Samuel Gawith B.S. Flake (Brown Sugar Flake)

This is probably the best pipe tobacco I have ever smoked (I've tried about 40-50 different blends I guess). There are certain prerequisite qualities that I find should be present in a blend in order for it to be considered worthy of continued interest. It should pack and light easily and stay lit without too many relights, it should handle being smoked at a reasonably fast pace without burning hot and wet; and of course it should taste good. Admittedly, Brown Sugar takes a bit to rub out but compared to FVF or St James Flake it's fairly easy. It packs well and although it takes a bit to get lit there is mostly no constant relighting required throughout the smoke (depending on how you pack and smoke it}. However, it is nowhere near as easy to keep lit compared to other blends like say Capstan or Fribourg & Treyer vintage. Brown Sugar will not bite your tongue or burn hot. If you smoke it too fast it will though become a bit moist halfway through the bowl, this doesn't really affect the quality taste but I would suggest is probably not good for the back of your throat. On that note, Brown Sugar is way too moist in the tin and it's best to let it dry overnight first by leaving the lid off the tin, it would seem all SG blends are packed to that same moisture level. Letting it dry completely will not affect the taste one bit. The taste is complex, extremely satisfying and with nuances which exceed SG Best Brown and FVF. Brown Sugar is the result of a collaboration between the Danish Pipe Shop and Sam Gawith, the aim of which was to recreate Orlik Brown yet with more body. They have most certainly achieved that aim. SG Brown Sugar tastes smoother than their own Best Brown, it's creamier, more rounded and with a spicy edge which sets it apart and elevates it to one of the best non aromatic pipe tobacco blends out there (well a least in my humble opinion). Despite the pain of having to dry it, the expensive price and extra effort keeping it lit, this tobacco is well worth it. There is no doubt in my mind other pipe smokers will discover this blend and that it'll become a sought after classic similar to other famous bench mark blends like Orlik Golden Slice, Rattray's Old Gowrie and Escudo Deluxe Rolls. I smoked six bowls of this today while reading a book, I never got tired of it, on the contrary. I give Brown Sugar four solid stars and highly recommend it. It is only available from the Danish Pipe Shop in Copenhagen.

Brown Sugar Flake is the first blend that is a result of a collaboration twixt famous Kendal tobacco manufacturer Samuel Gawith and the Danish Pipe Shop of Copenhagen. Their second blend, Beginner's Luck was released recently.

Opening the 50g tin one is presented with a single row of deep brown flakes with the occasional bright fleck here and there. The tin note is of musky fermented fruit with a hint or two of spiciness.

My preference for preparing flakes is to rub them out but not too much. I do this a whole tin at a time on a copper tray then pop the lot into a bail top jar from which I decant from, usually several bowls worth at a time, on to a dish to get some air to it and this blend most definitely needs some drying!

I have found this like many other flakes smokes best when pretty dry. Not biscuit dry but drier than you might initially think. I have just loaded up my new Blakemar bent bulldog with tobacco I let air overnight and it still took a couple of char lights to get going.

Immediately one gets the flavour of the Virginia tobacco which is the main constituent and slowly the other tobaccos become apparent, each with their own distinctive flavours. I find this quite a complex blend with rarely two smokes being the same. There is plenty of sweetness in here courtesy of the Cavendish component but also a fair bit of spiciness provided by the Orientals.

Just occasionally, and I do mean occasionally, I have tasted the merest whisper of Latakia in the mix! I actually don't like Latakia but whatever quantity there is in BSF it certainly is not off putting, indeed I doubt it would be the tobacco it is if it were to be omitted. This blend was put together by someone who certainly knows his onions regarding tobacco blending.

Never once has BSF bitten me, it has always given me a smooth almost creamy smoke with what to me is a medium hit of nicotine. Tastewise I would say it is pretty strong, not in a negative way but due to the many flavours that can be discerned, and the flavours last the entire smoke without getting bitter towards the end.

Though my preference is to rub out flakes I have recently been experimenting with cube cutting. I cube cut some BSF a couple of days ago and smoked it in a Blakemar large calabash and got just over two hours smoking out of it. The flavours were slightly intensified as I expected they would be. I can only wonder what a plug version of BSF would be like!

All in all a good solid 9/10 for this gorgeous smoking mixture. Every time I buy a tin for topping up my jar I also buy another for 'saving' should internet tobacco selling become a thing of the past. For those who fear the infamous 'Lakeland Perfume' fear not, of the countless tins of BSF I have smoked, never once did I detect it. Highly recommend.

I was very excited to try this tobacco. I'd seen a lot of reviews of it via YouTube. I ordered a tin from the Danish Pipe Shop.

When I received the tin I quickly opened it. The smell was crazy, like no other tobacco I've smelled before. Strong hints of dark fermented sour fruit with hints of hay, earthy, and twinges of sweetness and cigar-like flavors.

The flakes were unbelievably wet. I left the tin completely open in a desk drawer for three days. Some of the flakes were still totally wet.

The flakes I had dried sufficiently I was able to easily fold into my pipe or rubout into a decent 'crumble-cake'-like mixture. Lighting this stuff does take a bit, unless you rub the flakes out completely before loading. That seems to work a bit better.

The smoke is very flavorful. It is rich and creamy and tastes like a mild cigar, at least during initial lighting, with some dark Va's mixed in. I say mild cigar, but that doesn't describe the depth of the flavor. This is very rich in tobacco flavor and reminds me of FVF, but less sweet and more robust and well rounded. A bit of spice comes to visit now and again along with some hay notes and sometimes incense, or floral, like tones. The room-note was a suprisingly light and sweet smelling. This tobacco has a definite kick and you will get a tickle in the back of your throat while smoking and in your nose when retrohaling. I really enjoyed it and the more I have smoked it, the more that seems to be the case. The complexity comes out with sipping. This is a fantastic tobacco that needs a chance for one to get to know. Well worth your time.

Presentation and tin aroma:

Fairly dark flakes of the typical, slightly uneven (charmingly old school) SG cut. Dominated by dark streaks of brown but has a few lighter and even reddish ones here and there. The flakes are a bit on the moist side, but 20-25 minutes of breathing (rubbed out) should do the trick. The tin aroma is wonderful and all natural; clear and slightly sour notes of dark Virginia, an obvious hint of sweet, unflavoured Cavendish, and then something else, something quite meaty, which could be the Burley playing tag with the Oriental in the background. The name, Brown Sugar Flake, is appropriate as the sum of the parts actually do remind me a bit of the smell of brown sugar.

Lighting and first half of the bowl:

Lighting the tobacco is surprisingly easy, just a couple of matches provides a nice and steady burn (if rubbed out and aired a bit). The first impression is of Virginia of high quality. There’s a distant sour note to it but the sweetness is definitely in the driver’s seat. And what a delicious sweetness it is. Deep, round, and sugary - again the blend’s name makes perfect sense. Of course, the Cavendish has something to do with the sweetness too, but the taste is all Virginia in this part of the bowl: stoved fruits and ripe red berries is what I pick up at this point.

Second part of the bowl:

Now the personality changes quite a bit. There’s still some fruity sweetness going on, but the scene is more or less taken over by a dry and nutty Burley. This is also where the Oriental element step forward with just a tiny bit of spiciness. It’s keeping a very nice balance here. This part of the bowl is overall much more robust than the first half, and the nicotine starts to demand attention too. It’s not at all overpowering, just full-bodied. And still you find the occasional red berry hiding in the big brown darkness of this smoke.

At the bottom:

It behaves very well, even way down at the bottom of the bowl. It never turns harsh or ashy. The Burley seems to expand a bit towards the end, but just as you think “well, that was that” you’re met by a sudden wave of deep and sugary sweetness. I can’t recall having experienced a finish quite like this before, but it’s truly elegant and absolutely mouthwatering. Like the blend uses its last breath to remind you of it’s perfect name: Brown Sugar Flake.

Conclusion:

This is an outstanding blend! Once again the wizards at Samuel Gawith has been working their old school magic and created a natural masterpiece of the highest quality. I’m deeply impressed. Congrats to both SG and The Danish Pipe Shop, this is one hell of a house blend. Strongly recommended!

The interplay of Burley and Cavendish with the faint sweet-sourness of the Oriental leaf produces the "brown sugar" effect in this rich flake, flavoring the sweetness of Virginia leaf. A small amount of a Lakeland-style top note was detected, but was overwhelmed by a pouch note of the stewed fig scents of pressed Virginias. Much like other UK flakes, this one benefits from a small amount of drying time, but is best smoked in the flake form, from which it rapidly expands with the touch of a match. The initial top note burns off quickly, replaced by a wave of the familiar Virginia flavor, after which the Burley and Cavendish make themselves known as a warmer flavor like molasses, which when given the piquant flavor of the Orientals disappears into the warm bready sweetness of the Virginias and emerges with a flavor like a very cultured syrup. Toward the end of the bowl, the Burley takes a dominant role as this flavor expands and matures, leaving this tasting more like a pancake with syrup and a faint touch of perfume. This is a well-executed mixture which could easily be enjoyed all day, and deserves extra points for not being a breakfast cereal style sugar fest like most Virginia flakes.

Thanks to a generous Pipes Magazine Forum member for this sample.

I was looking for a pipe tobacco to use exclusively in my new Dunhill pipe and I found this masterpiece. New pipe and a tobacco that I have never tasted - a winning combination or a big disappointment. The last winning combination was a Dunnhill with My Mixture 965 and my expectations were high. It turned out to be a mighty fine duo, this tobacco is what I was looking for. It comes in your regular 50g Gawith tin with a wonderful artwork. The tin aroma is unspectacular, just pure tobacco notes. The flakes needs to be dried a little, no big deal. I was overwhelmed from the first puff on: Brown Sugar Flake is one of the best tobaccos I have ever smoked, I am a pipe smoker for almost 30 years now. I have said goodbye to the aromatic blends with heavy top flavour and stick mostly with pure Virginias or English blends now, so Brown Sugar Flake is for my sweet tooth. The sweetness is there, all the time, but it´s not sticky and feels very natural - hard to describe. A bowl lasts up to 90 minutes. No filter needed, no tongue bite. I just got some more tins of this brown sugar dream. Highly recommended for every pipe smoker, especially for those who want to get rid of aromatics but still want to taste a sweet smoke. Perfect tobacco for those who want to switch to a non filter pipe.

Read the reviews, this is truly a wonderful tobacco. Quite a trip, as it changes through the bowl. I'm here to warn you though. If you don't have meershaum pipes or cobs, better dedicate a briar pipe only for this, as it leaves a powerful ghost. I love the after-taste, but it doesn't go well with my everyday all-day tobacco. I used my working pipe once with Brown Sugar, and after several heavy cleanings, reaming, salt-alcohol treatment, I still feel remains of Brown Sugar's dark roasted haselnut, nutella (yes) flavours. So either use one of your pipes only with this tobacco, or buy a meer as I did. Nice excuse to buy a new pipe.

I noticed that many of the other reviewers didn't mentioned any flavoring, however , my tin had a fairly strong scent/taste of a Lakeland Floral topping. This was noticeable during the first 1/4 of the bowl but somewhat faded as you progressed down the bowl. I suspect this is a quality control issue where my tin was run after another blend containing LF "gooped" up the steam press, hopefully this is not the norm as I find it distracting and not to my liking .

My second issue, and it's always my issue with Samuel Gawith blends, is the extreme moisture. Again, it took 28 hours with an open tin to get the tobacco to a smoke-able condition. It's not only annoying but it has got to be costing 30% more in water weight.

Now , what did I think of the tobacco ( if I could get past the topping), pretty good. But,,,,,,,do I like this better than FVF or Best Brown ,,,,, no ! It burns hotter, Orientals ? Burley ? it just burns hotter with a kick of Cajun spice .

Conclusion: too much work drying and fighting the heat for something that is so similar to a better blend, FVF or BBF ( and the topping , Oh that Lakeland floral soap)

This is a stunningly beautiful tobacco. It's perfect in every way. When I first read about it, the name and contents created certain expectations. A Virginia based blend with black cavendish and a touch of burley called Brown Sugar Flake. It presents far too wet to smoke from the tin. A good 30min drying and then cube cutting a flake seems perfect. Zero problems lighting and it burns without trouble. You'll be able to pick out those three components with relative ease. The orientals are just background. This tobacco exceeded my high expectations. The taste? Pure Virginia based brown sugar. Never has a tobacco been more aptly named. BUY SOME! This tobacco is brilliant fresh and I can't fathom what a beautiful, complex smoke this will become with some age... although it'll be VERY hard to preserve any for aging. I'd rate this a solid 9/10