Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown Pigtail E/S

The Virginias offer some dark fruit, citrus, a bit of earth, and a fair amount of vegetative grass. There’s a slight fermentation note and a touch of the floral. The maple sugary topping is rather faint, and doesn’t tone down the tobaccos. Won’t bite, but it has a couple rough edges, even though the topping does marginally tame them. Puffed fast, you may experience a few harsh notes, so I would consider this to be more of a sipping blend. The nic-hit is a little past medium. Burns clean and a little slow no matter how you prepare it. The flavor is consistent from start to finish, although both the strength and taste seem a little more prominent after the half way point. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and needs a fair number of relights. Has a pleasant, lingering after taste, though the room note might not make your friends happy. Not an all day smoke, and it should be smoked in a small bowl or cob.

-JimInks

Gawith Hoggarth - Brown Pigtail E/S.

I can't really detect much of the sweet maple topping from the aroma, all I get is a strong Virginia smell. When I start slicing this into coins I notice that it's a really densely compacted rope so I find it easier if I begin by slicing it down the rope into quarters and then slice it vertically to give small cuttings. I am not sure what to expect from this so I try to reserve any judgement beforehand but once lit I'm quite surprised!

The taste from the smoke is a very full Virginia one. To be fair it's difficult (for me) to ascertain any of the maple flavour, instead I get a really full Virginia one with a subtle peppery note. I don't find much in the way of tongue bite with this, the only discomfort comes from the smoke becoming too warm if 'chugged' hard. On to nicotine now, yes it is strong with "N" but I find it difficult to inhale the smoke as it causes me to gag a little so I prefer to enjoy this for taste only. With the room note I can't really find anything special, a straight Virginia one leaning toward the lighter end of the scale. The burn is good with Brown Pigtail E/S, but I like to cut and rub mine into finer pieces so it may be a little poorer if it's left in larger pieces. I wholeheartedly agree with the description where it says "ideal for five minute smoke breaks", it is more of a nicotine driven blend that would be too much to smoke for hours.

On that note I give three stars for Brown Pigtail!

Nice bag note from this tobacco, you can pick up the fermented Virginias and a somewhat sugary/sweet sort of flavour. The rope is tightly spun so it doesn't come a part like some of the thicker ropes.

I prepared it as I normally do with a twist. I made quite a lot of comment on how when I reviewed the black pigtail, but the same way, 5p thick coins rub out in hands and then pull apart to make "normal" tinned tobacco strands. I left this dry for about 20 mins and I left a fair amount of moisture in the tobacco. Given that it is not stoved I wanted to see if there would be any bite during the smoke.

It took a couple of lights to get going but once lit and with a deliberate and regular cadence the tobacco remains lit. I had to do one relight and that was only because I put it down to make a drink. I had to make a drink with some sugar as the nicotine level is quite high. I have a good tolerance of nicotine and this did start to have an effect - so watch out if you don't have much of a tolerance.

Flavour wise this is a nice tobacco, you get the earthy, fruity, fermented deep tastes that you expect from this kind of blend and Virginias. There is a little sweetness to it, you cannot say that it maple flavoured. I could only pick this up on a retrohail and I was really concentrating on the profile. Interestingly though I do have a sweet taste left on my moustache and a sweet kind of smell in my beard. I am guessing this is probably from the sugars. This was very consistent and nice regardless of the very subtle maple flavour. Even with some moisture there was absolutely no bite. There were some spicy notes which some people might mistake as tongue bite.

The main thing with this tobacco is that it is consistent and burns nicely, it is crude in an aromatic sense but nicely complex for a Virginia of this type. I cannot see any problem with a new person smoking this at all, with caution in relation to the nicotine level. The tobacco left a fine ash and burn down to the bottom with out any moisture in the bowl. Room note is quite pleasant, kind of smells like the tobacco taste. Whether none smoker would see if the same way if is different matter.

I'd never tried this tobacco before, but I think it is great. I particularly like the pig tail appearance this tobacco comes in. You can only buy this in bulk and, so far as I know, it is only available in the UK market. The Virginia is quite apparent as you light up your bowl, but it is quite different to anything I've tried so far. This is not an aromatic blend, but I can taste something I can only describe as flowers along with the sweetness of the Virginia. I really cannot tell how long this tobacco might have been in the jar before I bought it, but I'd say it is well aged. You need to dry this tobacco before being able to smoke, but you only need to cut it up in small slices and let it dry for 1 hour at room temperature to achieve that. Very easy to pack and keep lit in your bowl. The tin note is quite flagrant and fruity, and it reminds me of some cavendishes (if I am to go by the tin description, this is a straight Virginia). In terms of strength I'd say this is a rather strong blend, so do not smoke it on an empty stomach.

I am surprised by how easy it is to keep this tobacco lit in your bowl. Also, I like the fact this tobacco starts yielding right at the start of your smoke as you light it up for the first time, but it will develop in strength and aroma every quarter of your bowl.The sweetness of the Virginia is quite apparent all the way through, but as you smoke more and more this blend reminds me of some cigars. I am finding this blend very creamy and mellow, and it smokes quite cool in your bowl.

I have visited Gawith & Hoggarth's web site to look up this tobacco and they class it as a chewing blend. Also, it would appear they've topped it up with rum and maple sugars to ad up to its sweetness. They also explain that this tobacco in is brown variety is even stronger than the so call black pig tail as it is only fermented but not cooked.