The King Street Emporium

Fire Dance Flake

Lakeland Aromatic

Samuel Gawith traces its origins to 1792, when Thomas Harrison brought the secrets of snuff manufacture down from Scotland to Kendal in the Lake District of Cumbria, hauling fifty tons of equipment by horseback to establish what would become one of England's most enduring tobacco operations. The company eventually passed to Harrison's son-in-law Samuel Gawith, and after Samuel's death his two sons split the business, one continuing under the Samuel Gawith name and the other joining Henry Hoggarth to form Gawith Hoggarth and Co. Both companies still operate out of the same Kendal facility, using machinery and methods that date to those 18th century roots. Fire Dance Flake belongs to a style of tobacco that Kendal became quietly famous for: the Lakeland aromatic, a category built on quality Virginia leaf dressed with restrained and often unusual flavorings. The base is Samuel Gawith's Best Brown No. 6 Flake, one of the company's most respected straight Virginia blends, pressed and cut in the traditional manner. To that foundation the blend adds a topping of blackberry, brandy, and vanilla, developed in collaboration with an American smoker and designed to let the Virginia do most of the work while the flavoring plays a supporting role rather than taking over. It is a flake that rewards patience and a slow cadence, and one that ages well for those inclined to cellar it.