Robert McConnell Scottish Flake

It's unusual to come across a blend of this many tobaccos with this kind of flavor clarity. And I agree that Scottish Flake is a peculiar combination of leaf. Like most Virginia dominant flakes, this McConnell offering is best smoked at a slow sip and with a clean palate. The flakes are delicately pressed and the thin cut makes for an excellent fold and stuff tobacco. It performs wonderfully, it’s simple to prepare and takes to flame with ease. It smokes relatively cool, is fairly forgiving and does not bitter when puffed at a faster pace.

Scottish Flake has a sweet tone and delivers a light honey note and substantial flavor depth. The majority of the sweetness is provided by the red Virginia and Turkish. The other components add body without overtly influencing the overall flavor. The mouth-feel is on the lighter side but there is a definite texture to the smoke as well as a pleasing spiciness. By mid bowl, flavors broaden and ultimately Scottish Flake settles into a gratifying smoke that’s medium in body, superbly balanced and consistently sweet from beginning to end.

Scottish Flake is not incredibly complex but there are some interesting subtleties created by the compounding of flavors that make this tobacco stand out as something entirely unique and worth pursuing. Good stuff, and it ages superbly.

Surely any who have tried either the original McConnell Scottish Flake, or the first iteration blended in Germany, would rate it near the top of their list of all-time favorites. K&K have changed the blend (my guess would be due to availability of some original components) but they have done so expertly and with my supply of old Scottish Flake dwindling, it just so happens that the current version IS the closest substitute (which is not always the case). I have plenty in the cellar and while it satisfies directly off the shelf, even a few years will do wonders for this blend. Older recipe or current, this is still my all-time favorite tobacco.

FIRST OFF: I contacted K&K and asked for clearification about the actual ingridients- I'll update this, as soon as I get a response!

Edit 07/2020: Still waiting on that response ;D

They must've changed the blend for sure! You can notice that somewhere around 2012/13 the reviews change here and start statin there's no Turkish in there, and the descriptions start describing a "Va/Per with Kentucky and Rum Topping" (which is also the current description on Kohlhase & Kopps website). Anyways, some Online-Shops, and some tins (primarily the rectangle ones) have different descriptions stating "Red Virginias, Carolina Leaf, Kentucky & Turkish Havana" - no Perique, no rum. Some say only "Turkish", no "Havana", so I have the guess they changed this blend several times.

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This review is about the rectangle tin, which describes: "Red Virginia, Carolina Leaf, Kentucky & Turkish" (no Havanna) on the back.

Upon opening the classy designed tin (which is exactly like Scottish CAKEs design), I got greeted by a intense (fermented) fruit note, that's accompanied by a slightly nutty undertone. Reminiscent of wine or cidre, full-bodied scent. Inside there a 2 stacks of thin sliced flakes, which look beautiful with mainly bright-brown colour and is speckled with golden-yellow and almost black stains.

The flakes break apart pretty easily and need about 30-60minutes (at least) of drying time, due to the rather high moisture level. Keep in mind this is personal preference and your preferred drying time may vary from this! Experimenting is the key for elaborating your personal preference.

Lights easy, need average relights and smokes well.

Scottish Flakes taste is very sophisticated and refined. Not comparable to Scottish CAKE at all, the Scottish FLAKE provides a intense fruity aroma at first light, which I perceive as being orangy, with plums and figs. Quickly the Turkish makes it's presence known by contributing a very herbal, dry and woodsy aroma, with a tad of sourness that's enriching the fruity component (which I guess is the Red Virginia) excellently. I also get a nuttiness that's lurking in the back, which is very pleasant and consitent throughout the smoke. The Kentucky is applied rather light handed, and contributes a decent smoky, nicely tangy spice to the blend, as well as it emphasizes the Turkish very well. A peppery spice is constantly present and gives this blend full-bodied and rich.

Lots of earthy and woodsy notesn interplay with the softly sweet, but intense fruity component of this smoke, form a melange that's bewitching and taking you to foreign lands of the Orient.

No doubt - this is a TOP-NOTCH blend, which deserves the full points of 4/4 stars!

Yet I'm exasperated, that I won't be able to enjoy this blend for much longer, as the official K&K website states (and also the countless reviews saying so) it's a "Va/Per/Ky" with Rum topping now. I'm kinda panicing and already planning to cellar the ~10 tins that my local B&M has, which are all the "Red VA, Carolina, Kentucky, Turkish (Havana)"-Mixture, before it will vanish for good. As soon as I get response from K&K (which usually takes weeks, up to months...) I'll update this and hope that I can clear things up for good! 😉

Robert McConnell Scottish Flake.

The nose from the tin is nothing extraordinary for the tobacco's used. What I do find extraordinary is how easy it is to rub the flakes: they're of a superb moistness and they're quite thin enabling them to be rubbed with the utmost ease. As it's a doddle to load the pipe, let's move on to the smoke:

Lighting Scottish Flake is, like the preparation, very simple. Then a smoke that's as nutty as it is spicy comes into play. If it's puffed too hard it can become quite warm but as it's bite free the flavour can be savoured with gentler sips; the Kentucky gives a lot more character to the flavour than the Virginia does, this gives very little to the taste in comparison.

I'd say the nicotine's just below medium unless big gulps of smoke are inhaled, and even then it's not 'strong'.

This is a great smoke: Highly recommended. That's about all that needs saying!

Four stars.

This is delicious. Creamy and sweet - a lovely virginia. No tongue bite, no worries. I loaded 2 flakes into a Peterson 606, with room to spare. Smoked it for probably 2 hours, over a period of 2 days. Finally dumped the pipe and found quite a bit of tobacco at the bottom! A very slow smoking weed indeed, and friendly all the way.

It's not complicated, just tasty. I like it better than Scot Cake and will order more.

Really nice flake, cool dry smoke, zero tongue bite. Virginia is a Captain, Kentucky is sergant ant Perique is supporting soldier. Give it a try, I'm going to buy another few tins!

Bought it today after finishing a tin of Oriental, also from McConnell. I haven't smoked a flake in a while now and, since University Flake wasn't available, I chose this (in fact it wasn't much of a choice, this being the only flake available in the respective tobacco shop). Upon opening the tin, the flakes were pretty dry and had the smell of freshly mowed grass with a hint of plums. The tobacco taste after the lighting was of pure Virginia with a small spicy taste from the Turkish. If this is made from an original Scottish recipe then I would say that the Scots prefer milder tobaccos than the Irish. I found this a little milder than University Flake and way milder than Irish Flake. But this is a good tobacco, great to smoke anytime and anywhere. My sincere congratulations to the blenders. This officially became my substitute when I cannot find University Flake.

Usually, when i smoke a virginia based tobbacco, it comes out too cigarette-like for my taste (i don't like cigarettes at all). This one was an instant surprise. A warm, somewhat spicy blend with a bit of a kick. Just a small puff is enough to fill your mouth and i love it. It has a steady, continuous taste from top to bottom and it's flavor is rich with amazing clarity, although it burns a bit hot as you smoke it. No casing, no bite at all. Also, it is packed into a flake beautifully. It is a blend that i will not smoke throughout the whole day, but rather wait for a special occasion (perhaps in the evening with a drink). A downside of the blend would be it's room note. The feedback i got from others is not the best as they found it smelling like a heavy cigarette, almost too heavy (even for smokers). I have smoked it both fresh from tin and dry and truth is it retains most of it's well balanced feeling, but when dry it burns quickly (for a flake).

To summarize, an awesome non-aromatic blend to smoke alone now and then.

Would i Buy it again? I most definetely will. Would i Recomend it for new smokers? Yes, but with caution if it is your first non-aromatic. Would i recomend it for aromatic smokers? If you want something different for a change, no second thought.

I feel bad that I did not try this great blend before.

The flakes are dark in color, with a wonderful, pure, grassy sweet, soure fig like, Virginia smell. The flavors are just what I was searching for. The flakes have a high humidity level, so I aired the stuff. The airing settled also the flavors for sure. Flakes pack well. It burns well. Smokes cool. I personally didn't detect any casing. Beside the quality Virginia I enjoyed a spicy flavor which I think means a Turkish addition and somehow a perfectly balanced addition of Burley maybe. The overall smoking experience of this tobacco is great. Offers all the satisfaction of a true pipe tobacco. I highly recommend it.