Butera Golden Cake

Its good stuff but there are a lot of smilar taste out there...

Typical McClelland (smells and taste)...

The tin aroma of these hard-pressed flakes is slightly nutty which is complimented by the typical McClelland funk.

This is simply top-quality gold VA, exceedingly smooth and with evanescently fragrant with toast, peanut and hazelnut notes.

The finest of golden virginia blends, Golden Cake is simply sublime and a must for all disciplined enthusiasts of the most rarified virginia blends. This goes best in narrow gauge chambers.

This is a nice tobacco but nothing special! There are a lot of straight Virginia flakes out there that are better than this one. Its ok but nothing I'm going to keep around.

One of my top ten Virginias for sure. It does pay to be careful with the puffing. My tin has become somewhat overly dry and I believe at this point the tongue-bite has virtually gone. I wish I had many more tins of this aging in my tobacco cellar.(yes it is a closet!)

Another Butera obviously made by McClelland: as such, it is virtually indistinguishable from the Virginias made by the renowned brand from Kansas City. And as such, it is a very good flake: tasty, fruity, sweet&sour... and slightly bitey.

Nothing particular to say in addition to my reviews of the McClelland products: while not as spectacular as some of their best (#27 and Blackwoods Flake), this is as good as some of their ordinary range product. Nothing spectacular or original, but quality stuff.

I've been working on a tin of this for a few months now. It's taken me a long time to develop an opinion of this tobacco due to some inconsistencies I have experienced with it. Sometimes this flake is a very flavorfull smoke and other times it's like smoking hot air. If you don't puff oh so gently on this one it heats up like a funace and singes the delicate tissues of the tongue, mouth, etc. For me the good smokes were few and far between leaving me with a tasteless, biting, and overall upleasant impression of this flake. Its too bad these flakes don't smoke as good as the look.

Everybody especially Newman's review are right on. But here's my two cents. I like this blend it has the highest natural sugar content I know of. It lights well burns even better leaving a white ash behind. Not a heavy nicotene kick but who cares this stuff tastes good. One caution smoke slow it can and will bite if pushed. Also when I rubbed it out too much the smoke was harder to control I recommend leaving it in larger pieces. Other than that I highly recommend this if you like aged virginias high in natural sugar.

I confess, I usually smoke this outside in a Don Carlos Canadian with a tall bowl. On spring/summer/autumn afternoons with little wind, it can be quite enjoyable. It takes awhile to figure out how to rub it properly, and I find it works well if rubbed coarse (again, I smoke this outside so I'm not sure about indoors).

This is a beautiful golden virginia flake with that inherently tangy smell I cannot get enough of. The surface of the flake has a fine layer of sugar crystals which should tell you this is sweet on the tongue. Despite the fact that this is a rather sugary tobacco it does not burn ones tongue as easily as expected, but if pushed it can get hot. I think a little aging would make this even better than it is rather new. If you like virginia flakes then give this a try.