Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Glengarry Flake

This isn't bad... in fact, this may be a good tobacco for one who is looking for an introduction to Lakeland type flakes (meaning flavored).

All in all, this was a bit "thin" to me. There is a good VA base here and while there is nothing negative to report, I will say that Ennerdale is a much better tobacco for me, it is similar to Glengarry flake but has more nicotine oomph and also has a more pleasant flavoring added.

Again - not bad but given the choice between this and Ennerdale it's a no brainer for me... Just not enough OOMPH here for me. A good primer for the Lakeland style flakes for the novice.

This blend would have been an excellent choice for seven-years-old girls, would they choose to smoke a pipe. For me, not so much. When I go for Lakeland Aromatics I go for Flavour and Fullness, not for a flow of sweetish flavourless steam. I regret I didn't buy some more Ennerdale or Coniston instead of this. Never again.

The tobacco itself isn't bad as in "bad". It's a cute and lovely little blend. A toy tobacco. Because it's so disappearingly weak in all departments I can't really imagine whom I could recommend this to besides the aforementioned seven-years-old girls. And since I'm against them to pick up the habit of pipe smoking, the only verdict left is: Not Recommended.

I put two stars because it's a Gawith and Hoggarth, not a Borkum Riff. No blends from Gawith and Hoggarts really deserve to get one-star-marks. Still, I don't recommend this. Don't waste money on toys, buy GH's Rum Flake or Kendal Flake instead.

What's the point...I found this blend very boring and bland. As always with G&H, the base tobacco is of a very high quality, but it's wasted here. When I'm in the mood for a Lakeland, I want to taste that lovely essence. When I'm in the mood for a straight Virginia, I want to taste the rich umami meatiness that Virginia tobacco provides. This blend gives you neither, it has enough essence to overpower the Virginia, but not enough to taste like a proper Lakeland! Not at all for me, the only use I can see, would be as a first Lakeland for those who are very apprehensive about them.

An interesting tobacco with some merit . The flavoring is the classic "soap" flavor . I'd have to be a soap enthusiast to be able to tell the difference in this flavoring and similar G&H soap flavors . Still , once lit the tobacco loses a lot of the soapiness , fading mostly into the background , and the VA flavors come to the front . I don't smoke heavily cased aromatics , but when I'm in the mood for something sweet this fits the bill . Aromatic smokers might find this "lightly flavored" .

Nice dark flake with veins of lighter tobacco has pleasant aroma after sweet hay, grass and floral toping. My sample was at right moisture level. Burns on few relights till end. Toping smelled like rum, some flowrs and maybe honey. One of the best lakelands tobacco out there. Definitely not all day smoke. Too heavy even nic hit is almost nothing. Two stars only beacuse this tobacco is not for everyone.

As expected with G&H flakes, this stuff packs, lights, and smokes like a dream. I’ve only found it in bulk in the US, so it comes in full-length flakes, not cut down for tinning. It’s a pure Virginia blend that G&H calls “similar” to Bright CR Flake.

Glengarry starts with a small blast of Lakeland floral essence, and settles into a high quality VA smoke. Early, it is very light, but by 1/4 bowl the stronger flavor picks up. I had to smoke some in a meer before reviewing so I could be remind myself that the faint floral flavors weren’t just ghosts, but they are there.

The trouble with Glengarry is that it’s too much essence for someone who hates that flavor, and not enough for someone who loves it. There’s not enough topping to use it as training wheels for Lakeland style flavors. Folks who hate granny perfume should be smoking Bright CR Flake, they’ll like it better. Folks who like the Lakeland flavors or want to start out with them should be smoking Kendal, Coniston, Bosun, or just go for the jugular with Ennerdale. I happily smoked several ounces of Glengarry, but I’d almost always reach for something stronger in a Lakeland or a pure VA with no essence.

This tobacco is one of a large number of flakes recently received by myself in an attempt to widen my palette to aromatics. It started off very promising. This was above all the bulk flakes I have received in terms of its presentation. Many of the other bulk flakes arrived a bit broken & falling into parts, but this was just a perfect series of straight, strong, massive bulk flakes. Very, very attractive presentation, perfect hues of the tobacco & impeccably formed structure. A pleasing to the eye combination of dark Virginia (most prominent) speckled with little bursts of bright tobaccos in there as well. The pouch note was also quite pleasant, the tobacco could be noted, but there was a definite sweetness there, above and beyond the Virginia, I can sense the honey notes mentioned, with perhaps a slightly souring (although pleasant) whisky backnote. I had to cut the flakes into approximately one-thirds, as this was about the max that my pipes could accommodate, to my delight, these flakes remained solid even when sliced (widthways - I didn't just tear a strip off the bottom). This needed to be rubbed fairly well, as with most bulk flakes, I found that leaving more than a few bits of broken flake in amongst the rubbed out strands made it very difficult to keep lit, but properly rubbed out & packed with care, it burns fairly easily (mine was not too damp & somewhat aged when I got it). Smoking it at first, I found it a little bitey & harsh, but when I adjusted my cadence, it calmed down. With a combination of breath smoking & occasional retrohaling, I got the most out of this tobacco. The tobacco was good, and the topping built up from moderate at the beginning of the bowl, to dominant in the middle, and fading out again towards the end. The tobacco is of good quality (something that is hard to find in aromatics generally), and the topping is a generally pleasant sweetness, with zingy little hits of sourness. The room note is pleasant to tolerable in my opinion. It all sound very positive, no? Well, actually, no. Although when smoked with the adequate preparation and care, this can be quite pleasant tasting and cool, one small error, and you'll either be relighting constantly, or have a bowl hotter than the sun. For the first ounce of this, I thought of this as a one star tobacco, possibly going up to 3 when I had learned the method. To me, however, pipe smoking should be about - primarily - relaxation and ease. Even when prepared properly, one has to concentrate a bit too much on this one for my liking. We all know that one has to learn to smoke a pipe, but my learning was done a long time - and many smokes - ago, and I don't appreciate being made to learn all over again to accommodate just this one blend. I am a fair man, though, and given that I have in my time on this site up to this point, only ever given a one-star rating on one occasion, I cannot give this a one-star score (it's miles better than 'Clan'). On that basis, I'll give it a 2-star rating, if you can figure out how to smoke it & it's a regular in your rotation, I can see why you probably love it. For me, the reward doesn't justify the effort. As other have mentioned as well, it also gave me a fairly rough throat on several occasions (this may be because I still haven't figured out the entirely best way to smoke it - but it doesn't inspire in me the desire to explore any further). Try it, by all means, but I won't be buying it again.

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.