Samuel Gawith Black Cherry

This blend needs a little dry time fresh out of the tin, but I wouldn't let it dry out completely. A medium cherry taste with a hint of vanilla and chocolate. You won't get much of a tobacco taste from the black cavendish. There's no chemical or artificial notes to the toppings. It can get slightly harsh near the end if you're a fast puffer. It won't bite.The strength is a step past the cenetr of mild to medium. The taste is medium. The nic-hit is barely mild. Burns a little slow, clean and mostly cool with a very consistent flavor. Needs some relights, and leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Has an attractive aftertaste, and pleasant room note. A nice morning and/or after dinner smoke when you're in the mood for tobacco in this genre. Not quite an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Definitely one of the FINEST AROMATICS,I've ever had in my pipe.A Virginian-Puritan at heart;a tobacco blender at my Winnipeg pipe shop,filled my bowl(out of his tin)***Just because this is an"Aromatic"don't be fooled;this weed packs a punch.Smooth to smoke,but"High Nicotine" I'm not sure of what leaf Gawith starts out with to make this cavendish style...I have a feel'g it is either orange or red virginian...air cured partially+then steam press it with actual Cherries.....FANTASTIC.....Even You Virginian-Puritans' should take this little Red Porsche for a spin; you may be Pleasantly surprised. :+)

As a novice pipesmoker with an initial (although admittedly fading) interest primarily in aromatics this offering from Samuel Gawith was the first aromatic to deliver taste that somewhat matched the room and tin note. It burns nice and evenly but in my experience benefits greatly from some drying as it is fairly moist. The room note is a real crowd pleaser and lets me get away with smoking in the presence of nonsmokers.

As far as taste goes I find the distinct cherry taste doesn't really appear until after the bowl is finished. Prior to that I mostly get a plum/fig-like taste along with the cavendish. Also, at the start of my session I get a acrid, harsh taste which disappears about 1/3 into the bowl. This may be due to user error but I have tried my best to eliminate any possible variables that may cause it, such as smoking it in different pipes, with a beard and without, pantsless and humming, during a full moon and whilst tapping my fingers etc. I cannot for the life of me get rid of the initial taste...

Having said that I find it a thoroughly enjoyable smoke but it is best smoked as a dessert-smoke as the cherry taste that settles in your mouth is sure to hang around for several hours. Which isn't such a bad thing, all things considered...

// Edit: I let a bowl full of Black Cherry sit out 'til it got absolutely bonedry and I'm happy to say that the issue with the strange initial taste is now gone. I had feared that packing a brittle and dry tobacco would be a nightmare but it actually performed flawlessly with no relighting issues and a cool 1+ hr burn. With that in mind I've decided to bump up my recommendation another notch.

It seems that cherry tobacco is the first port of call for all aromatics. It's almost like an unwritten code and serves as a baseline for everything else in the same category. I've previously tried it in its various guises (loose rolling, cigarillos, etc) around the world, culminating in SG Black Cherry as my first pipe version - and one I'd been looking forward to with some zeal.

As cherry tobaccos go, it's quite heavily top-dressed. Get hands-on with it and you'll appreciate just how sugary it is. The tin comes across as rather sweet, but the casing is a pretty well-rendered morello cherry aroma, even if it does drown the Cavendish. It smells like a tobacco fit for dessert, and that's pretty much how it smokes.

For the odd bowl, this would be a nice treat; It's full-on aromatic that pulls no punches, and goes down quite well with a nice coffee in the morning - or maybe even one of those kriek beers from Belgium. However, I've realized that I can't be done with smoking something like this all day. It's just a bit too sickly for that. It's also on the moist side and does need a regular re-light.

I'd happily smoke this again, but only to begin the day, or as an after dinner moment. Certainly SG deliver a stout and robust cherry aromatic, but I'm pretty sure there are more polished blends out there, to boot.

Stunningly good, both in the box and the pipe, but be aware: this is a strong aromatic blend with average nicotine and good taste. It will be loved and appreciated by everyone around you, and you will have an amazing experience in smoking it, but for the love of your pipes choose one and dedicate it to this tobacco. The quite obvious reason is that the flavor is very strong. It will leave a cherry flavored ghost on the pipe that close to nothing will remove, not even time.

Apart from that, it's really a great tobacco. Differently from the Celtic Talisman, it does not smell "artificial" in the box. It is a wet tobacco, so it enjoys a little pre-smoke time outside the box unless you want to relight often.

If you love aromatics, this tobacco must be in your collection.

I am sorry: altough I am an aromatics fan, cherry flavour is not my favourite. I smoked the whole tin, so this Cavendish is not bad, has no tongue-bite and smokes cool. But I am missing something: body. This is too much chewing gum aroma for every day.

I found this a little dissappointing. Everything about it is "mild". The tobacco flavours and cherry flavours are both very subtle. It also lacks any punch at all. I also found that there was a roughness to the tobacco that built over the course of the pipe that left my throat a little jagged. Not a bad smoke, just not notable.

Samuel Gawith - Black Cherry.

Another one of my early reviews which didn't seem too helpful when I re-read it. So, here I go again!

The blend isn't as black as I remembered it being, dark brown yes, jet black no. I asked my wife for a description of the smell (she's much more creative with language than I am, ergo she has an English degree and I only have a GCSE!), and her instant analogy was Black Forrest Gateaux: cherries and cream. The coarse cut mixture looks like any mid-sized ribbon, and shock and awe for Sam Gawith, it's perfectly hydrated; well, this tin is!

Black Cherry lights up easily, and the presence of the cherries is unquestionable right away. But, although they're added pretty strongly they don't seem too toxic or false; there's a flavoursome sweetness, but it isn't too gloopy. There's also a gentle touch of vanilla from the black Cavendish, and this makes it perfect for a dessert smoke. The flavour seems consistent throughout a bowl: quite strongly aromatic, and it burns very well, delivering an incredibly cool smoke.

The nicotine's quite mild, and the room-note's lovely.

I used to smoke quite a lot of this, before I trailed off into VaPers and Balkans, but I think I'll re-introduce this into my rotation as my afternoon aromatic.

Highly recommended.

A fairly pleasant smoke... but, lacking memorable characteristics, either by nose, taste or texture. Nose in the tin reveals a hint of Cherry.... not overcased... indeed undercased in my opinion.... dry out a little or be prepared for multiple lights. I really, really wanted to like this tobacco.... but, as other reviewers have noted.... in some respects it's shallow.... no bite, or real flavour. However, if adulterated with another 'suitable' tobacco it can redeem itself. I cut this with 50% Borkum Riff Cherry Cavendish for two reasons... the Riff is naturally very dry and burns down quickly... especially if you're a puffer. The Gawith is naturally moist and lacking real cherry flavour and room note. The 2 work well together.... and I must admit to frequently inhaling the smoke like it was a cigarette... The Riff burns slower, becomes less pungent and allows the Gawith to stay alight... Other commentators have cut it with Sqn Ldr... One fact to note... we smokers are a fickle lot and all have different tastes and highly personal perceptions. I like aromatics.... I have include this in my rotation with 50% BRCC... which by the way are exactly the same price at £11.70 per 50 grams.

As always with Gawith, this stuff is wet in the tin, usually I smoke their flakes quite moist but I prefer to dry out a bit their ribbon cut blends, in this case far more than a bit.... The tin smell reminds me of those brilliant red cherries used for cocktails and I mean in a good sense: alchoolic but not chemical ! BC is a strongly flavoured Aromatic with taste and room note absolutely coherent with the unlit smell, but there’s a trade-off in this case: on one hand a pleasant flavoring, one other hand there’s no tobacco taste, absolutely reset !