Rattray Marlin Flake

A good quality tobak for what it is...straight VA`s. Seems I have to puff too hard to get any satisfaction and it can tend to bite when pushing the envelope. This tin is 2 yrs old....the remaining 2 should last for the next 10 yrs.

I like it, seems to smoke and taste better in a Meer, clean burning, Ill buy it agan.

I purchased trial tins of Old Gowrie and Marlin Flake at the same time. Couldn't wait to sample the famed OG -- and was notably disappointed when I did so. So I approached the MF with some trepidation.

It's not my favorite. But for starters, the unrubbed flake is much easier to pack and light than the fully rubbed-out OG. The smoke is very light in flavor and density, almost too so, but it has a pleasant flavor that I'd found lacking in OG.

A bit too mild for my taste (having decided only recently to do my garage a favor and move toward some lighter tobaccos) -- but I won't hold that against it. No discernible bite, clean-burning to the end. So though it's not on my "regulars" list, I'll give it three-stars for those who appreciate a pleasant very light smoke.

Not a great tobacco but a very good one for flake lovers. It's tasty, burns ok and with a bit of age (as little as a few months) it has no bite to it. It is obviously made with some quality leaf. Although not something one would want to smoked all of the time, it is a nice occasional smoke.

This was one time when I thought I'd see what other reviewers had to say about it, to see if I was out of the norm. I guess not. This is quality VA, obviously flue cured, and of great quality. But, fresh, it'll bite some. The older this gets, the better it will be. I still like Best Brown better, and Brier Fox from C&D. But, when a real mild blend is the ticket, this will do just fine. If you buy it, I believe that a couple of years will do wonders to Marlin Flake. The sugars are very present, and delicious. If you do want to use a new jar, open it up, air it out for a few hours, close it up, and then come back in a couple of weeks. Pretty good stuff, destined to be better. I also find that it works best unrubbed, just gently stuffed in. The air circulates better.

I opened the last can and let it sit, with the lid on, for another six months...it was blended "by" Rattray. I stuffed my Peterson tight and toasted the top and let it sit for a few minutes while I poured a cup of Community with chickory coffee...one of my favorite smokes. Sip it slow like hot coffee.

This is beyond all doubt the most insipid tobacco I have ever smoked in a pipe. On first lit I thought I had gotten my tongue caught in a bear trap.

If you like bitey tongue scorching tobacco that smokes like stale tea leaves....you've go it here!

Another one for the nico-wimps!

There is no doubt this is a good tobacco and it improves with age. The tin I'm currently working on had nine months on it before I finally opened it; I don't know how long it had sat in the store before I purchased it. I'm afraid that my mistake was smoking this too soon after finishing a tin of Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake; compared with BBF Marlin Flake is just a good tobacco. Marlin Flake is sweet with a very pleasant tobacco taste; I get occasional hints of spice. I smoke this tobacco by leaving the flakes unrubbed and, properly dried, it takes few relights to smoke it all the way to a dry ash end. I will finish my current tin and will allow my second tin (a can, really) to age an indefinite period, perhaps several years. This tobacco definitely improves with age. While it is aging, I think I will continue to smoke BBF when I have a craving for Virginia leaf.

I wish this website was a 1-100 rating system, in order to distinguish the truly perfect tobaccos. My guess is that Marlin Flake would be the number one rated tobacco. And with good reason. Even my antisocial cat always comes to sit on my lap when i'm smoking this.