Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation 1931

The Virginias offer a little grass, some tart and tangy citrus and a small acidic note. The burleys are naturally sweet with a little wood, earth and some nuttiness, and stands out over the Virginias. The black cavendish is a very minor player, adding a small mild sugariness. The honey topping is sweet and pleasant; while always noticeable, it's smooth and mildly sublimates the tobaccos. The taste is very similar to Mac Baren Navy Flake, but this has a few minor flavor nuances to differentiate itself from NF. The strength is a couple of steps past the mild mark, while the taste is just past the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is just past the mild threshold. Won't bite or get harsh. The flake is easily rubbed out or folded and stuffed as you please. Burns cool, clean, and a tad slow with a very consistent flavor from top to bottom. Has a nice creamy subtext to the sweetness. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

I love this blend! A very powerful and old fashioned style Burley/Vuirginia with flavor and kick. It has enough Burley to keep the nip-O-Meter at a minimum level even with fast puffing. Just wonderful!

Pipestud

4th Generation tobaccos are made by Mac Baren and many of their blends have Mac Baren counterparts, yet they are across the board of higher grade and quality. The counterpart to this one is Mac Baren's Navy Flake. And 1931 is much better. I'm normally a straight VA smoker but I can't get enough of this stuff. The Burley and Cavendish in the flake at depth and dimension that I absolutely love. The top note is of sweet floral honey and comes across in the room note as well. This is in my top rotation and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good Danish flake 🙂

Apparently my resistance to the latest new tobacco is non-existent so here are my thoughts on 4th Gen. 1931.

Over the years most Navy Flakes have left me disappointed but I keep trying them. Upon opening this tin you will be greeted with two stacks of light to medium colored flakes perfectly sliced.There is absolutely a clover honey aroma somewhat stronger than MacB's Navy Flake, this is not off putting as the smell is quite pleasing. Fold, stuff and twist and it takes to the match easily. The honey (or whatever it is) does not interfere with the taste and provides only a faint sweetness throughout the bowl. Unlike other Navy Flakes where I find myself puffing too hard just to get some taste, 1931 consistently provides flavor even with a gentle puff.

This tobacco has surprised me and if the entire 100grams continues to hold my attention I will cellar a few tins and probably give it another star.

This is, Hands down, one of the best tobaccos, for my opinion. I smoked it with several different pipes, and except for the Peterson System, in all of them it was nearly perfect. This is a strong and flavorful blend, with an almost-bite, which I particularly like. The Burley inside is very dominant and gives it a nutty-fermented aroma and taste. There is no added flavor to this – just a complex taste of a well-treated tobacco. Nicotine count is medium-high in this one, so (for my taste) it’s more suited for an evening smoke, although I enjoy it all day long. I smoke this flake (as all flakes) folded, not broken. Just let it dry for a while inside the pipe!

This was a very good vabur. Perhaps a little light to my tastes, but still an enjoyable smoke nonetheless. I know that a lot of people compare this one to Mac Baren Navy Flake, and I can see why; they are very similar tobaccos. They are both mild vaburs that seem to be led with the Virginia leaf.

To my tastes both this and NF are kind of average smokes, but I would put this one above NF as it just seems to taste a little better to me; there is more depth of flavor in 1931. What I don't know is what is causing this. It is either a fuller, sweeter burley/Kentucky or it is a topping of some sort.

At present, the contents above list no topping, but If memory serves me right, I thought this one did have a slight topping. Perhaps it is something that is in the Cavendish, of which I assume to be processed from Virginia in a customary European way. Whatever it is, it has a nice sweetness that seems as though it would be tough to get from tobacco alone. But the sweetness is not something that I can directly identify to a popular topping. In some ways, this blend reminds me of Peterson's University Flake, but the topping in that one is far more obvious.

The bottom line is that this is a three star tobacco to my tastes as I would have no problem recommending it.

This is my third review. I have been smoking pipes for a few months, and cigars for a few years.

Tin note is hay, honey, and some baked goods. Nevertheless, it doesn't smell sugared or artificial. In fact, it smells fantastic and easily fills a room on first opening. I would recommend sealing the product carefully to avoid lost aroma or mixing with other products; I could detect its aroma straight through a plastic bag enclosing the closed (but opened once) tin.

Flakes are dark brown with lighter and darker streaks. They are a bit fragile. I was new to flakes when I started smoking this; I tried rolling and stuffing, but found just loosely crumbling it up and shoving it into the pipe more effective. Don't pack it; flakes expand on heating.

Moisture was right straight out of the tin. If you smoke it in a tall and narrow pipe, it's pretty easy to light and keep lit. I've found that I could even keep it going with a single light, but it usually benefits from a second light. Smoking it in a wider, smaller pot was a bit more of a challenge, but still possible.

It's hard to describe the taste other than "natural." It's full and a bit sweet, but like the natural sweetness of grains, not like added sugar. Relights can be a bit smoky and cigarette-like, but a few puffs later, the good taste comes back. Nicotine is "mild plus." Room note is not bad, except for the aforementioned relights.

I shared this among friends at a pipe-smoking session recently. Two of them, who are heavy cigar smokers, kept reaching for this flake. I was surprised, because one of them prefers light aromatics with his pipe. (He has been smoking Dunhill A21000 for over 30 years.) They had even brought new tins of something aromatic from Denmark, but still opted for 1931.

This was a great introduction to flake for me, and it makes me want to try more.

When you open the tin and take a deep smell you get that classic and quintessential raisiny tobacco smell, one that makes its way to your palette and reminds you of the old tobacco barns of the Carolinas.

This is definitely a burley forward tobacco, which I happen to appreciate, with the Virginia's making known their presence all throughout the bowl, and with the Cavendish helping to smooth things out just a bit. The combination here creates a true tobacco smoke that is honest and flavorful. I was not overwhelmed by the honey topping/flavoring (something slight is there), but rather found it to give the smoke a slight sweetness and creaminess in similar fashion to the ways that a touch of honey affects a cup of tea. A wonderful, satisfying, robust all day kind of tobacco.

1931’s good looking flakes are mainly Burley forward. The mature Virginia’s add some, grassy sweetness and the small amount of Cavendish is noticeable. I find it hard to believe the claim that there are no added flavors as for me, there is a sweet topping, although it adds to the sweetness without taking over. I can’t say that it tastes of honey to me, rather just lightly sweet. The Burley is nutty and it didn’t offer any bitterness. It burns cool without a bite even and when I pushed it a bit it didn’t burn hot either. 1931 has been compared to Mac Baren’s Navy Flake, but for me this offers deeper flavor and more body. I found that a light pack, comprised of smaller pieces really allowed 1931 to best show off its flavor. I put off tasting this blend for quite a while and now wonder why? I am going to add some of this to my cellar as I am sure it will age very well with the Virginia's adding additional sweetness.

I anxiously awaited the arrival of this new offering and chose it above the other three offered in this series as I am a flake fancier. First let's start with appearances - from the outside in. The 100gm tin is identical in construction to Mac Baren's 100gm Navy Flake, Mixture Flake, etc., minus the lid labeling. The underside sticker on label is printed in similar type to those of Mac Baren's as well. Upon opening the lid, the flakes are arranged in two neat rows and wrapped in the familiar Mac Baren gold wrapping (minus the Mac Baren embossed logo). You can see where I'm going with this. The initial tin aroma revealed a very, very slight sweetness of what I would say was honey and with deep sniffing I noticed an evanescent note of chocolate - ever so slight. I read where Eric Stokkebye says there are no additive flavoring to this flake, but to me, it does not have the smell of pure tobacco only.

The flakes were of the consistency of Mac's Navy Flake/Mixture Flake in thickness and its ease in breaking apart on folding; very unlike the rubberiness of Peterson's Irish Flake for comparison. My inaugural smoke was in a Dunhill Cumberland bent billiard. I didn't dry the flake out at all as I was anxious to smoke it right after popping the lid. It took to the match quite easily and required perhaps two or three relights throughout. As with Navy Flake I did perceive a honey/sweet taste but more so than with NF. There was no tongue bite per se. Nothing more than the occasional nip I experience with Navy or Mixture when smoked fresh. Since I find similarities to the two referenced Mac Flakes, I would have to say that strength wise, 1931 is equal to NF in terms of body, but the flavor of honey is stronger than with NF, and may be a bit too much for some. Like the other flakes, it smoked clean and dry leaving a light gray ash when all was said and done. The entire smoke was a nice mix of honey and tobacco, albeit the honey presence slightly ahead. The honey flavor seemed to be more flowery than what Mac Baren uses in their Navy Flake/Mixture Flake. 1931 seems to be more Virginia forward and Mac's NF more Burley forward. I suspect that with some time drying in the tin the rich tobacco flavors will become even more pronounced as I find with Navy and Mixture. There is enough nicotine presence to satisfy those who want that in a smoke as well.

I would be very surprised if this was NOT produced by Mac Baren since it has all of the fine smoking characteristics of many of their products. I have no problem with that as Mac is one of my favorite blending houses. However, at $4-$5 more per tin than Mac's Navy Flake and Mixture Flake, NF and MF are better bargains, and of the three I prefer NF overall. Where MF lacks in the taste department and 1931 is over the top with honey, NF seems to have the right balance. All in all, my hat is off to Eric Stokkebye and I wish him every success with his new line of tobaccos. 4 stars.

UPDATE 7-19-17: Recently purchased a tin and have found the price point to be below that of Mac Baren Navy Flake and now a better bargain for a flake with similarity to NF. Between the two, I prefer 1931.