This is actually a first and second impression.
My love of all things Gawith grows. My understanding of Navy Flake was founded on PS LNF. I thought that VA, Perique and rum were the requisite components. As my studies continue, I see Navy Flakes of all configurations. The commonalities seem to be Virginias, any of a variety of condiment leaves and the (almost universal) rum treatment.
In the army, we doused any issued food with Tabasco to make it palatable. In the days of the Old World navies, a similar process was practiced with tobacco. Take whatever (likely shitty) leaf you could get, roll it tight for preservation and convenience and store it in rum barrels for preservation and flavor.
I popped open the 250g box and found a zip-lock bag of roughly 6.5" dark brown flakes with tan-yellow streaks and spots throughout. They are about 1/16" thick and damp. Not as damp as the GHCo Dark Flake.
Jarring the Gawith line of flakes has fallen into an easy and convenient routine. I use the pint size wide mouth Ball jars. I cut about a third off the end of the flakes. The 2/3 portion stack easily into the jar vertically and the 1/3 portions fill a square tin nicely for more immediate consumption.
Last night, I removed one flake and cut it in half. Some of the reviews I read indicated that excessive drying would cause the loss of some flavor subtleties. I'm not one prone to over drying, but, since I couldn't sleep, I decided on an experiment. I gave the first half about 40 minutes of dry time and let the other half dry overnight. It's humid here right now, so the morning half was far from crispy.
Last night's flake was folded and stuffed into the Savinelli 606KS, a bent billiard and one of my two latakia burners.
One could suffer a repetitive stress injury trying to light a moist Gawith flake. I hope you blokes appreciate the sacrifices made in the name of science. :mrgreen:
Finally, two flints later, a decent ember. Spiced sweet cream came to mind as the overall taste experience. Occasionally, it morphed towards more of a chai flavor. As promised, the latakia was a light supporting player. The rum very subtle. In fact, had I been given this in an unmarked package, I'd maybe not specifically identify it as rum, but as an unidentified (pleasant) influence.
Towards the bottom, the flavor balanced harmoniously, but demanded another flint be sacrificed to the dottle gods. Of course, there was moisture. A small price to pay for the wonderful flavor experience.
Today, I slept late. So late, in fact, the cats began attacking me in protest of the empty breakfast dishes. Since they outnumber me and possess numerous ways of rending my flesh, I got to it.
Finally, beyond threat and coffee in hand, I made it back to the room of smoking. The flake was still pliant (again, high humidity) and I changed course. Since I was now low on flints, I decided to rub out the flake. Still considering the reviews I read noting flavor reduction with dry time, I also changed over to my other latakia pipe, a Savinelli 111KS straight billiard. My experience is that the 111 gives more oompf to the lat and the 606 slightly mutes it.
It still took a few minutes of flaming to get going, but not nearly as bad and it smoothed out much more quickly. and DRY! I'd term last night's smoke a technical exercise, like visiting your neighbor by driving a manual transmission truck across the rough field to his house. Today's trip, more like driving the automatic on the smooth roads around the field. Both paths get you there. You need only choose which adventure you seek.
Flavor was quite similar, although the dryness of the rubbed out flake allowed me to focus on a more continuous enjoyment. MAYBE it was muted a bit in spice by the dry time, or maybe I was expecting such from what I read. If so, not a great difference. This is definitely one of those tobaccos where some experimentation will pay off in finding your preferred experience.
I was sad to see the bottom of the chamber. Not a powerhouse of flavors, but a well thought melange of subtleties in today's world of "in your face" excesses.
Verdict: Get Some!
My love of all things Gawith grows. My understanding of Navy Flake was founded on PS LNF. I thought that VA, Perique and rum were the requisite components. As my studies continue, I see Navy Flakes of all configurations. The commonalities seem to be Virginias, any of a variety of condiment leaves and the (almost universal) rum treatment.
In the army, we doused any issued food with Tabasco to make it palatable. In the days of the Old World navies, a similar process was practiced with tobacco. Take whatever (likely shitty) leaf you could get, roll it tight for preservation and convenience and store it in rum barrels for preservation and flavor.
I popped open the 250g box and found a zip-lock bag of roughly 6.5" dark brown flakes with tan-yellow streaks and spots throughout. They are about 1/16" thick and damp. Not as damp as the GHCo Dark Flake.
Jarring the Gawith line of flakes has fallen into an easy and convenient routine. I use the pint size wide mouth Ball jars. I cut about a third off the end of the flakes. The 2/3 portion stack easily into the jar vertically and the 1/3 portions fill a square tin nicely for more immediate consumption.
Last night, I removed one flake and cut it in half. Some of the reviews I read indicated that excessive drying would cause the loss of some flavor subtleties. I'm not one prone to over drying, but, since I couldn't sleep, I decided on an experiment. I gave the first half about 40 minutes of dry time and let the other half dry overnight. It's humid here right now, so the morning half was far from crispy.
Last night's flake was folded and stuffed into the Savinelli 606KS, a bent billiard and one of my two latakia burners.
One could suffer a repetitive stress injury trying to light a moist Gawith flake. I hope you blokes appreciate the sacrifices made in the name of science. :mrgreen:
Finally, two flints later, a decent ember. Spiced sweet cream came to mind as the overall taste experience. Occasionally, it morphed towards more of a chai flavor. As promised, the latakia was a light supporting player. The rum very subtle. In fact, had I been given this in an unmarked package, I'd maybe not specifically identify it as rum, but as an unidentified (pleasant) influence.
Towards the bottom, the flavor balanced harmoniously, but demanded another flint be sacrificed to the dottle gods. Of course, there was moisture. A small price to pay for the wonderful flavor experience.
Today, I slept late. So late, in fact, the cats began attacking me in protest of the empty breakfast dishes. Since they outnumber me and possess numerous ways of rending my flesh, I got to it.
Finally, beyond threat and coffee in hand, I made it back to the room of smoking. The flake was still pliant (again, high humidity) and I changed course. Since I was now low on flints, I decided to rub out the flake. Still considering the reviews I read noting flavor reduction with dry time, I also changed over to my other latakia pipe, a Savinelli 111KS straight billiard. My experience is that the 111 gives more oompf to the lat and the 606 slightly mutes it.
It still took a few minutes of flaming to get going, but not nearly as bad and it smoothed out much more quickly. and DRY! I'd term last night's smoke a technical exercise, like visiting your neighbor by driving a manual transmission truck across the rough field to his house. Today's trip, more like driving the automatic on the smooth roads around the field. Both paths get you there. You need only choose which adventure you seek.
Flavor was quite similar, although the dryness of the rubbed out flake allowed me to focus on a more continuous enjoyment. MAYBE it was muted a bit in spice by the dry time, or maybe I was expecting such from what I read. If so, not a great difference. This is definitely one of those tobaccos where some experimentation will pay off in finding your preferred experience.
I was sad to see the bottom of the chamber. Not a powerhouse of flavors, but a well thought melange of subtleties in today's world of "in your face" excesses.
Verdict: Get Some!
