I am coming up on one month of smoking a pipe and what a fabulous journey so far. Thanks to all of you here and on other sites, like youtube, for making the learning curve so much shorter. The B&M that is closest to me has a nice walk in humidor, small section of pipes and supplies, a wall full of nick nacks and enough hookas and glass pipes, not to mention other things. The nice part about this store is the woman who owns it. She doesn't smoke, but she loves the smell of pipe tobacco. Whenever she is there and I stop by she always offers me a sample of something new. Today's little slice of Heaven was some 4th Generation 1957 and two flakes of MacB's HH Old Dark Fired. I had never tried a flake yet, but thankfully I had already watched a video on some methods of preparation. I bought a brand new unknown Italian briar pipe for thirty bucks just to have a clean pipe to taste the flake. WOW!!!! I will definitely be picking up a tin of this stuff. I being so new do not have a line drawn in the sand between aros and English blends. I must say though I do have a strong appreciation for the English blends, noting that you can't cover up any short comings with casings and top notes. Has anyone else tried and liked this flake and what other reasonably priced flake are your recommendations?