Shawn622 Best Brown Flake

[cigrmaster]

Our own member Shawn622 has been trying his hand at making flakes and plugs. He just sent me a large sampling of his work and I smoked the first one he calls his version of SG Best Brown Flake. I have to say I am very impressed with this blend. It is nice to look at,gold and brown virginia's mixed together with a nice aroma. It started out mild and smooth, it soon developed a real nice sweet virginia flavor and continued the whole way down the bowl. At the end it got a tad bitter only because it needs to age some, but 6 months or so should round it out nicely. I am really looking forward to trying all the others he sent me, I will be testing each one first smoke of the day so I have a fresh palette. I will give a review of each one on this thread so stay tuned. This is very exciting for me, we could have a real superstar in the making.

 

[daytonsean]

Cheers!

 

[baronsamedi]

Cool! I know he's really been working at it. I think he's sending me some, too.

 

[tjameson]

Wow, Very cool! Looking forward to the next review!

 

[cgrd]

And yet another reason this forum is awesome. Really...you guys are awesome, friendly, and passionate about pipes. A rare thing in this world, let alone an internet community. Once Shawn622 gets past the testing and tasting phase, I look forward to throwing some money his way :D

 

[judcole]

Very cool.

 

[shawn622]

Wow, Thanks Cigrmaster I have been working very hard with caveman tools almost blindly to come up with what I have made. I mutilated many pounds of innocent leaf to come up with what I have made thus far. There is no literature or how to videos on how to make a plug.
I have a way better source of tobacco. No middleman. I met a grower from Kentucky that come highly recommended. I get 4 pounds of fresh leaf tomorrow. I just today broke the Navy Flake matrix. It was driving me insane, but after a lot of trial and error I figured it out. I also put together a Balkan Flake that Baron will be trying tomorrow or Monday. It was good right out of the press. I was very surprised. English blends do not need to age like Virginias to develop that full body and smoothness. I couldn't think of a person better suited to be my first tester of the Balkan than Baron(I sent you a little of all my plugs Baron). He is to Balkan what Cigrmaster is to Virginia Flake. I chose the testers based on What I knew they smoked not to mention I like them both very much. Mrenglish is my other tester.
Here are a couple of pics of my first flake tobacco. The first is a Vaper flake the latter a strait Virginia. The one that Cigrmaster reviewed. I have made 6 different plugs. They are aging right now. Thanks again Cigrmaster. Your review just made all my work wort it

 

[tjameson]

Wow those flakes look really good man! Like I said Im looking forward to the other reviews, keep it up!

 

[shawn622]

Thanks Rothnh and Tucker. Yea, most blenders have many years under their belt and work as an apprentice. I have been at it for 2 months with just my taste buds and common sense and a very crude, homemade press. lol Of course my tobacco isn't of the quality of the great Sam Gawith house. If I get half as good as those guys I'll be impressed myself ::

 

[gwtwdbss]

Thanks for the pics. That does look tasty!

 

[shawn622]

I just enjoy Making leaf into something good. I don't mess with blending tobacco other than Perique and Latakia. Making the plug is half the fun.

 

[photoman13]

Wow that is pretty cool. I look forward to hearing what the others have to say.

 

[johncorosz]

Kudos on effort paying off!

 

[ovidsmuse]

It would be awesome if you shared the techniques you've found that work. As you mentioned, there isn't a lot of information out there.

 

[lestrout]

shawn - cool beans.
hp

les

 

[mrenglish]

Hey all,
I am smoking my second bowl of Shawn's BB. I gotta admit, it is tasty. The plug took well to the knife so I sliced off a couple pieces, rubbed it out a bit and let it dry. I tend to prefer tobacco on the dry side. When I fired up the bowl, I was greeted with a nice sweetness, but not overly sweet. The components play very well together and this blend is very smooth. I am getting a nice va flavor and I think the cavendish softens this blend up and adds just the right amount of sweetness to keep me interested. No bite, even when I puffed a bit hard on it. I am fast smoker as well, so that was definitely a plus. I agree with Harris in that aging will do wonders for this blend, but it was good right from the bag. The only rough edges I detected were at the bottom of the bowl and even then, it was slight, aging would definitely take care of that.
You did good, Shawn. I am pretty impressed and that is no easy feat considering the amount of pipe tobacco I have smoked over the years. I am not trying to sound like a snob, it's just after 20 or so years of pipe smoking, I have definitely tried a lot of different tobaccos.
This is something I would definitely stock up for the cellar.
Mike

 

[msandoval858]

Great looking tobacco there. Sounds like something I would really enjoy and hope to get the chance to try it someday. Keep up the good work!

 

[cigrmaster]

Great review Mike, amazing at how he has come up with something that tastes good and will be even beter down the road.
I smoked a second sample with morning in a Dunhill made Astley dublin. It is a nice flake pipe and is dedicated to vapers. The sample I smoked is a vaper and it came as a plug. It was a son of a bitch to cut off, but I like it. Once I was able to cube it up like I enjoy, I got down to smoking it. It started off mild and slightly sweet and then really developed as I smoked it. It has some real nice spice and the sweetness from the Virginia's started to really shine. As it got to the end the flavors intensified and were real tasty. It did get a tad bitter but some age will definitely take care of that. Shawn has another winner with this one, I can't wait to see what age has in store for it.

 

[shawn622]

I am tickled. I think the Navy flake I am working on right now will be the best yet. I speant a LOT of time and effort and many failed micro batchs to break the matrix and figure out the secret ingredients. msandoval858, You will get to try some before too long.I have not given any credit to the one who gave me the very basic recipe. He didn't give me the technique, but gave me the sugar to water to leaf ratio. Thanks master blender Russ Ouellette!!!!

 

[shawn622]

Oh, I can't call this best brown because it is already taken, so if you can think of a name I would appreciate it