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drennan

Can't Leave
Mar 30, 2014
344
3
Normandy
As this is my first post I'll briefly introduce myself. I happen to live in France, not far for Giverny for those who like the impressionism movement, but I was born in the UK not too far from Lakeland country. I ended up living in France as I'm a mad keen fisherman and used to work in the recreational fishing industry but now I teach conversational English.
I'm new to pipe smoking and the range of pipe tobacco's in France seems limited and you can't buy off the internet only through tabac's, the goverment likes to control everything over here! One of the brands available to me is Samuel Gawith and with it being a lakeland company and me being of lakeland decent where better to start?? I bought a couple of tins of flake to start with and like most will know it does verge on the damp side so I've been drying it and then rubbing it out.
Can you dry flake too much and kill the flavour?
I started with Balkan flake, the first flake I dried for a couple of hours and it was fantastic, it had a lovely smokey flavour that would intermittently change and become very sweet. I've struggled to repeat the experience but I think I've been smoking the flake too damp as I struggle to keep it lit, leading me to think I need to dry it for a wee bit longer BUT I'm worried I can over dry it and kill the taste.
I presumed the sweet taste was the virginia's, having a sweet tooth I bought FVF and dried it for several hours, no sweetness at all just a subtle hay type taste tbh a pleasant smoke. It burnt lovely all the way down with only a single religh and didn't bite. Does FVF have a sweet taste? Did I over dry it?
Lastly any suggestions for a naturally sweet tasting tobacco that isn't flavoured? Something that isn't American would be good as I can't buy American tobacco, it's the whole internet buying thing.
Thanks :puffy:

 

evo03

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 20, 2013
181
1,509
What other brands are available to you? Orlik Golden Sliced, and Orlik English Original are very good flakes from Denmark. Some flakes from Germany such as Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug, Wessex Gold, Wessex Red, and Wessex Brown are good. The Cut Virginia Plug and English Original are definitely sweet to my tastes.

 

yazamitaz

Lifer
Mar 1, 2013
1,757
1
Oh brother, did you come to the right place.
I only started to get involved with flakes maybe six months ago but have turned into a flake hoarding whore since then. Oh yeah.......welcome to the forums !!!!!
As one of my online mentors states (his screen name is cigrmaster and am sure will chime in here eventually) FVF is a rather finicky flake. It is quite like a woman (my words); it needs attention, but not too much as to smother it. I bought 250g in Sept and it went right from the package to jars. I have only had one or two bowls of it and I think it needs sleepy time. I don't like to put tobacco on a plate and dry it out unless I just bought it and HAVE to smoke it immediately. With that being said, I would give a flake or two perhaps an hour at most. Not sure what method you use; I tried both the cube cut and fold and stuff and preferred the cube cut at THIS TIME. Once I let it sleep for a few more months that may change.
I am sure that was absolutely NO HELP to you what so ever, but this hobby is a living, breathing, thing that is constantly evolving.
Cheers, and I hope to see more of your posts.
Dan

 
Jan 8, 2013
1,189
3
FVF has fast become one of my favorites, thanks to rsuninv. I like to rub down a few flakes before bed then let them dry overnight, so they are nice and crispy in the morning. Generally, no, not much in the way of sweet. I get a little tangy with some hay. I love stuff.
Welcome to the forums.

 
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