Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Ennerdale Flake

The first time smoking this in the house I was pleasantly surprised by members of my family telling me how much they liked the scent. My youngst son said it reminded him of "Grandpas" pipe tobacco.

Considering I lost my "Pipe Smoking Buddy" a few years ago, this comment instantly ensured it's addition into my regular rotation.

Like all blends by this Great English Tobacco House, the flavorings, (or if your prefer, flavOURings), enhance the high quality tobacco that they use in their mixtures.

Easy to light and keep lit, the flavor ran consistent the length of the bowl. The taste is a complex mix of rich, sweet, floralry, fruity. Just a really pleasant experience.

It burns to a grey/white dry dottle.

A Nice Smoke.

Wow! This is fantastic stuff! Tin note is exquisite, perfumed, intense, floral. This is high quality aromatization... First light brought an old uncle to my mind. He was rich, a bon viveur, always well dressed with his cologne and things... He used to drive a Mercedes coupe with leather seats and he took me for a drive once in a while as a child. The aroma of this tobacco brought to my mind the aroma inside that car. The tobacco lights very easily and stays lit while burning evenly to a white ash. It has medium+ strength and you can taste the tobacco as well, especially during the last third of the bowl where both Virginias and nutty Burley are evident. This is stuff of very high quality in both the tobacco and the added aromas. Now, I really cannot understand how anyone would not like this tobacco but after all de gustibus...

Does it ghost the pipe? Most certainly, yes...

Ennerdale Flake is the king of English style aromatics. It's heavily flavored with almond and various perfumes, but somehow there's excellent tobacco flavor paired with the Lakeland essence.

It burns remarkably cool and is ready to smoke, bulk or tin, as soon as you open the package. It also burns slowly - a bowl of Ennerdale will give a sweet, perfumed smoke for a long, long time.

It deserves all the love and all the hate it gets - if you like this style of floral, nutty aromatic it's the best in the business. If you hate it, there is a lot to hate. I found it an acquired taste, it took maybe half a tin before I knew I was a Lakeland fiend. Once you're hooked, though, there is no substitute for Ennerdale.

Having been a fan of PipesandCigar’s Lakeland Brickle, I decided to pick up a new blend that had a healthy dose of Lakeland topping. I have a limited supply of Lakeland Brickle, and so far, I don’t see it being reproduced, so a replacement is needed. Hearing positive recommendations about Ennerdale, I decided to purchase a few ounces of it on a whim on IPSD 2015.

Since Lakeland blends have a notorious reputation on ghosting a pipe, I picked out a cob, rubbed the flake out, and wandered out to my writing hole to try out the blend while working on my novel. The blend itself was quite easy to light and get going, so it didn’t require much drying time at all. I was able to pack my pipe and take it out right away for a test run.

Upon lighting up, I could clearly taste the Lakeland topping. If you don’t like the perfume taste and scent of Lakeland blends, then you probably won’t like this at all. Me though, I quite enjoyed it. I settled into a steady rhythm of contently puffing away on my cob while enjoying the blend. The flavor remained strong through the entire bowl until the tobacco burned to a fine white ash. I was sad when the bowl ended, which is always a sign of a quality blend in my book.

Leaving my writing hole to go in the house for a few minutes, I returned back outside and took in a whiff of the evening air. Even from my stairs I could distinctly smell the room note of Ennerdale from a considerable distance from my writing hole. It reminded me of those perfumes in cartoons that would turn into a wispy hand and lead a character back to the source by the nose. Likewise, Ennerdale had me under its spell, and off to Ebay I marched to purchase a pipe I could singularly devote to it, as well as a few more ounces on my next online order from PipesandCigars.com.

So now I know the wondrous flake that is Ennerdale, and its become an entrenched blend in my weekly rotation. While I will continue seeking out similar Lakeland blends, Ennerdale undoubtedly will be a hard act to follow.

The tobaccos used in this blend are unqustionably top-quality. Still, I must say that product, to my taste buds and olfactory senses, is truly vile. It is the most horrible smoking experience imaginable. I heard one reiviewer liken Ennerdale to the deodorizing pucks found in men's urinals. Spot-on! With this said, I readily acknowledge that many people like Ennerdale. I cannot imagine why, but I respect their opinions. I'll give the blend one star based on the high quality of leaf used.

In the tin, Ennerdale is a soft flake, easy to wad or rub out. It is dark but mottled, and it has a sweet Virginia aroma plus the Lakeland District peculiar trait. Just the right amount of moisture for me. This stuff remains cool and dry requiring little attention. The Ennerdale Virginia is gentle on my throat. It has a medium body with adequate nicotine. It cannot bite. I prefer to go right from the tin to the pipe. Rubbing and drying seem to remove the highlights.

Initially, the "soap" is undeniable (not offensive to me), neither is a peppery spice and sweet Virginia. Alternately creeping up the stem: a musty-leathery-woodsy note, a fruity sweetness, a bitter-sweet nuttiness, a tangy citrus, and peat. The "soap" dissipates. To me the remarkable characteristic is the sweet Virginia with fruit, nuts, and vanilla. As advertised.

I have not encountered a more pleasant tasting and soothing Lakeland. I would not smoke it all day, but I have not found a tobacco I would want to smoke all day. Highly recommended for the Lakeland-tolerant Virginia lover.

I've smoked many dozens of all kind of tobaccos and this is definitely the worst by a long shot. I never had to throw away any tobacco but this one is going straight to the chemical waste bin. This stuff is so incredibly disgusting ... I just smoked about a fifth of a not too large bowl and the taste keeps haunting my tastebuds. I can only compare the taste to having your mouth washed with soap. Brrrr!

Does not taste like soap, it tastes like lotion or shampoo smells. It is not the most highly scented of Gawith and Hoggarth's flakes by any means, but does remind me of my favorite nasal snuff, which is quite possibly the most heavily perfumed nasal snuff in the world, Gawith and Hoggarth's "Almond." As with the snuff, the flake is almond flavored, not scented, not with amaretto as in the snuff, but with the same almond scent you find in shampoos and lotions. As with apricot kernals/cyanides, not everyone can taste nor smell this particular almond if they lack the right gene. I can; however two of my neighbors can only detect the perfumes which are thrown in on top of the almond, which is exactly what is done on the amazing almond snuff. However it should have been amaretto, as the snuff has, not almond as the flake has, so that everyone could taste it. If it was, it would be my favorite flake from G&H. But the taste of almond shampoo is not my first choice. Still recommended as a great social and weekend smoke, but I prefer the more heavily floral offerings which are actually "soapy."

Let me start by saying I enjoy Ennerdale Flake so greatly, I dedicated an entire pipe in my collection to it. Of course, that is also to say I basically had to buy a new pipe to smoke this long-term because it WILL ghost on you something fierce, but it's so worth it, at least to me. I will add Ennerdale is not for everyone, but it is a great way to open the doors to the admittedly niche but oh so tasty world of Lakeland flakes which are actually scented, similar to a perfume or potpourri, instead of topped with a casing - named for the Lakes District of England. My understanding is this 'scenting' is achieved by spraying the leaves with flavored oils prior to pressing them into flakes, and then adding similarly-flavored oils to the steam press prior to aging for the bouquet of flavors to marry. Amazing, unique stuff, and Ennerdale is the best of them all, in my opinion.

Ennerdale Flake is not an 'Aromatic' in the traditional sense, and I actually classify it much closer to a Virginia blend than an Aromatic. The strong emphasis on the specific varietals in the description from GHC is not without merit for this exact reason: the scented oils imbue the leaves with light flavoring, but it's not overpowering - the natural essence of the exotic Virginia's used in this blend shine through as the prime notes on your palette, and the imbued scents accentuate and add depth to the overall bouquet.

The Ennerdale experience is much akin to drinking a high-quality flavored Gin, like Hendricks Gin: the Juniper berries are the clear center, but the added cucumber & rose which makes Hendricks unique are strong supporters making for a fantastic experience, especially for lovers of classic Gin. In the same way, the sun cured Virginia from Malawi is the prime spice note; while not a similar flavor as Perique, it gives a similar effect on the blend a primary flavor. The sun-cured Malawi is smoky, woody, and slightly vanilla sweet. It's supported by the wealth of strong, aged Virginia in the blend providing a warm, almost grassy or hay-like flavor with notes of sugar, sea salt, and vinegar. THEN comes the clear almond & rose notes with a bit of orchid & citrus on the finish.

What a mountain of flavor; it can be a lot to take in at first, but keep a cool smoke going, and you are sure to experience many of these notes in different combinations with each puff with a good amount of body to back it up. Unlike many pipe tobaccos which have consistent flavor profiles throughout a bowl, I notice Ennerdale is more like a cigar in how the taste ebbs & flows; it builds. Most importantly, the almond & rose flavoring, which stand out nice & pronounced at the beginning of the bowl, become muted the longer you smoke, giving way to those high-quality Virginia leaves. This is another characteristic of Lakeland flakes; the added scents are not intended to mask mediocre tobacco, but enhance good leaves. In this way, Ennerdale is a meal where the potatoes compliment the steak, and the after taste of all this is almost intoxicating - especially if you are pairing a bowl of this blend with a glass of Hendricks Gin on the rocks (and I recommend you do!).

I must also highlight the smoking characteristics as this blend requires a little patience in the beginning. Whether in the tin or bulk, some rubbing out will likely be required, and it can be difficult to get lit or smoke a bit hot right off the light. Patience is key as only a bit of extra work right at the first/false light and for a few minutes after will yield the smoker a sublimely cool smoke with minimal relights (I find rubbing the flake out first will also minimize relights, but this is my general experience with all flake-cut blends). As mentioned, the Lakeland scenting process does lend this blend to ghost, and a Meerschaum or Morta (Bog Oak) is recommended if you do not want the next few bowl to taste of almond & rose. Eventually, you may end-up going my route & dedicating a pipe to the blend - you will not be disappointed if you do.

A former co-worker of mine at the Briar Patch in Sacramento, CA often remarked of Ennerdale Flake as the "Monkey Roses" blend - even writing it on my bulk bags from time to time. "Monkey Roses" highlights the mix of earthy & floral notes in this blend's bouquet, and I always saw it as a testament to how evocative & illustrative this particular mixture can be. A rare Lakeland gem among so many grains of Virginia sand. Enjoy!