Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Bob's Chocolate Flake

A unique, cool smoking Lakeland flake. I purchased several ounces of this tobacco and put it away for a year or so. When I came back to it each flake was full of plume. The tin note is sweet with a whisper of G&H's pervasive floral aroma.

The components work quite well together. The Virginia and burley are nicely balanced and the flavor is primarily driven by the Virginias. A floral flavor hits the top note & the latakia is transparent enough to provide just a hair of a smokiness, but it's barely present to me, both in flavor and in sidestream.

What I enjoy most about Bob's Chocolate is the bitter-sweet flavor that comes forth about a quarter of the way down the bowl. The smoke is soft, pillowy and fragrant and the tone is on the warmer, sweeter side of the spectrum. It performs well & you'd have to try really hard to get this to bite. As far as the name is concerned, I have never gotten even a hint of cocoa with this mixture, although the touch of Latakia does create a somewhat similar flavor.

Somehow this blend works for me and I do enjoy smoking it from time to time.

Great smell coming out of the tin, a long burning smoke. The hints of chocolate are a nice touch, very tasty.

Take some Dunhill Night Cap, add some burley for lightness, sprinkle a bit of cacao on it and you have Bob's Chocolate Flake.

This blend could've easily been named "Bob's Flake" and left at that. Once properly dried it smokes like a very light English blend with just a distant undertones of cacao (not chocolate). The latakia is definitely noticeable.

You have to dry this one pretty good. If you don't - you will be welcomed by a bunch of goo (in taste and appearance)in your pipe. It takes a few tries to get the right drying time, but once you do - it's worth it.

The flavouring is a little strong initially but the base tobaccos are excellant. I'm not a big aro fan, but this is pretty good and not chemically.

This is a nice tobacco. It is a very subdued tobacco, although the name suggests flavorful aromatic, it really is quite subtle and deft in the the flavoring department.

As with most G & H blends this comes a little wet and benefits from some drying time. The cut of the tobacco once fully rubbed out is very fine which makes for a nice easy packing experience. The flavors are very nice but must be coaxed out of hiding. Smoke this too fast and you will get nothing out of it. If you can manage to play peekaboo with that last ember and smoke it slow there is a myriad of flavors and tastes going on. The chocolate thing I am not too sure about. Maybe, but certainly not enough to be titled a chocolate flake. There is definitely some Lakeland goodness here, which I love, but it is not overpowering, in fact, for much of this smoke it goes away all together. Every once in a while you get a subtle hint of the floral. Like getting a whiff off a slight breeze of an Englishman's pipe. Very enjoyable.

The really nice aspect of this blend is its use of latakia. We as pipe smokers are so used to latakia coming straight out of the pipe and announce its presence while thumping its chest. That is not the case here at all. It is in there, but the subtle use and blending technique really makes the flavor profile of the leaf change. It is nice, it gives the tobacco a sort of homey taste. It is very good.

This tobacco is very good, and I recommend everybody try it. You need to smoke this right or it will not deliver. Too fast or hot and your hope of enjoying this blend is lost. I find it smokes best in Meerschaum. Recommended.

I love BCF! I want to be up front about that. I've smoked it for many years and will continue to do do for as long as it's made. I've gone through many tobaccos in the past thirty five years. I smoked several for years and one day find that my taste has changed or the tobacco has. Either way that blend goes by the wayside. BCF has remained a constant with me. I love that slight floral taste or possibly smell combined with the light cocoa taste in the background. I cannot detect the Latakia but all the tobaccos used blend to make one very smooth smoke. Ladies and gentlemen this is what pipe tobacco is supposed to tast like! At least in my opinion. It's good anytime of day in anysize pipe but i really love it with that first cup of morning coffee. Excellent!

I've read many comparisons between this blen and Samuel Gawith Chocolate Flake, but the only similarity I've found is the subtle taste of Latakia in the background and the very mild chocolate flavoring. Other than that, Bob's Chocolate Flake share the soapy taste with most Lakelands tobaccos, while there's none of that in SG's product, where the Virginias are less "processed".

Which one I prefer? Depends on the moment. Bob's when I'm in the mood for Lakelands, SG's when I'd rather have an "American English". They're both great tobaccos.

I like this tobacco. It is spicy with a chocolatey tang and some floral sweetness to it. I let it dry out over night and plug a medium size billard after some rubbing out and folding of the flakes. I think I like SG Chocolate flake a tad better but it really depends on what my palette is in the mood for.

This bulk flake, you can fold it or just wad it up. A little loose kindling on top and it lights very easily and burns like a charm. I think I prefer it like that rather than rubbing it out. It burns cool as bare feet on a concrete floor. A chocolate note is unmistakable at first then takes a back seat. From that point on it gets very interesting. Baby powder, incense, all those things that others loathe about this flake are present, but to me not overpowering or dominating. I don't think powder or incense describe what I taste, but other words don't come to mind right now. The tobaccos are all there, the VA, the Burley, and the Latakia. There are aromas, but I don't think this smokes like an aromatic. I say brilliant!

07/27/09 UPDATE: I am revising some of my reviews. I have given out more 4 star ratings than anything else. That practice is probably not helping. So, I am reducing BCF to 3 stars, not because I like it less than I did before, but because I am limiting 4 stars to fewer than 25% of all my reviews. One day I may use the 4 star rating to designate my top five.

I've been struggling with this blend for a few weeks now, trying to like it as much as some others seem to be able to do. The tin looks great and the little flake-filled baggie inside has a sublime, gentle, almost otherworldly cocoa aroma. There's something else there, too--a subtle kirsch-like quality hovering in the background. It reminds me of the smell of one of those oddly-shaped Lowney's Cherry Blossoms fresh out of the little box before you bite into it and release the sloppy red-dye-number-4-infused maraschino in the middle. All of that had my nostalgic heart pitter-pattering like a kid's on Christmas morning.

In the pipe, however, that signature Lakeland soap comes out way too aggressively for my tastes. And instead of a happy kid with Cherry Blossom on his face, I'm a broken kid with a bar of soap in his mouth who just got caught saying f@#k. And worse, the kid realizes that his mother can still kick his ass.

None of this is designed to impugn the tobacco, which I think is first rate. Increasingly I think that the Lakeland scent is one of those geographical signatures like Islay peat or Burgundian rabbit poop that some love and some shy away from. Frankly, I admire the Lakeland products for their consistency and uniqueness.

I find, however, that a little of Bob's Chocolate Flake goes a long way. It is a superb blender (thus spake the heretic) with Virginia and Perique and I've found that I'm slowly whittling away at those pretty brown flakes by blending them with equal parts Hal O' the Wynd and McLelland Perique. It's like chocolate covered figs dipped in honey.

I call it "Bob and Henry's Chocklique Flake."

Then again, I am a bit of a goof.

Setting personal taste aside, I think it's a solid tobacco.

Update:

I'm not normally inclined to update reviews (or to change my old fuddy-duddy mind for that matter) but I have to confess that BCF has managed to grow on me to the point that I reach for it almost daily. Maybe I've just gotten used to the Lakeland scent, or maybe the scent has dissipated some from the open tin. Doesn't matter. I'm not changing the number of stars, but I did want to tell the moral of this story: give BCF a chance. You might not like it at first, but if you step back and give it some time, you might find that you find something worthwhile in it after all. Some tobaccos are like workplace romances.

I love this 'baccy!

It is what it says it is.

I find the bulk version of this to be a little less flavorful than the tinned version. A little flatter.

Comes in flake form with brown strands mixed with a few blonder strands with a sort of birds eye look. I find this to be an excellent Virginia based blend with a good portion of Burley to add body, with a tad of Latakia as the reenforcing element to the plain unsweetened Coco flavouring. There is a tad of Vanilla in here as well that I find unobtrusive yet adds a satisfying perfume to the flavor as well as the room note. Very pleasant indeed yet not aromatic. Yes this blend had a bit of the Gawith baby powder-like flavor and scent but I'd say the lowest amount than any of their other blends. To me it is only apparent when first lit, and fades into the backround during the smoke to where I don't detect it. The Virginias have a nice zing to them and at mid bowl the flavors get more concentrated as the strength increases a little. Sometimes this can smoke a little hot if pushed. Back off and go slow and all will be well. At first I smoked this strictly in pipes reserved for Virginia blends, but now I smoke it in my English blend pipes with no real flavor changes to worry about.

This is a zesty blend and great with a cup of joe. High quality Virginias. Great anytime but I like it best as a morning smoke or late at night reading. Excellent!

My pipe now tastes "Zestfully Clean", thanks to this disgusting, revolting blend. Good for childhood flashbooks to getting your mouth washed out with soap.

Yuck.

This is one of those tins I picked up on a whim at Leesburg Pipe & Cigar a few weeks back. At first, I wasn't impressed. After giving the blend a little time to breathe at room humidity the overall profile of the flake was much more balanced and gentle. The tin aroma is simply delightful as it doen't smell like candy, but rather rich tobacco. It reminds me of when the farmers in my home town would still grow tobacco as their main crop and in the fall would hang stakes in the barns with the slats pulled open. The air would be filled with the sweet smell of whole leaf Virginia....but I digress.

I prefer to smoke this in a half bent cheapie meer I picked up on ebay for next to nothing. My wife actually likes to rub it out and have it rolled in a cigarette from time to time. I will buy this again and make sure to have it on hand. Its mild nature lends it to having its own pipe as residual flavors from other tabacs will hide the glory that is Bob's.

3rdguy

I went through my 1st tin of this in quick fashion. Out of the Gawith's I have tried this is one of my favorites. You do need to dry the heck out of it. I found filling the pipe with larger flakes then topping it off with a fully rubbed out amount allows the easiest smoke. You will need quite a few lights to get it going but once accomplished you can put the flame away.

This is a long smoke so I tend to make time for it. Smooth, rich retrohale of sliught cocoa and dark goodness. Zero bite. Burns clean to a white ash. No relights once you get it going good. Latakia is so tamed in this blend I would recommend it to latakia haters.

I really have to track down some plug of this!

In my nearly a year of pipe smoking I have not come across anything so bad. If I’d of smoked this as a first blend I think I’d of knocked pipe smoking on the head. The only up side is the tin note of powdered chocolate So thought I was in for a treat. Was I wrong what you get is a soapy Lakeland which is overpowering and had to give up after half a bowl. There have been other blends I’ve given a second chance but this never. Glad it was a small sample

This one, while a decent smoke out of the gate, benefits from substantial jar time.. and perhaps a bit of dry time as well.. like many g &h blends it seems matured on arrival.. their blends often arrive already with a sheen of sugar crystals.. I find they still need a little time to open up.. Bob's chocolate flake initially, for me anyways, had a very distinct and strong tin note of chocolate.. just a little bit of smoky latakia in the distant background.. and to some extent that is what you get in the smoke.. I found the Virginia to be quite good.. but the highlight is never on one leaf.. for me it is the overall effect.. the burley and latakia hang right there throughout the bowl.. and the Virginia while being prominent never showboats to the full extent.. it is a finely crafted overall flavor with an ever so discreet yet always present lakeland essence.. it feels dry in the mouth at times.. but the flavors without fully bursting gently suggest something.. the latakia is discreetly a part of the chocolate experience.. very interesting and different.. one could almost be fooled into thinking there is more burley in this then there is.. maybe because of the smoothness.. overall it really succeeds.. and It is a very nice 'aromatic '.. although one could call it a natural tobacco blend with a light flavor added.. I'm sure for many this would be a top blend.. i personally place it slightly below rum flake.. not because it is any less good.. rum flake for me has a little more strength and a little more flavor.. but probably just a slight personal preference.. this one is, for me, a little more of a 'mood smoke'.. but when I am in the mood there aren't a lot of other blends that could deliver this wonderful chocolate/Lakeland /smoke thing.. actually this is the only one.. samuel gawith chocolate flake is close.. but this one really succeeds..

A good friend of mine Petros offered me a bowl of this blend.when you open the tin you get a descret chocolate cocoa smell combined with dark fruits.rubs easy and some drying out time is needed for sure.packs ok lights ok and some re lights are needed.when smoking the flavours are natural but a little confusing to me.the chocolate cocoa taste is the main player with dark fruits and nuts.you get some vanilla notes and latakia are really in the backround.i didn't get any alcohol flavours sorry.burns cool, natural and slow to total ash and very little moisture at the end of the bowl.the nicotine level is medium.the only negative that i found is that it has lots of flavours combined and this is not always good.not an all day blend to me.

This tobacco was a pleasant surprise. It was an addition to some other tobacco's that I had bulk ordered and I only bought 1 oz. to sample. I tried it based purely on the name, because it sounded tasty and I knew that being a G&H product, it would be made of good quality, premium tobacco. The moisture content of the flake was good for me right out of the bag, I usually like them to be slightly moist to give off a little more flavor. I cut the flakes into 1/2 inch pieces and rubbed them out fully. I then loaded it all into my Peterson Dalkey Billiard, using the three step method. Upon first light, I got a soft, smooth, creamy feeling smoke with a light Lakeland essence (not unpleasant) and the slightly more dominant chocolate, with a hint of vanilla in the background. Throughout the rest of the smoke the Latakia just kind of faded in and out, sometimes not even noticeable. The chocolatey goodness remained along with the creaminess. I found the nic hit to be a step below medium and I usually like them a little stronger. This one is a new favorite for me, I will definitely be smoking the rest of this and ordering some more. I have found that I enjoy the G&H tobacco's and that the light Lakeland essence is refreshing. This tobacco is more of a crossover English to me, having the components of both an Aro and an English. If you are sensitive to the Lakeland essences, then you may not care for this flake, however if you are curious about them and enjoy a little Latakia with some nice flavoring, then give this a go. I think you will find it to be a pleasant smoke. I'm giving this 4 stars for the premium tobacco content, well structured flakes, expertly applied flavorings and condimental Latakia.

I don't regret my purchase. But it is strictly an experiment, a bit of fun not to be confused with the serious smokes with which G, H & Co. are usually associated. I am not a fan of flavoured tobacco, or flakes. But variety is the spice of life...

It comes in a plastic bag inside the tin, no doubt to preserve the aromas. The moisture level is perfect. The flakes rub out easily with one hand. The tin aroma is a little chocolate, a little vanilla, a lot of something else. The Latakia is nonexistent. It is a flavoured Burley flake.

It smokes easily, no bite, does not require more than the initial light. The taste is not chocolate, but an artificial floral scent without even a hint of sweetness. I will not finish the tin. A couple of bowls is plenty.

This one is for the lovers of aromatic smokes, but it is a notch above the usual stuff.