GQ Tobaccos Askwith Kake
(3.41)
Most VaPer (Virginia & perique) tobaccos are made using sweet, grassy, flue cured Virginias and a sprinkling of perique. The resulting tobacco has a lovely grassy flavour with a touch of an acidic twang from the perique. These blends tend to use about 5% of perique, and this is considered the magic amount! For our Askwith Kake we opted to use a few different Virginias, flue cured and less sweet steamed Virginia for the base. The use of the steamed Virginia takes some of the heat out of the tobacco and creates a smoother smoking experience.
Then comes the part which Glynn usually goes over the top with, perique. As we said earlier most use 5%, we however like to push this "condiment" leaf as far as we can, so 20% can be found in this blend. The use of so much perique really gives this blend a punchy spicy flavour, which is not a hint as found in other VaPers, rather more a main player in the flavour-scape. With such contrasting variety in the tobaccos, we opted to press this tobacco into a Kake. The 7 days in a cold press, allows the flavours to meld much better than loosely packing into glass jars and balances the smoke out!
Created for Chris Askwith of Askwith Pipes (UK).
Notes: As of July 2018, Glynn Quelch sells the individual components and recipe to customers so they can make their own version.
Details
| Brand | GQ Tobaccos |
| Series | Pipe Makers Selection |
| Blended By | Glynn Quelch |
| Manufactured By | Glynn Quelch |
| Blend Type | Virginia/Perique |
| Contents | Perique, Virginia |
| Flavoring | |
| Cut | Krumble Kake |
| Packaging | Bulk |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Production | No longer in production |
Profile
Strength
Medium to Strong
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.41 / 4
|
Reviews
Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| May 09, 2016 | Medium | None Detected | Medium to Full | Pleasant |
Kakes are just a lot of fun. This one is mostly chestnut brown but mottled with lights and darks. A nice spicy dark fruit bag aroma (25 gram baggie). Breaks apart as easy as any kake I've smoked, and a lot easier than a lot of them. Knives not required.
With 20% perique, you know upon lighting up how this one will start, and it doesn't disappoint. It's perique heavy at the start. Not too heavy, but I do like a perique-rich VaPer often. The perique is not peppery but more of the typical dark stewed fruit variety, even when snorked I noted no real nose tickle. It takes at least a quarter-bowl for this to settle in for me, where the Virginias come calling. As the blender notes, there is a Virginia base that is predictably basic, but eventually some citrus notes shine through and some welcomed sweetness emerges. About mid-bowl this blend really starts to pop! If the top half smoked like the bottom, this would be a four star blend with a bullet, but each bowl was consistent with its reticence to evolve. Pretty fair nic hit with this one but nothing like a standard burley or a G&H flake. Bottom half of the bowl is nothing short of excellent, with the Virginias equal to the task of the perique and helping this blend reach some equilibrium. A relatively complex blend, this one shows off various bread and toast flavor with a little jelly that changes from plum to burnt raisin. I don't much care for the term "grassy" when it comes to Virginias because I don't wanna smoke a lawn! But the Virginia definitely leaned to that side of things, which seemed proper because too much citrus or earth would mar the experience. An easy recommendation! Again, I just wish it didn't take so long to develop. For that reason, big bowls worked best for me (as usual!). 3.5 stars.
With 20% perique, you know upon lighting up how this one will start, and it doesn't disappoint. It's perique heavy at the start. Not too heavy, but I do like a perique-rich VaPer often. The perique is not peppery but more of the typical dark stewed fruit variety, even when snorked I noted no real nose tickle. It takes at least a quarter-bowl for this to settle in for me, where the Virginias come calling. As the blender notes, there is a Virginia base that is predictably basic, but eventually some citrus notes shine through and some welcomed sweetness emerges. About mid-bowl this blend really starts to pop! If the top half smoked like the bottom, this would be a four star blend with a bullet, but each bowl was consistent with its reticence to evolve. Pretty fair nic hit with this one but nothing like a standard burley or a G&H flake. Bottom half of the bowl is nothing short of excellent, with the Virginias equal to the task of the perique and helping this blend reach some equilibrium. A relatively complex blend, this one shows off various bread and toast flavor with a little jelly that changes from plum to burnt raisin. I don't much care for the term "grassy" when it comes to Virginias because I don't wanna smoke a lawn! But the Virginia definitely leaned to that side of things, which seemed proper because too much citrus or earth would mar the experience. An easy recommendation! Again, I just wish it didn't take so long to develop. For that reason, big bowls worked best for me (as usual!). 3.5 stars.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 2014 | Medium to Strong | None Detected | Medium to Full | Pleasant |
A strong (20%) perique mixture, pressed into a cake, which can be easily crumbled in the hand. The large proportion of perique means that it is not a tobacco for wimps, but it isn't as overpowering as you might expect. It has a marked perique tang, but less of the fruitiness also often associated with perique, perhaps because the Virginias used are different from the usual.
Pipe Used:
Askwith morta Liverpool
PurchasedFrom:
GQ
Age When Smoked:
New
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 2014 | Mild to Medium | Mild to Medium | Medium | Unnoticeable |
1st attempt with this. I buy from Glynn regularly so I know his quality. This surprised me. 20% Perique is 5% less than my home-mix. This was gentle, not soft but early morning, coffee, ham and eggs and a bowl early morning. I tried it outdoors on a moist day and back in the 'hole'. This was light enough for a few inhalations fixing the N for the day. All in all a very amiable smoke. I shall get me a little more of this to age and report back.
Pipe Used:
various
PurchasedFrom:
GQTobaccos
Age When Smoked:
from fresh
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Mar 25, 2019 | Extremely Strong | None Detected | Very Full | Tolerable to Strong |
Phew! This is obviously a really high quality blend that is carefully tuned to provide a perique powerhouse, and as a result, is the only GQ Blend that I have tried that I just can't get on with! I am a big fan of VaPers such as St James' Flake and Cabbie's Mixture, and even enjoy the occasional bowl of Dunhill Elizabethan (which is a blending house that has lost something for me in its various recent evolutions), but the 20% perique content is simply too much for the faint hearted. There is no way this could be described as condimental use, as it dominates the bowl for me and rather than giving a spicy tingle, gives me a nicotine hit that upsets my stomach and leaves my head spinning.
Plums, earth, raisins, spice - all there and never lacking in flavour.
Definitely go and buy some for the experience, and you may find this to be a winner if you love higher content perique blends, but be careful if you are nicotine sensitive. I can't fault the quality, but I also can't finish a bowl.
Plums, earth, raisins, spice - all there and never lacking in flavour.
Definitely go and buy some for the experience, and you may find this to be a winner if you love higher content perique blends, but be careful if you are nicotine sensitive. I can't fault the quality, but I also can't finish a bowl.
Pipe Used:
Various - small bowls only!
PurchasedFrom:
GQ tobaccos
Age When Smoked:
New and a few months in the jar
target="_blank"
