Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Mixture

Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Mixture, BULK from pipesandcigars.com: This has a wonderful room note: Sweet and nutty, although the flavor is flat and the VA barely comes across; never-mind the fact that it has a bite and sour taste that is very disappointing. I tried aging some with no results. By adding 1/3 ECR bulk to this it added body and the sweetness it so lacked without it. So, I was able to save it but I won't buy it again. I blend my own Cyp Lat mix that blows this out of the water, but we learn by trying. If you're looking for an excellent English Cyp Lat mixture, please try Balkan Sesieni. You won't be disappointed. Next, don't be taken in by the remake of Balkan Sobraine. You'll be spoofed into paying a lot of money for the name, but you will not get the product you were hoping for. The first 1/4" tastes fairly nice, but then it immediately turns to bitter bitey dottle, and then you know you've been had, while the makers of the stuff are laughing all the way to the bank. Just a word of warning. It's being re-released in small amounts from time to time, but avoid it at all costs. It is NOTHING like to original!

If this is a sample of the stereotypical English blend, count me in. I've heard some horror stories about the SG tins and not being properly sealed. Not the case with mine. My tin aged about 4 years. Upon cracking it open I was met with a strong smokey smell typical of English blends. The tobacco is pressed in nicely and has a beautiful black oily appearance. I felt like this was my stop as soon as I boarded the SG bus. Examining the leaf I found all good quality product. I let a pinch dry for about ten minutes to start. It settled nicely and took a charring light with ease. I was met with a full stout puff of smoke. I tamped and put the pipe down for almost twenty minutes to breath. When I came back to it, I relit and was off to the races. The flavor was creamy and sweet. Somewhat one dimensional all the way through the bowl. I was not disappointed by this as it was just plain good. Before I knew it my first bowl was gone. It burned nice and even all the way through wth a cool heavy smoke. All in all a very satisfying experience for this venerated blend. I smoked the remainder of the tin over a two week period in four different pipes with the same pleasing results. Never once meeting the over powering Lakeland soapy taste. No tongue bite either. It behaved like a perfect travel companion the whole trip.

Cool,smooth smoke from beginning to end. Maintained with very little attention, burns clean and dry. The right amount of flavor and strength, you don't need to sip or search for the flavor with this one. Nice spicy note on the retrohale. Very well done. 4*.

A wonderful blend. Just outstanding to smoke. I am a big fan of taste that is wood smoke and sweet hay with the flavor of nuts here and there along with anything else you want to throw in. This blend gives me all that and more. This is Frog Mortin Across the Pond with more flavor and more varied taste. Burns fairly cool needs to be smoked slowly and room note is a campfire. Gosh this is good. It will bite a bit if your not careful and keep it slow and sip not puff a lot. It's in my rotation of damn fine smokes! You should give it a shot.

wonderful latakia...great balance...good taste...i like non aromatics and aromatics so my collection of 105 blends is a mix bag of brands and mixes...this blend is excellent!!!! dont pass on this one

I like the sweet-savoury balance here, which is IMO slightly more tilted towards the sweet, i.e. towards the Virginias. This lacks Orientals, so it's not a conventional English blend in my book. If, like me, you're predominantly a VA smoker who craves Latakia every so often, you'll get the best of both worlds from CM. For me this is a rich, creamy smoke with an adequate amount of body and strength... after a heavy meal of red meat, you could do a lot worse than a glass of peaty Scotch, somewhere to put your feet up, and a nice big fat bowl of this tobacco.

Very heady latakia scent in the tin, with the color ranging from black to dark brown. Cut was sort of a ribbon with some choppy stuff tossed in.

Tough one to review. I picked this up on a whim without knowing much about it. The absence of orientals in a latakia blend begs comparison with blends like McClellands Anniversary, but I found the two nothing alike in taste. In this one, the virginia was so subservient that any sweetness was so far to the rear and the blend took on a dusty, hazy flavor that was more bitter than I would expect. I didn't find any creamy notes in this one, and it was far from complex. The only differences I found was as the bowl neared the last 1/3rd or so, it gained in intensity. The smoke was sort of chewy and full-feeling and the taste was not bad, but it was missing that complexity that I prefer in latakia blends. Perhaps the heavy steaming that is claimed sapped the sweetness from the virginias, but this one tasted very close to straight latakia except it was not quite as one-dimensional. If you love latakia, this is a blend to try. I can see why it's one of the few SG blends that never seems to be out of stock in the U.S. It's fine for what it is, but it just doesn't have enough going for it to warrant another try. Interesting to note that I enjoyed this one more when I pointed the pipe bit at the roof of my mouth. P-lip lovers may get more from this than I did.

Appearance: A mostly dark ribbon cut

Aroma: Latakia dominates the aroma of this blend, with only a trace of the Virginia noted. There does not appear to be any Oriental in the blend.

Packing: and lighting The blend packs well and lights easily, although not unusually so.

Initial flavor: The first blast of flavor is almost disappointing, based upon the aroma. The Latakia does not dominate the flavor as it does in Penzance. It is there, but balanced well by the Virginias.

Mid-bowl: Retains the well balanced characters of the sweet and smokey elements, no real layers of flavor. Somewhat monochromatic, but not boring. This can be smoked and enjoyed while otherwise occupied.

Finish: No real change in character right to the botom. As with all SG blends, a beautiful ash.

Summary: A nice enough Latakia blend, but I miss the Turkish.

(sorry for the long review, but I always try to be as specific as possible)

The first impressions and first smoke:

I don’t know how old this tin is, because the sticker with the code is not on my tin (and this is not the first time a Sam. Gaw. tin doesn’t have the sticker on. I guess it falls off if it’s not placed correctly, and that’s something Sam. Gaw should take into consideration, especially for the FvF, where age matters a lot. they should print it on the label or find a better solution imho).

I guess there’s a particular scent to Samuel Gawith English blends... I find this same scent in Perfection mostly, but to a little extent in Squadron Leader and now in Commonwealth Mixture too. I opened the tin and I was expecting to be hit be a very smoky latakia, but it’s not very smoky, it’s sweet and smoky. I took some tobacco out and diffused/scattered it to allow its smell to be released, but nothing changed much. So, not very strong in smell as one would expect from a heavy latakia blend.

The color is mostly black and dark virginia. The ribbons are of a medium to small size, unequal, but that doesn’t affect the packing at all. In fact, it packs up easily (like any other ribbon cut).

A bit on the dry side when I opened the tin, so I put it right in a hermetically sealed jar.

First light, one match. A sweet, smoky and creamy taste invaded my mouth from the first sips. First thing I noticed was the sweet and grassy virginia, followed by a bit of smokiness from the latakia.

Second light, second match. Same taste as with the first smokes, maybe a bit smokier. There’s a little spicy, peppery note in it, which is completed by a sweetness from the virginia (a very good virginia it seems!) and woody smokiness from the latakia. I’m surprised! Thinking of a blend that only has virginia and latakia, you’d expect this to be rather monotone and simple, giving a strong latakia taste, but it’s not so. It’s more complex than that, and it doesn’t bother me that much, I actually enjoy it (although I was expecting and wanted my mouth to be filled with a very smoky taste).

It burns very well, no need of relights.

Final impressions:

Well, I’m at my last 2-3 bowls, so I thought I should make a final review, so I’ll grab my Hilson 974 (bent bulldog) and pack it up.

First of, I want to say that this has become pretty much my daily smoke. While I did smoke some Presbyterian since I opened the tin of Commonwealth, 90% of the time I smoked Commonwealth. In the morning, during the day or at night. Perfect for any time of the day.

So, like I do with all my opened tins, I put my tobacco in hermetically sealed jars to keep the tobacco at the same humidity. Another reason is that the scent is being kept better in these jars. If I keep a tobacco in its original tin for more than a month, it will dry fast and loose its scent, especially at the type of tins that Sam. Gaw. has.

I opened the jar and took a deep breath, smelling the tobacco... like I said when I first opened the tin, I guess all these Samuel Gawith English Blends have a particular scent. It’s true. I’ve found it in Perfection, in Squadron Leader and now in Commonwealth. But this is not a bad thing, I actually enjoy it. You definitely detect the latakia smell in this one, but also virginia and that “Samuel Gawith scent”. This time, I find it more smoky but also sweet. Yeah, smoky and sweet tin note.

Took out the tobacco and, well, obviously the color didn’t change but... I wouldn’t call this a ribbon cut. It’s too small to be called a ribbon. I don’t know.. crimp cut? granulated cut? Doesn’t matter. Just not the typical long ribbon. Nevertheless, packs excelent!!!

First light/false light, one match. Latakia comes out proudly, not as sweet as it used to be at first, but smokier this time (which is a good thing for me). So, different from the first smokes I’ve had, when virginia first came out, this time it was a nice, smoky latakia.

Second light, second match. Again, smoky latakia comes first, and a bit of peppery spice (just a bit). Puff, puff, puff, tamp... ok, let’s see. Yeah, woody smokiness, a liiitlle virginia, not as sweet as it was at first and, curiously, not like I felt it most of the times. I thought that, for a Virginia/Latakia blend, this wasn’t smoky enough, it was sweeter than I expected, so I started questioning my latakia experience. I thought that after smoking too many latakia based blends, I got too used to the taste of latakia and didn’t seem as smoky as I detected in the past in other blends. I thought that for me, latakia just isn’t smoky enough anymore. Well, curiously, now it is. My taste buds going crazy? I don’t know. The thing is though, in order to get an even smokier experience, after I get to the middle of the bowl, it leave it alone for a few hours. Sometimes I leave it like that if I don’t have time to finish the bowl and get back to it the next day (some people don’t recommend that. why the hell not?! it’s great!). The experience is sublime, the taste is smokier and for me, better. Heavier in taste.

But now, lets continue.... halfway to the bowl, it became a bit sweeter, but still woody and smoky. Very nice combination of flavours, even though I prefer it smokier. The bowl got a bit warm, but the smoke is always cool, creamy, thick. And I can say again what I said at the first smokes: “Thinking of a blend that only has virginia and latakia, you’d expect this to be rather monotone and simple, giving a strong latakia taste, but it’s not so. It’s more complex than that, and it doesn’t bother me that much, I actually enjoy it (although I was expecting and wanted my mouth to be filled with a very smoky taste).”

This is a blend that I usually smoke almost to the bottom of the bowl, leaving no tobacco “alive”. I just enjoy it so much! It’s not a lat-bomb, it’s not even full bodied like Nightcap or Artisan’s Blend, but damn it’s good! For me, an all day smoke!

It burns very well, no need of relights. Leaves a very nice gray-white ash and very little dottle or moisture.

I would definitely recommend this to any latakia lover.

Pipes used: Savinelli Trevi 320 KS (author shape), Savinelli Tevere 315 KS (prince shape), Butz Choquin Castel 1009 (pot shape), Jean-Claude (prince shape), Hilson 974 (bent bulldog)