Samuel Gawith Cabbie's Mixture

(3.49)
A Virginia and perique twist hand rolled, then hand sliced. A sweet natural Virginia taste takes centre stage when lit with the perique, giving a spicy undertone to the flavour.

Details

Brand Samuel Gawith
Blended By Samuel Gawith
Manufactured By Samuel Gawith
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Curly Cut
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country United Kingdom
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium to Full
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.49 / 4
59

24

7

3

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 93 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 23, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Some liken this to the old VaPer Three Nuns, but there are many differences, so I’ll review this for its own merits, and forgo the comparison. The Virginias are bright, red, with a smidgeon of black stoved, which accounts for the light stewed fruitiness. The others provide tart and tangy citrus, mild grassiness, ripe tangy dark fruit, wood, earth, and hint of spice, tart lemon and floralness. Some of those characteristics, like the grass and citrus, are subdued by the deep sweetness of the Virginias. The perique essentially underscores the Virginias throughout the smoke in a supporting role with few raisin, plum and date notes along with a fair amount of spiciness. The strength is medium, while the taste is just past that. The nic-hit is almost medium. The coins are rough cut, and there some loose ribbon present as well. It’s moist out of the tin, and depending upon your preference, you may consider a slight dry time. I did not do that as I prefer a little moisture in my tobacco. Burns a little slow if not dried, requiring some relights, but it doesn’t leave much dampness in the bowl, so it can be burned to ash. The flavors remain very consistent and complex from start to finish with no bite. The pleasant after taste and room notes linger just a bit. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran piper. Three and a half stars out of four only because there are VaPers with more complexity, and this lacks just a little of the depth that several four star VaPers have. For those who want only a mild to moderate dose of perique, it’s an easy four star blend.

Update: 5-27-2017. I detect a floral note that was barely present in the earlier tin I had smoked. It is akin to the essence of Lakeland, but I have noticed this particular note in some G&H Virginias, and as the two companies have merged, it may be the Virginia varietal was changed. Or perhaps, as many of us have observed, the Lakeland essence in the factory may have lightly seeped into this mixture as it has in other G&H products. I lean toward it being the tobacco, but I can't say that for certain.

-JimInks
72 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 10, 2015 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Samuel Gawith - Cabbies Mixture.

Retyped 20/12/2017.

Every time I smoke this I think ''this could be my all time favourite''. There are a few blends which instil this feeling, and that's the sign of a good un!!

I wasn't too sure what the blends appearance would be like, Dunhill De Luxe Navy Rolls maybe? No, it looks like one of the Mac Baren roll cakes. It's not as perfectly organised in the tin as Dunhill's De Luxe but a mix of more rugged slices of twist.

It's NOWHERE near as moist as is expected from Sam' G'.

Great flavour! There's lots of spice and pepper and the taste never becomes vinegary or astringent. This sits at the sharper side of VaPers instead of leaning toward the bitter/sour, or fruity ones. It's a 'clean' VaPer, if that makes sense? Although there's Virginia leaf present it's a definite subordinate to the Perique. The burn from it's irrefutable, generating a bite free smoke.

Nicotine: Medium. Room-note: pleasant-ish.

Brilliant. Four stars:

Highly recommended.
Pipe Used: Peterson Kinsale XL 12
PurchasedFrom: GQ Tobaccos
Age When Smoked: New
57 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 24, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
I popped the tin and took a whiff - nope, the smell was not inviting to me. I pulled out a wad and nope, the tobacco was not ready to smoke as it was too wet. Would someone please invent a blow dryer made specifically for tobacco?

After a couple of hours in the smoke filled air of my home office, I deemed the leaf ready to burn. And it did burn well. The Perique is very noticeable, but the quality Virginia base played right alongside the peppery leaf beautifully. Not particularly strong, but not limp wristed either. A Lakeland VaPer that will present something different for Virginia/Perique fans. I've had the pleasure of smoking a lot of fine VaPer blends over the years and Cabbie's Mixture does fit into the mix, especially due to its aging qualities. This stuff is really good!

Pipestud
47 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 20, 2016 Medium None Detected Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Pretty curls with light, reddish brown and black threads...

Smell is utterly different than St. Jame's or another Va/Per that smells of jam, molasses or pot pourri. It's reminiscent of old uninteresting black tea. I use four curls, I shred them, dry them for a few minutes and light in my first pipe ever dedicated to Va/Pers.

Again here, I thought I'd have hints of St. Jame's, but boy was I wrong. The first puffs are strongly peppery with a taste of grilled aubergines ! Maybe some bell peppers too ? I love it. Perique's presence is strong here. The virginias' role here is to lightly sweeten, soften and round the taste. At around half the bowl, enjoyable slightly bitter and vanilla like nunances develop. No significant difference at the end of the bowl. No Lakeland aromas detected in this blend.

Not many issues lighting and keeping the pipe lit in the beginning. Afterwards, the pipe stays lit, the burning is slow and even. At times I puffed a tad stronger to keep the combustion going.

I find this mélange better than St. Jame's Flake and I salute Samuel Gawith's efforts on this particular blend.

Cabbie's mixture is now one of my favourite Vapers.
Pipe Used: Jean Nicolas Straight Billiard
Age When Smoked: New
27 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 14, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Cabbie’s greets the nose with a wonderful smell of stewed fruit. The coins, although rougher, are about the same size as can be found in Three Nuns although the blends have very little in common. As with most of the SG Virginia blends, there is too much moisture for me to smoke right out of the tin. However, it’s not as moist as Best Brown or St James Flake. The Perique is noticeable but not overpowering. The sweetness of the Virginia's is more pronounced in the later stages of each bowl. There are some high notes, but less than I had expected. Cabbie’s offers some spice too. There’s no bite, even when pushed and I found myself enjoying the depth of flavor during the second half of each bowl more than the first half although both were quite good. I struggled a bit with whether or not this is a three or four star blend for me personally. I think it’s a smidgen under four right now, but there is no doubt in my mind that this will be a big four stars all the way after some time in the cellar. Congrats to SG on an exciting new blend that really expands their Virginia offerings!
Age When Smoked: new
23 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 22, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This tin was a gift from a friend. He told me he left it open for a while to dry a little. I tried some as soon as I got it, and it was still too damp. It stayed in the tin waiting for the fullness of time and once it got leathery, I started cramming coins in a pot and turning them to ash. I did not rub these out, and I found this packing method worked pretty well. It burned without unusual need for relights and was a medium-slow smoke. Aftertaste is good and lingers.

The Virginias present as yellow and red. This is a pleasant combination of hay, mild citrus and a darker sweet, heavy fruit. This is a very tasty combination of Virginias with a bias to the yellow in terms of the flavor. The taste is medium and trends up toward the end of the bowl without ever getting ashy or harsh.

The perique may contribute to the dark, heavy fruit, and it is well integrated in the blend with just a little spicy edge. It is more evident when puffed. There is the distinctive perique tingle when exhaled through the nose but not enough to irritate my throat after a couple of bowls in a row.

This one is very easy to recommend. It is not something I will buy except as an occasional treat due to the cost per ounce, but it is very good and I think it is something everyone interested in VaPer's should try.
21 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 30, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
This is like two different smokes in the same bowl. Starts off very figgy and peppery and seems a bit out of balance with too much Per and not enough Va. As the bowl progresses, however, the Virginias start to show their influence in a wonderful dark fruity sweetness that continues to build until the halfway point at which the overall flavor is sublime. The second half of each bowl is about as good as a VaPer gets. Sweet, fruity, and spicy. Very well rounded with about an equal amount of high and low notes. Heaven in a bowl. Always takes a few matches to get going, maybe because I haven't tried rubbing this out yet. I do dry this for a couple of hours. Burns well once started. Smokes the same in briar, cob or clay. Great stuff.

Medium in body. Medium to full in taste. Can't detect any added flavorings.
Pipe Used: Ropp Dublin, MM Mark Twain, MF #4
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 13, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a wonderful tobacco that yields a delicious smoke. I'm generally one for English and Balkan mixtures, but this is a rich and nuanced Virginia and Perique mixture that I will certainly buy again.

In the tin, the tobacco is dark and presented in a roughly cut coin form. It has an appetising scent, and - in my tin anyway - is ready to burn from the off. And very well it burns too, leaving a fine white ash. The Perique is well balanced and its gentle piquancy sets off cocoa and woody notes nicely. Another reviewer chose the adjective 'earthy' to describe Cabbie's Mixture. I believe he chose well.

Maybe the picture of the hansom cab on the tin has gone to my head, yet somehow this tobacco really does evoke the past for me (although, I must admit, so do other Samuel Gawith blends). I can't yet decide whether it's the pastoral mist of Thomas Hardy's Wessex or the foreboding fog of Dickens' London I'm imagining: either way, Cabbie's Mixture lends itself to meditation.

Samuel Gawith continue to warrant their venerable reputation with this new tobacco. I reckon any lover of Virginia and Perique mixtures will agree. And even if you're a confirmed Oriental and Latakia enthusiast like me, I venture to suggest that you may find enough worth savouring in Cabbie's Mixture to justify procuring a wee stock of the stuff, for those times when a change is just the thing one's pipe and palate require.

A more incautious man than I might offer the opinion that this tobacco will become a quiet classic. I would have sympathy for such an opinion; but for now I will be content to recommend it, most highly.
Pipe Used: Estate Dunhill Half Bent Dublin
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 10, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
A new release from S Gawith and in my favourite "roll cut" was right up my alley and a couple of tins were duly bought .

The aroma similar to FVF but earthier , almost musky . Appearance like Three Nuns or Mac B's Roll Cake but more moist and not so tightly packed . Packed the bowl very loosely then progressively tighter until quite firm at the top . Lit surprisingly well and stayed lit until near the end , smoked very well despite being so moist in the tin .

Wow ! this is a beautiful smoke ; sweet , pungent , rich and tasty . I can't really fault it . Virginia fans will enjoy it's sweet , hay-like base , while the added Perique gives an earthy richness that separates it from FVF or BBF . For me , more flavoursome than Three Nuns , a more natural sweetness and complexity than Mac B's very fine roll cut offerings . Perhaps a better comparison would be with G&H's Curly Cut which I have not yet sampled .

It's a winner for me !

Pipe Used: various Peterson briars
PurchasedFrom: online UK
Age When Smoked: newly released
14 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 13, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Very Pleasant
Cabbies Mixture became in instant favorite. It's got everything I love about Gawith's grade A Virginias with their excellent Perique all wrapped up (literally) into one fine twist. I would love if they offered the uncut twist for sale but I'm fine with their sloppy coins as I usually rub them out regardless. I actually quite like the presentation and the sloppiness of the coins adds to the character of this historical company, it shows that they truly still do everything in small batches and their coins and flakes don't come out perfect like the STG giants. Some of their machinery used was purchased in 1792 (secondhand) and still used to this day! You just can't duplicate that in a warehouse, just imagine how seasoned some of those machines are! Anyone familiar with the quality of tobacco that is produced from this house can easily blind buy this tobacco and I'm certain they will be happy with their purchase. Not much to say about the flavors, everyone knows what to expect from a VaPer and if I tell ya it tastes like a bit of grass with some earthy tones it won't help you any, everyone says that about VA's and it becoming a bit clichéd. I will tell you that I don't think this is redundant if you have St. James Flake in your rotation as I have found plenty of room for both. Be careful with this one as it can sneak up on ya and give ya a big slap of nicotine and that's just another reason I love this so much. I open the tin, rub out the entire contents and give it at least two hours of drying time. After that, I just put it all back in the tin and it's ready to go and easy to lock and load any time I'm in the mood. This is up there with the best of them. Most definitely essential!
Pipe Used: Gamboni, P. Jeppesen and Stanwell.
12 people found this review helpful.
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