Ah, OK. Tobias said "I smoke a Lakeland and it gives me flashbacks to having my mouth washed out with a bar of Ivory by my granny." Chewing those flowers sounds worse than eating soap, to be honest.
Printable View
Some people taste soap. Some people say it tastes like a urinal cake smells.
All I get is sweet floral essence out of it. Very good stuff IMO. But it is a very love it or hate genre it seems. The lighter topped varieties are really good too.
A starting point would be Samuel Gawith's Kendal Cream Flake. It is very lightly topped with a sweet essence that goes great with the VaBur. But if you really want to taste the Lakeland taste without having to search for it, be brave and get some Kendal Flake from Gawith Hoggarth & Co.
I've never tasted Lakeland essences, but do like Latakias. A floral flavor that I don't enjoy comes in some Greek/Mediteranian/Middle Eastern desserts like baklava and other sweets - rose water and orange blossom water are some of their ingredients. Is that anything close to what Lakeland is like?
It is a lot like chewing very pungent spring flowers. Like getting your mouth washed out with soap when you were a kid. Its awful.
Cuban cigars, not exactly like that in them. But, you're not too far off on some of the "floral" notes described in some. I had a cigar not long ago that was light in profile and had a very floral scent and taste. Reminiscent of Lakeland but not too close. But still Terrible.
@mooster makes a good point.
Sensitivity to the lakeland essence appears to be individual and changes with blend and even which Gawith made it. Some smokers say that they detect the 'essence' in anything that the Gawiths (Samuel and Hoggarth) make at all.
I don't detect the 'essence' in Bright CR Flake (but I heed Mark's warning that it may intensify) or Louisiana Flake, just little in Glengarry and Scotch Flake Aro but as soon as it passes a threshold of intensity I find it almost overwhelming as in Ennerdale, SG 1792 Flake or #7 Broken Flake.
I smell the essence more in Gawith Hoggarth but taste it more in Samuel Gawith. What they all have in common is that they're well made tobaccos and I find the essence to be less intense with a more loose pack.