Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Kendal Flake

Gawith Hoggarth - Kendal Flake.

The pouch aroma from this is a really strong floral one, almost resembling cleaning fluid! The flakes are of the perfect moisture amount to smoke the moment the pouch is opened. I favour rubbing my flakes and with these it's superbly easy, they only require a gentle hand. Lighting it up is easy and the burn is steady straight away. Now, on to the flavour, it is incredibly busy. I was unaware that so much could be crammed into a blend. I find the floral side the most formidable, this seems to outweigh the other flavours however it doesn't make them redundant. The rest of the taste is pandemonium. Too much. I get some rum, some nut, some vanilla, with a grassiness but sadly nothing clear. It is just too busy. Another negative (for me) is after about ten minutes my mouth feels as though I have dined off a garage floor, sticky, gunky, oily and rank! After being quite negative, well a lot, I feel I should raise a few positives. The first is bite, not any whatsoever. The second is the temperature, it stays cool even when strained. The final good point to end on is the note, it's floral but not anywhere near as heady as I anticipated.

I know this isn't what you would call a glowing report but I guess this is where we must remember that tobacco is subjective. Although not positive I still hope a few folks can draw something beneficial from my review/rant! Sadly, not recommended by me.

This MAY grow on me, but the outlook for that is not great. This review is the result of a great selection of decade old samples a pipe smoking friend sent me. So we’re talking a 10-plus year old vintage of Kendal flake.

I’m a huge fan of GH flakes. And shags. And curly cuts. But especially the flakes. 90% of my tobacco intake is GH product. My current favorites include Scotch Flake and Bosun Cut Plug.

But this just isn’t clicking with me. One of the listed flavors that other reviewers don’t seem to mention is what dominates my experience: musk.

Seriously, it’s the star of the show. Which is a shame, because otherwise, it’s a great flake. Packs easily. Burns better than most.

But that musk. It makes me feel like I’m smoking something musty.

It’s not there in the bag aroma. That smells fine, like a typical GH flake. But it’s definitely there during the smoke, especially the first half of each bowl.

I’d definitely recommend that you try it for yourself, because it’s definitely got its share of fans. And my palate can be a little unusual. I pick up the trace amount of latakia used in GLP’s Filmore so strongly, it ruins that blend for me.

No. You don’t put all that stuff in my tobacco. Kendal professional blenders show, in this and other mixtures, how a good virginia leaf can be squandered. I understand that many smokers are accustomed to these flavouring, but to me it is somehow unacceptable: like ordering a good steak in a good restaurant, but the waiter goes “sir, we can enhance your blant steak by putting some pineapple/almond/cheese/wine/tomato/cucumber/garlic/onion/chocolate on it”. No, sir, I ordered a STEAK 🙂 “Ok wait, I’ll pour some floreal soap over all it” - what?

When it comes to this flake, I feel like the aromatic smoker who cracks a tin of full bodied English with its pungent aroma and goes "yuk!" in reverse. This is a very well made flake; however, I agree with those reviewers who mentioned floral, SOAPY flavor. I'm afraid three puffs was all I could take. I enjoy some aromatics from time to time, but for me, this ain't it. It's a first class tobacco like all GH's products, it's definitely just not for me.

I just didn't get on with this tobacco. It tasted terrible to me and I found the nicotine hit way too high - and I have smoked Condor and St Bruno and lived to tell the tale. It lights and burns well and smells great in the pouch - but did nothing else for me apart from leaving me feeling rather ill afterwards!

I didn't particularly like this tobacco. You know how you can develop a liking or disliking for a particular brand. I seem to have a problem with G & H tobaccos. This one was nice in every way except it had a very strong taste of "Soap". Lighted and burned nicely. The tobacco had a very nice aroma. But there was always that taste of Ajax.