Drew Estate Gatsby Luxury Flake

I would call this "just okay", nothing exceptional by any stretch. It is a very light colored "bright" virginia with just traces of dark ( the cavendish? ). It also starts better than it finishes, my bowls are usually interrupted requiring Relights which brought out an ashieness for a couple of puffs. Will likely finish the tin but not buy again.

This was my first foray into a flake tobacco. I was familiar with Drew Estate because they make several of my go to cigars. The flake is long ribbons, folded over that rub out nicely. The tin note has hints of licorice and fruit that play quite nicely off each other. It lights very easily and the smoke is thick and fragrant. The mouth feel is quite nice and you get a wonderful mix of the sweet virginia, cavendish, fruit and licorice in the draw. The room note is pleasant with the tobaccos in the front with subtle hints of fruit. It pairs quite nicely with morning coffee and a cool drink in the evening.

One of the things I try not to do is compare tobaccos as in most cases tobaccos are not made to be a "copy of" despite the ingredients. With that being said, this is a a nice Virginia based flake. Opening the tin and taking a whiff, it has a really good aroma and the right moisture content for my preference. I tried it both ways (folded and rubbed) and prefer the rubbed version. Easy to ignite, and first taste is smooth, buttery and creamy. Just a little bite, but nothing major. The more I get into it, the flavors really come out. I consider this to be a medium-bodied tobacco, that is really satisfying. The room note is nice and inviting. When I smoked it in my cob, I noticed it added a lot more sweetness than in my Briars. It stands on it's own merits and is a constant in my flake rotation.

Bland. Nice to look at. Needs age. Putting this one away for awhile. I will return to give this a fair and thorough review. Check back, Cheers!

I didn't like this blend at first. After a long day, I sat down to a pipe of this with a glass of scotch. Big mistake. It was way too mild and smoked very hot. So I put this tin away for almost a year. Today on a whim I decided to give it another try at lunch. I let a couple pinches dry out for several hours, and what I got knocked my socks off. Still a very delicate flavor, though by no means as mild as some I've smoked, but it was absolutely wonderful for a light afternoon smoke. Lots of Virginia sweetness, and the room note alone is addictive. It's very easy on the nicotine. It would be a great all-day smoke. Turns out this is great stuff, I just didn't know how to appreciate it. Lesson learned.

I was recently gifted a tin by my local tobacconist. After smoking my first pipe-full, I felt compelled to read reviews for this blend, as I picked up a distinct and foul note in the aroma. While burning, the smoke directly from the bowl had a very pronounced ammonia-like smell that burns my nasal passage not unlike a good dose of horseradish. It quickly dissipates when mixed with the air though and the overall room note is enjoyable enough. Somewhere between late autumn and vanilla sugar cookies. I was just so curious about this ammonia smell though. Is this a common occurrence? It is for sure the first time I have experienced this and though I am relatively new to pipe smoking (coming up on a year) I have smoked my way through a considerable variety whilst searching for my favourite blends. This particular Virginia may not make said list for me, but I will certainly smoke this tin and consider getting another to see how it is with age. This tobacco is bright and mildly sweet to me and overall, I'd recommend it to fans of similar blends. It burned slow and even, leaving a nice white ash and only the smallest hint of moisture. I only had to re-light my bowl once. Sweet and light, I believe this certainly qualifies as an 'all-day smoke'

I always look forward to smoking flakes, I love'em. They are simply my favorite type of pipe baccy. For some reason I was expecting something different with this one, but, lo! what I got instead was a flake that I've already smoked before.

This is not a bad thing. I'll explain. When I opened this baby up, I thought, hey, this is Solani Silver Flake. Looked much the same, smelled much the same, and it smoked much the same. In fact, I felt Gatsby was so close to SSF that I pulled out my tin of Solani and fired up a bowl along with the Gatsby. I was hard pressed to tell the difference. Now, why isn't this a bad thing? SSF cost twice as much (or more) than Gatsby. For someone on a budget, you can pretty much get the same blend for half the cost. That's why this flake is of interest.

I really like SSF, and, honestly, Gatsby's right there with that one, so, I heartily recommend Gatsby Flake, especially for someone who's on a budget. I'll give this one a strong 3 three stars (3.75).

Good Flake!

Keep on Piping!

Long, folded flakes ~ to Reiner's GF in appearance with mostly yellow and some darker brown sections. Even though the tin was vacuum sealed when received, the tobacco was much drier than my preference. Smoked cool and without bite or condensation. I found the taste relatively flat but that may be due to the absence of any Perique. A typical Cavendish taste that I won't try again.

I stopped by the Club the other day and a fellow friend/club member, let’s call him “Big L” had this tin that was dated December, 2014. Apparently, Drew Estate is out of the pipe tobacco business as their eight blends are no longer in production. When this happened, I have no idea. I smoked two nice size bowls of this in my claw Meerschaum and found it to be a mild, smooth, low nicotine smoke with a faint topping of berries, at least that is what was described by the other pipe club members who also tried this blend. The description says fruit/citrus, we will let it go at that. Not a bad smoke, is it one that I would search out, no but if you can find a tin of this or two, at a reasonable price you should give it a try. Thanks again, “Big L”.