Col. & Rev.Views - Gawith, Hoggarth Louisiana Flake

[Col. Kurtz]

Sorry for the long hiatus on these reviews. I've had a few issues that kept me away from piping for a while. Well, summer is here in N.C. and the pipe seems a perfect companion for this time of year. I've been smoking a lot of Escudo, Squadron Leader, Meatpie and Carter Hall. I've had a few bowls of the LF and believe I can give it a fair run now. So here goes...





0.0 - 2.0 = poor/inferior quality
2.1 - 2.9 = fair
3.0 - 3.5 = good
3.5 - 4.5 = excellent
4.6 - 5.0 = superior

1) Aesthetics: the look of the tobacco - This is a dark flake, comes out looking like a five inch slice of jerky. This is a narrow rigid flake. The opposite of Dunhill flake which is blonde, moist and flimsy. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There are lots of medium and dark brown strands. This example is from 2005 and shows some crystals on the surface. Very cool.

Score for aesthetics: 4.9, only because I think coin cuts look cooler. Nothing wrong with this flake.

2) Pre-light Construction: I rubbed out the flake into course ribbons and let it dry for about two hours while the kiddos were bedding down. This didn't fall into thin ribbons like escudo tends to do, rather it held together a bit better. The loading went well. The prelight aroma is of molasses and spring flowers. There are also notes of caramel or chocolate.


Score for Pre-light construction: 4.5 this is a more robust pressed flake. Reminds me of McCleland 22 in structure.

3) Post-light Construction/How it smoked: Smokes like a flake should. Hard to over compress (thankfully for this newb). Even with the two hour drying, there is some gurgle in the pipe. Nothing major. This is a Virginia, but not sharp like Elizabethan or Escudo, so I puffed a little more enthusiastically. I had a bit of a time keeping this lit. I found best results came from dumping the ash off the top prior to relighting.

Score for post-light construction: 4.0 Not terribly well behaved.

4) Flavor and strength: For a Vaper, this is medium in strength. There isn't a lot of body here. Thin smoke most of the way. This is a dry, fruity and floral tobacco. With the dried out pile, I noted that the pepper is more prominent. There is a decent pepper kick on the snork that gets smoother as smoked. The other bowls that I only rubbed and smoked didn't have near the pepper.

Score for flavor and strength: 5.0 I'm combining prior experiences as well. I'll probably smoke this less dried from here on out.

5) Aftertaste/Finish: Medium aftertaste. Very pleasant floral flavors with a very small amount of spice.

Score for aftertaste: 5.0 everything I love and nothing offensive. Very solid and predictable tobacco.

6) Aroma: I sniffed the bowl while smoking and noted that this smells like popping the lid on a fruit cup.

Score for aroma: 5.0 hard to beat in my opinion.

7) General Comments: I smoked this rubbed and dried out. I've smoked it roughed up and not dried. I like the moist better. It seems to smoke a little cooler with less pepper. That's how I intend to smoke the rest. The more moist this is, it gives heavier molasses, chocolate and stewed fruit notes. Either way this is not a powerhouse. It's nuanced and subtle, but not so much that you have to "study" it to enjoy it. This is one of my favorites so far. This one is on my shopping list when I go back down to Smoking Pipes in Little River.

Overall score for the tobacco: 4.7

8) Recommendation: Would you recommend this blend? Absolutely. I can only hope the new production has the same characteristics.

[CRIMPS]

Thanks for the review. Well done.

[RevSmoke]

OK, here's the other half of this misfit review group. As you will note, this review was written almost 2.25 years ago. I did not put ratings to it, but you will get the general idea.

Gawith, Hoggarth Louisiana Flake

I have been smoking Louisiana Flake since 1990 or so, and so this review is simply my impressions over the last 20 years – finally put down to pen. I don’t know why it took me till now (1/19/2012) to write up a review. Maybe it was because it has always been such a constant companion and good friend, a comfortable blend that I don’t think about, but simply enjoy its company.

1) Aesthetics: I opened the 500g box, and there is this brick of tobacco. You can see that this is a brick of pressed tobacco that it was cut into flakes, but kept as a brick. You can see the swirls of the constituent tobaccos that were pressed into the brick and are layered across all the flakes. It looks really cool. This is a wonderful presentation.

2) Pre-light Construction: The brick is a bit moist, but not overly so. The flakes come off very easily, and seem ready to smoke. I might like them a bit drier, but the humidity level is most tolerable. I know lots of people like to fold and stuff, but I like to rub out my flakes, to me that is part of the ritual that makes smoking flakes so enjoyable, and the LF rubs out easily and packs with little fuss. I love the smell of LF in the tin, the slight hint of fruit (prunes), sweet tobacco, and chocolate is present.

3) Post-light Construction/How it smoked: Fully rubbed out, I have found that this burns evenly and easily. I sometimes like to get large volumes of smoke, so sometimes I hurf a bit heavily, even then is stays pretty cool to the tongue. When the bowl heats up a bit, that tactile sensation reminds me that you cannot smoke a pipe expecting the same volume of smoke as with a cigars, so then I set it down and let it cool. I must say that LF makes for great DGT smoking when picked up hours or even a couple days later.

4) Flavor and strength: This is my favorite blend. It is comfortable and consistent, bowl after bowl. This is a blend which exhibits rich Virginias. By that I mean that it isn’t bright and sharp like some Vas (not that those are bad aspects). I find this to have some caramel overtones, with complex, rich, sweet Virginia flavors, and chocolate. The Perique makes it’s presence known by bringing in an occasional prune/fruity note. When I back off of puffing too hard and sip this blend, it is absolutely wonderful

5) Aftertaste/Finish: Slight spice, chocolate, and prunes dance ever so briefly on the palate

6) Aroma: I love the aroma of a pipe in the side slip smoke as it wafts to my nose, after being squeezed from my mouth. Again, this is rich, sweet, with hints of chocolate and prunes. My sons both say that when I smoke this blend it makes them think of fishing, probably because this is the blend that is most comfortable to me, it is what I grab when I want a smoke and don’t want to think to hard about it.

7) General Comments I always have a couple 500g bricks stuffed into mason jars, aging. I like this blend fresh. But with a couple years on it, it is incredible. The stuff I am smoking now is from 2005 and is incredible. I’d like to put some away for a longer time, but…

8) Recommendation: If you haven’t tried this blend and you enjoy a good VaPer, give this a shot. Escudo is brighter and sharper than this, especially when this has a couple years on it. I like Escudo too, but…

[RevSmoke]

OK, I smoked a bowl of this a couple weeks ago while fishing, and another bowl last night. I will add a couple comments in red to this past review.

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

OK, here's the other half of this misfit review group. As you will note, this review was written almost 2.25 years ago. I did not put ratings to it, but you will get the general idea.

Gawith, Hoggarth Louisiana Flake

I have been smoking Louisiana Flake since 1990 or so, and so this review is simply my impressions over the last 20 years – finally put down to pen. I don’t know why it took me till now (1/19/2012) to write up a review. Maybe it was because it has always been such a constant companion and good friend, a comfortable blend that I don’t think about, but simply enjoy its company.

The bowls I smoked come from some I have had cellared since 2005, so this has a little age to it.

1) Aesthetics: I opened the 500g box, and there is this brick of tobacco. You can see that this is a brick of pressed tobacco that it was cut into flakes, but kept as a brick. You can see the swirls of the constituent tobaccos that were pressed into the brick and are layered across all the flakes. It looks really cool. This is a wonderful presentation.

I pulled a few flakes out of the mason jar, and immediately you notice sugar crystals glistening on the flakes. Absolutely gorgeous looking flakes, an inch plus wide and about seven inches long, wonderful mottled shades of brown.

2) Pre-light Construction: The brick is a bit moist, but not overly so. The flakes come off very easily, and seem ready to smoke. I might like them a bit drier, but the humidity level is most tolerable. I know lots of people like to fold and stuff, but I like to rub out my flakes, to me that is part of the ritual that makes smoking flakes so enjoyable, and the LF rubs out easily and packs with little fuss. I love the smell of LF in the tin, the slight hint of fruit (prunes), sweet tobacco, and chocolate is present.

Firm flakes that break up a bit while handling, but not too much,

3) Post-light Construction/How it smoked: Fully rubbed out, I have found that this burns evenly and easily. I sometimes like to get large volumes of smoke, so sometimes I hurf a bit heavily, even then is stays pretty cool to the tongue. When the bowl heats up a bit, that tactile sensation reminds me that you cannot smoke a pipe expecting the same volume of smoke as with a cigars, so then I set it down and let it cool. I must say that LF makes for great DGT smoking when picked up hours or even a couple days later.

I like to let it dry out a bit, and rub it out fairly completely. I think it smokes better that way. I had no problems keeping this lit, it smokes very cool and smooth.

4) Flavor and strength: This is my favorite blend. It is comfortable and consistent, bowl after bowl. This is a blend which exhibits rich Virginias. By that I mean that it isn’t bright and sharp like some Vas (not that those are bad aspects). I find this to have some caramel overtones, with complex, rich, sweet Virginia flavors, and chocolate. The Perique makes it’s presence known by bringing in an occasional prune/fruity note. When I back off of puffing too hard and sip this blend, it is absolutely wonderful.

I do not know whether I really know that there is much more I can say that I found in this blend. It is a constant; rich, slightly sweet, and there is the hint of spice, and that slight prune/raisin taste.


5) Aftertaste/Finish: Slight spice, chocolate, and prunes dance ever so briefly on the palate.

Not much to add here.

6) Aroma: I love the aroma of a pipe in the side slip smoke as it wafts to my nose, after being squeezed from my mouth. Again, this is rich, sweet, with hints of chocolate and prunes. My sons both say that when I smoke this blend it makes them think of fishing, probably because this is the blend that is most comfortable to me, it is what I grab when I want a smoke and don’t want to think to hard about it.

Yup, that is a good summary.

7) General Comments I always have a couple 500g bricks stuffed into mason jars, aging. I like this blend fresh. But with a couple years on it, it is incredible. The stuff I am smoking now is from 2005 and is incredible. I’d like to put some away for a longer time, but…

Well, this stuff made it another two years. I regularly smoke VaPers - Escudo and Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake are a couple Staples. This is richer than either of them.

8) Recommendation: If you haven’t tried this blend and you enjoy a good VaPer, give this a shot. Escudo is brighter and sharper than this, especially when this has a couple years on it. I like Escudo too, but…

I expect to smoke up the few flakes I broke out in the next few days. Why? I had not had any in a few months, and the couple bowls remind me how much I enjoy it.

[Col. Kurtz]

I bought a 500 gram block earlier this month because I enjoyed this sample so much. Glad to report nothing has changed. This is a top notch tobacco. I love it. If I'm going to be smoking outside, I'll leave it more flake like. If I'm smoking indoors I'll grab some from an Escudo tin I've recycled to hold three or four rubbed out flakes ready to go. This is delightful stuff. I honestly don't know why folks bag on the "lakeland" blends. I love this stuff. I can't wait to try a few more G&H blends. Bob's Chocolate Flake perhaps?

My new go to tobacco. I highly recommend all pipers try this one.