Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Glengarry Flake

I was a bit spoiled when trying this, as I had 50g of each of the GH flakes to work through and to my palate, this came last. To be fair though, it is still a heck of a lot better than most high street stuff and a good tobacco in its own right.

Big, rough flakes. Pale browns throughout and a grassy, sweet pouch note with the promise of some good Virginia ahead. (I am a bit of a Virginia fan.). I can't detect a casing in the unlit state, but it is a different story once it is going.

This one was another just about perfect tobacco in terms of livability. Just the right moisture level, easy to light, easy to keep going, burns to a nice clean ash and didn't get too hot. I find it a bit too mild for my taste, which probably explains why I got some tongue bite from going at it a bit too hard. The smoke is there in volume and I enjoyed the brightness of the sweet Virginia. What I didn't like though was the way the casing comes through so strongly in the smoke. I absolutely hate aromatic tobaccos for the same reason. I wouldn't call this an aromatic - it is more subtle than that - but I was just overwhelmed with the chemicals (whatever they are) used to case it. It ruined the smoke for me. Others may not mind the sweet casing, of course, but for me it spoiled an otherwise good smoke.

Just two stars from me.

Another one of those Lakeland flakes where the flavorings are used to enhance the high quality tobaccos, and, usually not overwhelm them. This flake makes for a nice change of pace to this usual Kendal Dark smoker. The experience becomes smoother as one advances the length of the bowl. It also becomes a bit more difficult as one progresses to taste the tobacco coming through the flavoring. Maybe this is the result of the palate becoming coated by the flavoring agents, I'm not sure. Overall, a nice change of pace but not a smoke I would look forward to on a daily basis.

This is my first Lakeland style flake, chosen due to its lighter amount of topping. When I first received the 2 oz. bag I found the scent a bit overpowering, being used to straight flakes. My initial smoking of it left me feeling the flavoring overwhelmed any actual tobacco taste. I didn't dislike the flavoring itself but just wanted some VA taste to go with it. After several months much of this aroma and the accompanying taste were lessened but I still didn't get much tobacco taste out of it, either. I prefer either Bright CR if in the mood for an unadulterated light VA, or Rum Flake if I want a scented VA.

I'm not a big fan of G&H tobaccos. And this one hasn't changed my mind about them. Not a bad tobacco but not a good one either. It's a nice quality flake that burns good but they missed it with the flavoring. There is a little miss in the blending as well. Nice try G&H but try again!

If flakes are what you enjoy this one is worth a try. A very nice smoke for a change of pace. Not one of my top five flakes as yet. Three and one quarter stars out of four.

As with all G&H products that i've encountered the leaf in this blend is of very high quality. Alot has already been said about this blend so I won't elaborate in great detail, there are some interesting things to note about this blend however. An interesting thing i've noticed about this blend as well as with many of the other G&H blends that i've smoked is that the first 1/8th of the bowl smokes harsh and then starts to change rather dramatically for the better. This flake has alot of complexity and flavors change quite frequently through out the bowl ranging from sweet to grassy with floral tones that appear and disappear through out the bowl. This is a must try for flake style tobacco lovers. I would give this the highest rating however I enjoy the floral overtones on occasion and not as a staple of flavors I enjoy in my pipe tobaccos.

I have to say- There is a reason one should not review a tobacco until they have smoked at least a couple of ounces of it. When I first tried this tobacco I was totally impressed. It was my first Gawith tobacco that I had tried. It was wonderful. The Virginias were sweet and rich and the flavoring seemed to put this tobacco over the top. I loved it. As I smoked my way down the sample however, I have to say the flavoring started to turn me off. The Virginia here is without peer. It can get nippy, but overall it is just what I like. The perfume they add to this gets old quick however, and it just isn't worth it. With the strong casing I have to definitely be in the mood for this and I find that that doesn't happen often enough to warrant buying more. If you like this particular casing however, I don't think you can go wrong.