McCranie's Red Flake, Vintage 1996

McCranie's Pipe Shop is a long-established tobacconist in Charlotte, North Carolina; the shop's tinned tobacco line began with red Virginia leaf from a single harvest set aside exclusively for it. This leaf is rested and pressed; the name flake refers to the presentation in which the pressed block is left in slices rather than broken up. Records indicate the year on the tin (1996) marks the leaf's harvest/packing year, and batches stamped with other years circulate under the same name. Being unflavored, single-varietal Virginia, the tobacco's taste comes from the leaf's own sugar: a bready, creamy base with a sweet depth that deepens with age. The shop no longer continues this line; what's on the market are older batches.