Samuel Gawith Black Pigtail

I would say that this old-fashioned, no-nonsense tobacco has five defining characteristics:

(a) It's strong – don't make any mistake about it, you need to treat this with a lot of respect, and it'll test your nerve. Don't try to smoke too much of it at once, don't whatever you do inhale, and don't try to smoke it too quickly. This is certainly a tobacco for your smallest bowl.

(b) It's laborious to prepare for the pipe (though no more so, to be fair, than twists, pigtails etc. generally are). It's best sliced into thin discs that are then rubbed out; if you didn't rub them out you would, I imagine, have constantly to be relighting because . . .

(c) Black Pigtail as sold is very oily/moist. To get a really trouble-free burn, you'll need to dry it out a lot.

(d) It has the kind of full, demanding, organic flavour – hefty, meaty, sour – that you would expect from this kind of tobacco, combined with

(e) a pungent, frying-mice room note that is almost certain to be objectionable to innocent bystanders. It's as subtle as an axe in the head; Klio and SWMBO won't have it at any price.

It seems to me that Black Pigtail is a heavyweight commodity that no one is going to have mixed or lukewarm feelings about. If you like a strong, completely natural, old-time tobacco like Popeye the Sailor or Great Uncle Caleb used to enjoy, you'll love this; if you don't, you'll run from it squeaking and gibbering. It's a simple as that, I reckon.

To the smoker who likes this kind of tobacco generically, I'm happy to recommend Black Pigtail. Others take note, however: it's an acquired taste that will take a fair bit of acquiring. To my mind (though this is perhaps just a personal peculiarity) a tobacco like this is a good midwinter, cold-weather, outdoor smoke. In view of the room note, the family will probably drive you out of doors to smoke it anyway.

I was told that this would kick my butt butt is was meek and mild. It has a strange musty, sour aroma and flavor but it actually was a nice smoke. Supposedly has high "n" content but it never bothered me. Best smoked in a small pipe, as it is very oily and a heavy smoke. Would not buy more but I did enjoy this first sample amount. Just like a more fragrant tobacco.

Original review 01/12/08: This is the 1st twist tobacco I have tried & after ordering it online (25g from UK Tobacco), I awaited it's delivery with baited breath, hoping for a good experience. When it arived in a plastic pounch, it gave of the most pungent aroma - a distinctly dark, oily, woody smell, with what seemed like slight undertones of licqourice & possibly wet rubber. It's pungency could be detected from a few feet away, even though I have a cold which is affecting my sinuses. I sliced this twist into thin disks & leaving them whole piled them into a clay churchwarden (I have never smoked a clay pipe before). Upon slicing, it could be seen that the tobacco had developed an almost putty-like quality at the centre, it was that tightly packed. I fired it up & was immediately stuck by the depth of the smoke, very very dark, warm taste. I found that this didn't really develop at any point, so, although it was quite pleasant it became a bit boring when it failed to evolve into anything else. The other complaints I have are that it kept going out & became somewhat harsh on the throat (maybe this was because I puffing hard to try & keep it alight). I do recognoise that it is possible that the clay pipe was responsible for either of these particular problems. The tobacco was strong, as expected but overall, I would say that I was maybe expecting too much. For my second bowl of this, the next day, (I couldn't smoke 2 bowls of this in a 24hr period) I rubbed out the disks, I would say this possibly improved the burn by maybe 5% or so, not very noticeable - it didn't alter the smoke in any other way. The room note will win you no friends, but I smoked this alone as I was quite prepared for that. I would recommend that this is tried, for the experience & just to see if it does turn you on - but buy a small quantity for caution's sake. I am ageing some sealed in my 'cellar' (an old swing-top bin) to see if it improves, & if it does, I will report back here & change my rating if necessary. NOT FOR BEGINNERS. I would also urge caution as I accidentally inhaled 1 puff & my throat was on fire for a while & was uncomfortable for a good 30 minutes afterwards.

Update 07/07/08: Not really much of an update, just to say that when it had been dried for a little while longer & smoke in my briar churchwarden instead of a clay the burning properies improved. Not enough to upgrade my rating though, still waiting for the aged stuff to mature a bit before that is a possibility.