Watch City Cigar Flake #558

I am not a regular reviewer since I restarted pipe enjoyment about 5 months ago and feel my palette and experience are of limited tenure. I lean to Vapers and a YTPC member pointed me to Watch City and recommended Flake 558. It is an amazing blend offering some sweetness and a fain sour note that play very well together. No bite and each bowl is total enjoyment. Well worth a try at a reasonable price with great service.

Watch City Flake #558: The Penzance of VaPers.

Okay – so it’s not a VaPer – 558 has Kentucky in it. But 558 nearly looks and crumbles exactly like Penzance, and it certainly smokes and tastes like something from the realm of Penzance -- so talk about a Luxury Blend – Damn, this stuff is good! And I mean 558 is fantastically, indescribably good. The 13 people who’ve reviewed before me have done a wonderful job of summing up/describing 558, so all I can say is this: 558 is some really high quality, first-rate smoke.

Truth be told, 40-ounces of Watch City product appeared at my door yesterday: 8-ounces each of Flake #558, Watch City Slices, Deep Elem, Nor’Easter and Deluxe Crumb. As soon as I opened the box and saw what had actually arrived, I was completely mesmerized, absolutely absorbed, entirely entranced and altogether enthralled by what lay inside: 5 bags, each one full of stunningly beautiful tobacco, all of it in shades of dark, beaver brown – chestnut, cocoa, chocolate – all of it smelling fantastic, all of it beautifully presented, exquisitely supple and pleasing to the touch. There were no “slices” or “flakes” – it was all crumble in the form of slices and flakes (except for the Deluxe Crumble, which was already course-cut, but that’s for another review, another day). Of the dozen or so people who have discovered/reviewed the aforementioned Watch City blends, 90% of them are the same folks. Quite frankly, I really struggled with whether I wanted to post this review or not, because if Watch City ever catches on, these blends will all but disappear from the face of the Earth (only to be found on ebay, at a 400% markup). I can't believe I missed the #556 -- I will be unapologetically hoarding this stuff -- and I simply cannot wait to try the other four Watch City blends that came to my door. Don’t say nobody ever told you so about Watch City Flake #558 – if you miss this stuff, shame on you. Abundantly recommended. 4-stars.

I bought this from Watch City over the weekend. It is an outstanding weed. Not really a pure VAPER in that it contains Kentucky, but no less tasty than the best out there IMHO. The smell in the pouch is very pungent: a sharp vinegar over moldering hay. It reminds me a little of the bark mulch laid in your flower beds in the spring, weird as that sounds. An interesting aspect of this stuff, for me, is the crumble cake/flake hybrid texture of the blend. It rubs out easily, and packs perfectly. It can be difficult to light, but once you get it going it requires minimum relights. It burns very cleanly all the way to ash. Perfect. With regard to taste, I have a little different take than some of the other reviewers here. I do not taste the perique as a fig or plum flavor-think Escudo, but I taste the spice as a sort of a tingle on the tongue. No bite, and no harshness, just a tingle. I can taste considerable citrus, I find it fairly tart with a base "woodiness" presumably from the Kentucky. It is well balanced, very smooth with hay and earth undertones and a slight Virginia sweetness that gets stronger as you smoke down the bowl. I bet it ages well, and I will certainly buy more.

Fat, juicy, meaty, sweet BBQ excellence!!! Please read all the other reviews here for the nuances if you must... otherwise, just order yourself a couple of pounds and smoke and cellar your treasure.

Bag note very spicy sweet Virginia the smell is wonderful. The flakes are very easy to rub out. Mine was just slightly moist let it sit and dry for 10 minutes. This is a spicy earthy perique forward blend. The Virginia balances it out nicely with some sweetness and citrus. Burns a bit hot, no need to rush this smoke. Puffing gently will provide a more enjoyable result. Slight tongue tingle from the perique . All around really good smooth full flavored blend that has some sweet, sour and pepper going on as you progress though the bowl as well. Nic hit is middle. Highly recommended for Vaper smokers. Not quite an all day smoke but a few bowls are nice.

Flake #558 is the ONE. I stumbled on #558 when I went to order the limited release Rouxgaroux and decided to order 6 of Watch City's blends at the same time. All of their blends are top notch and while Rouxgaroux is outstanding, flake #558 is the one perfect Virginia I've been searching for. It's like going through dozens of red wines and then trying an expensive, aged Napa Cabernet for the first time - all you can say is "wow!" Flake #558 is dark, aged, rich, creamy, complex and smooth with a bit of tang and lots of depth. I rub it out (it's a crumb cake flake) and let it sit for 30 minutes. Flake #558 is on a different level.