Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Broken Scotch Cake

If you like strong/aromatic tobaccos, I think you won't care much for Broken Scotch Cake; the experienced and more demanding palate may find it rather bland and dull. On the other hand, this would be a good tobacco for the newcomer to try, or for someone who doesn't want a pronounced or pungent flavour. It's a mild, sweet, undemanding and natural-tasting Virginia; smooth, civilised and straightforward. I can't detect any casing; if there is one, it's very unobtrusive.

BSC is a cool and dry smoke that burns evenly and well. I don't notice any great change in the nuances of flavour as the bowlful progresses. Of course it's better sipped, but you can puff away quite hard without getting your tongue fried, and you won't get a nicotine overdose either. As the name suggests, it presents a fairly chunky appearance; you can rub it out a bit more if you need to, but you'll speed up the burn if you do, of course. I'm happy to recommend it, especially to the beginner. At first I found it a bit too bland, but the more I smoked of it, the more I came to like it, and I now number it among my favourites. It suits a big bowl and a long, contemplative, indoor smoke. SWMBO doesn't mind the room note, which is another plus point.

BSC reminds me a bit of Fribourg and Treyer's Golden Mixture (now unavailable in the UK): pleasant and undemanding, and a good all day smoke if you're an all day smoker. Also, it's not a million miles away from the ready rubbed version of Capstan that's available in the UK, with the same sweet, grassy taste. If you want something a tad more flavoursome, it's nice mixed 50/50 with Ogden's St Bruno. Superb stuff, in my opinion.

Update, February 2023: as I understand it, this excellent tobacco has now been discontinued. Another one bites the dust, dammit.

I bought the unscented version. A unique blend that is a blond color and very coarse cut. At first go-round this one was too understated. I would recommend this one as your first smoke of the day or before any really strong tobacs. If given a chance to shine by itself, it is excellent. It does have a touch of the Lakeland Floral "soap" taste. The Virginnia is tangy and sweet. It does have a bit of a kick to it from the nicotene content.

I appreciate the sweet and mellow Virginia varietals present in this blend. They are smooth smoking without any harshness. They provide some bright-crispness in the smoke but I would describe the predominate flavor note as sweet bread.

Broken Scotch Cake Is a solid mellow straight Virginia that can keep my interest throughout a bowl.

There's no Lakeland 'essence' flavoring on Broken Scotch Cake, the (exceedingly mild) perfume here comes from the sun cured tobacco and a healthy dose of placebo-effect reviewers who taste essence on anything made by a Kendal manufacturer.

It's definitely a mild blend, nic fiends need not apply. It's sweet, with a good whiff of sun cured, and the rough cut makes it smoke very cool. Comes out of the tin as a brick and breaks up easily. It burns fast, but is almost impossible to get tongue bite from.

Broken Scotch Cake is everything I wished Mac Baren's Virginia No. 1 was, although the sun cured adds a very noticeable fingerprint to the blend. It's probably closer to McClelland 24 than anything else I can think of.

Of course, being both light and from Kendal it's criminally underrated, but more for me!

Tin: A partially rubbed out flake that looks like an incredibly variegated form, crudely stuffed into the tin. It appears to be of the orange or red variety, middle to old belt, having a mahogany hue, the browns ranging in the light brown spectrum. It has a fragrant natural VA smell. Feels like it is at just the right moisture level.

Packing & Burning: Readily rubs out into ribbon form, packs and lights easily. Burns to an ash with one match.

Taste & Aroma: Initially very mild fragrant Kendal floral scent and lightly sweet, transitioning to a toasted, stoved, or a nice char-broiled taste. Reminds me of BCRF with less of the Kendal floral scent. No bite, just a mild salsa.

Overall: BSC has the least floral note of GH's blends I have tried. Too much nicotine to be an all day smoke. 3.5 stars.

I recently discovered Broken Scotch Cake and I'm impressed with its quality and flavor. I love the creamy smooth taste and the gentle citrus tang. I don't find the flavor as mild as advertised; I would call it medium. Fans of Bosun Cut Plug and Conniston Cut Plug might find it a little too mild in strength. This could be a wonderful all-day smoke, if that's what you're looking for. I really like GH blends, particularly the natural ones like Bright CR Flake and Brown Flake. I think BSC is as good as the aforementioned blends. I wish it was made in flake form, but the coarse cut burns slow and even, so it's not a huge deal. I wonder what a little perique would do for it. I'll get back to you.

This is perhaps one of the brightest colored blends that i've smoked with the exception of GL Pease Stratford. This is very similar to stratford. I know that Greg Pease is a big fan of G&H blends so I have to assume that this blend influenced him in a big way towards the making of Stratford. This is a bright, light and slightly sweet blend. The burn is very even and consistant and smokes cool for a blend of this genre. I gave this a higher rating than Stratford because right out of the tin it was very good where as Stratford took aging to reach its potential. They are both very good and I highly suggest them both if you like Bright virginia style of blends. Another thing to note is that my palate felt very clean after smoking this. A refreshing smoke! This is definately worth buying a few tins for aging in that I suspect that it will get even better with age. Highly recommended!

Mainspring's review above says it all for me. This doesn't displace Brown Flake as my favorite natural GH flake, but its a very close second. The flavor is less dark, but the hay-like character comes through more strongly as a result. It smokes as cool as Brown Flake. It is natually sweet, smells wonderful in the pouch and not bad in the room. Give it a try!

This tobacco is described as a fully rubbed out flake even though it is called a crumbled cake. I would consider it a shag cut, but call it what you want, that's ok. It is my current tobacco of choice. I love the aroma and the taste. This is a straight ahead taste with a bit of initial creaminess. It tastes great all the way through the bowl. I can not tire of it, and feel guilty about all my other opened tobaccos that have been deligated to a lower status. I could go on raving about this blend for a long time, but I would rather go and smoke another pipe full.