Tavern Tobacco Co. - Laurel Flake

**Phog Allen** · 10-28-2006, 08:54 AM

Good morning lads. Yet another small review of a Virginia flake tobacco. This time it's Tavern's Laurel Flake. A Va./Perique that is blended up for them by Samuel Gawith. If you get the notion I like Sam Gawith tobaccos, you are corect. They do wonderful things with the Va. tobaccos. The first thing I noticed about this tobacco was it's appearance after the "resting" it had taken. Look at the photo of the flake itself. Notice the white looking dust on the flakes? This is not mold. It's sugar crystals! I have not had an opened tin of tobacco do this for me before. I don't know if it's common or not but it has not happened for me. I've only gotten this effect on sealed tins that were aged for a good bit. So this was a nice surprise. Though the tin label says this has Perique in it, I don't detect it either in scent or taste. I really only notice the Virginias.

This one is a bit over dry as well so did not rub out as well as I'd like. Some of it turned straight to powder, some just broke in shards. Not the easiest thing to pack properly or get a good charring light with. Once going though it provided a good smoke that was fairly bland in the first third of the bowl. As is fairly common with Va. flakes, it mellowed and the flavour really richened up midway through. I let this one go out as I felt it was getting just a bit hot and harsh. Mayhaps the Perique coming through? After about 15 minutes I relit it and was reawarded with a wonderful toffe/earthy/buttery flavoured smoke with an incredibly creamy texture. It was very nice indeed. I let this one go out when that great smoke started to fade. I think there was maybe a 1/4 tsp. of dottle letf over and very little moisture buildup in the bowl. An over all good smoke that really benefitted from the aged tobacco. It's not going to knock Astley's 109 or some of the McClellands off my list but it's a darn good tobacco from a top notch blender. Here are some photos.

Regards, Todd

**ouch** · 10-28-2006, 10:24 AM

Is that sugar crystals, or mold?

**Phog Allen** · 10-28-2006, 10:41 AM

It's definately sugar. I was convinced when I first opened the tin that it would be moldy. I've had it happen even with new tins. Astley's 109 comes to mind. Mold grows in wetness. This tobacco is dry. You can tell the diffrerence when you rub a bit of the tobacco in your fingers. It's pretty good stuff.

Regards, Todd

**Jim** · 10-28-2006, 03:03 PM

Its not "Bloom" like on an aged cigar?

**Phog Allen** · 10-28-2006, 04:06 PM

Jim, I believe it's pretty close to the same thing. Not all sugar appear as crystal form on pipe tobac. Sometimes they appear as this, which is what you called "bloom". I'm certainly not well versed in it so that may be off kilter. I have had the same experience with other tobaccos before so I recognised it. I discovered a tin of McClellands No. 24 Va. gathering dust in a local shop(a tin of Blackwoods Flake too)a few years ago. I checked the dates on the tins. McClellands has a coding on their tins. They are now about 7 years old. The 24 was opened right when I bought it and it was covered nicely by the white sugar you see above. It was quite rich. I've just never gotten an open tin to do this before. When you run your fingers over it you can feel the sugar crystals. It's like very fine sandpaper. This Laurel Flake is a good one.

Regards, Todd

**Jim** · 10-28-2006, 04:11 PM

Todd
Bloom on cigars is from the oil in the wrapper and binder, its almost a powder- not sugary at all.
Perhaps they are related but it seems they are not identical.
Bloom will form in a humidor,that may account for the different texture.