Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Rum Flake

This tobacco is a flake, so this review assumes that you can smoke flake properly.

When you see this in the tin, wrapped in the plastic baggy, you might be disappointed...but when you pop the tape seal, you're hit with a deep, rich, plummy, rummy smell and you can see the darkness and complexity of the flake slices...a good sign!

When you've packed your pipe properly, be prepared for a cool, rich, deep, complex and varied smoke that gives forth clouds of smoke spiced with LIGHT scents of vanilla and rum, but doesn't bite the tongue or flare up in the pipe. Slow, steady smoking will bring a swirling mix of the casing (rum, vanilla, licorice) to your senses and delight you every minute! It burns down to clean, dry ash and lingers in the nose like a pleasant shot of rum and soft vanilla ice cream. EXCELLENT!

This is a wonderful tobacco and is going into the regular rotation. The people I was around like it, too!

This is nothing but an elegant aromatic with enough tobacco flavor to satisfy anyone, anytime.

HIGHLY recommended!!!

Rum Flake;

Star Rating = 3.75;

Rating Scores - 10 is the Best and 0 is the Worst;

Pouch Note = 10;

Room Note = 9;

Flavor = 10;

Bite = 9;

Burn = 10;

After Taste = 9;

Raw Score = 57;

Rated Percentage = 95%;

Comment = Smooth, Strong Strength, Full Body Natural Tobacco Flavor, has a slight Sweet Taste, enjoyable smoke

Look down one review. I think it's imporrtant to understand the intent behind the use of flavorings in many of Gawith and Hogwarts blends. As I see it they're neither necessarily supposed to reek of nor strongly taste like the flavor...which is there often to 'take the edge off' a very strong blend or enhance and meld with other Lakeland essences which may or may not be present and to varying degrees. In this sense they are condimental...they 'adjust' the flavors. This is especially true with the flavored twists (whisky, rum, maple, etc.). I also find it to be the case with blends like the Lousiana Flake, in which I can taste a faint Lakeland style floral aroma...but little of the touted Perique. But it's there. Rum Flake is perhaps the sweetest flake that G&H makes. It's fantastic, wonderful stuff. But the flaver reviled by the other reviewer is likely that light rum combined with the lignt Lakeland essence. If you like it...well and good. If not...you claim the rum is from China. Sadly, if you don't like this one you likely won't like other forms of G&H ambrosia...like the already mentioned Lousiana Flake...or Glengarry...or Brown Flake Unscented. Boy...they sure do make some amazing flakes.

Of course, I'm not saying anyone has to like 'em. We all have different tastes...as it should be.

Is there such a thing as a bad flake from Gawith & Hogarth? If there is, I have yet to discover it. I have not tried any of their full strength offerings, as that type of thing is not really my bag.

I normally try and avoid tobaccos with any sort of casing or flavouring, but sailors have added rum to tobacco since ancient times, so I felt I should give this one a go. Having said that, I don't feel I should welcome the taste of rum first thing in the morning!

Well, it is simply outstanding and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It never overheats the pipe and smokes beautifully right to the end of bowl, which should appeal to the more thrifty amongst you. The quality is instantly apparent from the moment you light your pipe.

What is the perfect medium flake? Is it British, from the Old South, or could it possibly be Danish?

This is a first class tobacco with which to sweeten your by now, thoroughly confused briars. Even my most hated Dunhill Pot, seems to have taken on a new lease of life!

I got this tobacco, along with Bob's chocolate, Black Irish X rope, and Glengarry flake, as a chance to sample some of Gawith's tobaccos. As you will find if you read my other reviews of these tobaccos, this is the only one that really did it for me. This stuff is simply the best aromatic tobacco that I have ever tried. I can't say enough good stuff about it. While I could recognize that Bob's and Glenngary were of excellent quality, it was the flavoring components that didn't appeal to my personal tastes. Not so with this tobac! The flavor of maple sugar along with sweet Virginia and nutty Burley were perfect. I know that there is supposed to be rum in the mix but it really doesn't seem to be there. I think they should rename it Maple Flake. The casings never cover up the taste of very high quality tobacco in this blend, and all together it alway's makes me think of that elusive, rich, classic tobacco aroma that we all strive to rediscover. The same aroma that we remember smelling when we were kids and we encountered the smell of grandpa smoking his pipe for the first time. This is a cool smoking blend as well with great burning characterisitics. This stuff is classic and I will never be long without some on hand. That being said, if you are looking for a hearty, rich, and tasty aromatic that still delivers great tobacco taste, take this for a spin. Too rich for all day consumption, it will indeed be a treat on Christmas morning!

This pipe tobacco has a short story behind it. Where to begin? Several years ago I frequented a popular Cigar and Pipe Store that has and is still around for over 30 years. I do not get to go there as much as I use to but it is a nice place to relax with tables, chairs, couches, coffee maker, etc. and has a huge selection of pipes, tobacco, and cigars. I was in there on my regular Sunday morning, window shopping the pipes in the display case when a nice lady came in with a box of pipe tobacco, one of many I was later to find out. I started talking to her about the large box of pipe tobacco, and learned that her husband had passed away. It was his hobby she said, and I detected some obvious sadness in her voice. This gentleman during his life time had a huge cellar of pipe tobacco unlike anything I have ever seen. She was there to sell the jars and tins of his pipe tobacco to the proprietor of the shop. She offered me a few jars before she handed them over to the shop owner and I graciously and politely accepted a few not really knowing or paying much attention to what I selected and thanked her. Over the next several weeks I also purchased some of this gentleman's pipe tobacco from the store. One of the two jars given to me was 16oz of rum flake that was packed so tight I could not believe how he did it as the flakes were perfectly arranged in the jar and was dated 10/02. This Thanksgiving eve I decided to try this one. 15 years ago this man stored this pipe tobacco and now I am about to use it. Not to sound melodramatic but I feel a little sadness when I smoked this one this evening and could not help but wonder about this man. In an odd way I feel somewhat of a connection to this gentleman who from the way his wife spoke about him really enjoyed his hobby and past time and hopefully wherever he may be he knows I consider this gift a great honor. My collection is not the largest but I know I have more pipe tobacco than I will ever consume in my lifetime. Probably due to the fact there is 'always' a blend out there I have not yet tried. I am 58 and hopefully when I cross over, whoever gets my stash will enjoy and respect it the way I have respected his. Now to the review. It had a great rum/maple smell to it right out of the jar. I loaded it in my Peterson 307 that I normally use for rum/whiskey pipe tobacco, Irish connection I guess. As I fired it up I detected the 'essence' I hear about but it faded quickly and it really smoked good. You can tell by the taste, feel and the way it smokes this is a real quality pipe tobacco. I had two bowls this evening with my coffee and will have some more tomorrow. Not much more I can add other than I am lucky to have it.

Im partial to Gawith Hoggarth tobaccos. Period. I smoke several of them all the time. And this is one I smoke semi regularly. Its very rich, but not cloying in anyway. I dont fully understand some of the negative reviews. Look, I get that GH tobacco is not for everyone, but if its not your thing then ok. But its difficult not to appreciate the institution that Gawith Tobaccos (both houses) are in the pipe smoking world. If gawith goes out of business, god forbid, I might give up pipe smoking (ok, an exaggeration but not by much). Rum Flake isn't the strongest of their blends, and in fact its more like a tad over medium in the nic dept, but flavor wise its strong. The flavor is creamy and spicy both, but the tobacco taste never leaves. And the base note is that air cured Indian leaf they use for most of their blends. Some of their other blends (Ennerdale for instance) do sort of obliterate the tobacco taste, but not RF. I think Rum Flake is among their best IMHO. But its not an everyday smoke. This is very old school, like all GH blends and not for the smoker who likes Danish aromatics or light burley blends. Just don't bother if that is your preference. But Id at least give it a try....start with something like Grasmere maybe, or Best Brown...and move on up to Rum Flake and eventually try Dark Birds Eye and even Bosun Cut plug. You might like them. Then if you are truly out of your mind, try Black Irish Twist or brown bogie. The later two are made for serious hard core hope to die pipe men, or shipwrecked sailors or just crazies. But joking aside, none of their product is ever anything but of the best quality.

I'd personally not label any of the Lakeland's as cloying or syrupy, but this is probably the least soapy of all in that particular range. Even though the Lakeland essence is quite apparent, it is not as much in your face as the other ones. Most people seem to complain these flakes are somewhat rough round the edges, but how a flake is being cased should not be a measure of the level of sophistication or class per se (not withstanding all the Danish blends). The fact these flakes are lightly cased can only mean the stress is being put onto the tobacco itself and not so more onto its aromatic qualities. On the other hand, it seem to evolve quite nicely as you progress with your smoke, going from mild to medium to somewhat full. I can tell the Virginia leaf does not come here on its own, but I am not too sure what other tobaccos might be present in this blend. I guess a Burley tobacco of some sort, probably flue cured, but I cannot tell for sure. Despite the thickness of these flakes, they are both easy to crumble and pack your bowl with. I cannot detect any tongue bite and these flakes seem to be very forgiving and easy to smoke. I have thoroughly enjoyed this tobacco, so I am going to give it 4 stars.

How anyone could not like this stuff is beyond me. It's one of the few virginia blends that has such a good taste and fullness that I don't feel the need to be a fast puffer. I think it is an excellent blend! It has a full delicious slightly fruity taste from the very start, and just gets better as you work down the bowl. When I got to the bottom I was tempted to reload and go again. It leaves absolutely no tongue bite, at all, could very well be an all day blend and it left a great taste in my mouth. I had it with dark roast coffee and was in heaven. I will for sure keep this on hand all the time. It may become my go to tobacco. Try it, I highly reccommend!

I am returning to this blend now 6 years later and just finished smoking a tin of this blend. My opinion of this blend has not changed. It is an excellent blend and once again I am enjoying every bowl of it. This time I dried it to an almost crisp moisture level and it made it even better. I am a real fan of this blend. One difference I have noticed is that the flkavoring listed on my current tin differs from the description on this site. My tin says the following "Virginias and Burley with flavors of rum, licorice and vanilla. No mention of maple at all.