Tell Me about GH&Co Dark Flake, Unscented

Jay -- Whether or not you detect any slight lakeland essence seems to depend on the sample. I've experienced it with a notable lakeland and also with a very, very slight bit. However, I will post Jim's review of it for you.

They say this is unscented, but I still detect a slight essence of Lakeland in it. There's a minor cigar-ish taste, but it's in the background. The nutty, earthy, lightly molasses sweet burley along with the earthy, slightly grassy, fermented dark fruit and very light citrusy sweet Virginias can take center stage at various points of the smoke, not just because this has complexity of tastes, but because what is prominent depends on how you fill your pipe with this mixture. There is an herbal, almost hay note from time to time as well as some smokiness and light spice. There's more Virginia present than burley. While this is a filling smoke, I find that smoking it in a medium to large bowl brings out the complexities of the blend better than a small bowl does. It won't bite or get harsh. Burns slow, cool and clean with a light inconsistency in flavor. Needs some relights, and leaves just a smidgeon of moisture in the bowl. The after taste is long lasting, and this is certainly not an all day smoke. This has a strong nic-hit, so factor that into the bowl size you use.

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Jay, DFu is my goto night smoke. I’ve smoked tens of pounds of it. You will detect a slight Lakeland on the first few secconds of lighting, but its not that grandma soap lakeland more of a slight but dark sweetness that disapeers quickly as the dark tobaccos step forward to take over. It’s complex, dark cigary (If you like maduro or ligeros), and my wife says it smells very cosmopolitan and sophisticated. She approves... most of the time. The smoke is heavy in weight in your mouth and is unlike any other popular brand or blend. I get different types of flavors throughout the smoke, like a kaleidoscope of flavors constant evolving and shifting unlike anything else I’ve smoked, and on a good night I discover a new flavor.
It is strong, but I love it in my Randy Wiley big ass pipe with a one inch bore, and at the end of the smoke it makes me sad to have to dump the ashes. I cannot give justice to how much I love this blend. I will sometimes look forward to it all day long, and if it didn’t make me so sleepy, I would smoke it more often durring the day.
The only thing that I can compare it to is a Double Ligero cigar. Sweet, cosmopolitan, and complex. And, if you don’t like it, send it to me. Because I can never have enough of it, and as it ages it gets even better.
Because it’s so unique, your first bowl may be unsettling, as you most likely will have never had anything like it. But give it a chance. A few bowls. And, this is all from a guy who has thrown away many lakelands after being repulsed by the Lakeland taste. But this one is different. Dry it, experiment with packing, and smoke slowly as you sink deep into the depths of your chair. Pairs very well with a deep dark roast coffee.
As with anything though, YMMV

Like a good, strong Maduro cigar, you get a full bodied flavor of earthy, caramelized tobacco and you might get a Lakeland scent or not.

I think that when I first started smoking DFu, I don’t remember getting a lakeland at all. I still had an issue with just how rich the tobacco flavor was. But, now I wonder if I just didn’t know what to look for as far as Lakelands, or if it didn’t have a Lakeland at all in the earlier versions. But, as I said, it’s not that pink soap flavor, more like a rich sweetness, but it balances out quickly for to an amazing tobacco flavor.

You might also like Brown Pigtail. It’s not as intencely complex or as unique, but it has some of the same qualities with the maple casing fading into a rich smoke. But, yeh, DFu is certainly a one of a kind. I’ve even gotten the scented version of DF by mistake, and kept it because I wanted to try it. It wasn’t terrible, but I just prefer the slight scent to eventually take backseat to those empire Virginias.

What can I tell you about GH&Co Dark Flake u/s?
I could pen a 1500 word essay, but here is an abridged version:
I have been smoking it for fifteen years, every night after dinner, usually partnered by the remnants of a bottle of nice red wine. I have dedicated four sandblasted pipes to this wonderful blend – three Dunhill Shells (1925, 1936 and 1970 vintages) and a 50’s Stanwell, in rotation. They are all sized c. 1-2, which I find perfect for this very slow burning, robust tobacco.

I sometimes (but not always) catch a slight perfumed whiff at the beginning of the smoke. I do not think it is “Lakeland Essence” since the LE flavouring really does make me feel ill, and just because a tobacco is crafted in Kendal in the English Lake District it does not follow that it has necessarily been tainted with LE. Whatever it is, it dissipates quickly. Some have said the main flavour is “unidimensional”. If that is the case, I find a whole universe of flavours within that dark dimension; Maduro cigar leaf, espresso coffee, black chocolate and deep dark Virginia leaf. Like Revor Plug and Sam Gawith’s 1792 (or Cob Plug), it is one of the few blends I could guarantee to pick out in a ‘blinded tasting’.
The missus does not like the room note, which is always a good recommendation.
Like cosmic I only smoke it at night – it deserves (and promotes) contemplation, a blend to be sipped and not puffed, but I also find it intoxicating……..soporific, even.
What else can I tell you?
The plug version (GH&Co "Dark Plug") is even better - perhaps more 'integrated'? And, as cosmic says, DF does age well - becomes 'mellower', although I haven't tried it past five years.
In my (biased) opinion there is no more rewarding late night smoke…………nuff said!!

I've been smoking it for years, and sometimes I go for weeks where it is all I smoke. Flavor and nicotine as already described. To me the nicotine is stronger than any other high-nicotine blend such as Wessex Dark Flake, ODF or Irish Flake, as strong as black but not brown rope. I have some 40 pounds in the cellar, as well as 10 pounds Dark Plug. I rarely detect Lakeland scent in the flake, occasionally in the Plug, and when I do, only at the first light.
I love love love its flavor and strength! Highest rating!
And the price is right. $55.00/500g is so sweet.

saltedplug, It's three times that price here in the UK :evil: , but everything is relative! And I agree, the only blends I have smoked that are nic-stronger are the brown twists.....and the original Gallaher's War Horse Bar - a real nic-brute!

Jay, if you like Dark Flake (unscented) then you are almost certain to enjoy Westmorland Slices (G&H). A recent introduction to their line up but a great dark and pretty strong straight Virginia smoke.
I can't be certain but I thinks it's an African (Malawian ?) or Indian leaf.
Regards,
Jay.

According to TobaccoReviews, "A very strong, but very cool smoke is the result of combining in equal proportions only Malawi Dark Fired Leaf and Indian dark air-cured leaf."
Flakyjakey, it's hard not to feel badly about all the regulation and the prices that come with it. I'm sorry for the prices you have to pay, but you seem to have found a solution with DF by smoking it in a small bowl.

saltedplug, to be fair, GH&Co DF costs no more than other pipe tobaccos in the UK, and less than some. But thrift is not the reason I smoke it in a relatively small bowl; in any larger a bowl, in one sitting, I would start to get the physiological effects of nicotine excess - cold sweats, salivation, and, if continued, the promise of a visit to the vomitorium.
So, I can only admire a man for whom DF is an all-day smoke!
And, to quote Rudyard Kipling:
"By the livin' Gawd that made you, you're a better man than I, Gunga Din"

In another thread on pipe shapes affecting flavors, I wrote about how small bowls of stronger blends make me feel nauseous, but in a larger bowl, so get more flavor but less of the sick feeling. I have no explaination for this, but I prefer a .90” width or above for the DF, twists, and bold burleys. Otherwise, I am blowing chunks. It may not affect everyone that way, but it’s why I keep a rotation of huge pipes for my night smokes. And, I don’t concider myself a heavy weight, as the rest of the day I smoke low level Virginias. YMMV.

I smoke this from time to time. Fresh, there is a slight lakeland smell but it dissipates after a bit. I do smaller bowls as well due to the nic hit but it's always a good smoke. Very earthy once past the lakeland essence.

cosmic - that really is very interesting. In general, I have only smoked DF in small bowls, BUT when on vacation I take just two pipes - a Stannie (sorry, Stanwell) regd. pot and a petey (sorry, Peterson) Lovat. Both have generous bowls and I never had a problem with DF in either. I had always attributed this to the fact that it was after dinner and I had a skin-full of red wine (and malt whisky) on board.
So, I could have been wrong, and will now try DF in a larger-bowled pipe - but only after dinner!!

"Fortune favours the brave!" Sip it slowly - no puffing!!

Even a small cob of brown rope makes me queasy, but I like the wallop and the full-on VA taste, so I smoke it anyway. I learned how to tell when I'm going to have my head in the toilet smoking double ligero cigars. I get a twitch in my stomach, and any puffs past that point are inadvisable. Brown rope never does this to me, but I'm careful with it.
I don't know if it's still the practice in the cigar world, but when I was a member a few years ago, if you were making a great cigar, it had to be full-bodied. That's what I like. But smoking even one $10.00 cigar a day breaks my bank, so I don't often open my humidor. Pipes can be expensive, but if you watch your spending and accumulate not much further than your needs, they don't have to break the bank, at which point three bowls a day is about a dollar. I'm trying to buy pipes now only as I can afford it and as a treat.

Okay, despite not experiencing any luck with this brand to date, I’ll order an ounce and give it a go.

My self cure for nicotine overdose is to keep a bowl of small wrapped chocolates in my side table. Nicotine affects the release of sugar into your blood, and chocolate can offset that. But, I never really need them for DF. They are mostly for Picayune, twists, and Double Ligero cigars that can make me a little nauseous.