Manufacturer Description:
Vanilla Flake is just as the name indicates an aromatic flake tobacco with a sweet taste of fine vanilla. The natural sweetness from the Virginia tobaccos, the light sweet taste from the Modern Cavendish mixed with well-balanced vanilla gives you a great smoke and leaves a very pleasant room note. To round off this blend we have added just a little Burley.
The blend is pressed according to time-honored tradition. Flake tobacco is like fine wine: if nature’s raw materials are not allowed sufficient time to develop and mature, the result is less than optimal. That is why the production of flake tobacco is a time consuming and costly process, albeit one that is essential to bringing out its best qualities.
While in storage, the tobaccos marry perfectly together. Then they are cut into flake slices and finally packed and sealed.
Characterisation:
The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut is a fine, very uniform flake with slices of about 7 cm length, 2.6 cm width and 1.5 mm thickness. The dark brown, with a few bright fibres mottled slices are dimensionally stable and stream out an intensive but not intrusive smell of vanilla. The humidity of the slices feels optimal, but after rubbing-off one can realize, however, that the tobacco is a little bit too moist. Before plugging it is therefore advisable to take the necessary slices 1-2 hours earlier from the tin and allow them to dry a little bit, which is also an advantage for the flavour.
Plugging:
The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut can be plugged in different ways. As flake itself offers the buckling and folding method, but that requires some practice. The Flake slices are longitudinally folded, then folded in width and loosely twisted into the bowl. Projecting tobacco is picked off. Alternatively one can rub-off the flake slices between the fingers and then stuff like a mixture. In both cases, it is recommended to take a few small crumbs of tobacco as a top layer to facilitate the light up.
Light up:
The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut is easy to light up with 1 to 2 flames. Depending on the plugging method it tends more or less to swell and must be depressed after the first light up with the tamper. With another flame the surface could be ignited evenly.
Smoking properties:
The character of the Vanilla Cream Flake Cut shows two sides: On the one hand, you can clearly taste the fresh Virginia, on the other hand, the vanilla flavour is also clearly remarkable. In the combination, there is a clear, balanced flavour that is not too much influenced by the aromatization. As with most Virginias one must pay some attention to the temperature of the tobacco, otherwise the Vanilla Cream Flake Cut glows down very good-natured with some condensate to a light grey ash.
Redolency:
Also in the redolence, the scent of the tobacco is merged with the aromatization. This results in a rather subtle sweet scent of vanilla and caramel. The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut is therefore unobtrusive and suitable for any occasion.
Conclusion:
The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut is a dark brown, with some bright tobacco fibres mottled flake with very precise cut and dimensionally stable consistency. The tobacco smells intense but not overbearing as vanilla. As a flake it offers different plug methods, the buckling and folding method or the plugging of the rubbed-off tobacco. The Vanilla Cream Flake Cut could be light up well and glows down slowly and good-natured. One should keep an eye to the temperature to get the fully development of the interesting combination of Virginia and vanilla. The redolence is despite the aromatization rather decent and also smells distinctly of vanilla and a bit of caramel. The flavour is very consistent and the tobacco glows down with some condensate to a medium grey ash. The easy handling and balanced flavour recommend the Vanilla Cream Flake Cut as a tobacco for all occasions and is suited as an "all- days- smoke" for both the novice and the experienced lover of aromatic tobaccos.
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with friendly support of Heinz-Günter Döteberg