Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Mixture

I thought I would not like this mixture because it has only Virginia and Latakia, and no Orientals. After all, the recipe seemed very similar to the Balkan Flake, which I find quite flat. Well, I was wrong: I was given a free tin from the editor in chief of Smoker Magazine, and I am ejoying it a lot. The trick is that this blend contains a very "greasy", unctuous and rich Latakia, and the Virginia base is equally rich and juicy, with a great natural sweetness. As I said, there are no orientals and at times I feel some spice is missing and that the smoke could use some more body, but it's quite satisfying and licorice-like. Maybe not very complex, but very rich, woodsy, dark and enjoyable, and still very smooth. I suggest letting the tin air for a while before smoking, as this tobacco is quite wet and might water down the taste.

2009 Update: I opened a fresh tin a few years ago, and I was shocked by the bland watery taste of the smoke... no Virginia sweetness, no Latakia smokiness. Then I decided to let it dry in a room with heating (and so, with quite a dry air) for a couple of days with the lid off. Only now I recognize the fine smoke which Commonwealth Mixture can offer! By all means, give this tobacco an extended drying period after opening the tin, or it will be lousy at its best! I can't condone Samuel Gawith's policy of packaging the tobacco with such a high moisture content (I am paying good money for fine tobacco, not for water!!!!!!), but if you are willing to let it dry A LOT it is a nice blend.

Desperately seeking?.Virginia!

I believe this one is known as KBE mixture across the Atlantic. One of the moistest Latakia mixtures I have tried (airing recommended). The mixture is composed of mainly black and dark brown ribbon cut strands, not exactly sinister looking?but close. Upon lighting, a full, straightforward Latkia blast comes through. Hmmm, not bad. Toasty and rather sweet, in that incense like sweetness, it immediately affirms itself on the palate. Trouble is, in so doing it deprives other flavours from making their stand.

Way down the middle mark the mixture is still very tasty and dry, albeit only in one direction?. The Cyprus delegation is all over the place, but where is the American leaf? It seems that in this Gawith offering the Tobacco Lords of Scotland have overpowered the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is a good, simple, strong tobacco. By no means it is a contemplative or meditative experience. It burns slowly and rather cool, yes, but there is no subtlety of flavours, there is no regional coexistence of taste spheres. While the zesty, almost salty presence of Latakia is evident, it does seem to lack the understated sour/sweet element of Turkish tobacco, as well as the nutty whiff of other Orientals, and the elegance of Virginian varieties, such as you find them in My Mixture 965, London Mixture or in the Original Balkan Sobranie Mix. To borrow a figure used by the esteemed Eulenburg, it lacks ?ampleur? Other than that, it is a very good, uncomplicated smoke. An excellent companion for cold, windy days.

Here's a weird one for ya-- I generally don't smoke latakia blends, but this is one of my favorites. Commonwealth is half Latakia and half Virginias (of which, most appear to be Red Cake Virginias). I don't really know why this one appeals to me while I shun most latakia laden blends, but it does...ahh, the mysteries of pipe smoking...

Maybe it's the Cyprian Latakia that makes the difference for me, but even Cyprian doesn't excite me all that much in other Latakia blends (C&D Englishes most notably).

I can't taste much other than the Latakia here, but for some reason I just love the flavor of the latakia in this blend over that in others. Maybe the Zimbabwe (or Tanzanian etc.-- most Gawith blends use African origin Virginias) Virginias smooth out the flavors of the latakia without considerably adding their own personality. I honestly don't get it, but as far as Latakia blends go, this is one of my favorites (though I don't smoke any Latakia sufficiently often to give this one a "smoke regularly" rating).

Update 03/2021: The honeymoon is over. While I still like this tobacco and find it quite unique, it suffers heavily by a direct comparison with my all time favorites. I'll downgrade this to 3 stars.

This was actually sent to me by mistake as part of an online order instead of "Lakeland Dark". In retrospect this was quite a lucky coincidence as I absolutely adore "Commonwealth Mixture" and would never have bought it in the first place. Why? Because the thought of 50% Latakia seemed so overpowering and the absolute lack of Oriental leaf for me indicated a lack of complexity. Truth be told - I was absolutely wrong about this blend, this baccy is refined yet simple and incredibly pleasing.

Granted, you won't find the complexity of a great traditional English Mixture with Orientals such as e.g. in McClelland's Arcadia or SG's own Skiff - yet you will get something else that is just as enticing in this blend. I'll try to pin this down as exactly as possible even though the magical part of all the exquisite blends I love so much is of course hard to explain. The central aspect of this tobacco for me is that is full flavored without being full bodied, meaning that there is a sweet and gentle VA base (if compared to the fullness of flakes like BBF and FVF) that is complemented by the spicy and intriguing flavor profile of the Latakia that is really showcased in all its nuances in this tobacco. The nicotine content is exactly right - I can even smoke this on cold autumn mornings with a cup of tea. The second central aspect about this tobacco is that it offers an amazing interplay between its components even when it is not the most complex thing on the planet. There is still enough stuff going on to keep the dicerning smoker interested - one can concentrate on the more herbal and the more incense like qualities of the Latakia and the subtle development one get throughout one's bowl.

In other words, Commomwealth Mixture is like chamber music rather than a multilayered symphony. What is so pleasing about it is that it does something magic on the small scale and that it works with less "pomp" while still being absolutely refined.

I wish I could say this excited me, but it didn't. On the other hand, I didn't hate it, which I might have predicted before dipping into Latakia. The 50/50 mix of Lat and VA was very full flavored, but not overwhelming. I'm finding that I quite enjoy the Cyprian weed, but so far have not found anything I would like a prolonged diet of. Burns well, no bite, and even the cat can tolerate the room note. I may revisit, but for now a solid 3.

Good blend, no complains, high quality tobacco, easy to pack, burns easily, few relights, no tongue bite, consistent solid flavor, just a bit boring, missing pinch of Orientals... Worth to try it for sure. Recommended.

It's been a while since I've had some SG so I've treated myself recently to three of their offerings, this being one of them. Wasn't sure how this would compare to other SG lats but, with 50% Latakia, it looked promising.

The tin aroma is one of mild creosote, perhaps a little stronger than the smell of, say, King Charles Mixture. Packing was okay but the lighting was a little tricky, this stuff is a little damper than I like but doesn't take a lot of drying out. The smoke itself is very heavily "latted" so to speak, the latakia is very strong. I think the only think stronger in lat terms is pure latakia itself. Still though, I like latakia so it's no real biggy.

To be honest, there's not a whole lot going on here. A good strong lat taste and not a whole lot else. The most interesting smoke I had was after I had popped in some 3 Noggins in the well-ghosted pipe about half way through the tin, the next smoke of this stuff had a little variety in it, some of the ghosting from the orientals and virginias in the 3 Noggins had just nicely ghosted the pipe. Sadly, mixing the two in a 50/50 split didn't have quite the same result. Only the whole then, a good lat hit probably best reserved for first thing in the morning with a stiff coffee, but not a whole lot else. In spite of the lack of variety though, and probably because of the lat-hit, a decent enough three stars in my book.

Well, at the end this monolithic binomial of Latakia and steamed Virginia has revealed to be a solid and pleasant smoke. The smoker who appreciate this blend is the same of the Nightacap (or Old Ironside) league.

Commonwealth needs some drying but please don't overdo that! The smokiness of the black weed keeps the center of the stage all the play long, the mellow dark Virginia adding some buttery-sweet colours. Mild-to-medium, smooth as silk, perfectly cool and refreshing.

Some predictable problems with my SWMBO, I can perfectly understand her …

Three full stars.

It's a full Latakia blend with a good vitamine N strenght but sweet and silky on the palate.

For Latakia lovers i'd rather say.