Stokkebye - Luxury Twist Flake

[SR Mike]

I have already smoked a couple of these flakes, but in a small bowl that is no longer than 5 minutes. They are readily available at B&Ms, sometimes under a house name. This is a neat looking flake, as I was inspecting the tobacco that was weaving in a zig zag through the flake, it reminded me of seeing earthquake fault lines in a cut out mountain. The flake smells like almond roca, that butter toffee scent, a little cocoa, and alfalfa. According to Stokkebye, this flake is a mixture of Virginia tobaccos from Zimbabwe and southeastern US, the tobacco is Cavendish pressed and sliced. This tobaccos feels very moist, more so than the other tobaccos I own, so I let it sit and dry a bit before smoking.

As I separated the tobacco it accordion out into strips that were pretty set on not packing into my pipe to easily. So with a bit of folding and crunching I got it rested in my pipe, all together I fit two flakes in the bowl of my Butz Choquin. This tobacco took a bit of work to light, it seems to still be too moist, but with persistence and a few extra long starting draws, this lit up just fine.

From the start this tobacco produce copious amounts of smoke, very light in texture with not lingering taste. With a short finish I was presented with the taste of hay and a pinch of cinnamon. Okay, so my excitement in this tobacco stopped right about there. The aroma was just as much a disappointment, it smelled like alfalfa.

After a couple of minutes, the tobacco changed and I was tasting some nuttiness and coffee. It was slowly starting to grab at some sweetness. Now that I am into the bowl and still getting a good amount of smoke, my curiosity was increasing, well more like hoping, this would be even better.

Further in, the smoke became chewy with a longer finish. I was hit with a strong blast of coffee, it was richer in flavor. Not only that, but I was picking up a toffee and hickory flavor also. This tobacco developed into a robust smoke. Now I am pleased with the changes and complexity I was achieving with this flake.

I was starting to get a sour juice, this being a straight pipe, it is understandable, so I used a pipe cleaner in the steam to remove the sourness. Little did I know when I pulled out that first pipe cleaner, I would end up cleaning out the steam 10 times! Okay, so the tobacco must be too moist. As a result, the tobacco burned really hot, it was obvious I was using the wrong pipe, but the smoke itself, was cool. It did not represent the heat the tobacco was producing.

With the first run of the pipe cleaner, the next puff really threw me off, I was given a strong flavor like rum. This should have been expected since the tobacco is treated like Cavendish. I was finally starting to pick up the cocoa I smelled in the tobacco before lighting. The hickory was increasing, the coffee was fading, and caramel was rearing its head.

By this point I am reaching the middle of the bowl. I cannot believe what has surfaced from the first half, so I was really looking forward to the rest of this flake. With another cleaning of the stem, I was blasted with a strong flavor like Perique. Though not in the flake description, that is what I tasted, it was like that hickory, but very distinct Perique flavor. I was even beginning to smell the Perique in the aroma from the burning tobacco. That was not all within these few moments, the coffee flavor began to return and the caramel and toffee was getting stronger, also being smelled in the burning tobacco.

Out of nowhere I was hit with a very strong spice, it lasted for maybe three puffs at the most, then it instantly disappeared. Okay, that surprised me. Once gone, the smoke tasted buttery and hickory again.

The texture lightened up a lot, the alfalfa returned with just a hint of toffee. I was starting to lose interest, this tobacco burns really well, lots of smoke, it also allows the air to freely pass, there was no resistance at all during the entire bowl.

As I was losing interest, the tobacco really dropped in quality, I was only in the last third-quarter of the bowl. The flavors became grassy, a light spice returned. Still giving off Perique and hickory flavors. A touch of cinnamon in taste and aroma, not before long the flavor tasted of dirt. The end of this bowl was pathetic, it left me hanging, here was a good going smoke that just dropped into nothing. I felt damaged, this was really good, but it did not fade out, it stopped really fast.

This is an extremely slow burning tobacco, the two flakes lasted me roughly 35 minutes. The body was medium to full, the strength was medium. I never had to re-light this twist flake tobacco! It was impressive and a disappointment.

My final thoughts. This flake burned too hot for my liking, the pipe I used was not the right one, so I was a little weary. I think I will stick with a small bowl for this flake, a large bowl allows this tobacco a chance to burn too hot, it was a bit too moist causing a hot burn. Also, with the large bowl the flake's quality dropped during the final stages, I did not experience this with a small bowl.

I like this tobacco, it is a fun complex smoke, I would prefer not to have to clean out the steam so much while smoking, my small bent pipe did not have this problem. For the price at my B&M, $3 an ounce (which is about 8-10 flakes), it is worth it.



Thanks for reading!

[RevSmoke]

This is available at a number of e-dealers for much less. Here is a place, Mars Cigars and Pipes - http://www.marscigars.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=612 where you can get 1.5 pounds for $42.74 (plus s&H). That is a sweet deal!!!

[SR Mike]

Oh yeah, that is a sweet deal, thanks for the link!

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by SR Mike

Oh yeah, that is a sweet deal, thanks for the link!

You are welcome. Just a thought to add... If you have some pint mason (canning) jars, that's how I put the stuff away. It seals nicely and keeps forever - aging as it does. If you want, you can heat the full jars in the oven at about 200 degrees for about an hour - then put the cover on. That way you get a vacuum seal. I have found though, that it isn't necessary.