This year's Sutliff Cringle Flake will be released on December 1.
This year’s Cringle Flake uses red Virginias and 2003 perique. The flue cured reds in this 2021 manufacture are ten years older (year 2000) than the 2020 release. This production is a tad less fermented, sugary, and fruity sweet. It is a little more floral, sour, grassy and moist with a greater maturity of flavor. It has more citrus and grass than dark fruit, which is a reversal of last year’s offering. The sour lemon was not present in the 2020 CF. There’s a little more red to be seen, unlike last year when the tobacco was nearly all black, which means that this creation wasn’t stoved as long.
The fermented, stoved, flue cured year 2000 matured red Virginias provide a wealth of tart and tangy citrus, a fair amount of grass, floralness, bread, some tangy ripe stewed dark fruit, earth, wood, vegetation, sugar, mild sour lemon, light spice and sour vinegar along with slight acidic notes. The year 2003 perique offers plenty of sugary stewed fruit (raisins, dates, figs, and plums), earth, wood, moderate pepper, and a light floralness as an important, opulent supporting player. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. There are a few rather small rough edges. The flakes in this production are a little moister than last year’s, and benefit from a little dry time. Well balanced with some nuanced complexity, it burns clean, cool, and slow with a very consistent fermented tart and tangy sweet, spicy, mildly floral and sour, deeply rich flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is a step stronger. Leaves little dampness in the bowl. The number of relights depend on how much you dry it, but it will require more than an average number of relights. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but it’s certainly repeatable. Four stars out of four.
This year’s Cringle Flake uses red Virginias and 2003 perique. The flue cured reds in this 2021 manufacture are ten years older (year 2000) than the 2020 release. This production is a tad less fermented, sugary, and fruity sweet. It is a little more floral, sour, grassy and moist with a greater maturity of flavor. It has more citrus and grass than dark fruit, which is a reversal of last year’s offering. The sour lemon was not present in the 2020 CF. There’s a little more red to be seen, unlike last year when the tobacco was nearly all black, which means that this creation wasn’t stoved as long.
The fermented, stoved, flue cured year 2000 matured red Virginias provide a wealth of tart and tangy citrus, a fair amount of grass, floralness, bread, some tangy ripe stewed dark fruit, earth, wood, vegetation, sugar, mild sour lemon, light spice and sour vinegar along with slight acidic notes. The year 2003 perique offers plenty of sugary stewed fruit (raisins, dates, figs, and plums), earth, wood, moderate pepper, and a light floralness as an important, opulent supporting player. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. There are a few rather small rough edges. The flakes in this production are a little moister than last year’s, and benefit from a little dry time. Well balanced with some nuanced complexity, it burns clean, cool, and slow with a very consistent fermented tart and tangy sweet, spicy, mildly floral and sour, deeply rich flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is a step stronger. Leaves little dampness in the bowl. The number of relights depend on how much you dry it, but it will require more than an average number of relights. It’s not quite an all day smoke, but it’s certainly repeatable. Four stars out of four.
