For the Love of Dark Flakes

[hawky454]

Another fun thing to do is to bake your tins. Baking Erinmore Flake in the oven at 190° F for 6 hours yields jet black flakes. You can toy around with all different kinds of blends and cuts, just make sure you do it while the tin is still sealed. You can also do this in a jar. A friend of mine only smokes Dunhill Ye Olde Signe this way. A lot of people like to do this with Escudo too. I’m going to try it with Dunhill Flake, it might come out similar to Dunhill Dark Flake minus the Perique. It’s a lot of fun to play around with, almost as fun as pressing your own tobacco with the Noodle Press. It’s funny, someone said that on Amazon if you look at Father the Flame DVD and scroll down to, “customers also bought...” the noodle press is listed there. That cracks me up!

 

[workman]

I wasn't only referring to the color, also the genre. Dunhill Dark Flake f.ex. is dark, but it's not related to Bold Kentucky or Irish Flake in the least. It's a sweet va/per with a medium nic hit.

 

[hawky454]

Yeah, I disagree with ya then. I consider it to be on the dark end of the spectrum with the smoky Dark Fired Kentucky and the deep, dark and matured VA’s. I get more base notes than high notes but hey, you taste what you taste and I taste what I taste but it certainly doesn’t taste like a “faux” VaPer to me. I also consider Dunhill Dark Flake to be a in the dark flake category. I don’t think “dark flakes” all have to fall under the extremely stout, heavy nic genre like GH Dark Flake or Peterson Irish Flake and the like.

 

[workman]

Regarding St Bruno, "faux" was not meant derogatory. I love it. I have no intention of defining "Dark Flake" one way or the other. I was only trying to go along with the OP in his description of "Dark Flakes" as a certain genre that he likes.

I don't consider anything a genre from color only ::

 

[trubka2]

I hope 660 is good since it only comes in 100g tins

I had the same concern, but it was totally worth the gamble. After eyeing it for months, I finally got some not long ago, and it blew me away. It's got some Kentucky spice and wood (not at all vinegary like the MacB flakes, which I also love), along with some uber-tasty VA and a nice nic dose. A daily smoke for me since I got it. 633 is amazing too. They say it gets more peppery with age - sounds good to me. I'm going to put up a lot of these two.

Another fun thing to do is to bake your tins.

I read about this a while ago but haven't gotten up the nerve to try. I hadn't seen it brought up here before. Now I'm gonna go for it. I was thinking Orlik Golden Slices. I ordered 2 tins, but don't like it fresh at all, so tin #2 is getting cooked this week.
Hawky - How do you smoke the Bruno flake (which pipe, prep, pack)? I'm a few flakes into my first tin and feel like I still haven't figured it out yet. I haven't tried it out in a wider bowl yet, maybe that's the ticket.

 

[mtwaller]

Thanks for all the input, I’m most excited to try some of these blends now. I’ve got plenty of blends to keep me busy for a while, between these and some straight VA’s I want to try out. Also I didn’t know you could bake tins! Does this significantly change the flavor profile?

 

[cigrmaster]

mt, If you do get some Solani 660 make sure to jar it upon arrival. They do not come vacuum sealed.

 

[hawky454]

I read about this a while ago but haven't gotten up the nerve to try. I hadn't seen it brought up here before. Now I'm gonna go for it. I was thinking Orlik Golden Slices. I ordered 2 tins, but don't like it fresh at all, so tin #2 is getting cooked this week.
Hawky - How do you smoke the Bruno flake (which pipe, prep, pack)? I'm a few flakes into my first tin and feel like I still haven't figured it out yet. I haven't tried it out in a wider bowl yet, maybe that's the ticket

Let us know how that goes with OGS. I may give it a try too, I bet it will be excellent!
As far as St. Bruno Flake, I absolutely enjoy it most in a tall and narrow bowl like a stacked billiard. I can’t really recommend fold n stuff over just rubbing it out because I never really tasted much of a difference regarding how I prepare my flakes. St. Bruno is probably the only blend I actually prefer as a Ready Rubbed. I’ve seen a few new converts that thought St. Bruno Flake was bland and lacking flavor be floored by how much they liked the RR over the Flake. Certainly give the RR a try if the Flake just isn’t doing it for you but yeah, the RR goes best in a tall and narrow chamber as well in my opinion with no dry time for maximum flavor.

 

[trubka2]

Let us know how that goes with OGS.

10-4, will do.
And thanks for the heads-up on the Bruno RR, I'll for sure give that a try. And I'll try the flake in a stack. I wouldn't say I've found it bland or anything, just maybe not quite what I was expecting in the bang-for-bucks department.