Dunhill mainstays of my younger days join the ranks of the departed, while the packaging remains on the shelf. This is at best, a pedestrian VA. flake. Once upon a time, it stood atop the mountain of Virginias. Now many of them are gone forever, some changed in an acceptable manner, and some ruined. This is one of the ruined. My can is till from Murray, but I can't imagine that Orlick will resurrect the original Dunhill qualities.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 09, 2005 Mild Medium to Strong Medium Pleasant
Other reviewers refer to my review of this tobacco, but my review has dropped off. There is definitely a program problem here.

I like this blend very much, but agree that they have loaded their hand a bit too much with the topping, lately. It tends to obscure the lovely sweet baked bread taste of the basic tobacco.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 20, 2020 Mild Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
Now this is a proper virginia flake. You fold and stuff, you light, you smoke. As with most Dunhill products, I find this tobacco to feel very ''full''. Even when their taste is not strong or has no high notes, I find Dunhill tobaccos to have a common ''leathery'' taste which binds all components together and makes them so satisfying. Dunhill Flake is a middle of the road Virginia, a well behaved flake, and what some other reviewers have noted (and denounced) as some ''aromatic'' lakeland essence sometimes creeping in, well, i cannot say for sure whether this is indeed a casing or natural tobacco taste. What I know for sure is that I personnaly like it. Fruity-floral flavours suddenly come out of nowhere, but to me they dont feel out of place or overly artificial, then they're gone, and you are left wondering and amazed. I like it.
Pipe Used: Orlik Sandblasted canadian
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 28, 2018 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
I purchased a vintage tin of Dunhill LF from eBay back in 2011. This vintage tin full of mottled light to medium brown flakes sure smelled tantalizing. Sort of an aging fruitcake-like aroma. The flakes are very tender and almost fall apart if not delicately handled. It easily breaks apart into a wide, shag-like consistency that readily takes to flame & burns great. I knew how I'd be rating this after the first puff. Another superb offering from Dunhill.

The flavoring was certainly to my liking and this is the best tasting Virginia flake I've ever smoked. Very sweet, mild & flavorful smoke with satisfactory strength. How could one not like it...there's nothing there not to like. Doesn't bite, provides sweet matured Virginia flavor, smokes mild, etc. Just an excellent concoction for a Virginia Blend.
Pipe Used: Dunhill 2S Shell Briar
PurchasedFrom: eBay
Age When Smoked: 10 years old when purchased in 2011
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 20, 2013 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
Aroma was great in Tin, flavor was hay-like. Unfortunately, this one gave not only tongue bite, but mouth bite, very odd burning sensation in my whole mouth. Not able to smoke this.
1 person found this review helpful.
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