Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Kendal Flake

Bought loose. Supplied as lovely large flakes that are almost the perfect dryness straight from the pack, they rub out easily and require just a few minutes drying. The tin note is very rose scented.

From charing light to half way through the bowl the scent and flavour of rose is incredibly strong, pretty much overpowering the tobacco flavour, and every now and again a hint of chocolate appears reminding me of turkish delight. Once half way through the rose fades and G&H's generic lakeland flavour appears that doesn't over power the tobacco flavour.

I've had the odd bowl now and again from the spring though to autumn, I couldn't smoke it reguarly but a change of pace, particularly in hot weather, it's quite pleasant.

God bless those pipe smokers who like and enjoy Lakeland flakes. I have always been puzzled why some enjoy a soapy, floral and perfumy tobacco that, for me, brought to mind what were probably the scents and aromas of an 18th century French courtesan?s boudoir rather than those of a cool and airy, sun drenched tobacco field after a pre-dawn, morning mist, i.e., I like more natural flavors and tastes in my tobaccos. Kendal Flake did not provide the latter although the nic kick was to my liking. But, as always, to each his own.

A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored.

I rate this blend 7.0 out of 10.

Not too sure what to make of this really, Kendal Flake is a prefectly good flake that I expect I could get to quite like if I smoked enough of it.. I just can't get over the rose flavouring, when you first light the bowl you get a strong blast of flowers thats rather like inhaling a bathroom freshener. The rose flavour backs down once the bowl is properly lit and tamped but its too much for me, as shame as its an exceptionally cool smoke.

I'm sure I could get to like this flake more but I can't see thats its worth the effort when there are so many other flakes out there.

Edit: I have since smoked some Best Brown Flake which is very similar to the Kendal flake, almost identical infact except without the rose air freshener taste. I prefer the best brown and am giving it 3 stars so i'm downgrading this to 2.

This review is from a jarred estate tobacco dated 10/02, God rest his soul. This is a dark brown flake with a slight sweet aroma to it in the jar. I smoked two bowls of this tonight and have already made up my mind on this one. This tobacco is in a category by itself. It is described as an aromatic but not in the traditional sense in my opinion. This is a floral scented tobacco and there lies the rub. The tobacco quality is excellent but I for the life of me I could not help but feel like I was smoking rose flavored soap. When the term Lakeland essence is used, they were not joking. I did make sure I was using a pipe that I did not care if it got temporarily ghosted. Good tobacco, but my palate just does not care for it, but that is not to say I won’t revisit this some time in the future.

I got a 50 gram sample of this tobacco, it was around 1 and a half years old, and although it had not been jarred, I am led to believe that it was stored in an air-tight container. Before smoking it, I had it stored for a couple of weeks in a bag with other tobaccos, but it was wrapped in the original packaging it came in to keep it separate. I am mentioning all of this because - in opposition to all the reviews below - I found the flavour to be somewhat muted. Indeed, I have been smoking Glengarry Flake since, and find it to have bolder topping than this particular tobacco. That is not to say that I found it flavourless, but rather that I could easily detect the tobacco, and I think it outshone the flavours to such an extent that the flavour was largely inconsequential to the overall enjoyment of the smoke. With this in mind, then, be aware that my review may be very different to one that may be experienced when smoking a fresh sample which has not been stored (and perhaps not stored in an ideal fashion) for a fairly long period of time. Now, onto the tobacco itself. I did get a scent of a topping. The sweet, perfumey smell, which is not unpleasant, but somewhat of a shock to the nose of a more 'natural' tobacco fan like myself. I rubbed it out (as an aside - I am someone who normally likes to smoke flakes rolled up, but since I recently received a bundle of these 'bulk flakes' I am having to rub them out, I just can't seem to keep these lit when folded. I don't know what it is about them that makes them different to tinned flakes, but I have noticed it amongst them all), it rubbed easily & packed very well. It took the flame reasonably easily, and burned in a steady fashion. The smoke itself was not at all unpleasant, as mentioned previously, I got the taste & feel of the tobacco before I got any hint of the topping. The topping started to figure in the equation a few puffs in, and was a fairly pleasant background note to a straight good quality tobacco, it anything, in my sample, I would have liked the flavour to be more present, as I'm trying to expand my aromatic palette. Nonetheless, the smoke itself was pleasant enough, if unremarkable. The room note is standard Virgina with a perfumey quality which I quite like. To me this tobacco is truly 'aromatic', in that the topping is more detectable in the aroma than the taste, on that basis, I'll say that the room note is tolerable to pleasant. In strength, again, non remarkable. Perhaps should be medium to strong, but I will give it medium for as inaccurate as my nicotine-measuring abilities are, I know how I feel when I've had too much, and feel it here I didn't. The tobacco is good quality, and I wouldn't object to smoking it again, but I'm going to give it 2 stars out of 4, as my expectations of what a tobacco needs to be to get 3 stars has changed recently, and this just doesn't deserve it, I'm afraid. I would give it 2.5 out of 4, as it is better than 2, but doesn't have that spark that I think it needs to take it up to a 3. I found it somewhat pedestrian & it really didn't develop much beyond the first quarter of a bowl, and remained a standard quality Virginia with a muted backnote, which needed to be rubbed out to smoke, which is not the way I usually like my Virginia, but as I say. Not a bad quality tobacco, and a fresh sample may be required in future to see if it alters my perceptions of this esteemed smoke.

A not-altogether flavourless flake from G & H.

I agree with most reviewers that the initial tin aroma doesn't follow through to the smoke. But then, not many do.

Almonds ? No.

All those other flavours ? Nah.

Mrs RH did think she got a whiff of Rose....

Scores ok on the room note then...

Not a bad flake but it doesn't really have any outstanding qualities of note. Won't rush to buy any more.

Others have documented the details of this blend so I will not repeat that ground. Yes - super flowery, so much so that the first few bowls of it you will likely be able to discern little else. The tobacco is there, just overwhelmed.

At first I didn't think it had much complexity or depth beyond a decent VA with lots of aroma and flavor. I think the flavor becomes a *bit* more multilayered as you move through a sample. Especially when using DGT on a bowl. But I do not think it is so engaging as to become a smoke I crave.

While a good highly aromatic smoke, I find it a bit much for regular consumption. It is consistent in flavor from top to bottom with little variation. A good reliable dark and strongly flavored tobacco which settles in to a fairly smooth smoke. I found Glengarry Flake to be a bit more initially intense, but in the long run more complex and flavorful.