Fribourg & Treyer Special Brown Flake

This one rang my chimes and even caught me by surprise as I swear there is Perique in Special Brown Flake. The tin descriptive didn't mention anything other than a Rum topping, which I never detected at all. So, what's up with that?

F&T's Special Brown Flake arrived at just the right moisture content, rubbed out easily, packed well and burned to a nice, dry ash with no trouble.

The flavor was spicy Virginia (it gets more spicy as the bottom third of the bowl is consumed,) and overall, presented itself as a fresh tasting, clean, cool and a tad sweet smoke. The nicotine content was middle of the road.

I like these kinds of surprises.

The dark stoved flue cured red Virginia offers earth, tangy stewed dark fruit, wood, bread with minor spice and a few sugar notes as the lead component. The mildly tart and tangy, citrusy, grassy, bready, slightly floral and sugary bright Virginia is a supporting player. The fruity rum topping mildly sublimates the tobacco. The strength is in the center of mild to medium. The taste level is a slot past that level. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the mild mark. Won't bite or get harsh even if you're a fast puffer. Has a few very small rough edges. The flakes are a little moist, but I never saw a need to dry them. Well balanced for a blend with little complexity, it burns slow with a cool, clean, smoothly consistent flavor from start to finish. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and can burn to ash. Requires some relights. The room note is pleasant, and though the after taste is short lived, it's pleasant, too. An all day smoke that should age well. Three and a half stars.

UPDATE: 7–6-2022. There are a few changes in this blend. There wasn’t much rum before, and it’s lightly more detectable now. This has more tart and tangy citrus and grass now, and less dark fruit, earth and wood. Replacing the dark stoved red Virginia is dark stoved orange Virginia as the lead component is the reason for it. The floral quality is a little stronger and the spice is as well. It has more bread, and is mildly more sugary, and acidic, too. The strength and nic-hit are a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. The taste level is medium. It is a step rougher. All other aspects are the same. Three stars for this production as I updated them at TR.

-JimInks

F&T’s Special Brown Flake looks great in the tin. The flakes are neatly organized and while too moist for my pipe right away, it wasn’t overly wet compared to some other flakes on the market. It is no secret that makers of F&T use high quality tobacco and SBT is no exception. The rum flavor is barely detectible compared to other blends with added spirits. I chose to lightly rub out the flakes and settle in for a long slow smoke and on that note, SBT delivers. Is it my favorite flake? No, not even close because it isn’t all that complex. But with that said, I tend to judge VA flakes based on how well they age and I find that this flake ages quite well. I compared this tin to a tin that was six years old and the difference is delightful. The topping is more evident and the usual raisons, figs scent much more pronounced. It could be just the aging process, but in this case I don’t think so as there seems to be an additional topping that comes through with age. It doesn’t bite and while not my favorite, I enjoy it and will buy and age a few more tins for aging. Lovers of flakes that produce more bass notes can’t go wrong here.

Thin flakes of mottled light and dark brown, with a strong tin note of topping. It smelled a lot too close to some of the Mac Barens sugary fruitier stuff, which didn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. The flakes were a bit too moist but dried out quickly. The drier the better with this one, but crispy was too dry. Drying it out subdued the flavoring to the point where it was enjoyable. Smoking in a morta helped as well, so if you really love the casing, smoke this one on the moist side. I lightly rubbed out the flakes for the best performance.

The flavoring didn't strike me as rum - more of a honey and sugar casing. It was a bit too prominent out of the tin for my liking but as the tobacco dried, it melded better with the Virginia. Almost no complexity here but a nice tobacco in the lower midrange level with dips into the upper bass. The tobacco tasted sweet but as the casing was always evident, I'd guess red Virginia to be the varietal. I did not taste anything resembling perique. The rum topping did provide the burnt sugary flavor I associate with that drink but again, it tasted more of honey than of rum to me. As rum-topped tobaccos go, and as F&T Virginia flakes go, this one is not so great, but not bad at all. Different from their other VA-based flakes, and worthy of a trial.

The presentation is nice and typical of Kohlhase & Kopp manufacturing. No complaints. The moisture was okay. 15 minutes of drying would do it some good, but you can smoke it straight from the tin and be okay, if you don't mind relights. The tin note is typical of many Virginia blends. There is a tangy fruit note, but that might be from pectin more than rum, which is the stated topping. That tangy note recedes as time passes in the tin. It becomes grassy and hay-like and earthy.

A note on rum toppings: take this information loosely. The world of rums is a diverse one, probably one of the most diverse spirits. I learned that you usually will not taste rum itself in the blend. What I look for is what rum can do to the tobacco. Oftentimes it makes the blend sweeter, and sometimes more tangy, as it does with this blend. Drying this out seems to reduce the tangy nature of the topping, but it helps the combustion temperature.

The blend starts bright, grassy, and there are fruit notes, like dates, sultanas, and honey. The flavor does get darker as you smoke down the bowl, and you get some pastry notes, cereal, malt, toasty wood, salty cocoa, floral notes, cinnamon bread, earthy leather-like notes, figs, spicy notes, cloves. It's very tasty if you sip it and let it develop with a nice sweet, bready and nutty, toasty aroma. Pushing it will make it burn hot.

If you like straight Virginia blends, you can't go wrong with this one. To me, it's a darker Virginia. The rum will trick you into thinking there's more bright leaf than there really is. It's sweetened with the rum, and if you like a little enhancement to your Virginias, you'll enjoy this. It's tangy, and sweet, bready, malt-forward with some earth. Four stars, and age only deepens this blend.

It's mild in strength to start, but definitely builds in strength. You may or may not notice the nicotine. I'd say it's medium.

I have bought more tins after my first. It is a solid straight Virginia, and I love straight Virginia flakes. It's got every dimension one can get from just Virginia. It is both sweet and earthy with plenty of intrigue to suit me.

My issue with this blend is the availability. You can try Capstan Original Navy Cut, and you won't be far off with the flavor profile, but I think Capstan is maybe richer and more complex with a different topping (also sweeter). Capstan is more readily-available, but more expensive. Special Brown Flake is sold at a more favorable price.

If I can get more of this flake, I generally do.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Matey. This here Old Tobey harkened back to the pirate days of yore. Fantastic, let me dare say amazing pressed Virginia flake. Ever so delightfully topped with what 37.66 years of experience tells me is an effluvial ester ridden grog that would make her majesty Queen Elizabeth sit straight up in her throne and pass wind. Not a loud one mind you, just a satisfied one cheek sneak of a squeegee.

Ahhhhh. What was I saying. This stink weed is so amazing I digressed into an intellectual coma. Amazing flake. I know. I have tons of experience rubbing one out. A bowl of flake that is.

And to all you ninnys who insist on flake being smoked out of a small bowled pipe, I say balderdash and drink from the spittoon of Biezelbub. I smoked this is any damn size pipes I could find. Amazing

This flake is so damn fine it makes you want to slap your granny.

F&T is responsible for commissioning some fine Virginias and Virginia-based blends. If Special Brown Flake claimed to be nothing more than a mid-weight Brown Virginia, it would be a decent, if dull, example of the genre. It claims, however, to be a rummified Virginia and sadly takes the title as the least rummy rum-infused tobacco I've ever had. I've tried it in briar and cob, tried it rubbed, tried it folded...heck, I even did an origami butterfly out of a couple of the flakes, and the stuff is consistently boring.

The tin aromas suggest the classic burnt sugar notes of dark or Navy rum, but in the pipe, it proves to be nothing more than a tease, a rigid D-cup bra holding a pair of A-bumps. The burn is fine, I suppose and the flake quality is good, but it's simply not as advertised.

Disappointing in almost every respect.

I can't taste the rum, (I can smell it slightly on opening the tin) nor can I taste any substantive difference with Cut Blended Plug.

Fribourg & Treyer reminds me of Antonio Vivaldi who, according to Igor Stravinsky, managed to write the same concerto 400 times...

Now this is a good flake.. very lovely raisin like tin note.. lovely sweet/sour fermenting going on.. seems mature.. smokes very well.. cool.. and it tastes amazing.. very high grade leaf.. the rum is very subtle. Almost undetectable.. this is a rich and flavorful virginia.. not too hay or citrus.. nice middle of the spectrum notes.. the raisin really comes through.. bravo

This has a pleasant flavor of mostly dark fruit, but I get only the barest hint of rum. Mildly sweet with a touch of spice. It doesn't evolve and is very much the same throughout the bowl. I find myself getting a little bored with it. Not bad at all, but not something I'll be seeking out either.

Mild to medium in body and taste. I'm thinking that not all the fruit flavor is natural. I'd say the rum is less than extremely mild and the fruit is very mild. I'll kind of average that and go with extremely mild on flavoring. Burns very well.