consistency of Sam gawith

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

oldmansmokingpipe

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
197
Reaction score
0
well as stated in an earlier review - i finally tried some Samuel Gawith - the winter time and commonwealth - Bought 2 tins of each. the first tin of Commonwealth has some decent latakia and had a nice aroma and decent taste - though too light for me. The tin i opened last night smelled of menthol or eucalyptus and this A.M> tasted it too. rather disgusting. so - for those of you who know this blend or Gawith in general - what is it - the first or the 2nd? also do they have consistency problems? To me - this definitely was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of thing.
 
I would have thought they sorted out any problems by now. I have to watch those tins of Bracken Flake for chopped up pieces of twine. That was also a problem in 1792 Flake for a time.
 
Ok thanks - well lucky i am a gaslight junkie so no more of that stuff for me. it was rather disgusting and hope i did not taint my pipe too badly - 1 bowl only but a good Celius root.
 
Speaking of the consistency, I run into this a lot w SG blends. Sometimes it makes my toes tingle it's so good and other times just OK... thankfully more good than bad.
 
The only inconsistency that I can report, is that from time to time I will get a run of tins with either nice thinly cut flakes or flakes that are quite thick. This does create an inconsistency in flavor, as the thicker flakes tend to burn slower and cooler but they do require more relights. The thinner flakes are a bit easier to work with and are quicker to dry and easier to fold and stuff.

I had a tin of Kendal Cream flake that had a mixture of thin and thick flakes. The thin flakes were loosely pressed and the thick were firmly pressed and as tough as raw hide. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience smoking through that 50 grams of tobacco as each bowl tasted somewhat different than the last.
 
Most SG blends are so wet (I primarily smoke FVF, SJF, and BBF) that I want to dry them at least 15 mins, but sometimes that's not enough, or I get caught up w something and I dry it too much... I believe that's where my inconsistency comes in, my own ability to nail that perfect moisture level.
 
Thick and thin flakes I've had before as well, although mostly thicker in my experience. In general, I like my SG blends to be very dry, more so than most other blends. But consistency haven't been a problem for me.
 
Old Nate":9kdxeua2 said:
Most SG blends are so wet (I primarily smoke FVF, SJF, and BBF) that I want to dry them at least 15 mins, but sometimes that's not enough, or I get caught up w something and I dry it too much... I believe that's where my inconsistency comes in, my own ability to nail that perfect moisture level.
This pretty much for me as well. It would be great if they didn't send them out this way, but I can deal with it.

Interestingly, their Lat blends like SL don't seem to posses this trait to the same degree!

:scratch:


Cheers,

RR
 
SG Navy Flake for me tonight and it's consistently excellent. I don't know why I don't smoke more of this.
 
Two thoughts...

1. They might have two slicing machines, one set slightly more wide.
2. Dave does the slicing on Mondays and sets it a bit more narrow.

And...

3. Maybe with the merger of Samuel Gawith and Gawith, Hogarth etc. there are some inconsistencies in slicing, etc.

Also, I agree that dryness level would result in differences in how the flakes perform with resulting differences in burn rate & taste.

Also...

Different pipes.

Different relative humidity levels in smoking environment.

Different ambient temperature levels.

Different beverages sipped alongside.

Etc., Etc., Etc.
 
I agree - but i had one tin nice and pure taste lat and VA's and the next menthol... That WAS weird.
 
Sometimes they 'rest' a batch of A next to a batch of B and there are crossover flavor issues. They do some stuff with menthol...who knows.

Agreed though. That's a weird one.
 
I've found that Sammy G's blends to be very consistent. They are always too moist for my likes. However that doesn't keep me from smoking them. I just dry then out to my preference and have a go. :)

AJ
 
Blackhorse":wu9bfcza said:
Sometimes they 'rest' a batch of A next to a batch of B and there are crossover flavor issues. They do some stuff with menthol...who knows.

Agreed though. That's a weird one.

Out of curiosity, what do they do that includes Menthol?

Unless the answer is that the snuff mills share space with the pipe tobaccos, in which case that makes perfect sense.
 
idbowman":v0se4081 said:
...Out of curiosity, what do they do that includes Menthol?

Unless the answer is that the snuff mills share space with the pipe tobaccos, in which case that makes perfect sense.
I could be delusional, but I seem to remember an article in Pipes & Tobacco magazine a few years ago that suggested (or stated right out) that they mix snuff with their tobacco sometimes, just to jack up the nicotine. And when you think about it, why not?
 
Top