Blakeney’s Best Tawny Flake by McClelland Review by Neverbend
Blakeney’s Best Tawny Flake by McClelland
0 stars out of 4
2015, new 50 gram tin. Review based on eight bowls smoked in various briars and a cob. Smoked outdoors and lit with wooden stick matches in all cases.
Tin note is a very light citrus and hay with some McClelland ketchup and some musty aroma (not moldy). Partially broken flake in small, thick cut rectangular pieces. Fills easily but packs without continuity because the cut prevents the tobacco from holding together as either a flake or ribbon normally would and this becomes an annoyance during light when pieces expand and fall out partially lit. Use care and fill below the rim.
Lighting is difficult and unpleasant. I needed long and aggressive lights to get the thick cut started. A difficult burning tobacco that requires a skilled cadence to maintain without smoking hot or going out. There’s a faint sweetness and a touch of grass in the forefront with a more pronounced background that’s truly the essence of sweaty socks. If you smoke more aggressively the sweetness takes on an artificial, chemical caste but the socks remain.
A deliberate, slow smoke is required but I found myself (in the first few bowls) smoking more aggressively trying to ‘find’ some flavor but Tawny Flake can burn hot and irritatingly and never delivers much flavor. About halfway through the bowl a slight tang creeps in and the sock taste is partially diminished, or else I’m used to it, but there remains no flavor to speak of. During the smoke there’s a mild aftertaste of soggy burnt marshmallows ala socks. Very difficult smoke and I had to suppress my urge to empty the bowl.
Notes:
Everything about Tawny Flake is bad, from cut to burn to flavor. Has anyone at McClelland tried this tobacco because it’s downright awful and easily the worst Virginia Flake that I can remember smoking. I suggest that they simply start filling tins with their very good #2010 bulk (since it’s not otherwise available in a tin) and not even mention it.
I smoked eight bowls as a punishment for buying this tin. If this is Blakeney’s Best then what the hell is their worst?
