It comes a little moist, but dries out easily after rubbing to an ideal state for smoking.

There's also some mature grassy aroma, like late in the summer after the heat. The aroma of the raw flake is rich, earthy, slightly sweet, with plenty of perique 'pong'. I've since bought some now it's officially released, to see if there's any difference from the sample I had. I had the pleasure of trying this when it was in development, having been given a generous sample at the UK pipe show in 2019. Similar Blends: St James Flake, Charatan Black Flake. I'm looking forward to trying some with more age on it. All stocks of this seem to have sold out very quickly, so availability could be patchy until it becomes firmly established. They are of course close cousins and share the same DNA. I think in reality, it is a photo finish and I will certainly smoke this again and would buy it if St James was ever unavailable. Overall, St James Flake is still the one to beat, but I think this will age incredibly well and in some aspects (Coolness and easy lightability) it is ahead. Update:- After smoking this almost exclusively for a week, it has been a very pleasant journey. All in all a very high quality tobacco blend which comes with the usual Gawith caveats (Don't smoke it wet, be patient and it will reward you greatly). Towards the end of the bowl, it had a tendency to clump and go out, but again, more drying time should fix that. Lately I have been smoking Charatan Black Flake (which I really enjoy) and it has almost the same aroma. Room note is pleasant and sweet and typical of such a blend. I didn't want to over dry it and loose the essence of the obviously best quality tobaccos used. It burns very slow and cool with no hint of bite even when pushed a little and needs a few relights, but I will try more drying time next bowl and that should help. This flavour quickly intensifies to include the usual raisin and plum from the Perique and some brown sugar and bread from the stoved Virginias and settles to a very consistent flavour to the end of the bowl. Initial flavour is mild and sweet with a good Perique hit, espescially on the retrohale. The natural comparison to be made would be with Samuel Gawith St James Flake/Plug, which is more peppery and less bready and # 27 lights much easier, but has a tendency to rise up in the bowl to a larger degree, so a loose pack is advised to allow room for expansion. I packed the bowl and settled down for what turned out to be a 50 minute smoke. I am not a fold and stuffer, so I rubbed one of these shorter flakes out and left it to dry for 2 hours, (Gawith blends come very moist ). A luscious mix of sweet fruity Virginia and a savory malty scent from the Perique and more than a passing hint of dark chocolate. I cut them in half to make handling easier and it was obvious that there is some ageing happening here, with micro crystals of sugar sparkling in the layers of the flake. It came as a 50gm pouch of beautifully cut dark 6' flakes, (double the normal length of tinned tobacco). Like many traditional flakes, it derives its character solely from the tobaccos used, and the process, and has not been subjected to any flavourings or toppings or other fannying about. It is not every day that you get to try a brand new blend from the renowned house of Gawith Hoggarth, and as soon as I saw that this new Va/Per flake had been released for public sale after the initial trials, I was very eager to try it. I only hope it creates enough interest to mass produce it. I understand this is to cater for that fraction of the market not so keen on Lakeland type tobaccos, which is something I have a soft spot for, but I am rather pleased with this presentation. I think it is important to mention Gawith Hogarth has already got a similar perique flake (Louisiana Perique Flake) in the market, but this one has got no casing in it.

Not a nicotine bomb by any stretch of the imagination, but its flake form and slow burning properties means it will leave you satisfied in the long run. The taste profile got a nice tang to it that has been nicely paired with the spicy notes coming from the perique. He would not share any info on what type of Virginia leaf or what ratios, I must say, but my guess is it contains a fair amount of bright virginia and about 10/15% perique. I had my sample from Gawith Hoggarth's sales representative Iain Hurst himself at the Nottingham Pipe Show celebrated in the Canal House this year. Unless new information is available, so far as I know, this tobacco is yet to be produced on a market scale.

Gawith hoggarth louisiana perique flake