A Tour of the Lakelands - Bunch of G&H blends

I am continuing my series of reviews on Gawith and Hoggarth Lakeland blends.

Already complete: Ennerdale

Now at bat: Grasmere Flake


Description on tin / tobaccoreviews.com: A blend of the finest Virginias & burleys. This medium flake has an overall top-note flavour of English rose and geranium.

Component Tobaccos: Burley and VA

Cut: Thick Brown flakes. Typical G&H Flake. Rubs out fairly well.

Jar Aroma: Where Ennerdale was a complex melange, Grasmere is pure floral perfume. Rose Geranium. Also herbal notes and a very minor spice like nutmeg and cinnamon

Taste: The overpowering flavor is Sweet Rose. Ever had rosewater flavored desserts or candy? There is a fantastic ice-cream parlor near me that is owned by an elderly Indian couple and they serve sweet rose ice-cream. It tastes exactly like Grasmere. Apparently in the early 1800s vanilla was incredibly expensive and floral extracts like rose and violet were the primary flavors in cakes and desserts in the US and the UK. This tobacco tastes like a total throwback. When G&H was young floral flavors were the norm while the dessert flavors common to us today were unknown or expensive. This flake doesn't have the creaminess of Ennerdale, you do get a little nuttiness from the burley tobaccos that keep everything rounded out. The VAs that G&H uses are naturally very floral and compliment the topping well. It is hard to determine what other flavors come from the topping or from the tobacco. The flavor is very strong, it is on par with Ennerdale in terms of a tastebud assualt.

Strength: Not super strong in the N department, stronger than Ennerdale but not powerful.

Smokability: For as thick as this flake is it rubs out really well. I like to give it a coarse cube cut then rub it out a bit more. I have also just rubbed out the flake directly with good success. Smokes cool and slow.

Room Note: Only smoke outdoors on deck or in garage with door open. Wife likes the beard note. It smoked this on a camping trip recently and it confused the hell out of my campmates. They kept looking around for the old lady.

Thoughts: Do you like C. Howards Violet Candy or Rose Flavored Turkish Delight? I personally love them and I love this tobacco as well. It is monochromatic. The flavor doesn't change much going down the bowl and the floral essence lasts until the very end for me. Will ghost even more than Ennerdale. Try it in a small pipe because the flavor can be overwhelming if you are not used to Lakelands. I can see many people hating the first puff then growing to like it but then getting bored by the bottom of the bowl. A great relaxation and contemplation tobacco.

Still to come: Bosun Cut Plug, Coniston Cut Plug, Rum Flake, Louisiana Perique Flake, Brown Flake Scented, Dark Flake Scented, Dark Flake Liquorice, Dark Birds Eye, Cherry Cream Flake, Kendal Flake, Bob's Chocolate Flake, Bob's Square Cut, Broken Scotch Cake. The list will be in no particular order or time frame.

Continuing my series of reviews on Gawith and Hoggarth Lakeland blends.

Already complete: Ennerdale, Grasmere, Cherry Cream Flake

Now at bat: Dark Flake in a few different permutations.


Description on Tin: None bulk only

Description on tobaccoreviews.com: Gawith Hoggarths Dark Flake is a popular tobacco among those who want a full smoking experience, in both body and flavour. Comprised of fired and dark air cured Virginia's before being hot pressed into cakes.
    Liquorice - The classic dark plug is topped with natural Liquorice extract for a little extra flavour to this powerful flake.
    Scented - This is the same strong, full-bodied tobacco leaf that comprises unflavored Dark Flake, but seasoned with the addition of traditional British         flavorings, as well as tonquin, maple, and licorice. Designed for those experienced smokers who want the full strength of Dark Flake but enjoy a more         traditionally flavored British Flake.

Component Tobaccos: Virginia and Burley. G&H states "Made from equal part of Malawi Dark Fired and Indian Dark Air Cured" but I don’t understand what that means

Cut: Thick meaty flakes. Looks like beef jerkey (doesn’t taste like it though)

Jar Aroma: Pungent and smokey. Side by side I can’t tell the difference in aroma between Dark Flake Liquorice and Dark Flake Unscented. Scented smells complex. I get notes that remind me of spice drops with a background of florals (rose and violet?). The tin note is less strong than Brown Flake Scented even though the toppings are the same. It is a testament to the strength of the tobaccos in this flake

Taste: For those who haven’t had G&H Dark Flake Unscented before it is earthy. Like peat moss and compost earthy. Metallic tasting, like country well water not like chewing on foil. A bit spicy and peppery.
    Liquorice - Taste likes Dark Flake Unscented with a little extra sweetness. When I first smoked this, it took me a while to taste the liquorice. For almost         all the first bowl I swore P&C sent me the wrong tobacco. Then it hit me, the roughness of Dark Flake Unscented was smoothed away. There was no         harshness or brashness. Instead a light sweetness permeated through the smoke. The liquorice flavor is there but it is like chewing on liquorice root         rather than eating licorice candy. It is more like eating a piece of anise or fennel than taking a shot of Sambuca. If you know the flavor of Sen Sen,         that is what you get. It compliments the flavor of the flake very well. It does its job without being obtrusive. It adds sweetness without being sweet.         Liquorice flavor is very noticeable in the long lived aftertaste. I also pick up the same hint o’ the Lakeland Sauce that is present in Dark Flake         Unscented and a lot of other G&H blends. If you are sensitive to the soapiness you might want to stay away.
    scented - Very confusing at first. I had a very hard time pulling out the individual flavors of the toppings before trying DF Liquorice. The tonquin is the         strongest topping, then liquorice, and maple comes in and out and is fairly faint. There is also a very noticeable rose geranium scenting, so a much         stronger Lakeland flavor. Tonquin isn't nearly as strong as 1792.

Strength: Strong. Strong. Strong. Strong. Mule kick to the head strong. Niccups a plenty the first time I had a G&H Dark Flake. Stronger the 1792. Stronger than Irish Flake. Stronger than G&H ropes. Full stomach, sweet drink or small bowls recommended.

Smokability: For as thick as this flake is it rubs out really well. I like to give it a coarse cube cut then rub it out a bit more. I have also just rubbed out the flake directly with good success. Smokes cool, no way though could bite even if you freight train’d it.

Room Note: Only smoke outdoors on deck or in garage with door open. It seems pretty potent. I don’t think you will win any popularity contest. Wife hates the beard note.

Thoughts: The dark flake Liquorice is my favorite. If you want a licorice aromatic this isn’t it. Try Esoterica Ramsgate. This is liquorice not licorice. It is herbal and medicinal not candy sweet. The interesting this is that smoking this tobacco helped me understand the flavor of the G&H scented flakes. They are topped with tonquin, liquorice, and maple. I could never separate out the individual top note flavors before, they all just sort of blended into one taste. Now that I understand the liquorice flavor, I can pick apart the flavor profile of the scented flakes much better. In terms of G&H offerings, I think this has replaced Dark Flake Scented for me. Unscented is a little too rough, the liquorice topping smooth things out but still lets me taste the component tobacco without drowning them out (like with Dark Flake Scented). I would like scented more if it wasn't so much of a 3-ring circus. There is simply too much going on with the strong taste of the tobacco competing against the natural dark fired flavors of the tobacco. Brown flake Scented is much better than Dark Flake Scented in my opinion. I think the lighter flavor of the brown flakes works better with the heavier Lakeland scented. Dark Flake Liquorice might beat out Dark Birds Eye as my favorite strong smoke. I still haven't Tried Dark Plug, so maybe that will edge it out.
TL/DR Strong earthy flavors. Give to a newbie and watch ‘em turn green. Liquorice is very mild but is highly complementary to the tobacco.

Next Up: Louisiana Perique Flake

Still to come: Bosun Cut Plug, Coniston Cut Plug, Rum Flake, Louisiana Perique Flake, Brown Flake Scented, Dark Birds Eye, Kendal Flake, Bob's Chocolate Flake, Bob's Square Cut, Broken Scotch Cake. The list will be in no particular order or time frame.

Continuing my series of reviews on Gawith and Hoggarth Lakeland blends.

Already complete: Ennerdale, Grasmere, Cherry Cream Flake, Dark Flake (S, US, Liquorice), Louisiana Flake

Now at bat: Dark Birds Eye


Gawith and Hoggarth Dark Birds Eye

Description on Tin: None bulk only

Description on tobaccoreviews.com: Manufactured from Dark tobacco 'whole leaf' rather than strips, the mid-rib (or stem) gives the 'birds eye' effect when cut. A strong smoke which was particularly favored by the fishermen as the finer cut meant the tobacco was easier to light and to keep-in on board ship when the weather was bad. Notes: This is a combination of dark-fired whole leaf Virginias and mid-rib fine cut Kentucky leaf rolled and sliced to make 'bird's eyes'. This fine shag cut was preferred by fisherman and sailors because it was very easy to pack and light.

Component Tobaccos: Dark Fired Kentucky, Virginia

Cut: Nice shag cut. Long and stringy. Hard to pull a small pinch out of the jar. Thicker cross-cut tobacco veins, like little discs peppered throughout.

Jar Aroma: Unmistakably dark fired. Also a weird smell, like something fermenting and not necessarily in a good way. Smells a bit like dry cured cigars that use Kentucky.

Taste: NOT A DROP OF LAKELAND ESSENCE TO BE FOUND. Has a lot of qualities similar to HH Old Dark Fired, however... more. The taste is strong but monochromatic. It doesn’t change from top to bottom. Again is the taste of something fermenting which I assume comes from the VA. It tastes like rotten fruit but in a good way. The Kentucky is smoky and stronger, a little earthy and nutty. Overall the blend is sweeter than I would have expected. It is sweet in the way dark chocolate is sweet, it just takes the edge off the bitter but doesn’t flood you with sugar.

Strength: Strong. This is not a lightweight tobacco. The nicotine effect may seem slighter due to cut. As it burns faster you are not physically taking as much in. Still try in a small pipe first with something sweet to drink on hand.

Smokability: Packs and burns like a charm. Pack significantly tighter than you would for a nice ribbon cut. It will help slow the burn. The strands are long and stringy you may need to pack then rip or cut off the extra hair sticking out. Burns cool. Don’t think you could get to bite if you tried.
Room Note: Only smoke outdoors on deck or in garage with door open. Seems pretty potent in the garage. Pretty potent, lingering cigar like odor.

Thoughts: I tried this for the first time a few months back, when I got some in a trade. I quickly burned through that and purchased 4 oz more. It is an effortless tobacco if you can stomach the nicotine. When I smoke it I am reminded constantly of Old Dark Fired. I recently tried smoking them back to back. When compared side by side really they are different blends that share some common attributes. The ODF is much mellower and less thuggish on the taste buds. Dark Birds Eye can be rough around the edges (but not as much as Kendal Kentucke or Kendal Dark). If you like dry cured Toscano style cigars, this is a great blend for you. I like this blend a lot but couldn’t smoke it everyday, it is too monochromatic for that. It has some attributes of an all-day blend, in that the flavor is simple and constant, plus it burns well. However the strength and shear volume of flavor sort of knocks it out of that category. Since I only smoke or (rarely) two bowls a day I generally want something with a bit more complexity. The shag cut and quick burn mean that this is a great tobacco for when you are outside in the cold or bad weather. I have taken to brining this along when walking the dog at night, you can do a small bowl in a 15-20 minute smoke and feel satisfied from a flavor and nicotine point of view. This is my favorite out of the G&H shags and I will always keep some around. addendum - This has grown on me to become my "Desert Island Blend". I now smoke this several times a week.

Next Up: Who knows

Still to come: Bosun Cut Plug, Coniston Cut Plug, Rum Flake, Brown Flake Scented, Kendal Flake, Bob's Chocolate Flake, Bob's Square Cut, Broken Scotch Cake. The list will be in no particular order or time frame.

Continuing my series of reviews on Gawith and Hoggarth Lakeland blends.

Already complete: Ennerdale, Grasmere, Cherry Cream Flake, Dark Flake (S, US, Liquorice), Louisiana Flake, Dark Birds Eye, Bosun Cut Plug

Now at bat: Brown Flake Scented & Unscented


Gawith and Hoggarth Dark Flake S/US

Description on Tin: None bulk only

Description on tobaccoreviews.com:
    Unscented - As with Bright CR Flake, this is another tobacco that devises its flavour simply from the choice of leaf in the blend, and has no additional         casings or flavours to enhance the smoke. (u/s - stands for unscented) 83.5% blended Virginias are combined with a relatively high (for English         Blends at any rate) proportion of Malawi burley, 12.5%, to give flavour and depth to the smoke, and the addition of just 4% Malawi dark fired leaf is         sufficient to combat the typical sharpness of the Virginia leaf resulting in a rounded medium strength smoke.
    Scented - Hot pressed, dark stoved Virginias are supplemented by burley varietals and flavored with licorice, maple and tonquin bean essence.

Component Tobaccos: Virginia, Bulrley, and Dark Fired

Cut: Typical G&H thick beef jerky like flake. Too thick to smoke fold and stuff. I like to loosely rub this one out and very loosely pack in a wide bowl.

Jar Aroma:
    U/S - VA are fruity and floral smelling. Smell has a lot it common with Samuel Gawith best brown. There is a little smokiness from the dark fired.         There is also a mild but distinct lakeland scent.
    Scented - The added maple, liquorice, and tonquin completely overpower the smell tobacco in the jar. It is classic G&H scented topping, the same as in         Dark Flake Scented and shares a lot of common features as Ennerdale (minus vanillia, citrus, and nuts). Not very floral.

Taste:
    U/S - Again G&H likes to confuse people. Yes it is unscented but there is a floral Lakeland essence to this tobacco. It is light but if you are sensitve to it         or don't like it you will cry soapy soapy tears over your purchase. U/S just means it doesn't have the tonquin, maple, and liquorice topping that the         scented flakes have. I am pretty sure the floral flavors come about 50% from the african VAs themselves and 50% from the lakeland flavor. On my         samples (purchased bulk from P&C) the lakeland is very light, could it just be the fact that it is coming from the G&H flake line? Kind of like walking         past the perfume counter at the mall. I don't know. A little nut and cocoa from the burley sneak there way in as the bowl burn down. The VAs taste         more stoved than fresh with fruity notes and a distinct lack of citrus and hay. There is a mild spiciness would could be coming from the VA or dark         fired.
    Scented - The toppings step forward and take center stage. The tonquin and liquorice combination is awesome with the maple adding a little extra         sweetness. The maple is very hard to pull out. In fact it is very hard to separate the flavors unless you have smoked a G&H liquorice tobacco and a         tonquin heavy blend like 1792. The burley tastes seems to hold up better under the flavor onslaught so the nuttiness and cocoa flavors are enhanced         and the fruitiness is diminished relative to the U/S.

Strength: Not super strong but not a lightweight either. Pretty middle of the road.

Smokability: Lightly rubbed out this blend works wonderfully. Cube cut burned a little slow for me and needed a ton of relights. Dry it a bit.

Room Note: Only smoke outdoors on deck or in garage with door open. Seems pretty light the garage from the dark fired. Scented toppings hang around longer than the tobacco.

Thoughts: The U/S is a nice VA-Bur flake with a light lakeland in the background. It is good but just isn't something I find myself smoking frequently. I    wish it was more... something. It is an excellent base for the flavors, but a little boring. I wish it was darker like SG Best Brown or had more nutty burley flavors or a more prominent dark fired. If you are looking for a tasty but unobtrusive VA this might be your thing. The Scented flake on the other hand is amazing. The lighter tobacco flavors work better with the scenting than dark flake. I really like dark flake scented but I love this. Everything melds so perfectly. I honestly can't imagine someone not liking this blend (provided you are lakeland tolerant). It shows on tobaccoreviews.com. There are only 14 reviews but all of them are 4 or 3 stars. I think this tobacco is G&Hs best kept secret, it should be as popular than Ennerdale but for some reason it is largely ignored.

Next Up: A joint review - Coniston cut plug, Condor RR, and Warhorse Green. Provided I can get my thought in order in a reasonable time frame.

Still to come: Coniston Cut Plug, Rum Flake, Kendal Flake, Bob's Chocolate Flake, Bob's Square Cut, Scotch Cake. The list will be in no particular order or time frame.

Steve, great full detailed reviews. Thank you for posting, I copied and pasted the data into my Pages app on my iPad and did a cloud backup. Very impressive, I’m sure I’ll read again for future reference 👍👍👍

Thanks for the detailed reviews, Steve. I'm a Lakeland fan, so I'll be looking forward to your future reviews. 👍

I suggest you use a cob when reading the reviews. The flavorings of Ennerdale have a strong mystical as well as physical component and are known to jump across the aether. 

Also copied. Thank you so much for the effort. Nice reference to consult. All of these are/were on my wish list.

I have a half pound of Ennerdale in a mason jar. In a few weeks will be the one year anniversary of putting it away and I am looking forward to experiencing how it ages.

I enjoyed reading your reviews as Lakelands are some of my favorite blends. One of my favorites for a long time is Glengarry Flake. I'm not good at using words to describe what I taste, but I'll just say this, Glengarry has a more fruity scent/flavor than the usual Lakeland floral flavor. There's not a lot written about it, but I'd like to hear your views if you get the chance.

I was lucky enough to receive a few samples of some Lakelands and they have really grown on me. Honestly, if I wasnt given samples I probably wouldn't have bought them myself to try. There will be more added to my cellar in the near future.

Very nice reviews sir.

Sounds like I should have bought 2 tins - one for now and one for cellaring.