Don't know how long it's been around, but Bob's Chocolate Flake is easily my all time favorite chocolate aromatic! There's a real dark richness to the chocolate note from that little hint of Latakia that no other chocolate blend seems to capture, and it's got a nice bit of Vitamin N to boot. I also appreciate that BCF isn't even the slightest bit wet or goopy, it's just a masterfully crafted aromatic of the highest caliber if you ask me.
Agree, it's barely noticeable but it's there, I'm also convinced that this little bit of Latakia makes the difference. For me Bob's choc flake smells like dark chocolate, but tastes different, quite complicated, chocolate is just part of it. I get vanilla, almond, tobacco and some chocolate in the back. Great blend.
I and others here prefer to call blends with obvious added flavourings "flavoured", "scented" etc vs "aromatic". All blends are enhanced with stuff to one extent or another, most commonly sugar. What Gawith do is that unlike other manufacturers of "aromatics", they use top quality tobacco as base, and you can actually taste it vs the cheap tasteless Cavendished burley that's common in OTC stuff.
Not sure about the non-wet/sticky part though, the difference again with Gawith is I've found they are best smoked as they come out, no drying time needed - in fact drying takes away a lot. That's unlike say StJames Flake or Full Virginia Flake/Plug which need to be "freshly bone dry" as ChasingEmbers accurately put it to get anything out of them.
