Fearing that they wouldn’t be available online much longer, I purchased a tin of 1792 flake along with Celtic talisman. I intended to not smoke them until I used up more house blends of ribbon cut pipe tobacco and mastered that, letting them age in the meanwhile, but then I read that aromatics like Celtic Talsman are best fresh. I smoked a bowl of it today out of a pipe I usually use for a burley blend and it was pretty good but I’d like to hear more experienced opinions on all aspects of flake smoking, from rubbing it to packing it to the actual smoking.
As a guy without much flake rubbing talent, I’ll just mention that one can simply pull it apart and have a lot of control doing it that way. I just pack firmly but tightly, leaving more gaps, it seems more likely to expand on you than many ribbons. It may take longer to get it burning and may require a re-tamping, but once lit will burn strongly if you keep puffing, and being coarse enough, you may find it well-suited to outdoor smoking.
I used to buy flakes in tins till I found bulk. The 1792 is strong and hard to keep lit even when like crispy bacon. I enjoy it better broken with some new minster straight Virginia mixed in .It tones 1792 down and keeps it lit. It really depends on the bowl capacity with and draw also moisture level on how to treat the flake. On a xlarge bowl with fvf I just fold in half cut in half lengthwise and fold the flake in one inch increments and stuff it in the bowl with the strands up. With moist flakes I will rub out and let air for 1/2 hour before gravity filling with a light tamp. For a quick half hour smoke with flake I will use my large herb grinder Then fully rub out till fluffy and fill a half bowl tamp lightly both pinches The talisman will not change much because it is vacuumed packed, It when you store in air tight jars the tobacco ages. All aromatics should be smoked up while fresh .anaerobe change the sugars in tobacco in the air tight environment leaving crystal behind .
Is there certain shapes of stems or bowl that loan themselves to aromatics? I have a decent selection of pipes, albeit not great ones.
experiement. Try it diffrent ways. It’s amazing how diffrent it can smoke. Rub it down to almost powder, leave it intact. Play with it damn it. If you don’t you don’t deserve flake and should give it to me. I know people say aromatics don’t age well. I think that is b.s. because to me they mellow out and lose a lot of harshness and get a deeper more complex profile. I don’t care what anyone says aromatics age just not as dramatically as english or oreintal blends.
@bob you use that approach in a lot of aspects of life, don’t you?
Personally I enjoyed the talisman quite a bit out of the little briar with a curved stem that I usually smoke my burley out of I definitely noticed the flavors blend but it was nice. Maybe I’ll try it in my currently unused pipe today. I’m still not taking on the 1792 until I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of pipe smoking. I’m starting to get the hang of it from implementing the things I read in the pipe tobacco thread.
I don’t have a lot if experience with pipes…but for flake, I prefer just to fold it up and stuff it in. You might want to rub out a little to pack onto the top layer for easier lighting.
Just ripped up some talisman and after packing it fairly tight in the bottom, put it in loosely into a fresh, inexpensive pipe. Pretty pleasant smoking experience. I got it it rolling pretty well after the old light the top, tamp and relight. Still figure I have a long way to go yet in the art of pipe smoking. I also had a pinch of my Celtic Latakia mix while smoking and it provided a nice compliment.
I’ve found that flakes , for me, do not all act the same. Some I can fold and stuff, some partially rubbed out and some completely rubbed out. I just changes from blend to blend. So like bob said, experiment, play with them and find out what works best for you for each blend and pipe. I have a couple of large, short bowled pipes that hate flakes in a any form, but most of my pipes have normal size bowls and work well once I learn it’s preferences.
@bob you use that approach in a lot of aspects of life, don’t you?
some flakes are fun to smoke in diffrent amounts of rubbed out.
For a quick half hour smoke with flake I will use my large herb grinder Then fully rub out till fluffy and fill a half bowl tamp lightly both pinches
I got a small herb grinder last week and was disappointed in it for snuff making, but this idea, breaking up flakes, is sterling. Just cut off a slice or two of Cob Plug and ran it through with great result. Thanks for the tip!
@Mouse Just keep using the grinder to grind plug. if it the type with a screen on the bottom you will had a pile in no time . A burr coffee grinder works better/ you can adjust the coarseness to fineness.
Just ground up a bunch of Celtic talisman and packed it in fairly tight. Worked out pretty well.
Personally, I prefer to rub my flakes out but leave 'em pretty ‘chunky’. Peterson’s University Flake is a fave of mine and I’ve found that a little extra aging does wonders to an already excellent tobacco. I store it in a jar in the dark and after a couple of weeks, the smoke becomes rounder and slightly fruitier but still keeps the almost rough nature. I tried stuffing in a couple of coins of Bull’s Eye one time…not bad, seemed to last the whole day, but to be honest I prefer lightly rubbing 'em out and this stuff doesn’t really need to dry and ages very well too.
I think univeristy flake is best like that. I also think that flakes tend to be more smoke ready right from the pack. my theory is with cut tobacco the moisture needs to higher to keep it from drying. since a flake is bigger and less surface area the moisture level can be more smoke ready without worrying about it being bone dry/
After I saw this method youtube.com/watch?v=vlx3T-isujQ any problem was solved.
@TomStrasbourg what do you mean you ground up celtic talisman ?Did they start making it into flake form?
I love the uni flake! Got some from several years ago, must re-visit it.
@basement_shaman it’s packed really dense in the tin it’s in so I took a little chunk out and instead of rubbing, threw it into my grinder. Are you confusing the pipe baccy with the snuff or am I confusing any pipe tobacco packed that tight in a container with flake?