Fribourg & Treyer Special Brown Flake

I generally like brown Virginia flakes, and this is basically a straight-forward middle of the road example with just a bare hint of rum (at least in this tin). This is a solid, everyday example of the genre: mild; tasty; easy and long smoking. If that's what you are looking for, and don't mind a hint of topping, this is worth trying/cellaring.

Of all the rum flavored or scented flakes I have tried, this one has the strongest rum flavor, short of peterson's connoisier's blend, but that is not a flake, though it contains some broken flake.

What special brown flake contains is some rum soaked virginias, probably soaked sopping wet then dried to a smokeable level. Marvelous. Has very little nicotine, but more than makes up with it, through its very rich flavor.

You get that sweet ephemeral molasses tang with a slight alcohol (probably heated off) right behind it. Then, the highest quality virginia taste follows, with the rum weaving in and out to the last ember, where they finally marry.

This is every bit as good as Dunhill flake was, in its own way. One that, in my humble opinion, should be more well known, and more popular than it is.

If you like virginias, and like molasses or rum, this is a must try. It is a blender's masterpiece.

A great flake offering from F&T. A medium strength, tasty, high quality tobacco. Pressed and sliced into very thin flakes, which makes it great for folding or rubbing out. Will be buying more of this......very tasty.

Generally, I have a very good opinion about the Fribourg & Treyer mixtures. This blend confirms my opinion once more. Honest mixtures. Not 100% this time though, as in the description a rum flavor is mentioned, which I wasn't able to find at all. It has perfect moisture once you open the tin and it fills the pipe easily. It either has an undefined, bit spicy, chocolate flavor ??? or just a very intense and distinct flavor from the Virginia, I don't really get it. As almost all mixtures of this company, it is smoked up until the end of the bowl. Medium to strong regarding its nicotine level. I had it for at least 2 years in my cellar before I smoked it.

I was given a tin of this to try, upon openning the tin I thought there may some kind of aroma but could only detect the aroma of the Virginia. Looked like a chocolate candy bar when I first unwrapped the white paper, the tobacco itself was not dry and not real wet, but it did have that freshness that I enjoy in a tobacco.

I began to rub enough out to fill my Larsen Port, I did notice it did not fall apart as you rubbed the tobacco, but came off in a size like a tooth pick only shorter. I only rubbed a very little as not to make the the tobbaco too fine, but just enough to fit into the bowl without strands of tobacco hanging out over the bowl. As I lit the tobacco I could sense this was a Virginia, but smoked as if it were a straight Burley as it burned quite cool. I really never did detect a Rum Flavoring in the aroma or the taste.

This is is one of those tobaccos you want to set down but cannot as it is a tantalizingly tobacco that one wants to continue smoking, sort like going back to the cookie jar one more time.

To me the tobacco was mild, with no tongue bite, but cannot determine if I would recommend it to a beginner or not. I figure it will be one more to add to my collections of tobaccos to smoke on occasion.