Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Rum Flake

If you've smoked G.L. Pease's "Sixpence" before, you will immediately feel familiar. I haven't smoked the two blends side by side, but based on my memory alone, these are pretty much identical. Nevertheless, I did not go back to look at my review of Sixpence because I didn't want it to influence my thoughts about Rum Flake. We will see later if they match.

Out of the tin I immediately get vegetation and alcohol. Not much of sweetness or anything else.

Lighting it up, the first notes that appear are alcohol, spice, pepper, wood, and smoke. The latter isn't reminiscent of Latakia or even Dark Fired Kentucky. But nonetheless, it has a smokey flavor.

Carries a certain complexity. On the one hand the overall woody, nutty, and sweet notes, wrapped in this smokey rum blanket. Excellent balance and very interesting complexity. However, it doesn't make it too complicated, making it simple enough to be enjoyed all day, if you'd like to.

Despite the description giving the impression of a heavy smokey blend, if I had to put it into a category I would've said that this is a standard Virginia-Burley flake with added Rum. While the Virginias don't add much natural sweetness, they do help to balance out the Burley tobaccos, preventing the blend from being a nutty/cocoa/earth type of blend.

I like to rub it out to small ribbon and give it sufficient drying time. Once it's ready, it's very easy to pack and smoke.

Medium in body and strength. Requires minimal relights, if any at all, and maintains its flavor throughout the bowl. No tongue bite.

I enjoy this blend very much. It's great for walking outside, doesn't require you to think too much, but is also not boring. It satisfies the need for nicotine and leaves a nice aftertaste. Not sure I'd get a lot of it, but it's a great blend to have from time to time. Never disappoints.

This is a blend that I fully expected to love, and love it, I did. The reason is that I figured it would be similar to Sweet Maple Twist and Peterson's Hyde Park, just based on the topping and the manufacturer. Like those blends, this has rum, maple and that hint of Lakeland floral that seems inherent in all GH blends.

What differs between this and the aforementioned blends is the constituent Tobaccos (and perhaps varying amounts of ingredients in the topping even though they do taste the same to my memory). Although Virginia is only listed as 30%, it smokes IMO, like a Virginia aro. For all I know the sun cured tobacco they speak of may also be Virginia in origin, in which case, it would be nearly completely Virginia leaf.

This blend is not nearly as strong as the Sweet Maple twist, that is for certain. It also does not have the same amount of body to it as the Twist. Hyde Park, on the other hand, is more similar in nicotine content, but also seems to have more body to it than Rum Flake.

I really enjoy all 3 of these blends, but I found Rum Flake to be the most enjoyable to my tastes. It had just enough nicotine to satisfy my needs and I really like how the topping played with the Virginia. It had such a nice sweetness to it, it was a pity each time I reached the end of the bowl. Like all of the GH blends, it is very hard to get this one to bite and I believe this could easily be an all day smoke. Highly recommended.

Unsmoked it has a subtly sweet flavor, if I didn’t know I would not say necessarily rum but it has a sugary quality and a sweet rose petal aroma that complements the earthy and grassy tobacco smell. The flakes are long and thick and I received them almost ready for smoking.

Super tasty polychromatic tobacco with a very mild scent. This is more like smoking a straight sweetened Virginia than a full blown aromatic Lakeland though there is a mild herbal scent that rounds off the edges along with the maple sweetness. And Virginia is not the only tobacco taste here, as I think I can also taste the cake-like Burleys. Leaves a lingering spicy and complex aftertaste. Strength is a solid medium and it smokes cool.

Excellent. Fully recommended in itself but also a nice tobacco to break into the Lakelands.

For a number of years this was my main daily smoke. I began smoking G&H tobaccos at the suggestion of Jim Beard. I had quit smoking unfiltered Camel cigarettes after 36 years, and needed something with plenty of nicotine. So JB recommended Lake District tobaccos and they did fit the bill.

I was a bit surprised to see less than great reviews on G&H Rum Flake, but like double edge razor blades, end users have various preferences. I buy this tobacco in 500 gram packets and roll the flake out as soon as I get it.

I store it in an old ceramic Dunhill tobacco jar and it keeps well in there. As noted above, this was my daily driver, but G.L. Pease Robusto shot it out of the saddle, and though I still smoke the RF, it might only be a bowl or two in a day or two. I'm not good at reviews describing flavors, characteristics. Suffice to say that I highly recommend this tobacco.

While the flavorings are a little too much on the sweet side for me to be part of any rotation, this was a very good 'holiday' smoke. It also smoked (for me at least) a little on the slow side; a little went a bit longer than most other tobaccos, even other flakes. To my surprise, it also smoked fairly cleanly (no goop, despite being sweet).

Gawith Hoggarth Rum Flake has been described as a Christmas Cake tobacco and it is. Sweet, rich, exquisitely high class flake tobacco. I wish I'd discovered it many years ago. Delightful. Comes wet. Needs drying. Upon opening the tin the aroma is of overpowering rum. That quickly settles down and is all but lost in the sweetness of this eminently satisfying gem of a smoke. Very highly recommended.

G, H & Co. Rum Flake has a bag note that is very sweet with grass and earth and a little spice, the rum is also present if only slightly so. The smoke is burley forward, but only slightly with its notes of earth, wood, nuts, and molasses. The VA's trail this just a little and they are a little tart and tangy, grass and hay notes are easily picked out. There is also a hint of dark fruit and a little spice. I do get a faint note of the Lakeland essence, the rum is only noticeable after about the first quarter of the bowl, but then comes through quite nicely. There is a little vanilla and the licorice is felt more than tasted. I have smoked a lot of flakes with rum in them be it as a navy flake, rum flake, etc. and this is at the top end of them. The rum and other sweeteners do not take away from the tobacco profile, make the smoke sweeter than it would be, and leave a slightly lingering sweetness after every puff. The strength is solidly medium as is the taste. It will not bite even if pushed. It can be an all-day smoke. Smokes dry and needs few relights. A great rum-flavored flake. 4 stars.

This review is for both the 50g tin and the 500g box. The only real detectable difference between the two is that the tin is fresher and the box is slightly more aged. This equates to a lighter Lakeland Essence and a fuller tobacco flavor in the box (yes, this baccy is scented ~ if it is not, you have an old batch of bulk). Rum Flake is one of my personal favorites from GH, as this blend is nearly identical to Glengarry Flake (another of my favorites). The primary difference between Rum Flake and Glengarry Flake is the toppings. Rum Flake has a rum and IMHO black treacle topping (I really do not taste the maple), where as Glengarry Flake is Irish Whiskey and Honey. Both RF and GF use the same floral essence. As with GF, the essence in RF blends brilliantly with the top dressing to provide lovely creamy smoke of rum soaked goodness. As a Gawith Hoggarth flake, this blends nicotine might be a shade off putting to some. However, this is a quite excellent blend that is well worth a go.

---

Cheers...

Lovely smoke this. Lights and burns easily. Excellent quality. Simple flavours.

Tends to the monotonous but you know where you are.

Satisfying any time of the night or day.