Preferences are preferences but I find the thing I like the most about flakes are their versatility. You can smoke them as is, break them up, or rub them out as desired... I guess if you never smoke them as flakes then its irrelevant but my point is that there are a lot of great tobaccos out there that come exclusively as flakes - you may be missing out...I'd prefer a broken flake or ribbon cut as opposed to a flake.