My new love: Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake

Ben

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Jul 26, 2004, 6:13:14 PM7/26/04

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Oh man. This is good stuff.

Lovely presentation and well aged off the shelf of the local B&M.
Substantial slices of mostly dark leaf with just a hint of bright. If
these were boards of wood, you'd find a light-colored knot every so
often. Crystals abound as well.

It's moist in the tin, so I let it air out for the first run. I left it
moist for a subsequent smoke and found that it left some dottle that
way. Anyway, I treated this the same way I prep Dark Star: sliced it up
into a cube-cut style and rubbed out just enough to top the whole thing
off for a good light.

Lights well when it's had time to dry up; takes a few lights when right
from the tin. Overall the smoke is cool and dry -- no bite. The flavors
spin around less than Dark Star and other such flakes, but FVF makes up
for it by giving you one big flavor after another, sort of in
single-file line. Rather than one "zone" or "mid-bowl shift" as I like
to call it, you get several to experience. This stuff has depth.

End bowl remains cool and delightful, and I notice a bit more sweetness
in the smoke than during the rest of the bowl. I don't notice the
nicotine at all, but it's there. Very nice.

I wanted to keep these first few impressions short. When I've had more
time to savor FVF, I'll put up a full work-up on tobaccoreviews.com
(screen name BigBlends).
This is a winner, and I highly reccomend it.

- Ben

Stephen E. Williamson

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Jul 26, 2004, 6:17:56 PM7/26/04

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I have 3 or 4 tins in my cellar collecting a little age on them
Full Virginia is one of those tobaccos that I will use to celebrate with.
Well, sometimes I will celebrate with Best Brown Flake or Escudo, but what
the heck am I talking about?

kilted1

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Jul 26, 2004, 6:53:34 PM7/26/04

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FVF is definitely a "Classic" and rates up there very high in my baccies of
choice.

I think of EVERY bowl as a celebration of somesort.

kilted1
"Ben" <mr_lo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Ben

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Jul 26, 2004, 7:43:23 PM7/26/04

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I have Renaissance, Abingdon, Odyssey, and some well-aged 965 in my
English/Balkan rotation right now and Dark Star, St. James Woods, and
Full VA Flake to round it out. Life is good.

My next source of TADisfaction will likely include a sampling of
Esoterica and Bufflehead blends. I'll also probably bring Raven's Wing
back into the lineup and give Cumberland a try.

Buddy Springman

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Jul 26, 2004, 9:14:02 PM7/26/04

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"Ben" <mr_lo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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> Oh man. This is good stuff.

It's under-represented in my cellar at the moment, but it is a standard
for VA flakes in my opinion.

Buddy

buck12ga

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Jul 26, 2004, 11:36:35 PM7/26/04

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I haven't smoked any for ages but I've got one well aged tin to open on
some special occasion.

buck

Ladoli

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Jul 27, 2004, 9:22:13 PM7/27/04

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Yep, one of the best tinned blends. A Sophisticate Like Myself agrees!
"Yes...I shall go down in history as the the man who opened a door!"
--Ever After (movie)
"He said he felt a longing...for home."
--last line of Star Trek: Voyager ep "Living Witness," on The Doctor
The Blender

inquisitor

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Jul 28, 2004, 12:29:22 PM7/28/04

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Now you all have to try SG MEDIUM Virginia Flake. Same leaf with different
processing. A very different tobacco but incredibly delicious.

Christopher

"Ladoli" <lad...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Loiskelly1

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Jul 28, 2004, 1:55:45 PM7/28/04

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>I have Renaissance, Abingdon, Odyssey, and some well-aged 965 in my
>English/Balkan rotation right now and Dark Star, St. James Woods, and
>Full VA Flake to round it out. Life is good.

If you enjoys those VAs, you owe it to yourself to try Marlin Flake,
Stonehaven, and Astleys 109. Life gets better.

--
Eschew obfuscation!

Antti

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Jul 28, 2004, 2:58:09 PM7/28/04

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On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 18:53:34 -0400, "kilted1"
<estel...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>FVF is definitely a "Classic" and rates up there very high in my baccies of
>choice.
>
>I think of EVERY bowl as a celebration of somesort.
>
>kilted1

Funny, how opinions differ. I do like FVF, but find it somehow bland,
compared e.g. with G,H&Co's Brown Flake. BF has some excellent African
Burley added and to me it does the thing.

Mellow puffs and dry ashes!
-- Antti from Finland
smoking Hamborger Veermaster in a Ferndown Canadian

>"Ben" <mr_lo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:ce3vlq$f...@odah37.prod.google.com...
>> Oh man. This is good stuff.
>>

-cut-

inquisitor

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Jul 28, 2004, 4:25:12 PM7/28/04

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FVF and BF are two of my very favorites. Very different, though. FVF is
pretty strong stuff with a nice brisk edge and some subtle high notes. BF
is sweet, cool and fragrant, and lives entirely in the mid-range. Can't do
wrong with either one of them.

Christopher

"Antti" <pii...@pp1.away.inet.fi> wrote in message
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Rob Samples

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Jul 29, 2004, 10:15:54 AM7/29/04

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>... FVF is

> pretty strong stuff with a nice brisk edge and some subtle high notes. BF
> is sweet, cool and fragrant, and lives entirely in the mid-range.

I think its interesting to see the use of "high notes", "low notes",
and "mid-range" in tobacco reviews. I see this used a lot, for example
in Serad's reviews. Why do we call upon musical analogies to describe
flavor? I think I know the flavor that is referred to when "high
notes" or "low notes" is used, but am not really sure. My assumption
has been that a "high note" would be a sharper, dryer, taste, maybe
some acidity. I think of the oriental component of Early Morning Pipe
here. For low notes, its hard for me to describe, but maybe more
"smokey", smoother, less astringency. I think of straight dark stoved
Virginias.

What does ASP think of when using the "high/low" note descriptions?

Rob