Samuel Gawith - Golden Glow pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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KahveDelisi	09/05/2010	Mild	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Obviously many will find this one mild in every way compared to similar products but I don't. Infact I like this one much better. For now it meets all my expectations from a VA. Highly recommended if you're not a "strong" pal who seeks "strength" in everything.
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Fubber	05/01/2010	Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
A fine virginia flake. Mild but very nice to smoke. My 'everyday out-and-about' tobacco.
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trbtd	04/24/2010	Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
My tin had mold in it.
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JESTRAB	04/20/2010	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Golden Glow is a lighter clone of FVF. It is a pure, natural virginia of the highest quality. I prefer smoking it indoors where I can more enjoy its fine flavour. One could smoke golden glow over the weekdays while keeping FVF for Sundays. To my taste, however, it is a bit too gentle and will rather stick to the FVF even during the week.
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Xeneize	03/26/2010	Medium to Strong	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Quality tobacco, as every Samuel Gawith product. This pure Virginias blend is almost as good as FVF or Best Brown Flake, being more natural and brighter. In fact, it could easily get 4 stars if I didn't find it a bit unbalanced: the lemon leaf is sometimes too sharp and tangy for my palate, although I fully enjoy this smoke 90% of the times.
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PipesterJim	03/20/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
My first experience with this tobacco was not a positive one. It burned like a furnace and left me with a smarting tongue and sore mouth with little reward in terms of flavour. No matter how I prepared the weed the results were the same. Not good. A year later and I decided to give it another try, but this time prior to opening my new tin I baked it in the oven for 5 hours at 90 degrees celsius. Now we're talking. The harsh edges have been smoothed out and I am left with an absolutely delicious tobacco. Tasty and complex. The bowl begins with oodles of sweet, tangy Virginia goodness and becomes toastier and fuller as one progresses. Things really hit their stride at the halfway mark and by the time I reach the bottom nicotine levels have become sufficient to put a smile on my face. True, the flavour is not as forthright as Full Virginia Flake (less 'bass') but it is certainly not lacking. I have a well aged tin of FVF on the go at the moment and I find this blend equally satisfying, just slightly less upfront about things. It benefits from some drying time and requires (and deserves) to be smoked slowly and delicately to reveal what it has to offer. A definite winner for me in its baked form and I'm very glad I decided to give it another chance. Two thumbs up!
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renwardhoop	02/18/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable
Having run the full circuit of aromatics decided to try a straight blend of virginia. Was worried it might taste like a cigarette, but it didn't. Actually it didn't taste of anything very come to think of it. It's not nasty, definately not a biter and I found it a bit of a bugger to keep alight. Probably something to do with the idiot that rubbed it out. Very moist, scrummy looking broken flakes to die for in this tin of mine. Pity it doesn't actually taste of anything. Mrs RW comes home tomorrow and so that will be a test of the room note. A note I cannot detect at all. Still, I can see me reaching for this one time and again despite my grumbles. Just sniff that old tin and get that bouquet is enough to make you fill up a big juicy bowl. N-i-c-e.
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tonyg	02/12/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
See my review of Medium Virginia Flake, the same tobacco in bulk.
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Virginia lover	02/11/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Quality Golden Virginia, smokes flawlessly. No tongue bite with fast puffing. Sweet and tasty, I always go back for more.
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The Pipesmith	02/10/2010	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A thoroughly enjoyable Virginia tobacco with very clean taste and nose. Tin note is fabulous but the tobacco needs some significant drying until its just pliable. I find it really does smoke coolest of you just role up some of the broken sheets and just stuff the role into your pipe. Break up the tobacco on top or add some finer pieces and light away. It does seem to need a few more relights initially this way, but the coolness is worth it. If you let it dry till brittle and rub it out real fine, it burns without so many relights and stays reasonably cool. Smoked cool by sipping - and bearing with the occasional relight - the flavors and nose are absolutely captivating albeit a bit light. Bite is not a problem this way either. I prefer the last half of the bowl when my pipe has really found its groove and the flavor and nose have deepened a bit more. By the time I finished the tin, I did notice a floral or soapy scent which I hadn't noticed before. Not too wild about that. An excellent, high quality tobacco that I enjoyed trying. I'll probably get this again sometime, but its not high up on my must have list at this time.
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Javierchu_cai	01/21/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Natural sweet, high grade pure and soft virginia
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onehitter	12/18/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Full	Overwhelming
I will tell you now the room note is ugly but taste is great. I like to puff and this will burn your pipe before it burns you so watch out. This is what it is, broken Vrigina flake no more no less blond in nature. A little wet in the tin a little hot in the pipe even when dry so watch out,other than that it's great.Yes theres a hay smell but not in taste. Its one dimensional in taste but complex. I will add that the new tin I have smells like tea.
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The German	11/23/2009	Medium	None detected	Full	Pleasant
Having read many favourable reviews here on Samuel Gawith's tobaccos, I had just about given up on getting any in my home country when my favourite tobacco company started offering a good selection of them rather recently. Since I was visiting their facilities this week, anyway, I got a tin of GG and FVF each, as well as a few other blends by other manufacturers. I shall be reviewing them all as I go through them. OK. Back to Golden Glow. Opening the tin, the blend looked like somebody had tried to rub out a flake by running a tank over the slices; also, the 'baccy was rather moist. In my estimation, still smokeable, though. The tin aroma was a mix of oranges, olives, hay and lychees: none of these aromas being artificial or somehow applied; just the sweetest VA I have ever encountered. As a broken flake, it's easy to stuff. The cut is pretty wide for a flake, so a wide bowl might be a good idea, and there are some pretty large flake bits left in the tin that should probably be rubbed out before smoking. This is a sweet and spicy blend, remeniscent of 1st Flush Darjeeling teas with just the right amount of cane sugar, starting out gently but gaining in power throughout the smoke. Full, sweet taste with no hint of anything artificial and with a beautiful toastiness towards the end of the bowl. Matured, beautifully sweet VA. I happen to love it, hence 4 stars. On the other hand, this blend is not exactly for the beginner; it has a certain amount of strength and needs to be smoked slowly. For those who can do that, and like pure VAs, this is a winner. For the VA/Per smokers, it's probably too one- dimensional to be an every-day smoke, but could make for a nice change of pace. For everybody else, look elsewhere: This ain't for you. The room note was graded "great" by a good friend of mine; an aromatics smoker who was there while I broke in a new pipe with this blend.
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Kilmarnock Piper	10/04/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant
Not the usual Gawith. It's pleasantly mild, but I'm going low on the rating because it's just a wee bit boring. I puffed and puffed trying to get more flavor. There are some milder Virginias I do like, but they have delicate, subtle flavors rather than...I almost said no flavor, but that's not true. It's nice, but one could do better. 2-7-11 Upgrading. Not sure why I was so hard on this. Finally got some more, and it's very nice. When I reviewed it before, I was smoking a lot of SG, and it was cheap and readily availiable, and this may have seemed the weakest of the ones I tried back then, but even if it still comes across fairly mild to me, I like it.
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Alguhan	07/31/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant
I would rate it with 3 stars but I think I could spend the time with a much more satisfying tobacco, like FVF for example. A high quality and easy to smoke tobacco. Can be smoked at any time of the day. But not enough to satisfy my taste buds. It is too delicate. After finishing each bowl I wanted to smoke something else. Anyway, a good tobacco and worth a try.
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ronjam	07/05/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant
I am pretty much a fan of all SG blends, this one included. Yet, I was disappointed when I finally got a tin of Golden Glow. I found it a bit too bland compared to BBF and 1792. In fact, it improves when a bit of 1792 is added. Still, very high quality, and worth a try. Just don't smoke it after 1792 or FVF.
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Plunket	05/22/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
What comes to mind is the words of General George Washington in his letter to the Continental Congress of 1776: "If you can't send money, send tobacco"; the man clearly understood the reward value that tobacco offers as an incentive - in the absence of hard cash! He was surely thinking of SGs Golden Glow (although, we know SGs only started blending during his first term as President). This is a light, delicate, un-complicated smoke of pure virginia (no casing) that is moderately sweet and offers aromas of grass/hay with a hint of citrus in the background - a delightful adventure for those advocates of light virginias. As always, it's an SG tobacco - so moisture is high and the smoke benefits from some advanced drying. SGs don't stock-pile tobaccos at Canal Head, they blend and manufacture day-in, day-out, and usually to precise export order demands. Hence, the product will always be fresh and moist as a consequence.
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PiperAviator	05/21/2009	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
This came a little too moist in the tin, but a day of drying fixed it up. I like to pull good sized pieces off of the broken flakes, fold them over and just stuff them. First few lights are tough, but once it's lit, it stays lit for most of the bowl. In the tin, it looks beautiful. First impression is that it smells a lot like raisins. Thankfully, that doesn't translate into the smoke. This is one I puff sloooooowly. Barely a wisp of smoke escapes my lips with each puff, but I find I get the most flavor that way. It is a delicate taste; grassy and citrusy at the same time. Not complex in any way. Consistent throughout the bowl. Coffee is too much for it. Red wine - forget it. Bourbon killed it completely. Only thing I can drink with this is tea with honey or lemon. My wife says this one smells "OK".
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eamonclever	03/23/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant
I heard and read much about this tobacco, finally I bought a tin of it. Never smoked this kind of cut, it is unusual for the continent, especially for Austria where I live. Smells good, tin is full of pleasant flavour, rub it a bit, smell is as good as before, maybe a little too wet, but will see. My good old bulldog will do - nice stuffing, nice start, some relights but no problems so far. Smell like expected, bit grassy flavour but okay. As said by others a good morning pipe or maybe during the day without any hammer nicotine. No big difference in taste although I took quite a bunch of GG. Like it looking forward to some more. Won´t take it in my rotation, but nice to have this stuff in my cabinet as I only store wine in my cellar ;-) Highly recommended for starters, multitobaccosmokers, experienced smokers, who want to taste different ways of taste, this is pure va unless I prefer the rattray line.
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catdaddy	03/16/2009	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
To me, this is the ultimate morning smoke. It's not quite a middleweight but it's no lightweight either - something closer to a welterweight. Beautiful tobacco. Like the guy below said "toasty" and with a natural sweetness that is sure to put a smile on your face. Samuel Gawith hit a homer with this one and I'm buying pounds in preparation for Obama's SCHIP tax. Can anyone see the sense in trying to stimulate spending while raising taxes at the same time?
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