Peter Stokkebye Luxury Twist Flake (No. 402)

I opened this up and love the smell rich moist sweet, makes my mouth water and want to take a bite. I rubbed it out by rolling in my palm and loaded up. It was moist but burned very well. Rich smooth full sweet taste. I have stocked up with more of this fine tobacco. And I will be adding more to my stash.

Whenever I want a sweet flavored tobacco, I reach for Luxury Twist Flake, Sweet Vanilla Honeydew Flake or G&H Rum Flake. These all fall into my range for flavored tobaccos that, in my opinion, still deliver the taste of tobacco. The square flakes are light in color, somewhat dry and can become quite brittle for rubbing out. The tobacco aroma is of a maple liqueur, and that taste carries over into the smoke. The Virginia is excellent quality, mild with no bite. If you are a lover of straight Virginia flavor, the downside with this tobacco is the residual sweetness of the smoke which requires me to have a cup of coffee on hand to clean the palate regularly. Sweet Vanilla Honeydew and Rum Flake require the same treatment. This is good tobacco and it is comforting to know that I have it on hand when my sweet tooth demands a break from Virginia and Perique. Highly recommended as a sweetened, flavored tobacco. Paddy.

No substantive difference between this and Mac Baren's DARK TWIST. Quite good.

I wonder what will happen now that Zimbabwe's agriculture, very much including its tobacco plantations, (the finest in the Southern hemisphere) is being completely devastated, owing to the greed of yet another stupid dictator. Argh!

Well, this is it. This, for me, is the white whale.

There are many difficult journeys in life. In the pipe smoking world, one of them is a quest we all venture on. That quest of course, is finding an aromatic that tastes like it smells and...... is actually enjoyable to smoke. No goop, no bite, just sweet goodness. For me, this is it. I have found it.

Now don't get your pitchforks and torches out yet! I know many might not be happy with me calling this an aromatic. I struggled with it too, But, well, it kinda is. Not to worry. The quality of tobacco here is of the highest quality, and it is in no way goopy, but when you open the bag and take a deep smell....wow. Serious caramel, coconut, butterscotch goodness. Like, make my mouth water goodness. And in the pipe? It is still there! and so damn delicious. I mean, it is amazing.

I admit it. I bought this as an impulse window shopping kinda buy. I got more Va flakes than I will ever know what to do with, but....have you seen this stuff? This is probably the coolest looking tobacco blend I have ever seen. These twist flakes are almost trippy to look at. When I saw it online I had to buy some just to check these flakes out. And besides.... Like 3 bucks to try an ounce? Why not.

They came a little moist. I dried em out, rubbed em out, sat back, and almost literally heard angels sing. This is it! The one I have been looking for. Great tobacco base notes, with this slight underneath hint of an amazing sweet taste. The taste is what good baking smells like. Now, I just can't stop smoking it.

Be forewarned. If you rush it, if you puff too quickly, or smoke it too hot, it will lose a lot of that magic, it is still good, but not magical. Slow down and you will be greatly rewarded.

My only conundrum with this blend is...how will it age? If I knew it aged well, I would put up quite a bit. We all know however, the aromatic quality of tobaccos don't usually stand up well to the sleep phase, and so I am wondering if I should buy in smaller amounts regularly or try to cellar some? Guess I will have to try both. In the words of pooh..."oh bother!"

Now we are moving on to my favorite of the Luxury series. Out of the three, this is the one that I smoke the most often. The bag aroma is intoxicating - I would describe it as hot buttered popcorn with a bit of caramel. That’s just me, but it's amazing. I’ve also heard someone describe it as French toast with syrup.

The appearance of this flake is pretty unique as well. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how they do it. It’s like two squares that have been squished on all sides and then joined with another square into one flake. It's hard to describe, so if you haven't experienced this blend, just go out to SP and see for yourself. I always rub this flake out and try to get everything to mingle consistently throughout. Upon lighting I find it to have most of the normal VA tastes. Mainly brown grass/hay, some citrus, with a bit of creaminess on the backside. I also get a hint of vanilla/caramel, but that may just be from the aroma coming out of the bowl. I would definitely put this one in the brighter spectrum of VA’s.

Throughout the bowl, I find this to be a pretty mild smoke. No surprises here, but just a good consistent VA taste throughout. The vanilla/caramel aroma goes away after a while and you are left with good old fashioned pipe tobacco aroma. I rate this blend highly for ease of use, price, and taste/aroma.

A Haiku Review:

Delectable smoke

When paired with coffee and cream

Bright, sweet, coconut

This is Carter Hall’s girlfriend. Pretty to look at, sweet but not sickly so. Occasional argumentative bite, but pleasant to be around almost all of the time.

Peter Stokkebye- Luxury Twist Flake

I’ve had this in a jar since April of 2019, it’s been a blend I first smoked when I picked up the pipe and understood little about the different types of tobacco etc. this blend gave me a serious case of tongue bite the first time as I has no idea about drying or cadence when smoking.

Forward to now a good Virginia pressed into a flake, it has a topping of caramel/coconut, which isn’t unwelcome but would have preferred this without it. It smokes great and tastes great also, no re-lights and smoked cool.

I recommend this as a beginner Virginia for those who are more inclined to aromatics. Overall it’s good but probably won’t be bought again, much rather smoke bullseye flake.

I find this blend similar to Peter Heinrich's Reserve Crue No. 4 Flake. Both being caramel topped straight Virginia flakes, the similarity in taste does not precisely reflect to looks or smoke quality. I can't say one is superior to others, both blends having slightly different attributes, one lacking where the other is better at delivering. I wonder how it would taste if I were to blend them. Reserve Crue No. 4 tastes slightly richer, whereas Luxury Twist Flake offers more Caramel flavor. RCN4 lights up easily, whereas LTF needs several relights to get it going. Virginias in RCN4 has a bready taste, whereas LTF Virginias are citrusy and almost non-existent. LTF has superior topping/flavoring and a crowd-pleaser, whereas RCN4 has a tolerable room note. All that said, If I must pick one, then I would pick RCN4 due to better Virginia quality, but I'd pretend that it smells like LTF. Alas, both are all day smokes and very nice beginner, beginner-intermediate blends.

Oh yeah. This is exactly what I was looking for. I've been exploring all different kinds of tobacco trying to find something I really enjoy. I found the world of straight Va's to be very promising, despite their tendency to get a bit hot. This is something that's one of those perfect "just right" blends. It's got a good solid tobacco flavor but also there's a hint of a nice sweet topping. I started on Aromatics so this is probably the best Va for me.

The smell is wonderful. I get a dark fruity smell like raisins and figs making up the body. Then behind that, I get some caramel, vanilla, honey, coconut and maybe some chocolate (though that could be my imagination). There are also some light bready notes. The combination is intoxicating and something I find myself keeping my nose in.

In the pipe I get a wonderful sweetness that starts things off. That backs off a touch and the natural Virginias really come through. This ebb and flow takes place throughout the bowl making it not so one dimensional. It's not exactly complex but I don't find it boring either. Definitely something I could smoke all day and not tire of.

The Virginia that makes up the body is pretty standard with lighter notes of grass, hay, and citrus backed by some darker and earthier flavors that are less discernable. From the topping I get a lot of honey with some vanilla. The coconut is more noticeable at the top of the bowl. Towards the bottom the flavors turn darker where the carmel and earth tones come out from hiding.

Will definitely have to stock up on this as I could see it becoming my new go to!