Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Rum Flake

I believe that certain people treat tobacco like candy, if it says chococlate on the tin they expect to smoke cocoa. That's the thing with tobacco,it's tobacco first of all. For example this tastes like kentucky and burley mainly, I see it as a milder version of Peterson's Irish flake, for me this is NOT an aromatic tobacco, and I expected it not be as it is a flake cut, as I have seen, flake tobacco is usually stronger. It's true that I don't find any taste of vanilla what so ever, but I am thinking about that I read certain reviews where other smokers didn't noticed scents that I have found. That is why tastes are different,and that is why, there are hundreds of tobacco mixtures on the market.

So what can I say about it. It has a full kentucky and burley taste witch I like. It has indeed a certain taste of rum (not rum essence that is used for cookies), note that I am a 100% black rum drinker. I couldn't taste the licorice but I could notice the sweet taste. It's a long smoke tobacco, it burns nice but hard so you can enjoy it for about an hour even in a medium pipe.

I am smoking pipe for a few months (started again after 5 years) and I have tried for about 10-12 tobaccos, form straight latakia and perique mixture to excellent danish aromatics.

This one is in my "Good full taste tobacco section" (by now I didn't find one I could call the best), not an aromatic,as far as I can taste it.

Just to let you know, and please do contradict with me if you disagree: if a tobacco is brownish and smells like smoked plums then it should be judged as pure tobacco, not spice, not aromatic.

UPDATED: from Recommended to Somewhat Recommended. I've let the tobacco "wait" for a while, and it seems to me now harsh and soapy. But there is also a thing that I might be doing wrong, mainly the fact that I only have mid-size - big-size pipes (38 mm depth 18 mm chamber width the smallest - 50 mm depth and 21 mm width the largest) and I always fill them to the top. Perhaps this tobacco is better when smoked from smaller pipes in smaller quantities.

The bag note smells deep, sweet, rich. Earthy, vegetative, slightly floral, and of course maple rum. It’s nice. Broken apart brown flakes.

Smoking out of a clay pipe.

So bias alert, I’m not a fan of burley tobaccos. This is predominantly burley with a healthy dose of sun cured tobacco and 30% Virginia. That being said this was ok. I get big earthy, woody, vegetative, and grassy hay flavor that I expect from G&H tobaccos. The Lakeland taste thankfully isn’t there in abundance however it is detectable and tastes floral and soapy. There’s a deep, dark, sweetness that surrounds this blend, obviously the rum and maple sugar, and it’s what makes this blend enjoyable to me. The rum definitely tones down and mellows out the tobacco so much so that I even enjoy smoking this predominantly burley blend. It is what I would say a sweet tobacco.

Have a breakfast before this pipe as this blend is mostly burley so the nic level is a solid medium.

Rum Flake didn’t dry my mouth out too bad as burley usually does. This blend did have some bitter spots for me that came and went but that could be because my ph does not get alone with burley. Would definitely recommend smoking slow. It smokes well, hardly any relights, cool and consistent smoke. **Has a definite and pronounced vegetative flavor**

Some people love this stuff and it’s a fine tobacco, but for me it’s relegated to the dog walking pile. Stuff I smoke when walking the dog. However as far as rum and maple blends go this is one of the best as it’s not a typical wet and goopy aromatic. You’ll notice the rum and maple and enjoy the sweetness if that’s what you want.

I purchased this and a few other SG tobaccos a few years back when being adventuresome exploring numerous varieties of tobaccos. I found it too much for my pallet and put it away. The tin was almost full but dry. To tone down the tobacco and moisturize it I combined it with a simple American Burley the Match Sugar Barrel. Unfortunately this didn’t help much. I stop found myself repelled by the assault on my tongue by a barrage of strange flavors. Yes the stuff is perfumed and has a number of strong flavors in addition to a bitter and rough tobacco flavor. I still gave it two stars because these are some pipe smokers who would enjoy just the aspects that led me to almost toss my pipe out the window. Call me unsophisticated but I will attempt to erase the foul taste away with a bowl of good old simple Velvet.

Another reviewer here commented that this is a little bit like a cup of coffee: bitter-sweet. I too had that impression while smoking it. It would probably go very well with coffee!

I didn't find the flavour to be very specific. I'd like a little more dark fruit in this. It's a little plummy and maple/rum sweet from the toppings, but the burley is a little muddy for me. DK called it "a mostly non-descript mish-mash of tobaccos." I get what he's saying but I wouldn't go that far. There's fruit and oatmeal I would say. I did like this, but G&H has better flakes than this, so I won't buy this one again.

One great thing about this is the burn property. I rubbed it out after about 2 hours of dry time and it needed only a single light and burned cool all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It would be a great flake for breaking in a briar if it weren't for the added flavouring!

Very strong rum topping on this tobacco. And while I normally enjoy Navy Flake and Navy cut offerings that have some rum, this was way over the top for me. I attempted four times in four different pipes to sample this tobacco. However I got the very same soapy like taste each and every time. The nose from the can was actually quite good and I really thought this would be a favorite. However, once match met tobacco, I really could not shake the bitter soap taste on my tongue. I used 3 briars and 1 MM cob to test samples. All were regular smokers for me. Sadly, this offering for GH and Company won't be a regular smoke.