Blakeney’s Best Tawny Flake by McClelland Review by Neverbend

[NeverBend]

Blakeney’s Best Tawny Flake by McClelland
0 stars out of 4


2015, new 50 gram tin. Review based on eight bowls smoked in various briars and a cob. Smoked outdoors and lit with wooden stick matches in all cases.


Tin note is a very light citrus and hay with some McClelland ketchup and some musty aroma (not moldy). Partially broken flake in small, thick cut rectangular pieces. Fills easily but packs without continuity because the cut prevents the tobacco from holding together as either a flake or ribbon normally would and this becomes an annoyance during light when pieces expand and fall out partially lit. Use care and fill below the rim.


Lighting is difficult and unpleasant. I needed long and aggressive lights to get the thick cut started. A difficult burning tobacco that requires a skilled cadence to maintain without smoking hot or going out. There’s a faint sweetness and a touch of grass in the forefront with a more pronounced background that’s truly the essence of sweaty socks. If you smoke more aggressively the sweetness takes on an artificial, chemical caste but the socks remain.


A deliberate, slow smoke is required but I found myself (in the first few bowls) smoking more aggressively trying to ‘find’ some flavor but Tawny Flake can burn hot and irritatingly and never delivers much flavor. About halfway through the bowl a slight tang creeps in and the sock taste is partially diminished, or else I’m used to it, but there remains no flavor to speak of. During the smoke there’s a mild aftertaste of soggy burnt marshmallows ala socks. Very difficult smoke and I had to suppress my urge to empty the bowl.


Notes:
Everything about Tawny Flake is bad, from cut to burn to flavor. Has anyone at McClelland tried this tobacco because it’s downright awful and easily the worst Virginia Flake that I can remember smoking. I suggest that they simply start filling tins with their very good #2010 bulk (since it’s not otherwise available in a tin) and not even mention it.


I smoked eight bowls as a punishment for buying this tin. If this is Blakeney’s Best then what the hell is their worst?

[El Whedo]

I opened a tin of this from '09 a couple months ago, and it was nothing like what you described.

It was so good that I smoked nada but that tin until it was gone (something I just don't do).

It had a hay and slight must smell, as well as sweet. It tasted like good VA tobacco, but it tasted a bit "darker" and richer. I attributed that to it being toasted. There was a slight sweet flavor in the background that sometimes got stronger and was honeyish.

I really liked it and bought more, but haven't opened any of the new tins yet. Yer description has me worried about the new tins. Maybe they changed the recipe, maybe age changes it radically, maybe you just got a "bad" tin?

[NeverBend]

I opened a tin of this from '09 a couple months ago, and it was nothing like what you described.

It was so good that I smoked nada but that tin until it was gone (something I just don't do).

It had a hay and slight must smell, as well as sweet. It tasted like good VA tobacco, but it tasted a bit "darker" and richer. I attributed that to it being toasted. There was a slight sweet flavor in the background that sometimes got stronger and was honeyish.

I really liked it and bought more, but haven't opened any of the new tins yet. Yer description has me worried about the new tins. Maybe they changed the recipe, maybe age changes it radically, maybe you just got a "bad" tin?

Hi Mark,

Whenever component leaf changes (crop, growing region, supplier, processing, additives, etc.), the dependent mixtures change with them so it’s possible that this was a (very) bad batch and even a new recipe.

Blackwoods Flake (bought at the same time) has a similar but less annoying cut and is a very good Virginia that has the darker richness that you found in your Tawny Flake. Sorry if my review has made you apprehensive and I certainly hope that your new tins are what you expect and not what I smoked.

Pete