SG Bracken Flake

[Curly Cut]

this is an OOOOOLD review of mine.

as the title suggest, i just got a tin of Samuel Gawith Bracken Flake after asking for another tub of Rattrays Hal o' the Wynd (which they were out of). the guys at the shop, where the Great KC Pipe Club meets on every 3rd thursday, asked what i was looking for. so, i said something similar to Hal o' the Wynd, to which they replied, "stronger or lighter than that?" my reply, "since thats pretty mild, i'd want something stronger."

they tossed me a tin of this.



okay, so the last time i asked, they gave me a GL Pease Haddo's Delight, which i have yet to have trip my trigger in the least bit.

okay onto this flake.

i had to finish fixing my garage door first (one of the springs broke a bit ago, finally got around to fixing it).

after opening the tin, the smell was amazing. not the "raisins" of "Wynd", but there was a definite smell to this, and i have NO CLUE what it is/was. all i knew - I LIKED IT. i let my wife take a quick snort, and as the typical female response, she wrinkled up her nose. <--- bah, i'm the one smoking it, why do i care. talk about a DEEP DARK COLOR TO MATCH THE FLAVOR!!



so, it's a flake, and after having a tin of penzance, my heebie-jeebies about having flakes are gone. i intended to fold/pack it like the MacBaren video shows, but it didn't really want to do it like it shows in the video... scrap that, i'll just rub it out.

very moist, very dark, awesome smell, hoping it tastes like it smells.

i have no clue what the room note was, as i was smoking it, not smelling it. i do know that it DID have the flavor on the finish that it did in the tin. i'm sure it's a love it or hate it kinda smell though... i'm in the love camp right now.

that flavor is all i was thinking about... so, the rest, i can't tell you. it smoked plenty smooth, although still fairly moist as i just opened the can, and i smoked it in my deep bowled meerschaum.
anywho, crappy review, i know... for some reason i want to say it was like a spicy, peppery, syrup flavor...
click the link at the top to see what others think of this (it has a 3 star rating overall).