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

I had been wanting to try this tobacco since its initial release, but it quickly became a Europe-only mixture before I was ever able to acquire any. The tobacco was released again to the USA just last week (April 2023), and so I am now finally able to try some!

While each individual component can be picked out during the smoke, this blend of tobaccos does truly meld together in a very enjoyable way, creating a sort of Sweet Tea flavor (which is usually a flavor I associate with Sutliff virginias).

As others have noted, there is a very slight but noticeable sweetness. The Virginias are clearly in the lead throughout the smoke, but the nutty and earthy (but never harsh) burleys provide enough support that they are a very close second. I do taste a very faint but enjoyable herbal note that I associate with Turkish leaf.

The aftertaste is something similar to the way your mouth tastes after chewing on cinnamon chewing gum.

I believe any Virginia lover will enjoy this tobacco. It is very pleasantly rich in flavor.

I bought a couple of tins in summer of 2017 when I was getting back into pipe smoking.

I remember at the time really fighting the moisture level and not enjoying it as much as I had hoped. I cellared the 2nd tin and put the rest of the 1st into a mason jar to some "later".

A year later, I've gained some experience with SG flakes and have really started to appreciate some of the tobaccos I gave up on back then.

Dried out, the flakes are easy to pack either rubbing out or using stuff and fold. The First half of the bowl gave me the sweetness and the taste of sugar/molasses/brown sugar I was missing before. The 2nd half let the orientals have some time in the sun and I really enjoyed their flavors.

I'll finish off the remainder of tin 1 and let tin 2 cellar a little longer knowing I have a great treat in store down the road.

A typical SG flake that rubs out well. Not too wet.

Doesn't taste like a Danish surprise. Straight forward Virginia with an edge. Burley rounds it out some. Minimal sweetness. Not brown sugar taste to me (e.g. molasses). The black Cavendish sharply mutes the Virginia in my book. Whatever else is in it, creates a spiciness that gives the taste some extra strength or push.

Not bad; for those who like their flakes with some zip.

I'm down to about a third of a flake of this, so I can't delay much longer. This is . . . nice. It's a bit better than alright. Overall, it's a good middle-of-the-road brown flake. It smokes clean, with no bite and rarely a relight. I'd likely have a stronger opinion in some direction or other if the Orientals really occurred more than the occasional showing in passing. So, I would happily smoke this any time, but I won't go out of my way to buy more.

Had high, high hopes for this one as I like brown-sugary, malty flavour, and while its not a bad one by any stretch and worth a go, it only ends up being a 2.5 out of 4 for me personally, but I can imagine some would absolutely love this tobacco.

I've heard various people say they can taste the brown sugar flavour in this, but I don't taste it (and I get it more in F&T CVP) -- and in fairness, the makers do not themselves make any such claim. I recall reading somewhere from them that the name was really just a variant on the usual "brown flake" and the brown sugar reference came for some other reason. The intent was -not- that it is brown sugar flavoured (and I knew that going into this one.)

At any rate, this review is based off only a couple of smokes of it, please note, so perhaps my sense will change with further use and after some time to age in a mason jar.

I think the main thing I found about this tobacco that prevents it from being a higher rating is that it has a slight harshness to it (to my palette anyway) that can be felt in the throat and nasal cavity that I didn't expect at all. Not sure where that is coming from, the burley perhaps? I know I've experienced this before with blends like Three Nuns. It is that quality which is making me not enjoy this tobacco quite as much as I think I otherwise might, much like tongue bite mars one's experience of an aromatic.

Flavour wise, there is a natural sweetness to this blend, no doubt from the Virginias. There is also a grassy-hay like quality, and the tin note carries that as well.

Room note smells like it would be reasonably nice. Not aromatic nice, but traditional pipe tobacco nice.

First bowl I dried for an hour, but it was still hard to light as is usual with those thick, moist Gawith flakes. I dried the second bowl for 2 hours and that seemed to work much better in terms of the tobacco staying lit.

I will say this though. I'm not sorry to have bought a few tins of this, even if I'm only giving it 2.5 out of 4 stars. All that means is that while it won't be a regualr part of the totation, it will be one that I'll toss into the mix now and again when I'm looking for a change from those.

There are definitely aspects of this blend that I enjoy and I'm looking forward to keep working through the tin to see how things evolve, and that right there says something.

Some aspects of this blend remind me of F&T CVP.

Aged, dark-fired Virginias with a very faint touch of Balkan plum-y sweetness WAY in the back pushed forward by the Orientals.

Brown Sugar is more of a suggestion, as I was hoping this was an aromatic, but in my opinion it is NOT. Pure tobacco, and aged, earthy, woody, and a hint of sweet reminds me of what was described as very old style, Civil War era tobacco when they added a pinch brown sugar to enhance pipe tobacco a little with fire-cured dark leaf. Some decent amount of fullness and body, the flakes stuffed offer good, fine ash and burns cool. Not unpleasant. Burley and Turkish round it out and offer a hint of plum/spice "Balkan" suggestion.

NOT an aromatic, but a decent, solid, fresh-cut hardwood tasting smoke.