Rattray Marlin Flake

For me, this blend was love at first smoke. From presentation to tin note to flavor to room note, this is a fantastic tobacco.

Presentation is one, long, loosely pressed flake rolled up in the classic Rattray cylindrical tin. Tin notes of stewed fruit, raw sugar, fresh-baled green hay. A good 45-60 minute dry time serves this blend well, after which it takes a light and burns clean and dry.

That stewed fruit, deep, rich sweetness translates directly through to the flavor. Don't let black Cavendish in the description scare you away: The interplay of the constituent tobaccos here is superb. This flake smokes sweet without ever being cloying, with a delicious harmony of subtle sugar and deeper stewed-fruity, plummy, peppery, Perique goodness. And the Virginias here are superb.

An extraordinary blend. Highly recommended.

A rolled belt of long dark brown flake streaked, veined, and flecked with brown and tan. Exceedingly moist in the tin, this sliced belt offers a rich, sweet bouquet of brown sugar, wood, and fresh earth with a slightly piquant top note reminiscent of stewed figs.

Pressed and stoved, according to its present manufacturer, Kohlhase & Kopp, Marlin flake is a ?dark flake comprised of dark Virginia, jet black Cavendish, and a whisper of Perique? (= dunkle Flake setzt sich zusammen aus Dark Virginia, tiefschwarzem Cavendish und einem Hauch Perique). In terms of presentation, the overall effect is that of a somewhat oily, dark stoved and pressed Virginia flake cut into a supple belt which requires both careful preparation and substantial drying time. In this, Marlin Flake stands out only as a typical representative of the genre.

Properly prepared, Marlin Flake packs and burns well, offering a range of sweet and earthly flavors and appears to possess enough complexity to maintain ones attention as the bowl progresses. While quite subdued, the Perique is noticeable now and again as is the slightly creamy body lent to the smoke by the Cavendish. As to be expected, however, it is the sugar-sauced and stoved Virginias which take center stage. Medium to heavy bodied with a sweet, rich, and occasionally bright finish, this is a flake which takes itself seriously. Quick to reward gentle puffing, it can bite if abused.

Despite the obviously heavy hand with the humectants and, unconfirmed but likely use of the preservative cocktails typical among the big European blending houses (e.g., potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, etc.), it should age well.

Overall, like many Kohlhase & Kopp offerings Marlin Flake is what it is. While devotees of the genre might find it worthy of some attention, to this reviewer ? who prefers his VAPERS, flake or otherwise, and their ilk unstoved and less processed ? the whole effect is rather uninspiring. On top of this, given the size of the tin, in this case a 100g. tumbler, the presentation is bit disconcerting ? why waste all that space just for the sake of uniform packaging in the line to which this particular preparation belongs? 100 grams of such a densely pressed flake does not take up much space at all. I suspect the 50g. tin presents a similar conundrum, although like the rest of K&K?s Rattray?s ?British Line? Marlin Flake is, however, readily available in bulk. I for one, however, will not be cellaring quantities anytime soon.

A wonderful flake which I find very close in taste and quality to Dunhill?s Light Flake. Spicy and tangy, it allows for a long lasting, medium strength and rich smoke. Presentation in the 100 g. tin is very peculiar: beautiful hues of reddish and dark brown tobacco, coiled inside in long strands. The aroma is fresh and zesty, perhaps not as unambiguous as Dunhill?s LF, but quite along those lines.

When packed, after careful rubbing out, one has to be wary of not clogging the bowl. If done properly, it is easy to light. Upon lightening, the naturally sweet scent of Virginia tobacco engulfs not only the palate, but the senses as a whole. A delicate spicy interplay ensues, creating a number of layers in which the basic Virginia flavour spreads out in different phases. It is not a cool burning tobacco, and if carried away by the desirer to quickly explore its different notes, tongue bite will happen next. If smoked slowly, it is absolute pleasure.

Sit down, relax, and open Dickens? Pickwick Papers.

This is the flake that got me hooked on flakes. Smooth, strong, just the right amount of sweetness. VA flavor is dominant, smoothed out by the Cavendish, and the Perique adds a pleasant little kick in the drawers.

This is an extaordinary virginia flake by Rattray, and probably the best of its batch. Considering several wonderful blends, this is quiet a compliment.

The tin offers a full and complex aroma. The tingy smell is quite strong, and almost rancid for the first seconds. After some air gets in the tin the stinkinness is gone. It is very close to the Erinmore Flake, but with more hard leathery notes.

This blend is called "ready rubbed" but is more a broken flake, as very bid fragments of flakes are presented. One must make a good effor to separate all the tobbaco. Of course this pieces can be fitted on the bowl in a more compact way, if one is to smoke on a windy afternoon or so.

The taste of the virginia es powerfl in this blend. It is absolutely delicious. Perique is not mentioned but might have a subtle hint. You can perceive the taste of pure tobacco with great notes of wood and a citric finish. The smoke evolves as tobacco is consumed, in a very positive way. The acid notes are replaced with more sweety and oily flavor.

This is a great blend. I´ve tried several Rattays before but even as many are very good (Accountant´s, 7 reserve, Hal O´the wynd), this is the best.

I feel like I am writing the same review for every Rattray product as I have not come across one I don't like. I never realized this contained Perique or cavendish for that fact until I read these reviews. The description on the bottom of the tin merely points to a all Va blend. So for some time that is what I thought I was smoking.

To start, the tin presentation is beautiful. When you open the tin, large flakes are folded over each other like a hay bale or something to that effect. The smell off the tin was like a great VA. The taste is smooth and sweet (not like an aromatic, but more like a sweet VA). The nicotine is pretty strong for this genre. I think if I only smoked Rattray products I would be a happy piper as I have yet to find one I dislike. This one is right near the top, but different enough from the others I enjoy to pick a favorite.

8/1/13 I recently finished a second tin of this and it was much more fresh than the other I smoked. I am not sure how old the other one was, but guessing where I got it from I would say 5 to 6 years. I think the age made the virginias much sweeter as my second tin was not as great as that first one. I also purchased a tin of HOW and a large bulk order of OG and I find MF to be a little inferior to those. So while I still recommend it, my enthusiasm has been curbed a little.

I've been holding off on buying a Rattray blend, hoping that JR's would get a couple of the more popular incarnations within a reasonable timeframe. Good luck!

So I broke down and bought Marlin Flake at the local B&M, with the understanding that it would be of "darker" and "greater strength" than the typical Virginia. Yes, I know that is supposed to represent a comparison to Old Gowrie..well, now I do.

Opening this thing out of the tin affords a wonderful aroma, with a single dark reddish flake, beautifully folded into one gorgeous block. Not since Escudo's have I experienced a more attractive presentation just out of the tin.

Like many have stated, this is a moderate strength blend, with a sugary taste. The ripened flavor comes without throwing blatant signs regarding the addition of an articial sweetening agent. Some have suggested such, and I will gladly state my ignorance on the matter. However Rattray's manages to create Marlin Flake, it works exceptionally well--with an almost molasses undertone.

Upon smoking, I barely rubbed out the flake, with a medium-level packing. This thing smoked straight to the bottom without even the need for a single tampering, an incidence that I rarely come across. Because of the high degree of sugar, I'd suggest a more prudent means of puffing. If you get anxious on this smoke, you'll probably burn a tongue in short time. I didn't get that, however, and I do tend to run though a bowl much faster than others.

In my opinion, this Virginia offering comes second only to McClelland's 2010, which I find slightly less sweet, with a modestly greater jump in nicotine..and a more economical pricetag.

These days, Marlin Flake is four long, moist, rough flakes rolled up, not close to filling the tall, 100g tin. Initial tin note is sweet black bread, with very faint, dark chocolate and molasses. I prefer MF dried in the sun for a few minutes, and I pack it loose. It lights and burns down OK like this, with the biggest advantage of drying it being it can be smoked very slowly and gently without it going out. Right away there are clouds of fragrant smoke that both smell and taste of toasted, sweet brown bread, and the tin notes come through, as well. MF is dark and rich, with the varietals well melded, brown sugar sweet and tasting like fruit leather. I suppose the VAs are mostly selected, fermented, air cured browns, and there might also be some lightly stoved red. The Cavendish is dark and deep, and it’s very sweet. At 1/4 or so the Perique comes up, mostly sweet plums and prunes, but also some zesty, exotic, bakery spices, including coriander and a little white pepper, riding just “above” the main notes on the flavor spectrum. The tastes include iron from the molasses. Strength is more mild than medium. Tastes are medium. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is best-of-the-smoke.

All in all, Marlin Flake manages to be good and satisfying with little effort on my part, and that’s fine with me. Compared to its stable mates, Old Gowrie and Hal o’ the Wynd, MF is the smoothest, deepest, darkest and sweetest of the lot, and it lacks their KY altogether. All are top quality, 4 star blends, IMO.

I love this tobacco. Its my favorite of Rattray's blends, with Old Gowrie tied with Hal o the Wynd for 2nd place. OG might have a tiny edge. Im partial to the unsweetened (see update below) cavendish taste (and in a sense this is not unlike McClellands Navy Cavendish)...except this has Perique. Not a huge amount of perique, but enough. Its a more earthy perique, a bit like gawith uses in st james flake. Its a subtle taste and its best to smoke it slow. Comes in long ribbons of flake (a bit like Reiners long golden flake). But in the reiner (and dan tobaccos Tordenskjold Virginia Slices) the perique is brighter and a bit spicy. This is earthier and a bit more pungent. But this is predominated by cavendish taste.....making it different from a lot of Vapers. I love that taste so I give it 4 stars. Some prefer a pure vaper with just virginia....straight up. I like that, too. But my personal taste runs to this. The nic hit here is between mild and medium. Closer to medium. Not quite as strong as hal of the wynd. It smokes very slow....good to rub it out a bit. Consistently cool. Rattray is still a fine maker of pipe tobacco.

update: reading a lot of reviews here that suggest this is heavily cased or that the cavendish is sweetened etc. Im pretty sure there is a mild casing...much like there is for Solani silver flake or astley's 144....or a few others (most all of K&K have some casing). But its a comparatively light casing. Gawith tobaccos....sam's flake for instance....has a tonquin casing. Its mild, but it is present. And this leads to a big debate worth having I think. How many totally uncased tobacco blends are there? Precious few. Honestly, very very very few. So the question is, should things like Gawith Hoggarth's Cut Bosun Plug for example be considered an aromatic? Technically yes. But then youd have to be clear that such aromatics bear no resemblance to Capt Black or Amphora or other drug store blends. Now i admit that the flavoring in St Brunos flake ...as another example, is too much for me. Its not too much in Marlin Flake. In fact its barely noticable to me. But i know its there. Reinders Long Golden Flake has an orange flavoring. It does bother me a bit after a while. It that an aromatic? Few people would say it is. So i dont know. I do know and admit that rattray's old Perth blends were different and as far as I can remember not cased at all. So K&K have altered the recipe a bit. It remains however, for me anyway, a very fine tasting tobacco blend and one in which the pure tobacco taste predominates.