Samuel Gawith Scotch Cut Mixture

Pure and untouched tobacco, but unfortunately to the point that there were many (chunky) branches in the mixture. If you don't remove them, they will cause the 'electrical fire' smell that can really spoil the bowl. Carefully remove them, and you get a real classic Scottish mix. Absolutely natural, buttery smoke, medium in N and strength. Could easily qualify as every day/all day smoke, and because of its balance even as an island tobacco. Less L than Black Mallory, but similar in natural sweetness. Add a pinch of Orientals and you get one of the best smokes under the sun.

Remember: check the mix and remove all branches. A pity that SG doesn't care. Still: full score!

In order to enjoy a blend the most I need to feel what I call "The bond", a sort of connection between me, my pipe and the tobacco. It all begins upon opening the tin, continues after smelling and packing it, and finishes with white ashes at the bottom of the bowl. I can certainly say SCM had that effect on me, and for that I am very pleased. The first half of the bowl gave a smooth and gentle latakia taste, which then turned to a creamy flavour (from the virginias and black cav I guess). It burned amazing and cool, and almost no relights were needed.

A smattering of Latakia and unflavored Black Cavendish seem to be slightly in the lead with the Virginia flavor also in the hunt. A Lakeland style Dunhill Nightcap without the Perique is the closest comparison to any known blend that I've smoked. The burn is very slow and the taste is lighter than I would have expected. The strength is certainly there, but does not deliver any knockout blows.

Scotch Cut is comprised of mainly lighter and medium tan chopped ribbon with a few pieces of Cavendish and Latakia. The scent to me is mainly on the earthy side. It needs little to no dry time. . Is it a Scotch blend? There are so many variations that your guess is as good as mine. But, If the added Cavendish, which seems to be the one constant in Scottish blends (but not all), than I guess the answer here would be yes. The Virginia and Burley play the lead role with the Latakia offering just a hint of smoke and the Cavendish a very light underlying sweetness. It’s a little earthy and a little nutty and slightly sweet. It is mild to medium in strength and burns dry. It offers no bite and while trying to get my arms around this blend, pecheur’s description of “odd” was what came to mind. In fairness, I only had a three bowl sample and each bowl started off great, but as each bowl progressed, I found myself enjoying this blend less and less. It just seems confused and while I seldom care about the “room note” I found myself needing to air the place out. I didn’t hate this smoke, but it isn’t one that I would buy again.

There are so many differences between the compoments of scottish mixtures in the market that may confuse even the experienced smoker this blend is an old recipe but not widelly known as other S.Gawith blends.once the tin opens a natural earthy and spicy smell comes out.the blend moisture is high and i recommend some drying time unless you don't mind lighting it every minute.ribbon and coarse cut does not make the packing difficult.while smoking you realize that this blend is easy going and pleasant.virginias are earthy,citrusy and sometimes dark fruits come out.burleys offer lots of spices,nuts and some barbeque sauce notes.the most known cavendishes from S.Gawith offer some creamy notes.last of all latakias pop up rare offering smokey and woodsy notes.generally the flavours combine well and balanced to a nice and natural result.burns slow and cool to almost perfect ash with a few moisture left at the filter.nicotine level is a bit lower than medium and the aftertaste is peppery.room note is almost heavy and no tongue bite is present.though the addition of compoments that usually are used for an after dinner blend this is an easy going and creamy all day blend.totally recommended.

Starts nice the first half of the bowl. Very robust smokiness, full bodied, with a distinct but complex taste that has an intriguing appeal. A kind of floral undertone to it, perhaps also with a soapy tone, but also robust (can be a bit too owerpowering for retro-haling). Difficult to pinpoint what it tastes like (also citrus note?), it reminds me a bit of Dr Pepper. Dry and cool smokiness, kind of refined feeling, burns very nice and leaves light ash. Nicotine a bit strong, over medium. So far so good. But second half of the bowl is a different story. It turns sharp and sour, or acrid (can give tounge bite). The mellow refined taste is overpowered by an aggressive smoke (the kind of effect when your mouth reacts by producing saliva and the stomach gets a bit upset). This is very unfortunate, a very nice tobacco that turns into an aggressive smoke as the bowl progresses. Impossible to finish without a beverage by the side. This one reminds me a bit of Dunhill's Durbar, both in taste and in dissapointment. Two stars for taste (but frankly as it develops it only deserves one star).

It is so unfortunate that this develops in such a dissapointing way, because it tastes really god at the beginning of the bowl. I recommend using the air-pocket packing technique, for better smoking results (and I simpley toss away the latter part of the bowl when it starts to taste bad).

Samuel Gawith - Scotch Cut Mixture.

Quite a light coloured ribbon, including a few different size pieces, with only a smattering of black. What d'ya know, it's a Sam' G' which is wet!

The smoke from it only contains a slight touch of Latakia smokiness, there's a lot more rustic Burley and fresh Virginia. The black Cavendish doesn't bring a heavy vanilla flavour, but a mild sweetness. It burns well giving a medium temperature smoke. I get no bite.

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

Scotch Cut'? Hmmmm, discontinued and I don't think that's too bad a thing. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.

The problem with SG mixtures is how they burn. I had a tin of Grousemoor which needed I would relight it several times as the tobacco was damp although I had let the tin open for some weeks before smoking the content. Then I opened a Scotch cut mixture, bought at the same stockist, and it was so dry that it burnt strongly and almost damaged a pipe. That said, rather disappointing, too easy to smoke without enjoying it. I understand other rewievers were more lucky with their tin!

For a long-time pipe smoker returning to 'English' blends after 30-odd years burning mostly aromatics, Scotch Cut Mixture was a homecoming for me. A simply thrilling and delicious blend with everything a serious smoker could wish for: mouthwatering tin-note, beautiful cut, easy packing and lighting topped off with a peppery-spicy, tangy flavour that had me coming back for more. I also found the aroma quite beguiling and had difficulty restraining myself from taking deep lungfuls of the smoke!

I could review this blend in a single word 'odd'.

I'll write more. A faint tin note of nut and sweet with a trace of woody smoke in the background.

The first half of the bowl has a very odd flavour of burning nuts and a similar room note, I do find this unpleasant. As we start to get towards half way the latakia starts to fade away and a sweetness starts to emerge creating a nutty carmel flavour that reminds me of peanut brittle. As we pass half way the nutty carmel flavour softens into a brown sugar type of flavour and a creaminess appears, this continues to the end of the bowl. The start of the bowl tastes nothing like the end of the bowl.