Samuel Gawith Cabbie's Mixture

A tobacco with a different presentation, in small coins mixed with ribbon. This, in some way, already makes it recommendable for its originality in the presentation. In the cold smell, the fermented aroma possibly provided by the perique predominates strongly, and to me personally it reminds me of some cheeses. It is not as tasty as some VaPer or as tasteless as others. That is why I have doubted a lot between giving it three or four stars since there are other more tasty VaPers, something that I value a lot in a tobacco. However, the smoke is nice and if the day is right it can be magnificent. Let's say it's three and a half.

2021/01/31: I have returned to smoke another tin of this mixture. He did not remember the high level of humidity it brings. It burns quite slow and is tastier than I remembered. In my opinion it must have an interesting amount of perique that gives it a marked fruity and spicy flavor. It is perhaps the most naturally fruity tobacco I have ever tried.

I was finally able to buy this new Var / Pe. As soon as I opened the can I suffered an attack of acetic acid that softened, giving way to a leathery and bittersweet aroma, between raisins and dried figs. It's my first experience with rolled tobacco like coins, and I loved seeing those rustic earth colored threads, some yellowish and some reddish. I haven't let it dry, since I like moist tobacco better. The first puffs were of cold, woody smoke, where the virginia took the initiative. I was expecting something strong and closer to St. James Flake, so I was surprised not to notice too much citrus or a more robust smoke. Nor notice those echoes of pastures of certain clean and young virginias: perhaps it is the Perique that is playing there. Anyway, I begin to think that the virginia of SG fit exactly what I want from tobacco, because they always have a certain complexity, and here modulated by the Perique that is not out of line. I am in my second bowl in the morning, burning even, cold and without having to relight. Nor does any moisture attack the bottom, and the blow is medium. I think the choice of the pipe was the right one: a Savinelli Oscar barely curved. Pe gives me a nice itch in my nostrils. I think it's going to become my main Va / Pe (I'll let a St. James Flake mature for a couple of years). I brighten it with a long and not too heavy coffee, while I see the flames burning in the salamander.

Jar note is very farmyard to me, like turned warm hay and horse dung(not in a bad way) I like farm smells. Rubbing out - OMG! have you ever tried getting chewing gum out of a carpet? Or stripping woodchip wallpaper? A mammoth lesson in zen to say the least. This for me was not so much a rubbing out but an unravelling. For starters this is probably the wettest Sam Gawith that I've ever had so I put it on a windowsill for a good hour and a half before I started messing around with it. The unravelling took another hour as each strand or clump seemed to be long and springy. I was wondering if it was going to be worth the effort as it sorely tested my patience in the extreme. I then put it back next to an open window for another 20 minutes before I found it had dried enough to smoke. However, my patience and effort was well rewarded as it took to the flame on first light with a pungent, spicy richness that IMHO makes it stand alone amongst its peers. Flavour was top notch throughout the bowl with the perique playing a big part and the Virginias were rich and aromatic, woody and herbal. Any sweetness was on the tongue between puffs. I put it down after 2/3's of the bowl, let it rest for half an hour, knocked the Ash out and relit finding that the flavour was as consistent as the first smoke through the remaining third of the bowl. This must be one of the most satisfying smokes I've had to date and I'd put the nic level around medium. Room note was quite nice to me also. Would I buy again? Hell yeah, I need to learn patience anyway and this is a really good quality tobacco if you like your perique to be a major player. If you don't mind taking the time to deal with a soggy mass of extremely springy and tightly wound tobacco then get some and enjoy, but if you're into instant gratification this one will leave you with steam coming out of your ears! 8/10 for the end result as it's a ball ache to prepare.

Tin came with a year on it already, must have been some lost stock or a weirdness shipped over from Kendal. The average bowl, over the course of multiple tastings, seems to be presenting primarily with buttered peppery raisins with a sugar coating. There are herbal Lakeland notes, but a distant cousin to the Lakeland genre in general. Ripe plum emerges at times. The profile can get harsh and mildly acrid depending on the pack and cadence; this doesn’t want to be pushed. However, the harsher aspects can present even when sipped. It’s not a pepper bomb, but it’s definitely not in the stewed fruit camp. Overall a sweet, lightly fermented VaPer profile with a bit of an edge from the herbal Lakeland and perique.

The consistency of profile is moderate; some bowls are better than others, but they all generally follow the same meta profile. It can burn mildly hot, even when babied; very likely the high sugar content. The leaf quality is high and the tin presentation is good. Mild to medium nicotine for your standard VA tolerance; would be considered unnoticeable if you’re used to stronger fare. Repeatability is acceptable, one could smoke multiple bowls a day of this if so inclined, but I wouldn’t put it in the “all day smoke” category. The pepper and herbal edge can get tiresome if indulged in too frequently.

This is a Somewhat Recommended blend based on the 1y tin I received. However, knowing how LBF ages, and with its price point of less than half this VaPer offering from SG, I would feel quite confident in foregoing this blend in favor of LBF if you are budget conscious. Those who appreciate a bit of an herbal pepper edge to their VaPers may value this one highly enough to shoulder the premium and go deep on it. I personally could see taking a very conservative buying position on this and purchasing a single tin, perhaps two, a year. The age potential seems reasonable to good on this blend.

On opening looked like rather loose discs: they had unravelled a bit. So some loose bits.

I packed it by stacking discs vertically and adding some "kindle" on top.

It took flame well with some re lights.

I could taste the sweet taste of the virginias and a quite pronounced pepper taste. This I took to be the perique. Overall an extremely good smoke. Needs some care not to puff too much as it can bite if you do. As I got used to how to smoke this the depth of taste was truly amazing. In fact I had to stop myself having bowl after bowl(I'm a one bowl a day man at most)

If you like VAP. Get some. You will love it

Most people seem to love this stuff but in my experience for the price you pay it's just mediocre at best and hot air at worse.

Fresh out the tin it's a lot like most SG tobaccos, it's sopping wet and near unsmokable. It'll bite terribly and require many relights.

After drying, a young tin is just bland. No flavor really comes forward, it's just a muted hot air.

After leaving a dried tin to age for about 2 years and there's some improvement but really nothing to write home about. The virginia gives a little sweetness the perique gives some sour stone fruit and pepper. But at the end of the day waiting a year or two for mediocrity is just beyond the pale.

I see no reason to buy Cabbies again when there's so many better VaPers that are great right out of the tin, age or not. Solani Virginia Flake, SG St James Flake, Germains Royal Jersey Perique, Reiner Blend 71 to name a few.

Cabbie's Mixture: A Very, Very Good VaPer

This is probably my favorite SG blend and here is why: The tin note is exquisite. It is sweet with a slight plum aroma. The Virginia varietals are some of my favorite. They are earthy, sweet, with clear undertones of dried fruit. There is quite a bit of perique in this blend. It adds a hearty dose of spice and fermented fruit notes, which I really enjoy. Cabbie's is a game changer for me in the world of VaPers and it might edge out Telegraph Hill in my daily rotation.

The presentation is rustic, and simple. There are a mix of coins, and rubbed out, stringy parts. The coins themselves are similar to Mac Baren’s roll cakes, and Wessex Sovereign Curly Cut. You can pack this a number of ways. There was some plume on some of the coins. I find Samuel Gawith, and Gawith & Hoggarth flakes often have plume. I love it. The tin note was sweet, but sweet in the way that Lakeland Virginias tend to be. There is no Lakeland flavoring in the smoke (maybe a hint, but not enough to ghost your briar), to my taste, but the smell is always there because of the machinery, and the fact that all of the Lakeland tobaccos are produced using the same machinery. I got a similar smell upon opening a tin of Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake, but it dissipated after some time in the jar. There is a good amount of moisture in the tobacco. Before smoking, I give this some air time, and it burns just fine. No tongue bite. I usually take some coins and put them together and stuff them into the pipe, adding some of the ribbon pieces on top for kindling. How you orient the coins can vary depending on the diameter of the bowl on your pipe. You just have to make sure your draw is easy and enough air can pass. The bowl starts off with dried fruit notes, and farther down the bowl I get bread and pastry notes, cereal and honeyed grains, cinammon, dates, raisins, lemon cake, plum skin, actual plum tastes, prunes. I guess you could say there is a raisin bread note as well. I also get this fermented Belgian brown beer-like note (I mention St. Bernardus Abt 12 in my review of Escudo). I also got some cocoa notes and hint of nuttiness.

tobacco strength is maybe medium. The nicotine is there, but it’s not overwhelming. I would say that’s medium as well. The taste is medium. There is a lovely fullness and richness to this blend, but it’s not a continual thing throughout the bowl. I found this smoked and tasted best in narrow bowls with chambers of straight sides (Canadian, Brandy, Apple, Lovat).

The downside of this blend is the availability. It’s hard to get. It’s often out-of-stock. The price isn’t terrible. I think it’s worthy to mention that I find the taste to be similar to that of Escudo, and Escudo is always available, and produced with equal quality. I don’t think you need to go out of your way to get this blend, but if you see it in-stock somewhere, try it. You won’t be sorry. It’s delicious. I don’t know if I would ever get it again, but I would certainly recommend it. If you enjoy Virginia Perique blends, it’s an all-day kind of blend.

When opening the tin, you'll detect a ketchup-like aroma. Ignore it. This tobacco is packaged in the tin a bit on the moist side - so dry it out for a few minutes prior to loading your pipe. As far as flavors, this one seems to be Perique-forward in flavor with a subtle sweetness from the dark red Virginia tobaccos. After getting a third of the way through the smoking, the Perique seems to get even more attention as the sweetness starts to fade away. I would call this a one-dimensional smoke. Might be interesting to mix some Burley with it just to see what else it can do for the palette. I'll keep the rest in the tin and revisit this one in the future.