Sam Gawith Full Virginia Flake Review
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Kevin Godbee - May 9, 2017
- 6 min read
Kyle Weiss
What do you get when you mix a beautiful day with a tin of a nine-years-old pipe aged tobacco? Contemplation. You get contemplation.
Do you remember when Sam Gawith Full Virginia Flake was a thing? Remember when it was
the thing? Hell, for that matter is it still a thing? When I got seriously into pipes and pipe tobacco, roughly seven years ago, there was a gold rush for small square, brass tins with a golden label. Forum acronyms like “FVF” and “TAD” were thrown around in threads where guys were either praised or chastised for divulging when a particular website had hard-to-get tobacco in stock. Everyone, it seemed, was jumping on the hype train of unobtainium, joining the herd of hear-say, and loading up on the current must-have, tobacco darling. Nowadays, though, it seems the supply has met the demand, or quite simply the demand has dwindled. We now have limited releases of small-batch tobacco where even as recently as when I started really getting into the pipe, folks had to deal with a shortage and that was exciting enough for them…
…April 2008. That’s what this tin of Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake said. To be honest, I don’t recall ever buying my own tin of this stuff. It was, like most of my more curious corners of my tobacco cellar, a gift from the countless, generous pipe guys that roam this planet (aren’t we all, though?). I’m not one subject to hype; I don’t go to opening-night movies, I don’t “hurry, while supplies last.” I am not more interested in a popular restaurant just because others go there, and I couldn’t care less about the newest phone technology. Like anything, pipe tobacco has its darlings and its demons, as well as the shooting stars and the sinking ships. SG’s FVF is one of those that developed a solid following as well as a bandwagon fan base. To be honest, this is and is not the first time I’ve smoked this tobacco: a few years ago, it was available in fresh-as-could-be bulk and was about as close as some could get to getting any of this tobacco. The fresh bulk wasn’t much to write home about. Being more interested in actually smoking than acquiring, I bought and stashed handful of tins then I quickly lost interest after the masses made it largely unavailable at the time.
Popping open this nearly decade-old tin of FVF I found what pretty much looked like tobacco bacon inside. This is one of the delights of flake tobacco: it is beautiful. The kaleidoscope of earthy colors, the sparkle of crystals and plume from the aging process, the obvious look that a crafty human once laid hands upon to produce, the feel of the flake itself, and then joyfully preparing the tobacco and lighting it up. Like most Sam Gawith flakes, it’s a bit on the moist side, and I dried out the rubbed-out pieces a bit as I’m wont to do (you don’t have to). I have a few select Peterson pipes I only bring out for Virginia tobacco, and I haven’t seen these beauties since the end of last summer. As I lit my pipe, which was effortless by the way–moisture or not, I was cheerfully greeted by both morning sun and these mellow Virginias.
The thing that sets this tobacco aside from nearly any other flake I have smoked is the aroma. It truly isn’t often we get to smell the steely curls of smoke coming off our bowls, or as the gentle cloud spreads throughout the room. It’s sweet in the most natural tobacco way, nearly baked-bread kind of good. The nose from the other end out of the palate picks up on this while puffing, and the tongue is delighted with complex and subtle honeys, treacles and a light spiced loaf. Any traces of grassy notes I experienced when I smoked this stuff from un-aged, gigantic bulk strips is long gone. This is the richest tobacco that I can truly call “un-meaty.” All of this is experienced in the first part of the bowl. If that doesn’t entice and encourage one to go further, please check your pulse.
I’m not swayed easily, but I do have a good sense of hesitation when something, hell anything in life, starts out this good. Music albums, peach cobbler, a first date, a new bottle of scotch–we’ve all been there when things are going smashingly and the too-good-to-be-true senses start tingling. FVF isn’t this kind of experience. Perhaps it is the age that took out the problems and guesswork out of getting to know the tobacco, but the middle of the bowl got even better. The richness nearly doubled, and the gravity-increasing properties of the nicotine sunk me into the chair further, and I happily wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. This tobacco’s warmth comes in part from (and I’m guessing here) one of my favorite tobaccos, red Virginia. I’m a big fan of Red Virginia for its ability to cut through the sharpness of bright Virginia, and to meld solidly with just about anything else it comes in contact with. The other part of red Virginia is the tongue-tingling spice that while different than an Oriental/Turkish, is more Marrakesh than picante-hot. The whisper of molasses in between these factors, which I very much sense in this tobacco, creates a sweet treat that will satisfy even the most sourpuss of anti-sweet guys out there, of which I am quite that. The absolutely simple, just-right sweetness I would say is the surprising star here, with extra points given for pleasure consistency. Performance of this tobacco is flawless. While being a bit moist, it is completely manageable, tampable, and ultimately smokeable.
The most difficult part of smoking a bowl of this stuff is the end. The fact there is an end at all is disappointing, because once you get going you’re going to want to keep it up. I highly suggest not loading another bowl right away. Someone wise once told me, with tobacco as with many pleasures in life, to stop while you still want a little bit more. That way, you keep the want-it mentality going for next time, and it becomes something to look forward to. Nicotine is pretty solid in this flake, so don’t smoke it fast. It’d be criminal to miss one moment anyway. Especially on a nice spring day with a glass of iced tea or a light hefeweizen beer.
It’s really tough to do a review on a tobacco that has age on it when new counterparts are available immediately. It’s also tough to talk about one of the most talked-about tobaccos I can think of in recent years. Aged tobacco really has a leg-up on the new stuff most of the time, and there’s always that risk of year-to-year, and crop-to-crop differences adding or subtracting nuances, even over time. In the case of Full Virginia Flake, however, this stuff by accident or design was meant to age. Sam Gawith uses pretty tough square tins that hold their seal nicely, the all-Virginia mix is pretty moist allowing it to make for great aging, and there’s evidently a lot of tasty things the anaerobic “fermenting critters” like to eat in there. My advice? Buy it in the tin. Write a date on it. Wait it out. Let this stuff age like it was meant to. The mellow, warm and pleasant sweetness to the beautiful flakes, and finally the “unfinicky” nature of the performance for anywhere, anytime readiness. The only drawback is the patience you must have to get the FVF to open up to this point, I fear.
Contemplation here may well be complete: did I just do what others did years before me? Did I merely stumble upon a good batch? Did I just jump on the bandwagon for Samuel Gawith’s Full Virginia Flake? Am I a bit late to the party? Maybe, and I don’t care. The idea with anything said to be good is to always be a little skeptical. On the other hand, to be honest with yourself when you’re loving the hell out of something others do as well, hype or not, there’s hardly a damned thing wrong with that. People’s approval or disapproval of your enjoyment be damned. If it’s good: smoke it. If you’re happy, rinse and repeat.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, Ă la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of HerbstdĂĽfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
excellent review, was a pleasure to read!
FVF is tempting me somehow, even tho I’m not that much of a straight VA lover.
Fantastic article. Very eloquently put, it sent me salivating for a bowl! 🙂
FVF was my first flake a few years back, and I hadn’t been smoking much Virginia up to that point, but I think I would still find the strong tea notes to be off-putting while trying to enjoy it with my coffee. If you’re a tea drinker, and you don’t mind the unusual water volume, then you may find it enjoyable. I found Dunhill and Peterson flakes to be more suitable for my taste and smoking cadence. I do wish more blends came in flake form (Irish Oak especially comes to mind).
Well said, sir, and I must admit to a touch of envy. Thanks for sharing.
Great review!
This blend is one of my favorites.
Just got my first sample of this from Jesse Jones. I can’t wait to try it!
This stuff is pure evil.I smoked a bowl of this 5 years ago and got so Nicotine sick I actually took the remaining tin out in the field and put two rounds of 00 Buck in the Tin.I have never been so sick and Angry in my life. If you like this blend smoke my share.Never again!
Thanks guys.
puffndave: Peterson Irish Flake and Irish Oak are two great smokes. If I may, Sam Gawith’s Best Brown Flake is a real treat if the FVF didn’t do it for ya–great coffee accompaniment.
tschiraldi: You tell that Jesse Jones fella Mr. Weiss says hello. 🙂
acaciavet: My goodness. Let this be a lesson to all of us to research carefully, ask questions, approach reasonably, lest the firing squad be unleashed upon unsuspecting tobacco everywhere.
I have FVF from 2008 and 2010 and it will last me for a while. Perhaps the foresight of stocking up on it back then is one of the reasons for the decline of demand in subsequent years. Except for those who smoke it continually and/or exclusively. Even demand from those smokers may have declined, however, since I’ve read reports that the FVF currently being produced is not the same FVF of seven or eight years ago. I wouldn’t know, but that’s been the rumpus lately. The problem, if there indeed is a problem, could be due to the shortage or disappearance of a leaf or leaves crucial to this product.