Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Bright CR Flake

Bright CR Flake is a quality offering, easily rubbed out and burns nicely with only one light. It has a mild, somewhat satisfying, if unexciting, tobacco taste.

It also has a bit of that flowery taste/aroma that I despise but am learning to tolerate in order to enjoy the otherwise wonderful blends from G&H.

Bright CR does have its own certain charm, but for my money, there are many better choices in the mild/medium virginia genre.

2 or 3 stars, depending upon whether or not you like flowers with your virginia.

* * 1/2

A very quality flake. Comprised of bright VA and some darker leaf. This tobacco has a refreshing undertone and, lends itself to being a good year round blend. It possesses a similar fragrant body to other G&H blends yet, not as pronounced as their dark cured leaf. The moisture content is a bit high but, when rubbed thoroughly and dried it is quite pleasing. I noticed more of a sweet-vanilla texture in this blend as opposed to the darker VA from G&H. This tobacco has bit more sugar content than other and, will age well. I've got a few oz's cellard for aging. Recommended for VA lovers, yet I think that better options are available from other blenders.

Granted one bowl does a review not but here is my two cents worth. I found this to be extremely mild and this was fresh from a fellow pipe club member who brought this in. He had a hook up in England I believe. This had a sweet faint apricot smell to it and also smoked a little bit sweeter than I care for in a Virginia. Though no flavor is listed it seems to me to be cased with something that I do not care for and I could be wrong. It might just be a really sweet natural Virginia. I smoked this out of a new cob so there was no ghosting from other blends in a pipe. Nice to try but just not for me.

Well after trying a handful of different Gawith, Hoggarth Flake, it seems as though Bright CR Flake may be the best offering. It does have the "lakeland" essence but to a much lower degree than the others I have tried which are simply a little tobacco with a lot of nasty flavoring. I like this offering because beneath the lakeland flavor I can actually taste tobacco. The shag offerings made by Gawith Hoggarth are by far my favorite and do not taste soapy or floral and its a damn shame that they don't make a flake like they do a shag. With this shipment of Bright CR Flake, I also ordered Ennerdale Flake and upon smelling it realized that it smelled like an old woman that had put on a bottle of perfume. I think I will buy a cob and might be able to smoke a whole bowl. I really do not understand why so many people in the UK and elsewhere like all of these casings that Gawith, Hoggarth puts in their flake tobacco. If I have to smoke one at this point it would be Bright CR Flake, while possessing less of the soapy flavor, I still prefer the flavor of a good dark fired flake. If you just have to try a Gawith, Hoggarth flake I strongly suggest this one over the others. If you can't stand the casings of this tobacco, chances are you will hate the other flakes made by this company. The Tobac lakes the nicotine of the Dark Flake, but also lacks as much topping as the Dark Flake and others. Someone please tell them to make a flake with Dark Birds Eye, or Kendal Kentucky, or Kendal Dark shags that taste like tobacco instead of getting the taste that you licked an old lady's neck that was covered in horrible soapy perfume.

Pretty much what OSR said. It's a quality tobacco, but it's so mild that it borders on bland. For now I'll stay with Orlik's Golden Slices.

I like virginia flake and prefer the blends that have some nicotine to them; F&T Cut Plug is one of my favorites.

Bright CR is (as always from G&H) quality virginia but is a little flat when it comes to the body I get from other flakes.

For those who like a mild VA this is a good one and has absolutely no bite. For me, I'll have to stick with flakes with a little more body.

Excellent quality! Low on taste.

I only had a complimentary sample of this bulk tobacco and really didn't get a chance to experiment much with this blend. The nicely prepared pressed flakes contain predominantly medium brown to darker VAs. All you get here in tin aroma and taste is pure VAs. Some may find the uniform taste boring but if you like full, straight VAs, you might enjoy this. I wouldn't suggest this blend to a neophyte to straight VAs. I don't fully appreciate the influence of the exotic, bright VA leaves that apparently drives the cost to ~$40US/#. Overall, an enjoyable smoking experience but < some of my favorite VAs from McClelland and Stokkebye that are available @ lower unit cost.