Samuel Gawith English Summer Flake

It's summer, the time of year where Virginias come into their full enjoyment. And it can be a no brainer when you see on offer something from the masters of Virginia, SG.

Upon opening the tin, I was struck by two surprises. First, the cut is not a flake, but rather a mixture between a broken flake and a ready rubbed; there wasn't a single full flake in the entire tin. I'm not sure if that's the case with my particular tin, or something regular with this blend.

The second surprise was that, quite atypical for an SG blend, this came at the perfect moisture content, maybe a hair on the dry side. Therefore, it was smokeable right out of the tin and jarred from day one.

The tin note is very grassy and very citrusy, with some hints of honey and spice. Sometimes, I even get a hint of something that reminds me of freshly grounded coffee. Despite the fact that this is supposedly aged in the press, it still smells very fresh.

Mechanically, you know what to expect if you've smoked SG blends before. Even though it wasn't wet, it still required a bit of preparation before packing. Apart from that, it lights pretty easily, smokes pretty dry, mostly cool and doesn't bite or get harsh. However, it does require a lot of relights, even by SG standards.

Now for the flavor. The main word I can use to describe the blend is "sharp". This is by far the sharpest Virginia I've smoked so far. It's very tangy in the mouth and pretty spicy, like a well-condimented meal. There is also a very zesty, citrusy feel to it, quite unusual for a Virginia blend, which leads me to believe that there is some sort of lemony/limey topping applied to this. But that can give a pretty refreshing feel to it, which works well during summer. The nicotine level is mild to medium.

However, that sharpness is what turns me off with this one. Usually, I prefer smoother blends and, even though this clearly works best during summer due to that citrusy, zesty feel, it's a little too sharp and too spicy for me. It's almost as if someone squeezed a lemon over the tobacco prior to packaging. Apart from that, even though there are high quality Virginias in this one, the taste is not remarkable, especially when compared to other Virginias from SG's catalogue. If it wasn't for that sharpness and that citrusy feel, I imagine that this one, for me at least, would be quite boring.

So that, coupled with the high number of relights, prevents me from really enjoying this blend. Maybe it's this particular tin and others may offer a different experience. But it behaved the same in multiple pipes, so I don't think I'm willing to try it again.