Germain's Medium Flake

...so, I'm digging through old boxes of tobacco at the local B&M, tucked away in closets, looking for old flakes. The tobacconist shaking his head saying, telling me that he has no idea how long these have been in here. That just fuels my enthusiasm, because he remembers lots of stuff, ...so these must be VERY old indeed. Tons of old latakia blends, things that I've never heard of, old C&D stuff, burleys, aromatics...
"Hmmm, what can you tell me about this Germain's Medium Flake?"

"Ummm, I think that it's a medium flake."

Reading the label, it calls itself a red and golden tobacco. I of course translate this to red and gold Virginias. I'm sold. And, look... there's pictures of old boats on the label. It must be old. Ha ha!! Score!

That evening, I take out my Becker bent Rhodesian, as it has a great bowl for tasting, drastic conical bowl of an odd hand-made angle and form. It really concentrates the stove process of the tobacco while smoking. I get the flavor of a two hour bowl in 45 minutes with this pipe, very shallow, but it holds more than you'd think.

The tin note is of fermented hay, strong hay. The flakes were laid out like threads of a rope, not solid sheets of flakes, but shag all going the exact same direction. And, they were oily and coated in little crystal looking formations. It looked old, very old. Stage coaches and steam engines came to mind. I was giddy.
The first bowl had me excited. Wow, citrusy, high notes that just rang across my tastebuds... But, something happened after the first third of the bowl. It got bitter, oily tasting. I figured this one wasn't going to stove well. And, after I finished the bowl, the ashes were a fine light grey color, very different from what I've ever seen in any pipe tobacco, like fine talc. I have no idea what that means. I just noticed it.
I was still stoked, but over the last couple of days I have revisited this tobacco in various pipes. I detected a casing or something in this flake. I think that it's sprayed down real well with Pledge Lemon Glow Dusting spray. Or, maybe they've added a drop or two of Lemon Flavored Dawn Dish Washing Liquid, hopefully the brand that uses real lemons. But, this is strong with it. The aromatic was hiding behind that fermented aroma in the tin note. But, it comes out when you put flame to it, and it comes strong.
I am also fairly sure that there's at least a little burley in there, a light waxy taste, nutty. And, it has a nic kick to it. It could be someone's every day smoke, if they like this sort of thing.
Also, note the website address on the label. It can't be more than a couple of years old. ha ha!
Oh well, This was not a total let down. There may be days when I want a lemon aromatic. It's not bad, just not what I was wanting. If you are curious about this sort of blend, give it a shot.
I just don't understand why it has boats on the label. Did the early sailors enjoy a good lemony flavor, ...maybe in hopes of warding off scurvy?

I could see someone liking this blend. But, for a citrusy casing, I prefer Danske's Original Orange. It has a light more natural flavor, IMO.
I'm also not sure that age has had anything to do with it. It hasn't been all that long since companies started putting www addresses on tins.

I wouldn't even call it topped. It's more like a Cavendish, like PS LTF, except the case is lemon or some other citrus. I didn't detect it at all in the tin when it was first opened. It smelled like Virginia fermentation when I first popped it. But, as I left the top off for it to dry out, the aroma changed. No, it's not a gooey aro, like 1Q or Molto Dolce. I do on occasion enjoy LTF, Original Orange, and Vanilla Flakes. This is in line with those on how the casing is used. I just wasn't expecting the change when it dried. I think that if you left it wet, as it was when it is first opened, that it would probably keep that fermented taste that I got in the first part of the first bowl. That's my guess.
Cool, I had no idea that it was so hard to find. I only have a portion of a tin left, but I know where there is more :wink:

Yeh, if we all like one blend, we'd all get pretty tired of trying to come up with words that hadn't already been written to talk about the hobby. Ha ha!!
Yeh, Gregory Pease has ruined me, with his alluring talk of natural blends and art. Now, I'm all getting all granola and organic with my tastes in tobacco, ::

Things come and go with popularity. What's hard to get today, just might only be found in back closets a few years from now. FVF was hard to get just a little while ago, and now I see it piled up on the shelf at the B&M and hasn't changed a bit since I've been going in there. The only few tins that I've seen disapear of it were the few I bought.