Rolls, Cakes, and Flakes...etc

[shayde]

I was wondering if the community would recommend some crumble cakes, flakes, rolls, ropes, medallions, and/or whatever else is out there. I have no experience with tobacco coming in anything other than like a normal shag/ribbon cut. I’m open to any and all types of blends, so please feel free to recommend your favorites. I’ve been wanting to expand my horizons and see what the popular options around here are. Thanks for your time!

 

[olkofri]

Black Frigate!!

 

[logs]

Here's a little crash course.
The first thing to keep in mind: medallions, flakes, plugs, cakes, and especially ropes are stronger than pipe tobacco in other forms. Pressed tobacco's are typically the domain of the advanced smoker who wants maximum flavor and quality.
Start with blends/brands/styles you already know you like and then see if there is something similar in a flake or broken flake version.
- English or Balkans are a good place to begin; some good examples include: Bengal Slices, Quiet Nights, Sextant, and Black Frigate (a cake).
- VaPers. Traditionally these come in medallion form (although there are plenty of flake versions too). Good examples include: Escudo, Davidoff Flake Medallions, Luxury Bullseye Flake, Three Nuns, St. James Flake
- Straight (or mostly straight) Virginias. Some good examples: Full Virginia Flake, Best Brown Flake, Orlik's Golden Sliced, Reiner Long Golden Flake (they're not kidding when they say "long")
- Ropes & twists are pretty much their own world and are geared for heroic levels of strength and flavor, combined with a surreal nicotine kick. The Gawith ropes are the standard here (but there's not a lot of competition). Definitely wait on exploring ropes until you've become more experienced with the other pressed blends. Their tongue-destroying reputation is well earned.
There are tons of options and lots of areas to explore. Have fun!

 

[cigrmaster]

Here is a list of readily available blends. They are all flakes except the Savinelli which are coins.

Capstan Blue Flake -Virginia

Mac Baren Old Dark Fired -Virginia/burley

Escudo- Virginia/Perique

Savinelli Doblone d'Oro- Viginia/Perique/Kentucky

Solani 633-Virginia/Perique

Solani 660 Silver Flake- Virginia/Kentucky

Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky-Vriginia/Kentucky

 

[alaskanpiper]

Sticking with stuff I've had that is easier to find:
Cakes:

Seattle Pipe Club Plum Pudding

Black Frigate
flakes (There are a billion of these):

Capstan Blue

HH Latakia Flake

Solani 663 and 656
Ropes (can be tough to find but they're out there):

Gawith and Hoggarth Happy Bogie (Brown Rope)

Gawith and Hoggarth Sweet Rum Roll Twist
Medallions/coins:

Escudo

Peter Stokkebye Luxury Bullseye Flake
Plugs:

Gawith and Hoggarth Dark Plug

Seattle Pipe Club Plum Pudding Reserve or Mississipi River Reserve

Just got some Dan Tobacco Salty Dogs as well, smells and looks fantastic, but can't vouch for it yet, going to light it up soon

 

[krizzose]

If you want a rich VaPer just a bit on the sweet side, try Rattrays Marlin Flake.
A nice crumble cake I’ve been enjoying the past few months is Cornell & Diehl Redburn, which is a VaBur with a very light rum and molasses topping. Aside from being a tasty and satisfying smoke, it’s very easy to handle without the trial and error you’ll need to get a handle on flakes and coins.
My favorite roll cake is Mac Baren Club Blend, which is a mix of sweet cased Virginias with a good amount of smoky dark fired Kentucky. “Toasted marshmallows” is the most common description of the room note from non-smokers I’ve smoked it around. My advice is to dry it thoroughly and smoke it slow in a smaller bowl, because it can bite.

 

[shayde]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I’ll have to make an order soon and try them all out

 

[jaytex1969]

If you are more of a non-aromatic smoker, I can't recommend highly enough the entire MacBaren HH line.
Top notch quality, readily available and reasonably priced.
If that's all I had for the rest of my days, I'd have no complaints.

 

[nunnster]

I'll toss my hat in the ring, and recommend ps luxury navy flake. I tend to go for the bullseye flake myself now and days, they are little coins of happiness, but the flake is pretty dang good too.

 

[redglow]

+1 ^
I love the Peter Stokkebye Luxury Flakes. Currenly smoking Bullseye Flake. But love the PS Navy Flake and PS

Twist Flake.
Also, concur with jaytex regarding the HH line of Mac Baren. Very flavorful and high quality.