[Slow Triathlete]

After a long extended break here is a new review for your reading pleasure.

In this installment I am taking on Former’s Straight Grain Flake. This is kind of a sleeper blend it seems that many people pass over. In my opinion, all of Former’s blends seem to be sleepers. Heck, there are only 5 reviews of this blend over on tobaccoreviews.com. I just happened to run across this blend as a reference in another tobacco review that I was reading. Then I went to smokingpipes.com and there it was. And it is a cheaper blend as well. Right now it is listed right around $7 for 2 ounces. I have not seen this offered in bulk anywhere.

Here is what the blend description states:

A full bodied but amazingly smooth dark flake tobacco prepared from traditional old world recipes and methods. A good pinch of mellow, yet spicy, Perique brings out the rich flavor in this zesty blend.

The appearance in the tin of this blend is similar to Stokkebye’s Luxury Navy Flake but a lot darker. The tin aroma is a mix of the dark, tangy, sweet Virginias along with the underlying spice of the perique. There is also a hint of leather in there as well. This is one of my favorite smelling blends in the tin. It doesn’t really smell like any other blend. I opened several other Vapers and stuck my nose in all of them and none of them smelled as good to me as this one.

I rubbed out the flake a little but to dry for a few minutes before packing this in. I have started using the Air Pocket Method for my flakes and broken flakes and that is what I used with this blend. I smoked this in a Peterson 268 Zulu shape as it seems the best for me with this blend.

Lighting was very easy. Once rubbed out this blend is made up of very narrow strips of tobacco which take to flame very easily. This blend has a very dark Virginia taste to start off with. There are some lighter flavored Virginias in there that provide high notes, perhaps Red or maybe even Lemon Virginia. I’m not sure but they are delicious. The perique is there in the background but it really comes to the forefront after about 1/3 of the bowl. Then it kicks in and rounds this blend out very nicely.

It has a fuller taste and strength than a lot of the blends in this showdown. Now this is not to say that this is a nicotine bomb like Night Train seems to be but it is definitely more full than any of the Hearth and Home blends. The taste and strength last through the rest of the bowl and never turns sour near the end.

Overall this is a very, very enjoyable blend. While it is not my favorite smoke it is definitely in my regular rotation. As stated it is also one of the better bargains out there and I will be ordering more tins throughout the years to lie down in the cellar. This will be one that really gets better with age in my opinion. And because of all of these factors it now enters in at spot #5.

1) McConnell Scottish Cake
2) Samuel Gawith’s St. James Flake
3) Escudo
4) GL Pease Filmore
5) Former’s Straight Grain Flake
6) H & H AJ’s VaPer
7) Low Country’s Waccamaw
8) Peretti’s Park Square
9) John Patton’s Cool Hand Fluke
10) H & H Rolando’s Own
11) H & H Anniversary Kake
12) G & H Louisiana Flake
13) Dunhill Elizabethan Mixture
14) C & D Night Train
15) H & H Louisiana Red
16) C & D Bayou Morning Flack
17) Reiner’s Long Golden Flake
18) Treasures of Ireland - Limerick
19) Dorchester
20) Solani #633
21) Luxury Bullseye Flake
22) McClelland Bulk 2015
23) GL Pease Telegraph Hill
24) Kajun Kake
25) Luxury Navy Flake
26) Dan Tobacco's Tordenskjold Virginia Slices