Robert McConnell Scottish Flake

There is nothing quite like rubbing out a K&K flake. The flakes are beautifully and evenly cut and inevitably expand to a surprising quantity of springy and easily workable ribbon. The moisture is such that one can smoke it as it comes, although it does profit from a small amount of drying. There are no humectants here so that if you're looking to smoke it occasionally you might want to put it in a container to keep it if from drying out.

The German tin says Red Virginia, Carolina, Kentucky and a pinch of Turkish, cold pressed for several weeks, and includes the description 'robust and full-flavored (or spicy),' which hits the mark exactly. At the moment the K&K website says dark Virginias, Kentucky and a pinch of Perique, lightly flavored with rum. Have they changed the blend?

There is something about this straight forward, no-nonsense flake that is 'old- timey' to me. Whatever that means...

Nothing else to add to the excellent reviews below, except to reiterate: A good blend with a friendly nudge of nicotine, SF is rich, full-bodied, bold tasting (as DK says) yet mild and cool; a pleasure, and as interesting as you want it to be. And, as mentioned often below, it definitely profits from time in the tin! Don't know what makes this Scottish, but this gets my vote. Three stars from a fresh tin, four when aged. Give this one a whirl!

Very pleasant thinly sliced brown flake, sweet tasting and rich but mild. I always love when a tobacco smokes mild and cool but has a nice bold flavor. This one accomplishes that.

This one did not bite my tongue unless I puffer fairly hard. A nice slow contemplative puffer will have no problems with sting. This is mildly sweet but not overly so. This is a fully serviceable smoke, and suffers only in relation to "superstar" VA flakes like FVF. It ages well, and I honestly would give 4 stars to my 15 year old tin but just three for a tin from 2008. Aging is recommended on this one, but even from a new tin, I wouldn't kick it outta my bowl.

Dark Virginia spiced up with Kentucky and a sprinkle of Perique with a very mild rum flavoring. The flakes are hard to remove from the tin without breaking them. Nice smell of figs and plums.

Lighting the tobacco is easy and it burns slowly and constantly. I get a well rounded sweet, toasty and slightly spicy smoke with rum molasses in the background. It is much better than Old Gowrie in both strength and taste.

Virginia lover

I am sure I will be told I am wrong... and I probably am... but I would not be surprised if Scottish Flake and Old Gowrie weren't the same tobacco in different tins. Both are Made by Kohlhas & Kopp and both have the same tobacco's making up the blend....and oh yeah the taste the same. I went as far as smoking back to back bowls in the same pipe and I cannot tell the difference. I will admit that my palate is probably not as refined as others that review here, I often miss nuances I read about in other reviewers blends. This blend is earthy, nutty and woody. There MAY be a bit more perique in SF than in OG but I cannot say for sure, I did think I got more of a nose tingle from the SF but nothing more in taste. The profile is the same (see my review of Old Gowrie). The DFK is the star and the VA is toasty and bready. Not complex but very tasty. I don't care if it IS the same, both are very good VABur's and if my local shop is out of one I can always buy the other. I think I was able to get SF a bit cheaper so if I had to choose...this would be the one for that reason alone.

I wrote K&K to affirm the ingredients here. They claim they have always had rum in this blend. But in fact it is VERY mild. Almost not noticeable at all. It is there to soften the Kentucky smokiness, of which there is only a little. It is a not uninteresting blend. And K&K, as with Rattrays blends, has tried to be loyal to the old McConnell recipe. The mostly succeed I think. It is a true scottish flake in the sense that everything but the kitchen sink is tossed into this. The results are pretty good on the whole. I feel like Im being unenthusiastic when in fact I think it a top flight blend. I almost wish there were more rum to be honest. Dark Virginia and Kentucky, a tiny pinch of Perique. -- and there are several virginias involved and all of it stoved.Its a 3 and a half star blend....although Im only giving it three. Aging may well do wonders for this blend.

Apparently there was some confusion with labeling. A few black labels listed Oriental leaf. So Im told. There is no oriental in this blend. And never was according to K&K.

A nice thinly sliced flake. I don't get any hints of Kentucky, Perique, Turkish, or casings. To me (YMMV of course), this is a fairly straightforward VA with some dark fired VA (I suppose that could be a touch of Kentucky). Not fancy, not very complex (I suppose the bit of complexity could be some underlying Turkish, but I never would guess it was there), but enjoyable. Since I know there are many tobaccos out there I would rate a 4, the question arises would I rebuy this particular tobacco, assuming my tastes don't change much more. In this case, the answer is probably not.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one as it was my first foray into the world of McConnell's tobaccos, however the wee tin gave me a slightly larger, if less cute, reminder of Holger Danske's Royal Navy Flake.

The tin aroma, upon opening, is something similar to that fine virginia flake, if more mild. The packing and lighting on this are of supreme ease, probably the easiest for any flake I've tried so far, so hat's off there to Mr McConnell. The flavour of the smoke, not sure on this one, hints of toffee and lemon perhaps.

This one can't help reminding me of Royal Navy Flake but not in the best way. The small tin, the tin aroma and the flavour seem to be too similar for comfort for me. Who came up with which tobacco first, I don't know. This is a good tobacco on it's own merit, don't get me wrong, but Royal Navy Flake would be my preference.

The name is O; Pinochi-O. And here I am, Smoking this pipe... as a real boy. When I take in puffs of smoke I am reminded of my night of Mayhem that I had on a little place called "Pleasure Island."

I was supposed to be on a mission to lead a good, honest and selfless life to make myself into a boy of flesh, but Pleasure Island presented far too many opportunities. Opportunities to Get laid, smoke, play pool, get wasted, ride roller coasters, and kill whoever you wanted. I couldnt pass it up. I remember the whole time my conscience Jiminy kept giving me the same old stupid lecture he always gave about doing right and letting my conscience be my guide... I got so sick of his crap, you know. I told the stupid cricket to shove it. He wasn't my boss and were he to be in my shoes, he would be all over that cricket tail. Stupid bug thought he could control me. Jiminy was the biggest joy-killing cock block in the world. GOOOOSHHH.... Couln't ever have fun with that hardass always chirpin down my neck!

Pleasure Island was a trip! When we got there my new best friend, Lampwick and I decided to get laid. So we found some action at the Pleasure Saloon. Then on our way out we killed a man just cause of the way his face looked. Now you may be asking yourself how does a wooden boy get up?.... I lie. Thats how!

I gotta say Lampwick was a real cool guy, he was his own boss and really knew how to have a good time. Didn't have to take order from some know-it-all cricket. I really liked that about him. He did his thing. After that we went to play some pool while we got hammered drunk and did a couple lines of coke.

Jiminy started to screw with my head while we played pool telling me the island was cursed, told me that Lampwick was turning into a Donkey. But you know, Lampwick always looked like a donkey, so i wasnt convinced til i started to grow a tail, myself. I hated it when Jiminy was right! We eventually escaped that place, but not before I took some angel dust to resell in the village back home. Jiminy had the bright idea of us jumpin into the ocean to get off the island. that idiot, I almost got waterlogged. Jiminy was such a tool.

Once I got home and became a real boy, the first thing I did was smoke Scottish Flake! And Jiminy kept being a pain, still trying to make moral suggestions to me and I got real sick of it. So one day one the way to school I threw that creep into a spider web and left him there to die. He swore vengeance on me, but I dont see that happening any time soon!

P-O out!

Update

Surprisingly, this is the only tobacco so far that does not do well with aging. I've opened a 2 1/2 years tin and it has considerably dried out.

Original review - 11/27/2007

I would be very surprised that this breed bares any turkish, Havana or medium Kentucky...for the sake of clarity, the tin description says: "Medium strength red virginia,naturally sweet".

And the taste is of sweet, matured red virginia, I did not detect anything else.

Scottish flake is a medium brown and red flake contained in a very conservative looking tin. The tobacco aroma is that of a fine port.

Smoking is indeed deliciously sweet, combined with the reliable and comforting taste of high quality matured virginias. I've noticed that past mid-bowl, the flavor becomes sweeter, without sacrificing the virginia taste.

A great companion to complete the true joys of a philosophy treaty and a fine glass of Cognac.