Samuel Gawith - Squadron Leader pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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Mr. Big	05/21/2012	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I find myself puffing hard on this blend to get some flavor and "N". All I do get is hot smoke, bland and without interest. No sweetness, no Oriental No Latakia.Not a good offering from SG. I won't buy again Updated 12 5/12-Well, I finally got this ! I opened a 9 month old tin, allowed plenty of time to dry and smoked this at a slow sip, it's wonderful . This fills a mild morning pipe, no bite easy pack &burn and just enough Latakia to start the day. I could smoke this all day, more creamy than sweet. This might kick my EMP out of the morning rotation. BUT YOU MUST LET IT AIR AND DRY FIRST.
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furious	05/19/2012	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Great classic from Gawith. Right now it's my favorite weekend morning smoke along with coffee on the side. Nice medium English that is easygoing with great burning properties. Not a powerhouse by any stretch but will get your day off to a great start!
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rintrah	04/28/2012	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Excellent leaf. Highly recommend it.
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Kilmarnock Piper	04/16/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Nothing wrong with this favorite at all, except that medium Englishes aren't my favorite! I gave most of my tin away. Gave it three stars, because it is a quality blend; just not my thing!
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SmokingMySav	04/16/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium	Strong
Every time I see people praise SL I can't help but laugh. This tobacco is exact replica of cheap communist-era Eastern European cigarettes. Very cheap Orientals and Lat, but only people who had the "opportunity" to smoke Eastern European cigarettes would know it. Giving credit where credit is due - it's the only one of the SG tobaccos that is non-aro and therefore could be smoked right out of the tin.
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Ted Bratton	04/15/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Decent dollop of latakia, very mushroomy-earthy-flowery. A very traditional balkan style blend.
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Mark Devall	04/04/2012	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant
So easy to smoke yet with a satisfying taste. No tongue bite. What pipe tobacco promises to be!
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juvat	03/29/2012	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
A good solid English blend. Nothing exceptional, but a great English to spend the day with. I like it.
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machinebacon	03/29/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
(One of) the best Gawith's. Golden and yellow-green ribbons, with the typical tin aroma of English mixtures. Burns down perfectly, needs no drying time out of the tin. Very balanced smoke, no bite. Tastes like incense in the background. Room note is comparably acceptable for a Latakia/Oriental tobacco. My favourite English mixture, highly recommended!
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John Frum	03/29/2012	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Like many other reviewers, I can't help but mention Skiff Mixture as well. I tried it first and loved it, still do in fact, after a year, and my review (4 stars) stands. Squadron Leader is kinda similar in flavor, but this seems fuller somehow (Virginia up front I guess) than the sweeter, Oriental tang of Skiff. Similar smoking characteristics to Skiff. (Dry it out first!) I prefer Skiff, but Squadron Leader is in my rotation to stay. It's just great tobacco. To me it's a glorious, earthy bonfire of a smoke, lots of sweet fumes and tasty to the end. Four stars.
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William H. Hardy	03/27/2012	Medium	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
After about a year of searching, I found a tin of Sam Gawith's legendary Squadron Leader. I think that, after all I had read and all I had been expecting in my mind, it was so over-hyped that it could never have lived up to my expectations. I remember opening the tin with a pen knife and my hot little hands and stuffing the blend into my pipe in anticipation of the inevitable let-down. I'm not a big latakia guy and it was even too light for me in that department. Let me not detract too much from SL, though. It is a fine light-to-medium English and deserves respect. I can tell that it is top quality leaf. It has a pretty good flavor and burns quite well. It just leaves me wanting something more after smoking a bowl of it. Overall impression: Meh.
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Cairns	03/14/2012	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
My favorite blend to accompany morning coffee. I can drink and enjoy my home-roasted coffee, and it is not overpowered by the tobacco. At the same time, I can still taste Squadron Leader very well through the coffee flavors. They complement each other very nicely. To me Squadron Leader tastes a little sweet and smokey, it produces a good amount of smoke. I highly recommend it if you like a mild- medium natural cigar.
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Aussie-man-die-as	03/11/2012	Mild	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Like many, I tried this first, and Skiff later. Skiff is the winner to me. This excels as a mild Latakia blend when that is what I want. There is nothing wrong with it at all, but also it does not impose itself at all. It sings, but quietly and gently in the background. Think crooner, rather than torch singer. Subtle and mild. Quintessentially English if you think understatement and quiet style. Everything is good - the ribbons that dry out quickly enough, the pack, the char, the steady burn. Latakia gently in front, everything well rounded. It just isn't out of the pack. It does "mild Latakia blend" extremely well if that is what you are after. This too shall pass.
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Taylor3006	02/26/2012	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This was my first foray into English and it wasn't all terrible. I pretty much stick with aromatics and really black cavendish tobaccos but after reading about this blend for so long decided to give it a shot. I suppose my palette is not as advanced as other smokers but it was a nice smoke, nice change of pace definitely. I guess I am not a big Latakia fan as it is noticeable in the blend but not too strong. I really dislike the aftertaste in my mouth it causes. A nice blend with a cup of strong coffee though, it works quite well together. Not an everyday smoke for me but not something I am gonna dump. Worth a try for sure.
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wynnemd1	02/13/2012	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Tolerable
I find this one a great morning companion in the car with my coffee. It is a nice smoker, with a good peppery note in it that tingles the taste buds nicely. This is another that the wife cares a lot less for the smell...in general the English are not good evening smokes in the bedroom, but I find it very relaxing and full of flavor, nice burning, kind of like comfort food, makes you feel good inside.
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Fr. Smoke	02/11/2012	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I really want to like this tobacco, but I don't. It's just too mild for my taste as an English blend. It's a full blown English, not a mild English, but I agree with those who find it bland. It just doesn't do anything for me, and I've been dipping into a stash for a year and a half to see if it improves. Not in my book. I'm not a big fan of mild Englishes, either, but I prefer Boswell's Countryside over SL. At least Countryside has some interesting side notes from time to time. SL is made from fine tobaccos, is well blended, burns well, produces beautiful white smoke, burns to a nice white ash, etc. It's high quality stuff, to be sure. I just find the taste and combination so subtle as to be, well, bland. Smoked it this time in a Savinelli Estella, and that made no appreciable difference. (Just about everything smokes well in that pipe). Others mileage will certainly vary. I'd trust their tastes over mine. Too many people love this 'baccy. Makes me wonder what I'm missing. I'll chalk it up to inexperience and try again in another six months...
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Grizzly1911	01/30/2012	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Went in to my locale shop and they had 3 tins, so I grabbed one up to try. Loaded my bowl and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. This is by far the best smoke I have had. I am not experienced enough to describe the flavors, but let it suffice to say that if the other two tins are still there tomorrow I will be buying them.
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Arkie	12/26/2011	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Good stuff. It lives up to its reputation. I suppose it is proper that SL is the standard against which all other English blends are measured. As other reviewers have remarked, it is a bit moist out of the tin but that isn't really a problem. It doesn't bite and it is well behaved. Everyone should try at least one tin of SL in order to understand what an English blend should be. Having said all that, I still prefer Presby or Pembroke but I would get more of SL if it should ever become available in the U.S. again.
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vaporcrow	12/22/2011	Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Pretty smooth but a little too mild for my taste. I think there are better english blends out there such as Peterson's Old Dublin and Dunhill's Standard Mixture. Probably would not buy another tin. Check out my new video series called "Adventures in Pipe Smoking" Focusing on pipe tobacco, collecting, featured pipe smoker etc. short videos for the pipe smoking community.
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Bigdadz	12/03/2011	Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
A fine mild to medium english mixture. Well balanced and smooth. It is very traditional in my view, in the sense that it doesn't have anything particularly unique about it. Nonetheless, for an english lover this tobacco delivers. Highly recommended.
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