Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. - Gawith Red pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 6 of 6 reviews of this tobacco
Arkie	09/28/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
This blend does not look, taste or smell anything like Amphora Red. Amphora was a crumkle cake and this stuff is shag cut. It tastes ok but it isn't nearly as complex as Amphora. Judging it under it's own merit, it is satisfactory. It does have a slight bite but it burns to a dry white ash. It has a mild, subtle taste and although it likely won't find its way into my regular rotation I don't regret trying it.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
SteveH	05/22/2012	Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant
I first tried this last Saturday, at the May meeting of the Pipe Club of London at the Thatcher's Arms in Essex, where it was the tobacco used in the Radford Cup slow-smoking competition. I was impressed, and ordered some, which arrived today. It is described on the pouch as an aromatic, consisting of VAs and Burleys, with "the rich aroma" - by which I take it they mean a casing - "of fresh fruit and caramel". It is said to be a replacement for, and imitation of, Amphora. I wouldn't know, having never tried that tobacco: these notes are based on this tobacco alone. In appearance, it is medium-cut, a mixture of light to mid brown. The smell is strong and fruity. The taste is mild, slightly sweet, fairly rich, with distinct hints of dried fruit and leather. Recommended - sometimes I want something with more oomph than this, when I'll go for a lat or a perique, but this is ideal for the other times, when I want something mild but not boring.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
SteelCowboy	08/16/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Red seems to be one of the overlooked tobacco's in the wide range of offerings from GH. I have not yet smoked Amphora So I don't have a point of reference and that's a good thing. Red arrives a bit too moist for my taste and it surprised me in that the pouch scent was that of a much heavier cased aromatic verses what comes through in the smoke. The light brown, thin ribbons smoked evenly and to my delight the tobacco flavor shines through. This is a Lakeland tobacco for sure and offers the typical Lakeland flavors but it wasn't overpowering in casing or nicotine. Red has a nice semi sweet floral taste that won't be in my regular rotation, but will always be around for a nice change of pace. Red won't win over those put off by Lakeland flavors, but for those those like other Lakeland style blends, it's recommended.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
7formy1911	05/10/2011	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I've never had Amphora Red so I really have no point of reference for this blend which may help being objective in my review. There's a slightly sweet smell that hints at very mild aromatic qualities in the bag and the tobaccos are a uniform medium brown in color. The cut is a narrow ribbon cut that borders on shag. Typical G&H cut if you've tried any of their other offerings such as Kendal Kentucky or Dark Birdseye. While loading my pipe the tobacco seems only slightly moist which, usually, is the right level for my tastes. I have noticed these thinner ribbon cuts can have the tendency to pack quite easily and restrict the draw so a light hand is a must. You can always tamp more if needed during smoking. The first light reveals a slightly nutty burley along with semi-sweet Virginia and a very light aromatic topping. The topping is quite well done and sits in the background enhancing the burley and Virginias instead of overpowering them. When smoked very slowly I can detect the slightest smidgeon of berry but you really have to search for it. There is also the slightest hint of baby powder freshness. As the bowl progresses there's not a whole lot of change except for the flavors of the tobacco becoming more full. All in all a nice tobacco for the summer time if you're looking for something on the lighter end of the spectrum. I wouldn't really call this an aromatic but it does have slightly aromatic properties. All in all a decent blend that I will buy some more of to supplement my usual suspects in my rotation. On those hot days when you want something lighter and refreshing this will be a perfect companion to smoke slowly and just enjoy the sunny day.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Steerpike	11/25/2006	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
As far as I remember the last pouch of Amphora I had (which should be reasonable well, it was one of the few aromatics I really enjoyed), this resembles it about as well as can be expected. It really looks like it- a mix of broken flake and ribbon, mid brown tobaccos with a little birds eye, it even has the same fault as the original, that the last few bowls out of the pouch burn hot because the pieces of flake break apart too much when it's bumping around in your pocket all day! It is a pleasant, semi-floral, semi-sweet aromatic, with only a little fruitiness compared to the original- I suspect that in this blend most of the fruitiness comes from the choice of tobaccos, rather than the casings. This blend is less noticably flavoured that the original (which was very subtly flavoured, the casings complementing the leaf, rather than smothering it), but has a pleasant, subtly sweet aroma, and the sweet taste is quite noticable- some liquorice extract perhaps? In fact, this blend seems almost a cross between the Dutch Aromatic original, and the sweetish and floral Lake district aromatics. All that is missing is that chocolatey flavour and aroma that Amphora seemed to generate in the last quarter of the bowl, as the flavour thickened up. I miss that- it was the complexity that made Amphora so pleasant- it never got boring. However, this is a very pleasant tobacco, and well worth a try. It is strong enough that it is worth smoking, more than can be said for many aromatics, and while the room note is pleasantly sweet, it offers enough depth of flavour to please the smoker as well as his "audience".
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Runestone	07/21/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
This blend is presented in a ribbon cut with the occasional larger piece of broken flake and the odd chunk of bird?s-eye. The tobacco appears in shades of brown that vary from light to medium in color. The blend probably consists primarily of a mix of sun-cured and air-cured tobaccos. The pouch aroma is semi-sweet tobacco with just a suggestion of something fruity. Upon lighting up, there is a hint of sharpness, but it quickly fades. (My wife tells me that she smells something like a very faint flowery scent immediately after lighting up.) The smoke becomes fairly rich and fresh while displaying the soft underlying taste of some kind of a fruit essence. (I?m still unsure what kind of fruit essence is used--it?s too soft for me to decipher. Often it reminds me of figs and maybe raisins, sometimes plums, and only occasionally something sharper like apricots. In short, I don?t know!) As you progress into the bowl, the flavor becomes just a tad tart while at the same time becoming just slightly sweet and it waivers back and forth. This tart-sweet interplay continues through to the end of the bowl. The body of the smoke is about midway between mild and medium, but there is ample nicotine strength. The tobacco flavor is fairly characteristic of the richness found in any number of the Cavendish blends from Denmark and Holland and a few from the U.S., but this blend is much more civil and refined than any of these! It can get a little warm, but there is NO BITE! After I acquired my sample of this tobacco, I became curious about the components in the blend. (I was really just trying to discover the identity of the fruit essence.) I read that this blend was G&H?s effort to create something similar to the original Amphora Red. Well, I remember that I smoked perhaps a few pouches of Amphora Red back in the late ?60s or early ?70s, but I?d be blowing some serious smoke if I told that based on that long ago memory that this effort comes close. And since I don't believe that Amphora is any longer produced, it probably really doesn?t matter. I do seem to remember that Stanwell?s Hansom Cab (in particular) and, perhaps, a few of the MacBaren blends were similar in taste. So, I think that if you are any kind of fan of the bright, rich, and fresh tobacco flavor of the Danish and Dutch-style Cavendish tobaccos, but you dislike the artificial casings and flavorings and the propensity to bite, then you might find this blend extremely appealing.
Showing reviews 1 through 6 of 6 reviews of this tobacco