It is good folded. It is great rubbed out. And excellent if rubbed out and dried for 45-60 minutes. I have had many a bowl require only two matches.
The stuff in the larger tins is the same tobacco, but it is cut into a long cake and folded into the round tin, no flakes, just one big plug. The small tins are true flake. I will love smoking either, but the small cut is easier for me to deal with.
The large tin arrangement sounds strange. I have yet to see it, but I believe I will be in agreement with you and like the true flakes better.
When I opened my first large tin I was surprised. However, rub it out and it is exactly the same. But now... Another 70's vintage pipe from Humidor in Huntsville. Stokkebye Bulk Navy
The bowl on that pipe looks virtually identical to one of the Chacom's I picked up Saturday. I've got a Golden Slices flake from my small tin drying right now. Going to fire it up in the Canadian a little later.
After drying a flake of Orlik Golden Sliced for a little over an hour this afternoon, I smoked it in my new Chacom Canadian. The flake was rubbed out, whereas I folded and stuffed the FVF Saturday, which likely compounded the moisture and burning issue. Today was a very different story. I filled the bowl, and with slow sipping got close to 2.5 hours out of it. That did include a couple of brief intervals when the pipe began to get just a little warm, so I intentionally let it go out, and rest for a few minutes before raking a bit of ash from the the top and relighting. The rubbed out Golden Sliced burned very well, even with a deliberately slower than usual pace. All in all, a much better experience than Saturday's first run with the Chacom chimney. I'm not ready to declare Golden Sliced as one of my go to blends, but it is certainly a very good tobacco for breaking in a new pipe. Once I begin to get a little cake buildup in the Chacoms, I can easily see them becoming two of my favorites, especially the Canadian.
That's great! I picked that pipe last night because your Chacom seemed similar. I like GS for breaking in precisely because it's so mild and it burns so easily. Tin tobacco at a bulk price! I picked up a 50g of Gatsby Flake by Drew Estate, a flake of Virginia and Burley Cavendish. It's out of my normal range of flavor, but I was curious.
Be sure and give us a report on the Drew Estate flake. As long as the cavendish isn't flavored, that might be pretty good. I've seen Drew Estate tins at The Briary, but keep forgetting to ask Skip about them. I also saw some at a cigar shop when my son, who is more of a cigar guy, went in to pick something up. While there, I noticed Drew Estate also makes cigars.
Normally I like to let my pipes rest for at least a couple of days after cleaning before smoking again, and I've got enough decent pipes that I can let them rest a couple of weeks. But I just couldn't resist getting the Chacom chimney out for another go. I only filled it about 2/3 full, because I didn't have 2 hours to work on it. Dried another Golden Slices flake, rubbed it out, and things are going much better this time. I'm able to keep the pace down, and therefore the temperature. Bowl is barely warm. I'm liking these Chacoms so much, I may try to get back over to The Briary and see what he has left. Skip also had some bamboo stem pipes, but can't remember who made them. Not sure if I like those or not.
Gatsby Flake - it smokes like a Virginia. I get the Cavendish smell on the exhale, and I can see white burley in it. The amount of Cavendish is quite low. Think of it as a more intense Golden Sliced, and it's also almost identical to Solani Silver Flake. Gatsby Flake is just a basic premium Danish style VA flake. I finished up the MVF this morning. Same opinion as before. Pretty good stuff!
