Samuel Gawith -- Full Virginia Flake

Brand: Samuel Gawith
Blend: Full Virginia Flake
Style: Virginia
Pipe Used: Savinelli Oscar #313
Price: $31.50/16oz.

Appearance: 9
Taste: 9
Room Note: 7
Value: 10
Overall: 9

Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake certainly qualifies as a touchstone tobacco as no discussion of straight Virginia blends will go on for too long before this one is mentioned. It may not be right at the top of everyone's list but FVF somehow always manages to crack the top ten.

I first bought a tin of Full Virginia Flake about three years ago and since I was still fairly new to pipe smoking I had a hard time enjoying it and soon gave it away to some fellow newbies over at Smokers Forums.

Fast forward a few years and I found myself enjoying straight Virginias and ranking FVF's stablemate, Best Brown Flake, as one of my top 5 tobaccos so I figured it was high time to revisit Full Virginia Flake.

Of course deciding to reacquaint myself with FVF was only half the battle as most pipe smokers know that Samuel Gawith blends are very hard to come by these days. Fortunately I was able to score a whole pound of it in bulk form during the most recent window of opportunity. It may sound daft to buy that much of a tobacco I once had issues with but at the paltry price of $31 per pound it's really a no-brainer as I could easily trade it away if it failed to live up to my lofty expectations.

Recent batches from Samuel Gawith have been arriving fairly moist as the pent-up demand has allowed no time for proper aging. With that in mind I set out a few flakes to dry over the course of the day before rubbing them out and loading my pipe. I often smoke flakes folded and stuffed but given the residual moisture I figured the rubbed out mixture would burn the best.

The thick flakes were dark brown with streaks of white, sugary goodness running lengthwise and had the rich aroma of brandied fruit. There was also a slightly piquant fragrance common to under-aged tobacco which leads me to the one big caveat for this review -- Full Virginia Flake is a blend that practically begs to be aged and the fact that I'm smoking this stuff fresh off the boat means that my review would most likely be very different were the tobacco cellared for a few years beforehand.

While some straight Virginias have a subtle flavor that must be gently coaxed from the pipe, Full Virginia Flake came out swinging with a strong, in-your-face presence. This full-bodied blend has an astringent quality that adds a fermented, sauerkraut-like element to the subtly sweet Virginias. Whereas many VAs are sweet through and through this blend is about half sweet and half savory sort of akin to a mincemeat pie.

To my palate, FVF had many of the same qualities as a well-aged bourbon with its dark molasses element mingling with tongue-tingling tartness and backed up with grassy, oaken undertones. And just as with whiskey, gentle sipping brought forth even more flavors in the form of citrus and maple.

The room aroma was fairly inoffensive although certainly stronger than most Virginia tobaccos and that fermented tang was detectable.

The blend burned evenly and didn't require any fussing as it smoked down to dry, gray ash. FVF also didn't cause any tongue bite but it did deliver a roundhouse kick of nicotine when I got carried away puffing while reading so I would recommend a slow and steady smoking pace with this rascal.

What more can I say? Samuel Gawith's Full Virginia Flake is a top-notch tobacco that's packed with flavor and the promise of even more a few years down the road. I still give a slight edge to Best Brown Flake as I prefer something a tad lighter most of the time but I fully intend to keep my cellar well stocked with FVF and can't wait to revisit it as it ages. At a real steal of a price I say buy it and smoke if you can get it.

Cornell & Diehl -- Gentlemen Callers

Brand: Cornell & Diehl
Blend: Gentlemen Callers
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural #313
Price: Free Sample

Appearance: 7
Taste: 7
Room Note: 8
Value: NA
Overall: 7

Since embarking on this great pipe adventure a few years ago I've been intrigued by those few blends that still utilize the herb deer tongue as it seems to hearken back to days of old. Also known as wild vanilla, deer tongue was often used to add a slight vanilla essence to tobacco and while it's been replaced by artificial flavorings in most contemporary blends there are still a few options available for those who want to give this old school taste a try.

Cornell & Diehl's Gentlemen Callers in one such blend and I was thrilled to receive a sample with some estate pipes I bought a few weeks ago. The tobacco is a cross-cut mixture of light brown tobaccos with a few darker strands thrown in as well as obvious bits of pale green deer tongue. The aroma is light and sweet and reminded me of potpourri.

After loading up my Savinelli Natural I gave the tobacco a quick light and away I went. The tobacco burned evenly and quickly and before I knew it the bowl contained nothing but a bit of dark gray ash. This stuff defines smokeability as all I ever had to do to keep it burning was give it a light tamp every so often.

Gentleman Callers is advertised as a blend containing Burley, Virginia, Perique, and, of course, deer tongue. And to me it sure tasted like a lightly fragranced VA/Per. The deer tongue was immediately noticeable as it added an herbal, almost medicinal, vanilla flavor that was quite enjoyable and seemed to mesh perfectly with the Perique.

The darker tobacco added a bit of smokiness that I usually attribute to Latakia so either there is in fact a bit of that glorious weed present or some of the Virginias are very heavily stoved so as to give off a similar taste. And while a hint of whiskey is evident in the aroma of the tobacco I didn't ever taste any such topping while smoking.

All in all the blend was slightly sweet with a nice tangy and spicy aftertaste but I found it to be a tad overwhelming in too high a dose so I'll likely stick to smaller pipes while smoking this as an occasional treat.

The room note was quite nice and had the same potpourri smell as the dry tobacco. And since the tobacco has such a unique and persistent aroma it's a safe bet that it'll ghost a pipe in no time so one might want to stick with cobs or briars already dedicated to aromatics while smoking this blend.

In the end I found Cornell & Diehl's Gentlemen Callers to be a very unique pipe tobacco that's loaded with flavor and aroma and smokes like a charm. I have to say that my first experience with deer tongue has been an eye-opener and I can't wait to hunt down more blends featuring this herb. It's a bit too fragrant to become a regular smoke for me but I sure do appreciate the effort that went into crafting such a classic, old-style American blend.