Samuel Gawith St James Flake - An Exercise in Frustration

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karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
I love VaPers and have loved everything I've had from the Gawith houses, so I've had a couple of tins of StJF in my drawer for about a year, doing the silly "saving for a special moment" thing. Oh well, this weekend I thought I'd open one to see what it's going to be like.

I worked myself up, imagining this will be the Dig Daddy VaPer of my dreams, covering all my partially unmet needs from other VaPers: I dreamed it to be thick chewy smoke, (very) sweet, spicy, and enough nicotine to stun a musk ox.

Initial smell from the tin is standard VaPer, leaning towards the peppery side, and grassy Virginia. The flakes are very thick, and borderline broken flake (akin to Conniston cut plug and Bob's choc flake) rather than flake cut, they certainly fall apart when handled, unlike say Balkan flake, or 1792 flake which are paper-thin and rubbery. They were also looking like they don't need drying based on touch, though I gave a flake about an hour's drying before folding and stuffing to my VaPer pipe.

Balls! This is not lighting, really not lighting. After many attempts it finally took fire, only to give me an intensely peppery taste...before the fire died after a couple of puffs. And this charade carried on throughout the smoke of that first flake, the second half of the bowl was noticeably better both in taste and flammability, and the taste is actually good when the stars align between overheating the ember, and it dying. This tobacco won't work wth fold and stuff, that's for sure...

Take two: dry for 3 hours, cube cut, gravity fill.
Similar deal with minor improvements, still the ember's dying after a couple of puffs, but more of the taste I am looking for, it took me forever to finish the bowl and not for lack of trying, these flakes seem to have some fire retardant on them (ok, I am joking of course!).

Take three: take a flake out, leave it for 24 hours, crumble to dust, and gravity fill. HERE WE GO!!! Finally, this damn flake is working as expected! Grassy, bready, slightly fermented sweet Virginia and peppery Perique. In fact the best taste I got when there was but a mere wisp of smoke coming out of the pipe, not enough to even retrohale, and I remembered @sablebrush52 saying "Virginias will school you", guess this is slow smoking? I thought I smoked slowly already! This thought added to the frustration as I'd like a bit more volume to the smoke, but the taste was indeed divine when smoked THAT slowly but it's still frustrating as I'd like some more of it! Like having an amazing plate of food that you're only allowed to eat with chopsticks. No, not chopsticks but tweezers for insect anatomy (I DID do insect anatomy as a biology student 20 years ago). The annoyance was that still it needed relight every 3 puffs, or if I puffed more aggressively it turned very peppery.

So in summary, a pain in the ass flake, unlike other stuff I've had from Gawith, in terms of preparation, including flakes and ropes, flavoured or otherwise. It certainly fulfills some of the expectations I had but having to plan 24 hours in advance for smoking it, and babysitting the bowl so much made it that I will keep a tin or three at hand but won't be getting a metric ton of it in the near future.
 
Last edited:
Jun 9, 2018
4,012
12,928
England
I love VaPers and have loved everything I've had from the Gawith houses, so I've had a couple of tins of StJF in my drawer for about a year, doing the silly "saving for a special moment" thing. Oh well, this weekend I thought I'd open one to see what it's going to be like.

I worked myself up, imagining this will be the Dig Daddy VaPer of my dreams, covering all my partially unmet needs from other VaPers: I dreamed it to be thick chewy smoke, (very) sweet, spicy, and enough nicotine to stun a musk ox.

Initial smell from the tin is standard VaPer, leaning towards the peppery side, and grassy Virginia. The flakes are very thick, and borderline broken flake (akin to Conniston cut plug and Bob's choc flake) rather than flake cut, they certainly fall apart when handled, unlike say Balkan flake, or 1792 flake which are paper-thin and rubbery. They were also looking like they don't need drying based on touch, though I gave a flake about an hour's drying before folding and stuffing to my VaPer pipe.

Balls! This is not lighting, really not lighting. After many attempts it finally took fire, only to give me an intensely peppery taste...before the fire died after a couple of puffs. And this charade carried on throughout the smoke of that first flake, the second half of the bowl was noticeably better both in taste and flammability, and the taste is actually good when the stars align between overheating the ember, and it dying. This tobacco won't work wth fold and stuff, that's for sure...

Take two: dry for 3 hours, cube cut, gravity fill.
Similar deal with minor improvements, still the ember's dying after a couple of puffs, but more of the taste I am looking for, it took me forever to finish the bowl and not for lack of trying, these flakes seem to have some fire retardant on them (ok, I am joking of course!).

Take three: take a flake out, leave it for 24 hours, crumble to dust, and gravity fill. HERE WE GO!!! Finally, this damn flake is working as expected! Grassy, bready, slightly fermented sweet Virginia and peppery Perique. In fact the best taste I got when there was but a mere wisp of smoke coming out of the pipe, not enough to even retrohale, and I remembered @sablebrush52 saying "Virginias will school you", guess this is slow smoking? I thought I smoked slowly already! This thought added to the frustration as I'd like a bit more volume to the smoke, but the taste was indeed divine when smoked THAT slowly but it's still frustrating as I'd like some more of it! Like having an amazing plate of food that you're only allowed to eat with chopsticks. No, not chopsticks but tweezers for insect anatomy (I DID do insect anatomy as a biology student 20 years ago). The annoyance was that still it needed relight every 3 puffs, or if I puffed more aggressively it turned very peppery.

So in summary, a pain in the ass flake, unlike other stuff I've had from Gawith, in terms of preparation, including flakes and ropes, flavoured or otherwise. It certainly fulfills some of the expectations I had but having to plan 24 hours in advance for smoking it, and babysitting the bowl so much made it that I will keep a tin or three at hand but won't be getting a metric ton of it in the near future.

If you live in the UK you should try the plug version, I find this much easier to prepare. You can cut it thinner, I usually slice it as thin as Germain's Rich Dark Flake which means it dries a lot quicker and seems to burn better.
If you don't live in the UK you can get it from Synjeco. It's definitely worth persevering with I think, it's one of the greatest vapers I've tried.
Sometimes I cut thick flakes off the plug and cube cut then gravity feed. I always leave the cubes to dry for a couple of days and the results are very good. It's a pain in the arse to get going but once you do it burns really well.
I hope you keep at it because the rewards are worth it.
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
Thanks, I don't live in the UK anymore (did for 12 years but sadly before taking up pipe smoking), but I can get things from the UK as my job's HQ is in Fleet, so before the COVID situation we used to travel there every month or so, so I had tobacco delivered to our office there and picked it up when me or a colleague would go.

Couple of days for cubes huh? Ok I'll try it - the taste is certainly GREAT when I actually managed to get it.

Looking at my post in the FVF thread lower down where I said I cube cut and dry to the point they feel like gravel - FVF worked better for me right off the bat, I think it's because the tin I have came much wetter than StJF so I was primed to make it bone dry before smoking, and it worked beautifully. FVF feels more rubbery than StJF, flakes seem to hold up better overall.
 
Last edited:
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tobefrank

Lifer
Jun 22, 2015
1,367
5,005
Australia
I've got some St James Flake on the way. I'll lower my expectations to prevent disappointment.

Last time I tried Full Virginia Plug is was very worried beforehand about it being finicky. I did a very fine cube cut, then let it dry under the heater for an hour or so. I was amazing and not as much of a hassle as expected from all the stories.

I reckon you need to rub it out or cube cut it prior to drying, not after. It is much too hard to dry a flake due to the lack of surface area.
 

trubka2

Lifer
Feb 27, 2019
2,470
21,640
Yeah, I think it took me more than three bowls to learn how to smoke this one... Just saying. I usually rub it out, dry for 30-90 minutes, depending on conditions, and pack lightly with plenty of empty space at the heel (wedging in a bit of rolled up flake helps with that). It burns great, tastes great, and doesn't need to be babied. Maybe that would work for you too. Personally, I don't care for it dried to a crisp or cube cut.
 

workman

Lifer
Jan 5, 2018
2,793
4,219
The Faroe Islands
I love VaPers and have loved everything I've had from the Gawith houses, so I've had a couple of tins of StJF in my drawer for about a year, doing the silly "saving for a special moment" thing. Oh well, this weekend I thought I'd open one to see what it's going to be like.

I worked myself up, imagining this will be the Dig Daddy VaPer of my dreams, covering all my partially unmet needs from other VaPers: I dreamed it to be thick chewy smoke, (very) sweet, spicy, and enough nicotine to stun a musk ox.

Initial smell from the tin is standard VaPer, leaning towards the peppery side, and grassy Virginia. The flakes are very thick, and borderline broken flake (akin to Conniston cut plug and Bob's choc flake) rather than flake cut, they certainly fall apart when handled, unlike say Balkan flake, or 1792 flake which are paper-thin and rubbery. They were also looking like they don't need drying based on touch, though I gave a flake about an hour's drying before folding and stuffing to my VaPer pipe.

Balls! This is not lighting, really not lighting. After many attempts it finally took fire, only to give me an intensely peppery taste...before the fire died after a couple of puffs. And this charade carried on throughout the smoke of that first flake, the second half of the bowl was noticeably better both in taste and flammability, and the taste is actually good when the stars align between overheating the ember, and it dying. This tobacco won't work wth fold and stuff, that's for sure...

Take two: dry for 3 hours, cube cut, gravity fill.
Similar deal with minor improvements, still the ember's dying after a couple of puffs, but more of the taste I am looking for, it took me forever to finish the bowl and not for lack of trying, these flakes seem to have some fire retardant on them (ok, I am joking of course!).

Take three: take a flake out, leave it for 24 hours, crumble to dust, and gravity fill. HERE WE GO!!! Finally, this damn flake is working as expected! Grassy, bready, slightly fermented sweet Virginia and peppery Perique. In fact the best taste I got when there was but a mere wisp of smoke coming out of the pipe, not enough to even retrohale, and I remembered @sablebrush52 saying "Virginias will school you", guess this is slow smoking? I thought I smoked slowly already! This thought added to the frustration as I'd like a bit more volume to the smoke, but the taste was indeed divine when smoked THAT slowly but it's still frustrating as I'd like some more of it! Like having an amazing plate of food that you're only allowed to eat with chopsticks. No, not chopsticks but tweezers for insect anatomy (I DID do insect anatomy as a biology student 20 years ago). The annoyance was that still it needed relight every 3 puffs, or if I puffed more aggressively it turned very peppery.

So in summary, a pain in the ass flake, unlike other stuff I've had from Gawith, in terms of preparation, including flakes and ropes, flavoured or otherwise. It certainly fulfills some of the expectations I had but having to plan 24 hours in advance for smoking it, and babysitting the bowl so much made it that I will keep a tin or three at hand but won't be getting a metric ton of it in the near future.

St James Flake is great and has the same smoking characteristics as FVF and BBF. As you smoke some more bowls, you'll figure out what works best for you.
I used to have those issues with 1792 Flake, but I don't anymore.
One thing I always do with flakes from SG is leave them out to dry for a couple of weeks. I dry several bowls worth of tobacco at a time so I don't have to plan ahead.
Now some aromatics need a little moisture, but unflavored virginias and va/pers are never too dry. Dry the hell out of those blends, and they'll smoke fine.
 
Jun 9, 2018
4,012
12,928
England
Thanks, I don't live in the UK anymore (did for 12 years but sadly before taking up pipe smoking), but I can get things from the UK as my job's HQ is in Fleet, so before the COVID situation we used to travel there every month or so, so I had tobacco delivered to our office there and picked it up when me or a colleague would go.

Couple of days for cubes huh? Ok I'll try it - the taste is certainly GREAT when I actually managed to get it.

Looking at my post in the FVF thread lower down where I said I cube cut and dry to the point they feel like gravel - FVF worked better for me right off the bat, I think it's because the tin I have came much wetter than StJF so I was primed to make it bone dry before smoking, and it worked beautifully. FVF feels more rubbery than StJF, flakes seem to hold up better overall.

St James is Full Virginia Flake with added Perique. So I guess it makes sense it'd handle in a similar way.
They both can be tricky tobaccos, you only have to see the various threads of people having problems with drying etc.
As you can get UK tobaccos pretty easily you definitely need to try the plug versions of FVF and SJF. I find them much more versatile than the flakes. Give them a try and see what you think.
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
I used to have those issues with 1792 Flake, but I don't anymore.
One thing I always do with flakes from SG is leave them out to dry for a couple of weeks. I dry several bowls worth of tobacco at a time so I don't have to plan ahead.
Now some aromatics need a little moisture, but unflavored virginias and va/pers are never too dry. Dry the hell out of those blends, and they'll smoke fine.

Interestingly, my first tin of 1792 was crushed by the post office, lost its seal and was left for at least a month with a colleague before I could get it due to covid. I got it at a state that was ready to fold and stuff immediately, and smoked perfectly. Instantly got the first spot in my top five :)
 

logs

Lifer
Apr 28, 2019
1,873
5,069
I agree with Workman, you just have to dry the hell out of SG flakes or suffer the consequences. If you're impatient put it in the microwave or in a skillet on the stovetop. Experiment a bit. You're unlikely to ruin an SG flake by drying it too much.
 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
My best bowls of St James Flake were sopping wet and scorched to life with a torch.
Blasphemy for a pipe collector, in which case I really feel like VaPer Flakes are best smoked in something not a pipe.
I wonder if anyone has ever made a VaPer Cigar?
 

Sonorisis

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 24, 2019
853
4,578
Age, drying, and thorough 'rubbing out' seem to be the key for me. I had to multiply each of those by three to get to the 'happy' place.
 
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kwg116

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 21, 2017
276
1,750
I find that SG blends need time to air out to open up. St James and FVF need at least a week or two opened to start to taste good, at least to me. I crack the tin then close it and let them sit. They are very closed and tasteless fresh out of the tin, in my experience.
 

workman

Lifer
Jan 5, 2018
2,793
4,219
The Faroe Islands
I find that SG blends need time to air out to open up. St James and FVF need at least a week or two opened to start to taste good, at least to me. I crack the tin then close it and let them sit. They are very closed and tasteless fresh out of the tin, in my experience.
I agree, but that goes for all pipe tobacco, not just SG. Jarring is one way to achieve this.
 
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BROBS

Lifer
Nov 13, 2019
11,765
40,026
IA
I love VaPers and have loved everything I've had from the Gawith houses, so I've had a couple of tins of StJF in my drawer for about a year, doing the silly "saving for a special moment" thing. Oh well, this weekend I thought I'd open one to see what it's going to be like.

I worked myself up, imagining this will be the Dig Daddy VaPer of my dreams, covering all my partially unmet needs from other VaPers: I dreamed it to be thick chewy smoke, (very) sweet, spicy, and enough nicotine to stun a musk ox.

Initial smell from the tin is standard VaPer, leaning towards the peppery side, and grassy Virginia. The flakes are very thick, and borderline broken flake (akin to Conniston cut plug and Bob's choc flake) rather than flake cut, they certainly fall apart when handled, unlike say Balkan flake, or 1792 flake which are paper-thin and rubbery. They were also looking like they don't need drying based on touch, though I gave a flake about an hour's drying before folding and stuffing to my VaPer pipe.

Balls! This is not lighting, really not lighting. After many attempts it finally took fire, only to give me an intensely peppery taste...before the fire died after a couple of puffs. And this charade carried on throughout the smoke of that first flake, the second half of the bowl was noticeably better both in taste and flammability, and the taste is actually good when the stars align between overheating the ember, and it dying. This tobacco won't work wth fold and stuff, that's for sure...

Take two: dry for 3 hours, cube cut, gravity fill.
Similar deal with minor improvements, still the ember's dying after a couple of puffs, but more of the taste I am looking for, it took me forever to finish the bowl and not for lack of trying, these flakes seem to have some fire retardant on them (ok, I am joking of course!).

Take three: take a flake out, leave it for 24 hours, crumble to dust, and gravity fill. HERE WE GO!!! Finally, this damn flake is working as expected! Grassy, bready, slightly fermented sweet Virginia and peppery Perique. In fact the best taste I got when there was but a mere wisp of smoke coming out of the pipe, not enough to even retrohale, and I remembered @sablebrush52 saying "Virginias will school you", guess this is slow smoking? I thought I smoked slowly already! This thought added to the frustration as I'd like a bit more volume to the smoke, but the taste was indeed divine when smoked THAT slowly but it's still frustrating as I'd like some more of it! Like having an amazing plate of food that you're only allowed to eat with chopsticks. No, not chopsticks but tweezers for insect anatomy (I DID do insect anatomy as a biology student 20 years ago). The annoyance was that still it needed relight every 3 puffs, or if I puffed more aggressively it turned very peppery.

So in summary, a pain in the ass flake, unlike other stuff I've had from Gawith, in terms of preparation, including flakes and ropes, flavoured or otherwise. It certainly fulfills some of the expectations I had but having to plan 24 hours in advance for smoking it, and babysitting the bowl so much made it that I will keep a tin or three at hand but won't be getting a metric ton of it in the near future.
An hours drying for a SG flake? Do you smoke crack or are otherwise very impatient?
 

larryspencer

Might Stick Around
May 12, 2009
80
229
West Texas
After reading these thoughts, I guess I need to revisit my 11 year jar of SJF. I recently opened it and while the aging process has done well, crystals, the tobacco was difficult to stay lit. I'll try a different preparation method next time.?
 
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hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
I think it’s the luck of the draw when it comes to Gawith flakes. I bought most of all my Gawith flakes in the box and all of them came very thin sliced and easy to work with. I haven’t smoked any St. James Flake for sometime as I’m busy aging all of my stash but it is hands down one of my favorite VaPers if not my favorite. I have noticed that the flakes in the tin are usually thicker cut than they are in the box but that’s probably just my mind playing tricks on me.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,625
44,844
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I love VaPers and have loved everything I've had from the Gawith houses, so I've had a couple of tins of StJF in my drawer for about a year, doing the silly "saving for a special moment" thing. Oh well, this weekend I thought I'd open one to see what it's going to be like.

I worked myself up, imagining this will be the Dig Daddy VaPer of my dreams, covering all my partially unmet needs from other VaPers: I dreamed it to be thick chewy smoke, (very) sweet, spicy, and enough nicotine to stun a musk ox.

Initial smell from the tin is standard VaPer, leaning towards the peppery side, and grassy Virginia. The flakes are very thick, and borderline broken flake (akin to Conniston cut plug and Bob's choc flake) rather than flake cut, they certainly fall apart when handled, unlike say Balkan flake, or 1792 flake which are paper-thin and rubbery. They were also looking like they don't need drying based on touch, though I gave a flake about an hour's drying before folding and stuffing to my VaPer pipe.

Balls! This is not lighting, really not lighting. After many attempts it finally took fire, only to give me an intensely peppery taste...before the fire died after a couple of puffs. And this charade carried on throughout the smoke of that first flake, the second half of the bowl was noticeably better both in taste and flammability, and the taste is actually good when the stars align between overheating the ember, and it dying. This tobacco won't work wth fold and stuff, that's for sure...

Take two: dry for 3 hours, cube cut, gravity fill.
Similar deal with minor improvements, still the ember's dying after a couple of puffs, but more of the taste I am looking for, it took me forever to finish the bowl and not for lack of trying, these flakes seem to have some fire retardant on them (ok, I am joking of course!).

Take three: take a flake out, leave it for 24 hours, crumble to dust, and gravity fill. HERE WE GO!!! Finally, this damn flake is working as expected! Grassy, bready, slightly fermented sweet Virginia and peppery Perique. In fact the best taste I got when there was but a mere wisp of smoke coming out of the pipe, not enough to even retrohale, and I remembered @sablebrush52 saying "Virginias will school you", guess this is slow smoking? I thought I smoked slowly already! This thought added to the frustration as I'd like a bit more volume to the smoke, but the taste was indeed divine when smoked THAT slowly but it's still frustrating as I'd like some more of it! Like having an amazing plate of food that you're only allowed to eat with chopsticks. No, not chopsticks but tweezers for insect anatomy (I DID do insect anatomy as a biology student 20 years ago). The annoyance was that still it needed relight every 3 puffs, or if I puffed more aggressively it turned very peppery.

So in summary, a pain in the ass flake, unlike other stuff I've had from Gawith, in terms of preparation, including flakes and ropes, flavoured or otherwise. It certainly fulfills some of the expectations I had but having to plan 24 hours in advance for smoking it, and babysitting the bowl so much made it that I will keep a tin or three at hand but won't be getting a metric ton of it in the near future.
SG tobaccos need a lot more drying time. I live in a very dry climate, so about 5 hours tends to do the job, though it could go longer. I generally rub out SJF. I never have an issue with lighting it, nor keeping it lit. If you want the big flavors and the wonderful Verginia sweetness, put it away for about 7 years, and then give it another go. It's an amazing smoke with some years on it. This is a tobacco that I feel does improve markedly with age.
 
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