Samuel Gawith - Perfection pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 90 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
Demetri	03/17/2013	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I should have known better than to put this in my pipe. A sample, unsolicited, from my B&M tempted me to lose my mind and think I could stray from my antipathy toward flavored Latakia blends. The esteem in which Samuel Gawith blends are normally held I will, probably unfairly, blame for my momentary insanity. As with Esoterica's St. Ives, I had the identical, feeling of nausea trying to smoke this. Cross-over "English" blends and I do not do well together. When I want vanilla a once in six months cob load of 1Q suffices. Here the flavoring just ruins good tobacco to the point I can't really rate it outside of the flavoring. Sorry, guys. Yes, the desert island test would find that I would quit smoking rather than suffer this one.
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machinebacon	01/03/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
The name is misleading, this is not Perfection. It is something like a differently flavoured Westmorland, with a little bit more Latakia smokiness, and some natural sweetness. The casing is subtle but noticeable. The Orientals give it a slight Turkish Delight taste, a bit like Basma (?) though I doubt it comes from Basma indeed. Excellent burning qualities, easy to pack, very long ribbons and a comparably high amount of Lat in this tin. If classified as "English blend", Perfection is one of the worse at Gawith's. As an aromatic, it is excellent. As an "English Aromatic" I have smoked better ones. 2.5 of 5 stars, if you like Westmorland, you probably like Perfection too.
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TomekKGG	11/05/2012	Medium	Strong	Medium to Full	Strong

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renwardhoop	07/04/2012	Very Strong	Strong	Overwhelming	Tolerable
Somebody got a load of old leather boots together and set fire to them. Perfection is whats left over. Not for me.
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Doubty	06/07/2012	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Certainly this is an enigmatic tobacco and while the guess work and trying can be fun - I also am not sure if the inability to characterize this tobacco is not in some way a detriment, that said... I have been smoking it for about a week and am half way through the tin so perhaps five days with three or so bowls per day enough to form some opinions.I have noticed that the few larger bowled pipes I have have been a bit kinder to this blend then my smaller bowled pipes.I prefer the latakia content in my English style mixtures to be between 20 and 35% so for me this is right on the mark.It is smooth and I am secure in my judgement and feelings about Samual Gawith that it is a high quality tobacco.I like the moisture level and it is a consistent and honest tobacco.I will buy it again but will certainly not stock up on it or buy it more then once a year I see some similarity to a tobacco I remember from long ago Temple Bar from Druquer and SOns out in the Bay area.
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tleek	05/15/2012	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a nice tobacco. Contrary to what others have said, the Vanilla is definitely there,very very subtle, but there. Its actually a vanilla like sweetness, rather than a strong vanilla flavor, but it is a lovely compliment to the light english blend. The blend is truly a blend, and it is a little hard to identify the different components. Very light, by the standards of one who enjoys very full Latakia blends, but not overly light. It taste like you would imagine a perfect light english blend tasting like, with some sweetness added in. Dont expect an aromatic type casing and terrific smells, the sole purpose of this flavor is to enhance the blend. If i had to say, i would say the primary taste comes from a mixture of sweet virginias and turkish. The latakia is pretty light and the vanilla adds to the flavor slightly rather than dominating it. If your a fan of Early Morning Pipe or Squadron Leader, i would recommend you give this a try.
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DK	04/06/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
So this is Samuel Gawith's idea of perfection? Well, it isn't mine, and it's a fair bit less perfect than some of their other blends. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I had no trouble picking out the vanilla. It was more prominent in the room note but I tasted it as well. It was the Turkish that I couldn't find. The virginias were out front with the latakia well to the rear and the vanilla flavor sort of lightly draped over the proceedings. But the Turkish was MIA in my tin. I got a feeling that the vanilla flavoring was just evident enough to throw this blend into confusion. It was not unpleasant but, like Grousemoor, it just seemed to me that SG didn't put their best tobacco into this mix. Smoking BBF and FVF along with a slew of others lets me know that they have stellar virginias in their house, but chose not to use them for this one. I'm not sure what the steaming process does unless it's like stoving, which would definitely tone down the assertiveness of the tobacco. It surely did so here. Again, the concept is intriguing but the execution didn't fare quite so well. Worth a try if you like very light latakia and want something that smells better in the room. If you're looking for something more flavorful, SG has plenty to choose from.
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KahveDelisi	02/24/2012	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I can live without perfection.
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alpyesilay	02/21/2012	Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant
One of my best blend. Like its name a kind of perfect one.
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Dubinthedam	02/18/2012	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I usually like my English blends on the light side, I find Latakia heavy blends can also have a tartness to them, perfection really is sweet tasting but with plenty of smokey flavor. The Virginia still takes the main stage and the Turkish is a nice additive. I wish there were more Latakia blends like this, middle of the road, in a nice way. I preferred it to squadron leader. I agree with reviewers, the vanilla really goes unnoticed. Great entry level English blend for aromatic or va lovers. A nice early morning English blend. I've found its great for blending, adding a little spice to OTC blends without altering their intended flavors.
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Northern Pipes	01/03/2012	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This was one of my first ventures into an english blend as I'm fairly new to pipes and am still in my aromatic honeymoon phase. I thought that having a mild vanilla flavouring may prove a nice transition, but I didn't get any hint of vanilla at all. I am not a fan right now, but It didn't offend me. I used to hate mushrooms as a kid but now I love them, you never know what the future holds with this tobacco for me. I plan on going back to this occasionally for more input. As far as a smoker of a few years and in the early stages of trying more savoury tobaccos, this tasted like ground wood chips to me. Other than that it lit well, it's smoked cool, had to pace myself a little more to avoid tongue bite.
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(ln(-1)/i)pe	10/27/2011	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable
"Perfection" or hubris? "Perfection" probably has more marketing appeal than "meh". Given that I can't detect any vanilla, I'd describe it as like smoking Squadron Leader when you've a head cold. The verdict of this smoker : 's okay I suppose, but I'd rather have some squadron leader.
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SteelCowboy	10/21/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I hoped for more and got much less. Perfection arrives way too moist and the cut is very rough requiring (for me) a lot of rubbing out. The flavor is bland and the vanilla....no vanilla to be found. It really needs some vanilla because as an English blend, it lacks badly. When I want and English with some Vanilla, 4 Noggin's "Britts Balkan" is the go to blend for me.
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SMOKETSES	10/11/2011	Mild to Medium	Medium	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I decided to buy this tobacco, as my curiosity was aroused by the description of an English Mixture that contains a light vanilla scent. This aroma is not very detectable, except, maybe, from the first 2-3 puffs, while showing good faith and being totally convinced that YES, it does contain vanilla. The tobacco is very, but very, moist. It is exhausting to dry it out, to fill the bowl, to light it up and try to keep it burning. Ouf, I’m tired. I said I wanted to smoke, not take a stress and patience test. In the end, an uninteresting mixture by Samuel Gawith. The only interesting thing for me in this tobacco was to find out the breed of the dog on the label.
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Capt	07/27/2011	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Once you let this tobacco dry out, the "vanilla" flavor is gone......Forever. The first few bowls I smoked was a nice, flavorful English mixture with a hint of sweetness. The addition of Turkish to this blend left a sweet, minty flavor on the palate, long after the bowl cooled down. But after drying out, you are left with a regular SG English blend. But hey, that's not so bad!
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rattdogg	07/12/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Strong
It is my belief that the large dog depicted on the label is responsible for the contents of the tin.
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Arash	07/12/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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Rodricus	06/22/2011	Strong	None detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong
Tried several Samuel Gawith blends and this is the one that works for me. A proper english blend that can be smoked any time of the day, and all day long if I get lucky. Tried the small tin as well as the carboard package and they both seem the same to me. The "vainilla hint", as many have pointed might as well be a typo: this does not smells or taste like vainilla. Still, I have to admit that there is something that do give this blend a nice round finish.
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derlict311	02/21/2011	Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Perfected blended, perfectly balanced and has highest of quality of Turkish orientals and their gentle spice. More mild than Squadron Leader and probably best in the morning with coffee. I like everything about this tobacco.
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krg1000	02/08/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
A very nice blend from Samuel Gawith. Everything in this blend seems to come together nicely. It comes a little bit moist in the tin. But once it has been opened for a couple days seems to dry out somewhat. I can't really taste the vanilla, but what there is of it makes a nice addition to the smoke. This does seem to burn down nicely to a fine ash at the bottom of the bowl. It also produces a nice amount of smoke. I would recommend this when it is available, which seems to be an issue with Gawith blends of late.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 90 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >