Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown Flake U/S

The Lakeland essence is here, though in a very minor way. The floral taste is usually obvious, though the very light chocolate and some bold nuttiness and earth from the burleys show up here and there while you smoke it. That floralness (which is also a little herbal) comes as much from the tobaccos as it does the Lakeland, which, while not added, finds its way into the tobacco during processing in the factory. The Virginias are slightly dark fruit sweet and earthy, with minor grassy notes. Has a medium level nic-hit. Won't bite or get harsh. A moderately complex flake that burns at slightly less than a moderate rate with a very consistent flavor all the way through. Requires few relights and leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Has a nice after taste. Not an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I'm about halfway through my Lakeland tour and I'm mightily impressed. This is the 3rd so far that is so good, I can't ignore it as part of my regular rotation.

Nice, even colored flakes with a pleasant but not overly robust bag aroma (2 oz sample). I preferred this rubbed out, as I typically do. I also preferred it with some moisture in it, as when it became too dry, it tended to sizzle my tongue just enough to make it mildly uncomfortable.

The flavor was robust but not strong, sweet but not sickeningly, and mostly devoid of the proverbial "Lakeland taste" of florals. This floral taste tends to come through with the manner of leaf used rather than artificial flavorings, at least with the unscented versions. Quite frankly, this one makes me want to try the aromatic one as well! This blend was a nice marriage between highly flavorful and cigar-notes with an all day sort of tobacco. Nicotine didn't seem too high. The mouthfeel leans towards the rough, but it's far from unpleasant. Faster puffing unleashes not tongue bite or bitter flavor but just a heavier undertone of the basic taste of this wonderful blend. Highly recommended. Another pound or so is on its way to my cellar, and I'm excited to find out what a year or more will do for this stuff.

This is a beautiful med. bodied flake. No toppings or casings here. I also get a floral sent but this is not the Lakeland topping everyone talks about. This is what I have perhaps wrongly started to associate with a white Malawi burley that has been toasted and working in combination with that same burley that has been dark fired. The blending notes say that they used a Malawi burley for this blend so the floral note that I pick up is just from it alone. Also, I have smoked this is several pipes, the lakeland topping will always ghost this one never did at least not badly (1 pipe for about 3 bowls). Besides this floral note (what I am reminded of is red clover cut and ready for bailing in the hay field) I also get a creamy, smooth but very light chocolate note from the burleys, some nuttiness here and there that reminds me of black walnuts and Brazil nuts, a little (surprisingly little for such a high VA) sweetness that has notes of caramel, toffee, and coffee and some hay-like grassy notes that could be the VA's or the burley or just the combination of all that is going on. I will revisit latter on down the road.

Over the past year, G&H's Unscented Brown Flake has become one of my favorite smokes. Most of the reason for that probably has to do with the flake's relative simplicity. It is, like all G&H flakes, easy to work with and easy to smoke, but it's the flavor that impresses.

There is the barest hint of florals at first light, but then the tobacco settles into a quite rich Virginia-dominated smoke. There is sweetness here – expected in a blend of mature Virginia with a smidge of Burley and a smidge of dark fired leaf. But the sweetness here is modest and isn't cloying as it is in, for example, Sam Gawith's Full Virginia Flake or even SG's Best Brown Flake. The flavor profile, which typically comes off as vaguely chocolaty, isn't at all complex. But it is beautifully balanced and a thoroughly comforting smoke for Virginia lovers.

There is a great deal of similarity between this and G&H's Best Brown #2 and some similarity between this and Germain's Brown Flake. The Germain's product is perhaps more earthy and savage with a drier flavor profile. But for those with a little bit of a sweet tooth, G&H's Unscented Brown Flake is a fine product.

I was in pipe smoker's heaven when I first tried this blend many years back. Frankly, I am surprised that I never reviewed it. I went to my cellar to smoke a bowl before reviewing because my notes were from 2004 and my own palate can't remember back that far. Wow, what a smoke! The Virginia is certainly the main player and it is darkly rich and bold, yet sweet. The 12 percent or so Burley that is in this blend was heady and body building. And processed in that special way that produces the overall "Old World presentation that G&H is so famous for. Not the strongest horse in the barn as far as G&H blends go, but no Shetland Pony either. This bad boy delivers the goods!

It's probably fair to say this is my desert island blend: it's the one I always seem to end up smoking; which is just as well, as I have a pretty healthy stash of the stuff. There's nothing which really stands out about it. It's not flavoured. It's not particularly strong, yet nor is it particularly mild. It's typically neither too wet, nor too dry. There isn't even anything about it I'd call particularly distinctive. It's just very straightforward, honest-to-goodness tobacco which behaves politely in the pipe, and consistently delivers an enjoyable smoke.

Tin note, maybe a whiff of tonquin? Tobacco plus something very faint.

The flakes are thick and long and almost boken and have a medium brown color. I received them very dry so much so that a little crumbles to dust. But they smoked just fine and even a little wet… so I did not bother to rehydrate. Though nominally unscented, Brown Flake still has an extremely mild Lakeland essence to it. (I could not detect the essence from the tin note though.) Probably this is just unavoidable within the G&H premises… But it is so little that I guess someone not experienced in Lakeland floral flavors might not detect it as such. I guess…

Otherwise, Brown Flake has a very earthy tobbacoey taste with notes of cocoa. Sweet in a natural way, especially if you sip, it is smooth and the Burley does make its presence felt both in flavor (nutty, chocolatey) and by rounding off the higher Virginia grassy notes. Not very complex but still quite flavorful and despite the whiff of Lakeland aroma, Brown Flake offers an otherwise very natural tobacco experience. Strength is medium as is nicotine and room note is tobaccoey.

Very nice tobacco lying halfway between a natural Va/Bur and a true Lakeland aromatic.

This G&H Brown Flake was in a green G&H box -- a "brick" actually -- perfect whole flakes, stacked neatly with this brick double wrapped inside the box. I decided to jar my new stash last night, including this blend, and was pleased that the flakes were perfectly moist and came apart easily, with minimum breakage, as I stacked them into half-pint canning jars. Of course, I kept the last jar, which was almost full, to add to the current rotation.

What drew me to this tobacco was that burley is the first leaf listed in the blend:

"83.5% Blended virginias are combined with a relatively high (for English Blends at any rate) proportion of Malawi Burley, 12.5%, to give flavour and depth to the smoke, and the addition of just 4% Malawi dark fired leaf is sufficient to combat the typical sharpness of the virginia leaf resulting in a rounded medium strength smoke."

It's made in a similar fashion of the G&H Bright CR Flake, which is another plus for me, since I cellar the CR and enjoy it's bright, lemony, creamy goodness.

I reasoned that this "Brown Brother" to the CR, being burley-forward, would be more full while adding the nuttiness and subtle punch I was looking for. I was a bit concerned though, because some reviewers noted that this "unscented" version was actually laced with Lakeland essence, yet since I'd smoked the CR and detected very little if any essence at all, I decided to go for it anyway. Well, as it turns out, my 500 gram sample of this flake does indeed have a very slight floweryness -- after all, G&H is a very small company and the machinery used to prep their blends can "carry over" from one to the other (makes sense to me LOL).

I cube-cut it, of course. I chose a small half-bent Group 4 Rhodesian for this smoke. Well that slight "floweryness" is nice. And it literally disappeared after the first few puffs -- no way will this Brown Flake ghost a pipe, I'm certain of that. That richness and nuttiness, marrying perfectly with those outstanding virginias I love, is there in spades and remains, burning cool and even, right down to the white ash it leaves me at the bottom of the bowl.

I am sure this flake will age extremely well and I'm glad I bought 500 grams of this. Maybe I should have grabbed another pretty green box of it.

Smell of tobacco is very sweet - but not as sweet as in e.g. Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake or Best Brown Flake. You can definately find delicate smell of Burley. Smoking is very cool and sweet, with a bit spicy feeling. I like this one. If you like tobaccos with addition of GOOD Burley - you should try this one.

Very nice smoke. Floral notes throughout. Some natural, some not. Seems to be mostly natural to me, but it's hard to tell exactly. The natural tobacco flavors are sweet and a little nutty. Just a hint of chocolate here and there. Altogether pleasant with enough strength to satisfy.

Medium in body and flavor. I would say the flavoring is very mild. Burns very well right out of the bag.