For the past few months I have been exploring the Peterson range (starting with Old Dublin) and some of the Amphora aromatic brands and other individuals here and there, finding them interesting with their good an bad, strengths and weaknesses.

Coming across the Samuel Gawith, I have decided to start exploring their range of tobaccos. And my journey begins with the 1792 Flake where I met UGLY.

Opening the can I was first challenged by the aroma, which was hard to comprehend. The former aromatics had always had an appetizing smell, and the English always complemented their strong stench with a unique charm. This one, was nothing like it.

Rubbing and letting dry, I have tried to smoke this tobacco several times. It begins with quite nice footsteps, but very soon ends with a disaster.

This tobacco WILL hurt your guts, it will also leave an annoying taste and smell over your hands, tongue and throat.

Unless you have lost your taste glands, or plan to loose them anytime soon, please stay away from this flake!

Flash forward a year later. SG had become almost impossible to find in the States. I was aching for something new and recalled 1792. I packed a small bowl after a big dinner and tried it again. Voila! Smokes cool as a cucumber and I guess the aroma is one of those things you grow into, like well-aged brie.

It smoked cool, burning to the bottom with a white ash. The flavor is vanilla-ish but Tonquin is in a league of its own. It's now in my rotation but I'm careful to use only small bowls on a full stomach.

This is a one of a kind smoke, notwithstanding Bracken Flake, it's younger sibling. I recommend any serious pipe smoker try this exceptional product.

This does deliver a decent nicotine hit, but not enough to scare anyone away. Rich smoke delivers that tonquin bean vanillaish aroma. Does require a few relights throughout the smoke, but that just proves you arent smoking too fast.

As a pipe smoker, I believe everyone owes it to smoke the entire SG spectrum, and start with this one.

4 out of 5 stars. Paired suprisingly well with a JD and Coke.

My first smoke with this was rather disappointing. I'm a noob who started out on English blends, and at first I found 1792 to be lacking in flavor, as much as I wanted to like i. Tried again...same thing.

I kept smoking this, only because I had no intentions of throwing it away. And since tyhere was really nothing distasteful about it, why not?

Well, the more I smoked it, the more I got to like it- and one day, the flavor just hit me! It's wonderful! Albeit, it's a rather subtle flavor- but as you acclimate to this tobacco, it does come out of hiding. I get some nice "cigar" taste/aroma from this...not sure that I taste the tonquin bean at all- but whatever it is, after having smoked 2/3's of a tin now, this has become my favorite smoke- and I crave it's flavor!

The beauty of 1792 is, that it is also an extremely weell-mannered tobacco- it doesn't burn too fast, and smokes very cool, even though I'm a fast puffer, and tend to heat up just about every other tobacco!

Sometimes I can keep this lit pretty well...other times, it's a bear.....but it doesn't matter, because either way, you are richly rewarded with luxuriant plumes of rich, flavorful smoke- and a lot of nicotine.

To me, this is what pipe-smoking is all about- not just something to puff on, which smells nice, while going about other activities- but rather, something to sit with in the evening, while watching a DVD, when it's quiet, and to just relax with and enjoy, and experience all it's richness and flavor, to drift into a another world of nicotine and thought.

Smoking this is truly an experience- something to be savored and enjoyed....something special. It's almost a ritual to sit and have a nice bowl of this. I usually only smoke once a day- but after smoking this, I'm always tempted to go back for more (and sometimes I do!)- and when smoking something else, I often find myself wanting to have at least a little of this afterwards.

This has become my favorite. (And don't let some of the reviews scare you, if you're a beginner. My recommendation is to start out with good tobaccos, like this- even if you end up not liking them, they will educate your palate more quickly, and at least give you a feel for what pipe-smoking can be all about (I had tried aromatics 30 years ago as a teen...and they put me off pipe-smoking until now! Start with the good stuff...it won't kill you- but will reward you by putting you on the fast track to high-quality, really enjoyable smokes!)

If I could only have one tobacco...this would be it!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, I have not yet even finished the entire tin of 1792, and I am becoming bored with it. It's a good occasional smoke, but is not really complex enough for daily use. Your mileage may vary. Surprisingly, contrary to many other reviewers, my tin arrived at a perfect moisture level...and dried out before long, so that I had to rehydrate the tobaccie.....

Tin aroma interesting;i can see where people get the musty charity shop impression.For me it reminded me strait away of my old scout hut hall-hessian ropes,wax candles,paraffin lamps. Thinking military surplus,canvas,air cadets,damp army tent,in the trenches and a peculiar old school vintage vanilla?-I like this one already.

Packing the pipe i semi rub out a flake and stuff it in. Puffing on the pipe prior to lighting is a rather meaty leather dungy affair-sort of dried human pooey actually and mysterious.. I persevere.

Lighting up with matches i get a saltyness and playdoh factor remeniscent of Bobs Chocolate Flake minus the cocoa.Takes a few matches, i hope this pipe combination works(am using a vintage yello bole airograte early aluminium radiator stem.)I had to test out this yello bole eventually. Mainly getting a dark buttery virginia with maybe latakia and a herby soapy oriental and maybe some kentucky weight.

It doesn't want to light easy and perhaps it could do with a 20 minute drying preparation time or a narrower gauge bowl? Getting bored and tipping out,rubbing out and reloading,then lighting up again and purposely hyper ventilating to keep it lit,it is quite spicy up my nose. Not sure yet that its capable of being a sipper and i now just puff.

A lot of taste and maybe too much at once,i could do perhaps with a tighter draught pipe and a smaller bowl perhaps but dont know if it will compromise or change the taste favourably or unfavourably. Smells slightly starchy at the bowl end like when you let the iron hiss when ironing a shirt.A bracken composty earthy wilderness in the damp heath or fields springs to mind in my mouth. Damp stale combat fatigues on manuevres after a ten mile run-definately a man smell.

Boiled rice aroma and salt like par boiling your simmering rice,red kidney beans in taste. Luckily this tobacco reminds me of certain events in my life so i have other more realistic comparisons i can think of, otherwise i would have to say it does smell and taste slightly like inhaling the atmosphere in close proxmidity to the laundery basket.Certainly has a domestic dusty vacuum cleaner note to it as well.Slightly.

What it definately does remind me of is the interior atmosphere of a 1960s MOD submarine.I went on once called HMS Dolphin:My neighbour was a submariner in the Royal Navy and he invited us(me ,my brother and my dad)to Portsmouth and gave us a walk round the Dolphin,Onyx and Onslaught.They were moored up along side eachother.1792 has a stale human sweatroom aroma about it and smells like a place where a bunch of soldiers or mariners have been hanging around.

I can smell WW2,coal burner,boilers and desparate men. Leaving the pipe and walking out of the room and revisiting after going to the bog i get an english tobacco room note which although alright for me,would probably be irritating for somebody else.Its not necessarily like a shoey/socky ammonia smell,but more of an upper body sweaty barracks smell.

Picking up the pipe again now its cooler i get the tonquin factor!I will try this in another pipe to see if i can bring more subtlety out of it.As it is ,it tastes(while going slow now)like what dunhill london mixture tastes like when going absolutely full steam ahead.I see why certain people might compare this to Nightcap(Nightcap is sweeter than this)but it tastes like full strength London Mixture to me albeit with the tonquin addition.

Yes i like it,i feel its unique,i don't regret the purchase and will probably keep some in my rotation and jar for cellaring. I like the visions and atmosphere it evokes and baccies that take me on a journey are good baccies(its why i smoke them actually)

Relighting is easier and i think this baccy would light better in the first place if i left a 1/4 inch gap at the top of the bowl for a better chimney effect.

The saltiness and all the other factors are combining to give me the Normandy Landings;i can see men,vehicles,guns,half tracks on landing crafts-smoke in the air noise and shouts and total bloody chaos(in my mouth) I can smell the smell of fear-somebody has urinated on the deck because there is no toilets and the tip and rock of the craft makes it trickle towards our stuff on the floor..Nobody cares because its the least of our worries...Another soldier is taking a well timed pre combat shit on the floor behind me saying"mind where you tread",,,"better out than in-you don't want to be carrying 3 pound of excess shit in your guts accross no-mans-land for no reason!"i say with a sea spray soaked and crooked woodbine hanging in my mouth..."Its just chewed bread" i say to myself as i remember my plumber father who laying on the floor arm deep, once unblocked a drain full of shit and bog paper with his brave bare arm and found the problem;somebody had flushed a pair of paisley Y fronts down the toilet..I laugh to myself and wonder if this will be the last time i ever laugh?"Are you alright "said the apprentice,,,"its just chewed bread" said my hard dad.

Anyway back to reality its not pooey at all,its just a very strong english with some human like nuances in the background. Probably not going to be an everyday smoke, but like a book on the shelf i will pick up where i left off from time to time. Probably just right for watching 'World At WAR' on the history channel with a drink of water(preferably in a genuine military issue canteen)to understand the poignant smell of 20th century human history.

Its worth 3 stars.

UPDATE an hour or so later;i feel i must add how strong the nicotine is actually,i have had a few bowls now and must say it has left me a little spun out like accute disorientation motion sickness.This is up there near the likes of the best ropes and plugs and irish flake.Definately catches up and i feel like a rest so watch out.

Soli Deo gloria!