Rattray Marlin Flake

Rattray- Marlin Flake

Upon opening this blend I was met with a a beatiful figgy plum smell, with some grassy/hay scents, presentation for this blend is beautiful flakes are stack and cut perfect rectangular gum strip density. I let this dry for a good 30 minutes prior to smoking and broke two flakes apart and loaded them into my Rossi 320.

This was a fantastic Sunday afternoon smoke, the spicy sweet Perique and hay of the darkened Virginia’s far surpassed anything I’ve enjoyed to this point, I can honestly say that I understand why Rattray blends are held in high regards as this blend knocks the va/per definition to another level.

The cavendish is there, and I’m not sure if it’s there for body or if it may have some topping, regardless it doesn’t, hinder anything. This is a blend Va/per lovers should rejoice in and attempt to get ahold of down the road.

Added to the rotation and cellar for down the road.

I highly enjoyed Old Gowrie and decided to give Marlin Flake a chance; just exchange the Kentucky for Cavendish and you’ll get another wonderful blend? Perhaps? Let’s find out.

Upon opening the tin, the first thing I noticed was a distinct honey and molasses aroma, mixed with fresh hay and tangy citrus overtones. Nice smell, nothing remarkable compared to other VaPers.

There is some moisture, had to rub it and let it dry out for 20-30 minutes. Marlin Flake is a very sweet VaPer, almost like smoking an aromatic. The first thing I noticed was the taste of darkened sweet- bread, mixed with raisins and a slight citrus aftertaste. The Virginia and Cavendish are the most evident, with a slight Perique spice. However, the brown sugar taste of the Black Cavendish makes this blend a bit too sweet for me and it makes me want to brush my teeth after. Boy, this one is going to stain my teeth even worse now!

A high quality, premium smoke no doubt. However, in a world of so many great VaPer’s (Old Gowrie included), I don’t see myself buying another tin and adding it to my rotation. Still a great blend though, just that I like other VaPer blends a lot better. Could be a nice after dinner smoke, especially if you want something very sweet and skip dessert.

Six months ago I added pipe smoking to my daily habit of smoking one small sized Cuban cigar. I still consider myself a beginner. This is my second review. After reading lots of reviews, viewing lots of Youtube instructions and a lot of trial and error, I now deal with this tobacco without worrying too much about the sophistications of the fine pipe smoking culture. It comes as a sort of flat wet bobbin of long filaments. Having it opened one or two months ago, maybe the bobbin has dried out a little on the outside. Well, I pick up some of the outer filaments, rub them a bit, break the long fibers in smaller pieces and pack them tightly in the tiny bowl of a light 20-cm-no-filter-briar-pipe. Maybe lighting takes me more time than a connaisseur would need. Maybe I’ve to relight or tamp it several times. Maybe I puff it too fast; when the bowl gets too hot, I grab the pipe by the stem. However, it doesn’t punish me for the untender treatment. It’s 15 - 20 minutes of splendid tobacco taste and smell (obviously pure tobacco).

This dark brown flake, mottled with Black Cavendish, comes in extra long slices that can be on the moist side in a fresh tin. It smells deliciously of brown bread with an underlying sweetness. In spite of the mild flavoring, this tobacco might still be enjoyed by fans of English blends.

I usually tear off a strip of tobacco about twice as long as the the chamber of the bowl is deep and use the fold and stuff method for filling my pipe. Alternatively, you might rub it out. It can be a little difficult to put the charring light evenly to the tobacco. Afterwards I level out the ashes before the true light.

Upon lighting there's a sublime peppery tangyness with a slight fruity acididy from the Perique which is mellowed by a distinct sweetness. There are notes of raisins or dried figs as well as slightly nutty flavors, whereas you can only adumbrate the whisky and port wine topping and some grassy notes from the Virginias. It burns down evenly and slowly leaving some coarse, dry, grey ash, all this time being mild on your tongue.

The room note is spicy with hints of sweetness.

I thought I'd reviewed this about a year ago when I first tried it, never mind, I was impressed when I first tried Marlin Flake, I'm still impressed now as I sit here with a pipe gently smoldering, you know I can't for the life of me think why I haven't been smoking this to death for the last twelve months or so, but I haven't, for some reason or another it fell out of rotation and the tin I thought I had stashed away turned out to be Old Gowrie. A telephone call and 48 hours later, I'm ready.

A dark folded ribbon of flake is extracted from the tin, partialy rubbed out, this is left to dry on newspaper for 24 hours, the aroma of the tobacco is rich and complex, I would have said an aged Virginia and been hoplessly wrong. It is it seems, a Cavendish, Perique, Virginia Flake, and beautifully done.

Loads and lights easily with a single match and already, the tobacco warns me not to puff to hard as a bite will be the reward, the taste is rich and sweet, without being too sweet and cloying, red wine and raisins come to mind. It has been noted that this is similar to Dunhill Flake, I cannot resist, and light a pipe Of Dunhill Flake for a side by side comparisson. I agree entirely. However, I always remember DF having a Buttered Bread like flavour, am i getting gentle hints from both ? Is DF immitating Marlin Flake ? or is Marlin Flake immitating DF ? Either way, both are superb, an excellent all day smoke.

I have one tin open and two in reserve, time to buy some more. I'm not going without this one again. Four well earned stars.

Yet another update, my last, I promise. I'm not one to change my mind often. Wait a minute, maybe I am. Anyway, I don't like too many updates but, K&K just updated their website, and for what it's worth, I quote....

RATTRAY?S - BRITISH LINE MARLIN FLAKE Dieser dunkle Flake setzt sich zusammen aus Dark Virginia, tiefschwarzem Cavendish und einem Hauch Perique.

The words in question need no translation but here's one anyway:

This dark flake is made up of Dark Virginia, deep black Cavendish and a breath of Perique.

I have a tin of Marlin Flake on order, just because I really don't remember tasting any Perique in there, and I know I never tasted vanilla. We'll see. I hope I don't come off snooty by posting this, as I have never once, in all my life, actually snooted. By the way, I enjoy Mo's reviews quite a bit, and in no way intend to offend. Anyone. Unless they want to be. (Offended, that is). Happy smoke. p.s. Don't even ask about Hal O' the Wynd. (Kentucky and perique, too. Actually, almost all the Rattray pure Virginias aren't).

Another update,- regarding blend content. I did some research at one of my favorite German language tobacco sites, daft.de .There's a wealth of information on all things tobacco there. One thing you won't find there, I don't think, is this importer's descriptive. http://www.daft.de/downloads/oesterreichischer_tabak.pdf I add this only to try to be informative, I'm not endorsing anyone here... But there's that ingredient list again..VA/CAV/PER. aye aye aye.

--Update-- I'm removing a star, because the cans I've bought recently were sharp (the tobacco inside, not the cans themselves) and bitey. It seems the K and K has indeed filled some of the old 'blended in Perth' cans with their concoction, and it just isn't the same. As for the stickers on the can stating the blend includes things unvirginia, go figure. . . Still leaving it 3 stars for what it was, and may someday again be.(insert weepy violin music)

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Earlier. . . . .

I live in Austria, where this is both hard to find, and not the biggest seller. So, I've had both the 'blended for' and the 'blended by Charles Rattray at Perth' versions. I like them both equally and actually have found more variation from can to can as apposed to blender and country.

That said, I have to say my tongue and nose have always been a little supicious about the ingredients of this blend. 'Straight virginia'? they ask. hmmm maybe some dark stoved to boot. Well, the last 100 gram can I bought had a little surprise on the bottom. A sticker, in German.. It listed this as Marlin Flake, a Virginia with both, get this-- Black Cav. and Perique. I laughed. Then I went back and bought another tin and there was the same sticker on the bottom, go figure.

Anyway, I think this is best when mixed 50-50 with Black Mallory. Mix it one bowl at a time. I tried premixing about 50 grams and it turned into a bitter mess.

12/20/04 - Marlin Flake (new tin)

Tin: Marlin Flake arrives in the tin as a bundle of impressive 6" long flakes of mottled reddish-brown and black strands. A whiff reveals dark fruit notes over a core of good, strong natural tobacco. The moisture level in my tin was high, even for a Rattray's blend. Give this one some airing time.

Pack: I rub out all my flakes when I smoke indoors, and this one does so easily, breaking down into short strands that make loading easy. The strands are dense, so I find myself tending towards a looser pack.

Lighting/Burning: For such a dense flake, the tobacco lights relatively easily. An extra pass with the lighter at the outset is helpful just to make sure, but there isn't any need for extraordinary effort, which is nice. MF burns evenly down the bowl, but is an easy one to smoke hot. This is a flake that absolutely requires good technique.

Flavor: From a freshly-opened tin, MF is dominated by the sweetness of the red VA's, so much so that it's distracting. I believe that this is the source of the occasional comments that that MF is "syrupy". Fortunately, this sweetness dissipates after the tin has been opened for just a few days, making the core flavors of this flake - big, rich, slightly spicy low Virginia notes - that much more apparent. The flavor is fairly consistent across the bowl, gaining just a bit of strength at the bottom, but there's a lot to appreciate in MF's basic flavors. Tongue bite is definitely a possibility, though. I feel like I'm always just on the edge of smoking too fast with this flake.

Pipe/Technique: This is one of the rare flakes that I find really likes a slightly larger bowl, probably because of the benefit that the extra air provides to slow combustion. I've settled into Group 4 sized bowls as my favorite for this, sometimes breaking into Group 5 territory - though MF burns well and tastes good in even bigger pipes, I find the flavor to be strong enough as is. Regardless of the pipe, good smoking technique is essential here - this is the only blend I smoke where breath-smoking or some other kind of forced slow-smoking routine is absolutely necessary to avoid bite. And, as mentioned above, open the tin a few days early and let the flakes dry before rubbing-out.

Overall: In the arena of strong, straight VA's, this is a top contender. The core flavors of Marlin Flake are simply fantastic - rich, strong, natural VA at its best. It reminds me of Hal `O The Wynd, which I used to smoke almost exclusively but have not returned to for a couple of years. I look forward to opening a tin of Hal for comparison to MF sometime soon. My only reservation about Marlin Flake is the propensity to bite - I prefer blends that are a bit less precarious to smoke, and MF definitely requires my full attention. For that reason, I'm going to stop short of giving this a "favorite" rating just yet, but I look forward to seeing if the tins in my cellar mellow any with age. 3/4

Update 4/23/05 - It hasn't been long enough to break another tin of MF out of the cellar, but I did get a chance to smoke a tin of (unaged) HOTW recently. While there is a certain similarity in flavor between these tobaccos, I very much disagree with people that consider them "nearly identical". The sweetness in HOTW is much more subdued than in MF. Perhaps for that same reason, I find HOTW much easier to smoke. Maybe with more aging, the two will become more similar. Only time will tell... But for the moment, I find Hal to be much more to my liking.

The dark Virginias give this flake a woody earthy character that is slightly accented by the figgy spice of the perique, which also adds a hint of grassiness. This is a mild and uncomplicated Virginia blend, yet compromised of high quality tobaccos. There is very little tongue bite straight out of the tin, but it can use a little drying after rubbing out the flake. This is a blend that can equally be treasured or used as an all day blend.

3.5/4 - Very enjoyable but I prefer a little more complexity to my Virginias.

3rdguy

Just finished a full tin but I have to say it was 10 1/2 years old. Nothing tangy with this aged tobacco but plenty of sweet sweet tobacco with a toasted marshmallow taste up front. Reminds me a bit of Rattray’s Dark Fragrant. Black flakes that lit easily and burned down to a nice white ash.

I have plenty in the cellar and hope it all will end up similar once aged. A great smoke.