Solani Aged Burley Flake – Product Review

When you first open a tin of Solani Aged Burley Flake there is an aroma of chocolate, which is not what this reviewer would have expected. It is a dark chocolate scent along with a wonderful sense of nuttiness. I am not usually a burley smoker, I seem to prefer straight Virginias and VaPers, but this tobacco from Solani is the nicest Burley I have had.

The tin presentation is stunning, like a Dunhill presentation and the flakes are beautifully packed and have a colour of dark molasses with flecks of lighter burley. Again, the tin aroma needs to be experienced alone!

I have tried different methods of preparing flake tobaccos but I have found that pulling the flake apart slightly and then folding and twisting enables you to easily fill your pipe. Of course, you can rub the flake out but sometimes I have found that rubbing a flake out gives you a different smoking and flavour experience. Of course, it is all down to personal preference.

This is definitely a tobacco to be sipped so that one can taste the flavours that are there. It is sometimes said that burley has no taste, or is one dimensional. I did not experience this with Solani’s burley flake. The tin note of chocolate does transfer into a subtle cocoa flavour that is a background taste, not an upfront aromatic flavour. There is also a malty, slightly bready and nutty flavour that appears if you take it slow with this fine burley flake. In fact, I am sure that more layers of flavour would appear with experience.

The room note is of tobacco, which sounds obvious, but this is a good quality, slightly creamy tobacco. For me, I sensed almost a cigar note to the smoke and the burn is beautiful and the tobacco reduces to a very fine white ash.

As I am not usually a straight burley smoker, I did find Solani Aged Burley Flake to be strong. The nicotine content seems fairly high and I did feel the burley hit at the back of my throat early on in the smoke. There is definitely no question about the quality of the tobacco itself; it is very, very good. If you like a straight Burley I would highly recommend Solani Aged Burley Flake.