Sam Gawith Burnt Ends

[Sobrbiker]

“Fringe Benefits”

 

[karam]

“Going Whole Hoggarth”

That's brilliant!

 

[Egg Shen]

I would imagine it's similar to the cigar industry when they do quality control for cigars going into a box. They want all the cigars in the box to look the same, so if one of the cigars looks off compared to the others it gets set aside to go in a second's bundle or something similar.

Or think of Cheez-Its. They now have the toasted Cheez-Its, so when the Cheez-Its are baked some get burnt, so during quality control they remove the darker (burnt ones), so all the Cheez-Its in the box are the same. Cheez-Its decided they can take these "bad" crackers and package them and sell them in a separate box full of burnt crackers instead of just throwing them out. My wife loves the Toasted Cheez-Its, and it's a very smart business decision.

So my guess for Full Virginia Flake Burnt Ends, it's the tobacco flakes that came out darker from the heat press and didn't match up well with the rest of the flakes in the tin. Instead of tossing out that charred tobacco, they're re-packaging it as "Burnt Ends." Great marketing and you're not tossing out tobacco that people will still enjoy.

Coming next, bags of only green potato chips!

 

[PennyStonks]

I’m looking forward to seeing other’s initial impressions on this. I found it to be a little underwhelming. To me it is a little sweeter than regular FVF but it is lacking in nic strength compared to FVF.

 

[Chalaw87]

I’m looking forward to seeing other’s initial impressions on this. I found it to be a little underwhelming. To me it is a little sweeter than regular FVF but it is lacking in nic strength compared to FVF.

I know someone that would take some off your hands if you’re underwhelmed…

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’m looking forward to seeing other’s initial impressions on this. I found it to be a little underwhelming. To me it is a little sweeter than regular FVF but it is lacking in nic strength compared to FVF.

I’ve only been in the game a minute, but have already found that to be the case with many “drops” with a lot of expectation built up and limited availability.

 

[pinem]

Is this peak silliness with respect to "drops" (how I despise that word, along with 'curate')? As an American, I get the fascination with scraps and leftovers. It's easy to equate it (whether rightly or wrongly) with grit and keeping it real.

I feel sorry for Rachael and her fellow employees, though, who are trying to excel at producing a quality product, which means cutting off the loose, strangly, ugly bits (and hiding them in ready rubs) to create proper trimmed plugs and flakes, thereby passing on the torch of British excellence to a new generation. All the while, us Americans are going all Pavlov over their scraps instead.

This whole thing raises some big questions: Does an American lose their soul if they don't stay scrappy? Is scrappiness even a trait Americans can lay claim to? The UK has Chavs, they are kind of scrappy, do they like plug tobacco leftovers too?

 

[Egg Shen]

Is this peak silliness with respect to "drops" (how I despise that word, along with 'curate')? As an American, I get the fascination with scraps and leftovers. It's easy to equate it (whether rightly or wrongly) with grit and keeping it real.

I feel sorry for Rachael and her fellow employees, though, who are trying to excel at producing a quality product, which means cutting off the loose, strangly, ugly bits (and hiding them in ready rubs) to create proper trimmed plugs and flakes, thereby passing on the torch of British excellence to a new generation. All the while, us Americans are going all Pavlov over their scraps instead.

This whole thing raises some big questions: Does an American lose their soul if they don't stay scrappy? Is scrappiness even a trait Americans can lay claim to? The UK has Chavs, they are kind of scrappy, do they like plug tobacco leftovers too?

You could say that American soul food often uses the scraps and lesser cuts and many people have come to celebrate it nowadays; it’s not looked down upon anyways.

 

[PennyStonks]

For those looking to try this the Squire has 2 oz packages for sale.

 

[Chalaw87]

For those looking to try this the Squire has 2 oz packages for sale.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Mrs. Pickles]

For those looking to try this the Squire has 2 oz packages for sale.

Much appreciated. That's practically a public service from the Squire given how swift 8oz boxes are moving from retailers to the secondary market.

 

[LongIslandPiper]

Haha

Smokingpipes has crashed with the rush of sales. I was returning my cart from Paypal and it hung.

same here, took forever to load the cart and still got hung up during checkout. Called it in ultimately.

Only had two bowls so far and the last one was a side by side with FVF both in clay pipes. Full review forthcoming

 

[Auxsender]

Is this peak silliness with respect to "drops" (how I despise that word, along with 'curate')? As an American, I get the fascination with scraps and leftovers. It's easy to equate it (whether rightly or wrongly) with grit and keeping it real.

I feel sorry for Rachael and her fellow employees, though, who are trying to excel at producing a quality product, which means cutting off the loose, strangly, ugly bits (and hiding them in ready rubs) to create proper trimmed plugs and flakes, thereby passing on the torch of British excellence to a new generation. All the while, us Americans are going all Pavlov over their scraps instead.

This whole thing raises some big questions: Does an American lose their soul if they don't stay scrappy? Is scrappiness even a trait Americans can lay claim to? The UK has Chavs, they are kind of scrappy, do they like plug tobacco leftovers too?

In my humble opinion you’re either being cheeky or overthinking it or both which I appreciate and relate to.

I believe GH&Co want to make profit. That’s what this Burnt Ends thing is; another profit stream with little added cost. If customers go ga-ga for it, all the better.

 

[The Clay King]

Haha

same here, took forever to load the cart and still got hung up during checkout. Called it in ultimately.

Only had two bowls so far and the last one was a side by side with FVF both in clay pipes. Full review forthcoming

@LongIslandPiper I enjoyed the Full Virginia Flake in my clays as well!

 

[LongIslandPiper]

You could say that American soul food often uses the scraps and lesser cuts and many people have come to celebrate it nowadays; it’s not looked down upon anyways.

Hell even French peasant dishes are still wildly popular in much of Europe. Americans by heritage are scrappy. No offense to our forefathers brethren from across the pond (UK) but our Colonists took up arms against the most powerful military at the time with a massive Navy and won (with the aid of Native American fighting tactics and the support of France).

 

[JimInks]

I just posted my review of this product on this forum.

 

[pinem]

In my humble opinion you’re either being cheeky or overthinking it or both which I appreciate and relate to.

I believe GH&Co want to make profit. That’s what this Burnt Ends thing is; another profit stream with little added cost. If customers go ga-ga for it, all the better.

Yeah, my post was meant to be cheeky, and maybe a bit sardonic. Hobbies have a way of blurring the line between "painfully adorable exuberance" and "pathetically desperate FOMO".

That said, I have made my peace with resigning myself to only smoking properly trimmed tobacco to the end.

 

[f4phantomdriver]

i have a bunch of the original pensioners (FVF and best brown edition). Sounds similar to this. I prefer it to both fvf and the plug. I’m not referring to the current pensioners which I think is now an actual blend.

I also prefer the st Bruno RR to the flake (again the scraps from squaring up).

Funny you said that about St. Bruno. I'm with you on that. I spent 18 bucks for tins of Flake and for some reason I dig the RR better. Seems like it has more flavor. Plus, there are times when I catch a half a flake in the pouch.

 

[docaitch]

So after the all of the stuff written about FVF Burnt Ends (here and in other sources), I was resigned to never seeing the stuff. A couple of my fellow Chesapeake Pipe Club members are really smitten by Burnt Ends and have lamented the unavailability.
Today I walked into a B&M that I only visit rarely and all of the pipe tobacco tins were on sale at 40% off. Right behind the 40% off sign(which was taped to a shelf), there were 3 red boxes with a small picture of n FVF tin on the side. I picked one up and was shocked to see “Burnt Ends”.
Needless to say, I purchased the 3 boxes and a couple of other tins.
HOWEVER, after trying the stuff, I also am not impressed.
I am going to give the tobacco a few more bowls, but I suspect that I will be making my fellow club members happy with a swap.
docaitch