Samuel Gawith Irish Spring Flake

Sam Gawith - Irish Spring Flake.

The final Four Seasons for me to try. As I found with the other ones the actual flake is of a very nice build. I find it could use a small amount of extra drying time to help the rubbing but with only little perseverance it can be rubbed to a good consistency with ease. The aroma pre-light is mainly Virginia. Despite the moistness I find that it stays lit well, not requiring many re-lights. The sherry barrels used to mature it in give the smoke a sort of fruity sharpness. If drawn with too much force it will give a little bite but if smoked with ease it's an enjoyable smoke.

Four stars.

I could not find this stateside, so, did a swap with a fellow tobacco lover in England because I fell in love with the tin art. I picked up five of these tins and tossed (gently) four in the cellar. A very light and airy VaPer with plenty of flavor despite the less than powerful presentation. If you are a Perique fan but don't like a tub full with each smoke, then punch this ticket.

I didnt expect to love this as much as I do. The sherry edge is very mild....and not sweet. The tobacco is lighter virginia flake, but still with some body-- more than i expected, actually. There is a quality that reminds me a tad of Brindle Flake, the McClelland blend for Ashton. Lightly stoved it seems. Great tin note and just altogether rather perfect. Not heavy, not strong, but balanced and delicious.

Big surprise. I have tried all from Four season series and left Irish Spring at the end. As VA/Per is not for me. Guys I did not notice Perique at all. For someone it could be negative effect. I appreciated sweetness without additional spices, tobacco was grassy, sweet with a bit tone of flowers. For piper focussing on straight VA. This is must try staff.

This is the second in this series for me to try and so far I am very impressed with the series. The flakes come neatly packaged in the familiar square tin. I did notice some inconsistencies with the thickness of the flakes, but that is a very minor gripe. The size of the flakes are larger than some I have found, but not unwieldy. The moisture content at the cracking open of the tin is on the high side. If you try and light it before it has some drying time it will take longer than normal in staying lit. But once lit, the Virginia and the Perique really come together to form a great smoking experience. The components are of the high quality expected from SG. The nicotine level for me was about middle of the road. It is hardly anything that will cut you off at the knees, but you know it is present. This blend smokes down to a nice ash at the bottom of the pipe. Very recommended whenever it is available in your neck of the woods.

It is a very good Va/Per blend.The sweetness of Virgnia is smoothly playing with the pepper of the Perique.The sherry toping is giving a special flavour rounding the whole taste!It is very tasty tobacco!

This tobacco is delicious! I had my problems with VaPer-mixtures, because i'm more into aros and englishes but this flake is awesome. My local dealer didn't recommend it. He said: "...to simple, to flat, nothing special." He was right. I mean it's not a VaPer-bomb. The tobacco is very mild and still has a lot of flavour. If i had to choose a VaPer-alldaysmoke, this would be it!

After the rather disappointing experience I've had with the first blend from this series, English Summer Flake, I didn't know what to expect from this one. I knew only too well the high quality tobaccos and skill that SG puts in their blends, so I thought that English Summer was simply a blend not for my tastes. Plus, I was eager to finally smoke a true VaPer.

Even after first opening the tin, I had a few surprises. The flakes have the typical appearance that one might expect from SG, but they were surprisingly easy to work with, from the rubbing to packing to lighting. Also, the moisture content was excellent, perfect for smoking right out of the tin. And as a side note, at least in my particular tin, the flakes were absolutely huge. One flake in particular was pretty much the same size as the tin (typical SG rectangular tin). I had to break the flakes apart in order to put them in a jar.

The smoking experience is very enjoyable. From what I could detect, the Virginias seem to be of the bright type, as they have a pretty fresh, grassy and rather sharp taste to them. And then there's the Perique, which stays more in the background. The sherry flavoring amplifies the fruity character of the smoke, toning down the Perique's spiciness considerably. Even in a retro it didn't seem to tickle. Thus, coupled with the bright Virginias, makes this a suitable blend for a nice spring day.

While I was somewhat disappointed with English Summer, this one felt right at home with me. It's not exactly strong, nor particularly complex, while the relative ease of working with the flakes makes this suitable for a wider range of smokers.

I will certainly buy this again, though its availability seems to be a mystery. Even though this is technically discontinued, it is still easily available where I live, so I'm not sure of the exact status. Maybe they have a large stock of unsold tins, or maybe they are still being blended and sold under the Stanislaw brand. Regardless, this is something that I will eagerly smoke again in the future.

Another nice surprise from the Four Seasons series. After opening the tin, beautiful, very wide flakes appear stacked, more or less like the Scottish Autumn Flake, but in this case they appear without fraying, with a straight cut, impeccable. Does this mean that "Uncle Samuel" has replaced the old slicer with a newer one? The moisture content is perfect to load the pipe immediately, and in that it also resembles the aforementioned SAF, from the same Four Seasons series (I later read the criticism -which I recommend- of "the_german", which explains why these "novelties ”). The color of the tobacco is dark brown, dotted with bright virginias, and some darker streaks of the perique, but in small quantities, which explains why the perique is so discreet both in the tin aroma and after lighting the pipe. The aroma in its tin is very pleasant. In the pipe it is a very rich tobacco, fresh, slightly spicy and with a fragrance that seems as if it had some oriental tobacco added, but I suppose this is due to the light coverage of what should be sherry. It burns perfectly and does not create humidity. I really liked it and I would like to get some more tin...