Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake

The flake is attractive vaguely reminding one of tree bark, easy to light and did not require many relights. Burns slowly even with frequent puffing. Neither of the two tobaccos in the Virginia/Perique shone forth, I found myself over puffing in search of a rich VaPer flavor. Very gentle sips along the lines of gentle kisses revealed some mild flavor. Patience is required and too much patience defeats the purpose of a relaxing and tasty smoke which should come more easily. I can't comment on room note since I smoked this alone, outdoors in some wind on the lanai.

Try though I may, I just can't seem to like this stuff. I've tried folding and stuffing, dicing and packing, rubbing out. I've tried it in a variety of pipes. I've tried it right out of the bag, and with up to an hour to dry.

LNF is presented as very attractive, very neat and clean golden brown flakes. I got mine from Smoking Pipes...I only ordered 1 ounce, but they sent a ziplock bag with 1.8 ounces according to my scale. There's one way to lure in a repeat customer! The smell in the bag is kinda plain (though not unappetizing)...just a little whiff of straight tobacco smell with what seems to my nose to be a very faint topping of rum.

In the pipe, it lights easily and burns down nice and dry.

So it looks good, smells good, and burns good....what's the problem? For one, LNF seems to me to be completely devoid of nicotine. Nada. Zip. Least amount of nicotine I've ever gotten from a non-aro that I can recall. I'm sure that might be a plus for some, but it's a definite minus in my book.

Secondly - taste. I don't find it unpleasant per se, but it is rather boring. I taste a hint of sweetness, maybe a little of that rum if I reach for it, and spicy pepper. The spicy pepper is big bold and WAY out of proportion. One dimensional, not at all complex, no change as I smoke it down. Mouthfeel of the smoke is thin and flat. And it bites my tongue unless I'm very careful.

I think my review made it sound like I hated the stuff, but I really didn't. I think it's pretty decent baccy, and the price can't be beat. It's just not my cup of tea.

originally reviewed 12/14/2011, but I have revisited this blend several times since, and I still don't care for it.

Beautiful flake. Crumbles easily. Packs and lights well. Nice mild flavor. Strong room aroma (that I like). I don't notice the Perique.

But... This tobacco bites me... A lot! Whether rubbed out, folded, or crumpled up, and smoked in different pipes. It burns my mouth. I cannot take long slow draws on this one. Just quick, gentle sips.

It is often not wise to judge a tobacco by only one bowl. But somtimes it happends that I know from the first bowl that I don't need to waste my time trying to figure it out. This one belongs to that category. First of all, the description "none" flavoring needs to be corrected. This one is a strongly flavored (cased) Va/Per. I would say close to Newminster 400, but minus the perique.

Taste: The casing makes it sweet, it dominates the taste at the first third of the bowl. But it is an artificial sweet, a fruity flavour of say apricot. In the second third, the perique steps into the foreground, with some natural sweetness of plum, but it soon takes on a more spicy and peppary character that also dominates more as the bowl progresses. In the final part, the fruity casing recedes into the background only to reveal a natural body that lacks real flavour. The tobacco now turns bland and even ashy. The last part of the bowl was simply not worth spending time with and I tossed it out. Sure, there is this fruity sweet casing that might appeal to some. But frankly, I feel that it only hides a lack of real taste in the virginias, and I did not care much for the perique that turned out too peppary. Some might like that, but I prefer a perique that caramelizes into natural sweetness. I would say the taste of viriginias are on the milder side, but the perique is what dominates and my rating of taste reflects this (medium to full).

The perique adds a nicotine streanght that is just a notch above mild. Burning qualities are ok, but not great. It burns cool, that is not an issue here, but the pipe goes out too easily if not constantly catered to, which invites for a rythm that is not as slow that one would prefer.

When smoking this I came up with a new category for this type of tobacco: I call it "chewing gum tobacco" (and I know more tobaccos that fits well into this category). Why? Well, it is flavoured in a way that for me contradicts the purpose of enjoying the natural taste of good tobacco. If I want to taste an artificial fruity flavour, why smoke a pipe, why not buy a chewing gum instead? And when the artificial flavour fades, the actual tobacco turns out to be just bland and unintersting, just like when chewing a gum for some time, it looses all flavour and there is no longer any point in chewing it. That's a fitting analogy, because just like with a gum, it seems that this type of tobacco is only ment to stay interesting because of an artificial flavor, and when this fades out (and it does), the tobacco turns out to be just bland, and no point of smoking it really.

This was recommended by my tobacconist, based on how much of it they sold. He had not personally tried it, obviously, because once he did, we both agreed it was particularly bland.

It does have some good virginia in it, but it is perhaps too dry, not much of a ferment in the taste. The perique is barely a whisper if that. Has a very light topping of sugar which is hardly detectable in the taste, but is more evident in the room note, which is very cigarette like.

This blend just seems to be lacking something.

If I could give LNF 0 stars I would. This tobacco bit my mouth worse than anything I've ever smoked ,my mouth felt like a catchers mitt after smoking. It took away any enjoyment I might have gotten which was very little anyway because the nicotine is almost not present. Ageing the tobacco did nothing to improve it.

The virginias are young and lack any depth. The perique is harsh, sharp and bitter. This is just a cheap tobacco at a cheap price. There are far better VaPer tobaccos and flakes available. Don't be misled by the cheap price of this one, thinking you're getting a bargain. Like many of the other Stokkebye blends, this is poor quality, cheap tobacco.

I've been smoking cigars for years and recently starting getting into the pipe. My favorite so far is wilke #524. I wanted to try some flake, and just recently tried samuel gawith full virginia flake, which I like. This one just tastes completely bland and flat to me. I am trying a few more bowls to see if my opinion changes, but each time I smoke it I can't find anything redeeming about it except that it smokes smooth from my perspective.

Luxury Navy Flake.July 2004.

WHERE IS THE PERIQUE???????

I have alway's loved LNF,in the past! But,in the last two lot's of 100 gram's and 50 gram's,I can-not detect the Perique at all. 'What' has happened? I live in Australia just outside Melbourne. The two tobacconist's I alway's purchase LNF from have shown the same result.'No Perique' Friend's in Sydney and Adelaide have noticed the same thing.Once again 'No Perique' The Virginia is just to mild to be enjoyed,on it's own.

Sadly,here's a down-grade to 4 out of 10.