Samuel Gawith Westmorland Mixture

Hmm, I was expecting something a bit sweeter and easier.... that said, this is another Gawith winner. It has a real deep earthy smell - stick your nose right in there. Yum. Just a little smokey too. You want candy? Go up the block. Tobacco? Right here, friend.

In the pipe, this smokes with a slightly harder edge than I was expecting. I would suggest that this has a pretty good amount of something very like Dark Kentucky in it. The blender's use of words like "cavendish" with the description of "flue cured" kind of makes me think I'm in the right ball park. Shades of Mac Baren Vintage Syrian, which has a right good dose of Kentucky as well.

Anyway, this is a very full bodied smoke, a nice mixture of flavors yielding a palate which intensifies throughout the bowl, but never really varies too much. Smooth, smokey, a little sweet but not anything like as sweet as I was expecting.

This is what Scottish Cake should have tasted like.

Watch the nicotine - I had to put the pipe down. This is a velvet hammer, very sneaky.

I detect no flavoring, no soapiness, no "lakeland essence" (which I DO detect in squadron leader). This is a straight shot of good weed.

The Cyprian latakia is smoky, woody sweet as a supporting player. The Virginias are grassy and citrusy sweet. The cavendishes have a smooth, creamy sweetness with a touch of toast and honey. Occasionally, I get a hint of vanilla. The touquin bean topping is very mild. Sweeter than I expected, but welcome none the less. Well balanced, burns at a moderate rate, and I suggest a similar smoking cadence for best effect. The flavor is consistent to the finish with almost no moisture. Needs an average number of relights. It's mild on the nicotine scale, and has a pleasant after taste. Can be an all day smoke. It may be too sweet with too little latakia for those who like dry English blends. Others may find it a nice change of pace from them.

-JimInks

After reading some of the previous reviews, I have to wonder if everyone who has written on Westmorland Mixture has bothered to at least smoke a bowl of it. Aromatic? Nowhere that I've seen has Samuel Gawith Co. even hinted that this might be aromatic. Not on the lablel, not in the description. But the proof is in the puffing. No added flavors detected. None. I wish the previous reviewers who boggled over this being some kind of aromatic would have indicated just what kind of aromatic flavoring they taste.

I taste VA, and possibly the VA cavendish of the style used in Danish blends. There is black cavendish, but its obviously unflavored. Sweetened? Maybe. But not flavored. The VA and cavendish base is laced with a modest amount of Latakia. And that's it. That's the blend. If Westmorland Mixture was a beverage, it would be a glass of iced tea with one lump of sugar. Mild and refreshing - great for a hot day.

This is not a Latakia dump. It is nothing like a common V-O-L English blend, and wasn't intended to be. I recommend this blend to anyone looking for a mild blend that isn't heavy on the palate.

This is a very strange blend. And once again, as is common with so many SG blends, the reviews are both polarized and all over the place.

My first sensation was shock at how dry it was -- I didn't know tobacco could taste so very dry, almost like it's topped with dessicant since it practically felt like the moisture was being sucked out of my mouth. It also has a very distinct yet subtle sweetness so deftly applied it's easy to believe that it's not a casing. That sweetness is not fruity nor floral nor minty, nor do I detect the tonquin others have mentioned; the sweetness seems to me more like candied hay, if that makes any sense. It's actually quite nice. But it's not at all the usual soapiness we've come to associate with lakelands. And I definitely detect the latakia, unobtrusively holding the flavors together in the background.

I think dallaspipehead put his finger on it: the flavor of this blend sits somewhere between a balkan and a virginia, with a bit of sweetness added to it. I can easily understand why pipers wouldn't like this blend, but Westmorland is a unique and unusual and flavorful smoke that's worth a try if you think a super-dry balkan/virginia hybrid with a dash of something subtly sweet and subtly smoky sounds good to you.

I was a little unsure wether or not I would like this, due to the mixed reviews it has been given. However, I am a collector of Samuel Gawith products, and I believe they all deserve a fair chance despite what others may say. The tin aroma suggested that this would be another fine latakia mixture, with very little (if any) toppings detected. The colors of leaf were a full range display, from black to dark brown and red to bright yellow. I chose a shallow Alpha pipe to help me put this new blend on trial. My verdict: innocent. Westmorland is a pleasant crossroad between the bold and smoky turkish/oriental types and the realm of natually sweet brown cavendish and virginias. It also contains just the right amount of their notorious unsweetened black cavendish. If you've ever tried X Blend or Scotch Cut, then you can recognize the touch of this tough guy, and you know how strong it can be when used in larger amounts. I actually bought some of their black cavendish just to say that I have it, and after tasting it straight, I nicknamed it "Bitter Black". This blend is NOT a waste of time, as some others may describe it, nor is it pointless. On the contrary, it is quite to the point. Not exactly an aromatic to be sniffed at by wary onlookers. This is a blend with a rich but mild taste to be quietly enjoyed with a book by the hearth. I think that smoking Westmorland in a smaller pipe is also a wise choice. It never gurgles, never bites, and the level of latakia in this grouping of tobaccos has proven to be spot on. I enjoy it more than Perfection, which was hard to match up with the right pipe, yet similar in nature, considering the fact that the more I smoke these blends out of their chosen pipes, the better the experience becomes. It is hard to describe the characteristics, but the presence of all its components make themselves known and burn well in harmony. Do not simply try this blend once and give up. It might not be easy to categorize, but once you find a designated home for it and smoke it several times, the fine properties of Westmorland will reveal themselves to you. I highly recommend it for those intervals between balkans and virginians.

Pure Heaven! I absolutely love this blend. If you sip it properly, the Nic level is just right for a relaxing experience. If you want to draw with more vigor, then you will get hit with Nic. I would rate it Medium if I thought it was meant to be smoked that way. I believe that this blend is meant to be sipped. If smoked properly, one tastes the quality Virginias up front. The Cavendish/burley, latakia and Tonquin bean play very important supporting roles. The latakia is in the background but is definitely noticeable. The musty, earthy flavors are very cigar-like, but this does not taste like cigar tobacco as a whole. It is what I consider a near perfect blend. There is nothing else quite like it. It is in a class of its own. It is not English. It is not aromatic. It is Westmorland Mixture!

As I am writing this, I am on my third bowl of the evening. I have been smoking it in the same Savinelli author bowl that I have dedicated to this blend. I have been waiting about 45 minutes between each packing and sipping some Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban out of a Glencairn glass every now and then between sips on the pipe. It makes for a great combo.

I love English blends and good, flavorful flakes. Westmorland is in a class of its own. It is obviously neither. One might say it leans towards the Scottish mixture side, but it still is not quite that either. I do like to keep the Vitamin N levels on high. This blend carries it all nicely. I must add that you really need to try to make this bite the tongue. If you get tongue bite from it, you are not smoking it properly. You must push 75% or more out your nostrils to really take in the depth of the blend. Some people say this blend is not complex. I beg to differ. You can be drawn into the Virginias or you can meditate on the latakia. The Tonquin bean flavoring is like John Myung's bass playing. It is tasteful; artfully supporting the rest of the talent (tobaccos) and stands out from time to time just enough to let you know it is there. It supports the ensemble perfectly. If you focus on it specifically, you can experience how the other contributors dance around it and get a different perspective on the experience... much like focusing on JM when listening to Dream Theater. The Cavendish offers an alternative to the orientals that are more common in English blends. I am a burley fan, and I believe the Cavendish imparts a certain nuttiness to the palate, but it never tries to draw your attention from the other players in the mix. I am not certain whether burley was used in the development of the Cavendish, but slight almond flavor is there in the background much as in an English toffee. The mild sweetness that this blend imparts on the tongue is just enough to compliment and bring out the other delicious essences of tobacco bliss that swirl and mingle with the senses. It helps allow the nose to better play a role in the whole experience.

The moisture level is about perfect right after cracking the tin. However, the blend smokes well even after drying out a little. I have never let a tin dry out too much because I go through tins of this blend faster than any other. I recently found a website that sells it in bulk. I will be ordering it that way from now on. Only Hyde Park rivals this blend in terms of uniqueness, quality and crave potential in my opinion. However, Hyde Park is yet another tobacco in a class of its own. Westmorland may not be for everyone (just like Dream Theater), but I highly recommend that every self-respecting smoker give it a whirl at least once. Just as any self-respecting musician needs to at least appreciate what the boys in DT have achieved, so too should the experienced smoker marvel at what Samuel Gawith has done with this fine tobacco product.

A surprisingly satisfying blend, this, which has drawn some undue criticism, in my opinion. Truth be told, I wouldn't have given it a second glance, had it not been given to me as a Christmas present. At the time, I was rather more excited about scoring a Dunhill 965 from the last batch to go on sale in the UK, so the Westmorland was the first to be consumed, on account of it looking the least impressive option.

This offering is obviously an homage to the old English county of Westmoreland (with the 'e'), which was one of the original 39 counties, now swallowed by Cumbria, and the ancestral root of Gawith tobacco. If you went to the Lake District today, this very prosaic label would not look out of place next to the shelves of mint cake and postcard-backed packets of bland fudge in one of the many tourist shops. Indeed, it's very reminiscent of a tin of overly-priced mints, and that's undoubtedly off-putting for your host.

If ever one had been given a stern lesson in the morality of judging books by their covers, then I'd have been made to have this label - complete with barcode - tattooed on my arse. This is, unmistakably, a VERY good blend, with the earthy, peaty goodness of a quality Highland malt. It's smoking properties are also extremely forthcoming and forgiving: smoke it quickly and hot, or slow and cool, it always behaves and rewards accordingly, and remains consistent to the finish.

I have to agree with members like EAL, who summarized this tobacco so succinctly, and would urge others to scroll down accordingly. This is far from an aromatic; it's merely sweetened, which would seem to take the harshness out of the mixture, whilst retaining and elevating its generous wealth of flavour. Westmorland is mild enough as an "everydayer" and also rich enough for those needing their Vitamin N kick. It IS rather monotone compared to many, yet strangely more-ish all the same. You'd better prep two pipes, as you may well want a second bowl. And NO floral signature presenting itself should ensure that this particular Gawith blend sees some action across the pond.

Absolutely worth a pop.

I can see where Latakia lovers might find Westmorland Mixture to be a little to..... different.

It is an unusual English/Aromatic that is light and sweet with little bitter or leathery undertones commonly found it straight up English blends.

A nice try by the blender to do something different and maybe it'll please your taste buds.

I didn't know what to expect from a Tonquin-cased blend. For me, this reminded me a bit of the various Revelation-matches. Not that it tastes exactly like any of them (Epiphany, R-blend, Painter Hills), but similar, albeit a bit sweeter and with the casing flavor a bit stronger. The whisper of Latakia is there in the background, but nothing more. For me, in this blend, that works v. nicely.

Samuel Gawith has been producing pipe tobaccos for centuries and can boast of many fine results, which, with Westmorland, begs the question: "Why?"

I did not even know this bizarre weed existed until today, when I received an ample sample from my tobacconist. Though appreciative of the gift, I shall not purchase a tin. He also gave me a sample of Gawith's Squadron Leader, which is quite good, but since that blend has innumerable comments there is nothing I could add that has not been already said.

Squadron Leader notwithstanding, I have always maintained that the Lake District does not know how to produce a decent Latakia blend. Westmorland confirms my old prejudices; this odd mixture is neither fish nor fowl. Yet, it is both foul and fishy.

Anyone who describes this as an "American English" or an "English American" is giving Westmorland dual citizenship when it deserves none at all. It is just weird. Someone had to have dreamed this one up on a trans-Atlantic flight after a few too many nips from the crash cart.

It doesn't bite; the aroma offends no one; there are both strength and piquancy here. But such virtues are offered in far more pleasant forms.