Peterson Dark Flake

Dunhill- Dark Flake

One of the members of pipe club was gracious enough to give me the rest of his tin of this wonderful blend. Tin date is February 2017, and boy does this smoke amazing.

The Virginia’s are hay and bready, while the Perique is sweet but peppery, I’ve had two bowls of this after not smoking for the last two weeks, and maybe that in itself re invigorated my taste buds.

Presentation is strips a little wider than most bubblegum, with a nice dark and lighter VA’s along with Perique. I broke this apart the second time after folding and stuffing the first. This burns cool if sipped.

I truly hope Peterson brings this one back, as it’s a hit in my book.

Summary: a nice medium Va/Per flake that will not stand out due to being highly competent at this simple task and a slight bit too wet.

Opening the tin, one confronts a delicious stewed fruit with spice smell, like a good fig jam made with ginger. Upon first light, the scent of the Perique gives away to the tangy lead taken by bright Virginias, but as these caramelize, the darker, stoved Virginia flavors come out and meld with the Perique into what might be described as the same fig jam on barley toast. The flakes are a bit damp, which causes them to start up slowly, but as the bowl progresses, that mellow flavor more approximates molasses and honey over a good wheat bread toast. Like all of Dunhill's blends, this one is like the leader that no one mentions: everything is done to perfection, but because the blend aims for a basic goal, it does not stand out like quirkier options. It reminds me of Capstan "Blue" in its burning characteristics and nicotine level. Like all Virginia flakes, this rewards breath-smoking; if when you were a kid, you sometimes sucked up a straw full of milkshake and then just let it leak slowly into your mouth, filling up on the flavor alone and letting it resonate across all of your taste buds, that is approximately how you want to experience this flake. Wish I'd cellared more of this before the blend vanishes into regulatory purgatory.

As a Va/per lover i could not resist when i saw a Dunhill blend with my favourite compoments.when the tin cracks a pleasant aroma comes out wich combines dark fruits,ans some spicy plum notes.the flakes are mostly dark with some bright spots,moist.oily and very manageable.i prefer the rubbing and drying method in this blend because if you fold it as it is it won't dry and lighting is difficult.while smoking the compoments taste natural and very pleasing.the red virginias are the main player offering dark fruits,sour sweet and earthy notes.perique comes next giving mostly figs and plums.some spices also come out but i suppose not only perique is responsible for that.some citruses and grass notes also come out rare due to the bright virginias.generally the flavours are very balanced and present till the end.burns cool and slow with some moisture being created.the nicotine level is almost medium and the room note almost pleasant.no chance of tongue bite and the aftertaste is pleasant.an all day smoke.generally this blend is pleasant,high quality and totally recommended!

I've just finished my first tin of Dark Flake. If you are a straight Virginia smoker, who might want just a tad more spice on certain days, this might be perfect for you. I prefer spicier Virginia’s, so this blend leaves me unsatisfied. But it's not because of the quality of this tobacco, it is top notch. I just prefer fuller blends. The tin note is nothing short of amazing. It's like candied dried fruits. It's hard for me to believe it's a natural tobacco smell, but I love it. Make sure to work on finding the sweet spot when it comes to drying this or it can disappoint. This will really get steamy and flavorless right out of the tin. Too dry and it also goes bland.

After more than 35 years, this tobacco returns to the stores. Even though it say "Dark Virginia Tobacco" on the lid, it's actually a Va/Per blend.

The mottled slices are fanned out in the round tin, effusing the savory, sweetish scent of brown bread with a hint of dried fruits and maybe chocolate.

Using the fold and stuff method, filling your pipe is easy. After a thorough charring light and leveling the ashes, it'll stay lit and burn down evenly on the true light.

Right from the start, there's a full-bodied, malty, creamy taste which lasts to the end of the bowl. There are hints of rye bread, dried figs, and dark chocolate. Throught the smoke, those elements alternate and combine each other, giving you a diversified smoking experience. At the end some dry, medium gray ash and some crumbs of tobacco are all that's left.

The room note is a natural, slightly sweet tobacco scent.

Meh....I enjoy Dunhill Flake and many other Virginias for that matter, but this isn’t one of them. Dunhill Dark Flake was bland and pretty one dimensional, I was hoping for something akin to Capstan Blue or Marlin Flake, both of which I adore, but this was flat and boring. I smoked the entire tin before posting this, as I kept hoping to find what so many other smokers have, but the first bowl was boring and the last bowl was equally boring as well as each one in between. Those of you cellaring this will get no competition from me.

In the world of cars there's not a lot of difference between a Ford or a Vauxhall or a Volvo. They're essentially bland modes of transport to get you safely from A to B. But the salesmen hark on about different types of paint, wheels, whatever. But at the end of the day they are Euroboxes. And you can't make your Eurobox stand out by sticking a Ferrari badge on it. Not allowed. Unless Ferrari grants permission. Or, conversely, a brand starts using its name to make inferior products. Look at the ups and downs of Maserati.

In the world of tobacco great names like Fribourg & Treyer, Astleys and Dunhill have sent their names off to Euroland and stuck them on Eurotobak.

And so to Dark Flake Re - release. It's probably virginia tobacco with bottled perique. I don't know what the marketing men are allowed to claim. Good it is not. It is has the thrill of a Ford Mondeo 1.6.

You might want a car with room for the 2.4 kids, the dog, room for the monthly run to the tip. Nothing wrong with that. Equally there's nothing wrong with Dark Flake Eurotobak. It's easy to smoke and basically gets the job done.

Beautiful darker brown flakes with a bit of a lemon streak. This comes wet in the tin and the flakes proved a little difficult to separate. I folded and stuffed for best results. Tin nose was a deep and rich tobacco smell with no non-tobacco scents.

As is my custom, I smoked this at tin moisture first and found it much lighter tasting than the aroma or color would indicate. It didn't want to hold a light, either. The overall flavor was bland at the start but eventually a richer taste came through. Subsequent bowls were well dried and the flavors snapped into focus. If you've ever wondered what pumpernickel, molasses and figs might taste like together, this will give you an idea. There was a dark sweetness and a really interesting sour note hung around for the last half-bowl. Every so often I get a fleeting taste of peat-smoke. I couldn't place the topping, if indeed there was one. Somehow it seemed there was, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This covered the lower end of the taste spectrum quite well but the highs were missing. And since it's named Dark Flake and Dunhill also makes a blend that used to be named Light Flake, I got the bright idea of mixing the two. Had to rub it out to do so, however. The LF really improved this one by adding some missing spiciness and high notes. Cool experiment, but as much as I preferred this one with LF mixed in, I preferred LF by itself. So it goes. As a darker Virginia, I wasn't overly impressed with this one, but if you like the direction something like ODF or Lakeland Dark goes but want to back off the flavor, this would be one to try.

I did not know what to expect when I order this tobacco. In true honesty, I did not know whether it was a Virginia, a burley based tobacco, or something else. As I opened the tin, because of the fact it was so dark in colour, I was expecting something like Solani's Burley Flake, but this is a Virginia/perique flake. The Virginia leaf it contains, I dare to say, comprises stoved Virginia tobacco and the tin note is something to die for. I am certain this tobacco will tick all the boxes for all of you Virginia lovers. I like the fact it wants to be sipped, but I am not finding it so complex as to require all of my attention. Also, it does evolve quite nicely in flavour and strength. The moist content was rather high as I opened the tin, but these flakes seem to smoke perfectly fine despite that.