Samuel Gawith Perfection

I also found the blend to be pleasant and unique like most of the reviewers, I smoke this one semi-regularly and it is always cool and mellow. And I also found the blend to lack differing layers of flavor.

I know the description of the blend says its topped with a bit of vanilla. But frankly, I never tasted it. I tasted more of an almond extract sort of flavor which, mingled with the leaf, performed like a champ!

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia is tad more obvious than the grassy, floral, mildly tart and tangy citrusy Virginias. The woody, earthy, dry, vegetative, herbal, lightly buttery, spicy and sour Turkish is a minor player, and not always very noticeable. The vanilla is very lightly added and at times, nearly undetectable. The strength is just short of the center of mild to medium. The taste is step past that center. The nic-hit is slightly more than mild. Won't bite or get harsh, and has few rough notes. It may need a little dry time. Burns a little slow, cool and clean with some inconsistency in the overall mildly sweet and campfire flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste, and lightly stronger room note. It's not a very aptly named product. Deserves two and a half stars.

-JimInks

This is very nice mild english blend. The predominant characteristics are the VA's and turkish. The vanilla casing is very much in the background, and does not really move this blend out of the firmly "english" realm. This is typical of a host of english blends, especially from Gawith, where various flavorings and casings are used along with tobacco components that are classically english.

The tobacco itself is a nice mixture of ribbon cut virginias and latakia with turkish leaf. The turkish to my palate is the predominant taste component followed by the latakia, and the VA's provide a very nice base and offer a little nip on the tongue. Overall this lights readily and burns easily with few relights, and will not get hot unless you puff too quickly.

This is not a flavor bomb of any sort, and is a fine mild english. It offers a little more sweetness than some similar blends, but is not a "sweet" blend by any stretch. This is a nice mild smoke with a mild to medium nicotine content, making it a fine choice for when you do not want to be too challenged by any particular flavor profile or nicotine strength. With that said, these same mild characteristics mean that it is probably not going to make it onto anyone's list of "must have" blends, except to fill a void between other more distinct offerings.

Since we are now able to reference the pipe used for the review, and pipes can make a huge difference in how a blend performs and tastes, I thought that I would include a note on my pipe of choice here. I used a vintage GBD virgin billiard which would be considered small by todays standards, but still offers plenty of capacity for a 30 minute to one hour smoke. This pipe is at least 40-50 years old, is light as air, and smokes wonderfully with cool english blends. For those interested it is shape 124, which is identified by GBD as a medium size billiard. This fact shows you how things have changed over the years, as pipes have gotten, on average, larger and larger. If you look for an estate GBD be careful as many have been reamed beyond a usable state. In this case the pipe and blend were literally made for one another and produce a very enjoyable experience.

Some notes on Samuel Gawith's Perfection ...

It's a mild English that can't seem to win with the reviews here - smokers of full English and heavy Balkan blends complain that it's mild and has vanilla flavor at all, smokers of aromatics complain that it doesn't have enough vanilla flavor.

Don't pick this up expecting huge Latakia flavor, it's much more Izmir-forward. Squadron Leader would fill the needs of a medium mixture, and Commonwealth is full. Perfection is mild.

The vanilla topping is light, unobtrusive. It's a condiment, not a glass of vanilla extract. It softens the blend considerably, but Perfection does not taste like a vanilla aromatic. Good chefs can work with condiments and flavors that will not be obvious in the dish, but will round it out - think of the vanilla here in the same way.

The steaming process has rendered the Virginia tobacco bite-free. Puff away.

I give it 3 stars for being good at what it is, a mild English mixture that makes an excellent breakfast smoke, but is easy enough to smoke throughout the day. It's probably not the best choice to pair with straight whisky after a steak dinner.

ORIGINAL August 3rd 2008

I wasn't going to bother reviewing this one as I have only gone through one tin in fact, I still haven't quite finished it, but having just read Tantric's review, I must fully agree, "Too much contradiction in flavours" although on ocassion, I have felt a need for "something-I-know-not-what" and perfection has helped if not cured.

May I just take a moment also to thank Tantric (and of course many others, far too many to name) for some sterling reviews, Ive read a goodly number of yours and you have pointed me in the direction of Old Gowrie and Marlin Flake for which you have my sincere gratitude, all of you.

UPDATE December 8th 2008

Now that the colder weather is here I've found that something a little tastier is required and although the likes of Golden Glow and Marlin flake, along with numerous others, will still be kept in rotation, I find myself starting the day with Skiff followed by Squadron Leader and now in the evenings, finishing of with a pipe or two of Perfection.

After so much Latakia, even I would have expected my palate to revert toward something a little less dramatic and perhaps mundane or "monochromatic" as some have refered to. On the contrary, I find this an excellent tobacco for the colder weather, which will give me a chance to age some of the virginia's I've been collecting over the summer months.

I can only assume my taste has changed, for where I once found contradiction, I now find harmony, and living on the coast, excellent "cold weather gear".

Sam Gawith - Perfection.

Will it live up to its name?

Upon opening I can quickly ascertain that it has the 'usual suspect' quality with Sam G' tobaccos, too moist! That said, it is not saturated so it only requires a very short quantity of time to let it air. The dissemination of the tobaccos seems to be very fair, an even quantity of each type. Once I have let mine rest until the right moistness is achieved it's time to get the bowl started, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'!

Mine takes to lighting superbly, once it is lit the burn is even and it only desists in the burn if it is left to sit untouched for some time. I know it contains vanilla but that said I struggle to detect it, don't take that too negatively as the taste I get agrees with me. It is by no means a lat-bomb, it is actually (like the appearance) a fair selection of the different tobacco flavours. I would say it's perfection but that would be too cheesy! Tongue bite? Not at all throughout the whole bowl. The room note is excellent, it is quite a light one with both aroma and thickness in the air.

To be fair, it has been accomplished very well but it lacks 'the X-factor' for me, becoming a little laborious after a while. For this subjective reason it scores 3 stars not 4 stars. I feel 'Perfection' is too much of a prodigious name for any tobacco to be called, Sam Gawith 'Really Good' would be more apt !

Recommended.

Judging from the reviews here, this is hardly a blend that lives up to its name. And the blend itself doesn't. But so what? Tobacco perfection for me is not only about how the blend is composed, but about the whole setting of a particular smoking experience. And I just spent the most perfect hour of the morning in total bliss over a huge coffee with lots of milk, paired with SG Perfection.

The VAs come with a hint of citrus, but also a satisfying sweetness. The Orientals and the Latakia are nicely balanced, so that it's difficult (to me anyway) to tell the different layers of the taste from another. The vanilla topping is definitely present, but I wouldn't say it was vanilla unless I had read that already. All the casing does, is to add a lovely creamy sweetness to the blend, that goes well with the woodsy cream of the Orientals/Latakia.

Is it a perfect masterpiece of a blend? No. Is it complex and interesting? No. I but once in a while, when I just want something almost childishly simple and comforting, this is one of the blends I could pick up. On those occasions, it does the same for as a café latte made whit whole milk. Sweet and mellow, but not too sweet in any way. I advise you to pair SG Perfection with said beverage.

I found that the casing gets more prominent (and I think that is a good thing for this blend) when I smoke it in a larger bowl. That also makes the Orientals/Latakia shine a bit more, in my experience. To me, Perfection does the job I want an aromatic blend to do (but that comes from the mouth of someone who would have chosen GLP Odyssey as the only tobacco to bring to a remote island, so if you smoke predominantly aros, you'll probably strongly disagree with me).

The casing fades and the Orientals get sour towards the end, and that is one of the reasons why 'perfection' is the wrong name for this blend. It also gets a bit more fussy to keep lit. But honestly, it's worth your money – at least for a try – if you're into Latakia and aromatic combinations.

Low on nic (I am a nic lightweight and I smoked this on an nearly empty stomach early in the morning without feeling anything that couldn't also be ascribed to the caffeine in my coffee). No bite what so ever. Leaves only a little moisture in the bowl.

I must admit this smoke let me down. Any tin that depicts a hunting dog should contain an exceptional tobacco right? Guess I can't use that as a gauge for a good tobacco any more.

All kidding aside I thought this tobacco would have a little more fanfare associated with a name like Perfection. Upon opening the tin you will find a predominantly ribbon cut tobacco with some broken flake mixed in. The VA's dominate this blend with a hint of Latikia and Turkish chiming in. All at once a fade to Vanilla I guess I just can't adjust to this kind of a pairing. Kind of like I don't find ketchup an appealing compliment to french toast.

This isn't an awful tobacco in fact it smokes cool and clean. This tobacco just misses the boat on your hybrid english aromatic blends. I will finish this tin but I doubt I will purchase this one again. Sorry Sam

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hey is it too late to trade this tin for a tin of Best Brown?

I picked up a tin of this to try. I like Gawith in general, and the name sounded promising. This is not what I would call "perfection." It is a mild crossover that is not too heavy on the vanilla. The cut is a medium ribbon with some chopped bits. Pouch note is a slightly sweet latakia. It came just a little on the moist end of the good range for smoking, and I did not dry it. As long as the tin has taken me to smoke, it has dried a little in the tin.

Smoked I get a pleasant woody latakia, a little hay from the Virginias and some vanilla every now and then. The Turkish is a pretty light touch, and I am not sure there is much of it in the blend. I will claim it is there in condimental mode.

Perfection is good but not especially compelling. It was an easy smoke. It packed and stayed lit without incident. It smoked clean without goop.

This is a 2.5 star blend. I am unlikely to ever buy it again. If it were all I had, I would smoke a lot of it.

Can't say that I understand the negative reviews of this blend, because in my opinion this stuff is quite good. Great balance between the Latakia, VA's, and Turkish tobacco's. I'm able to taste a delicious hint.of vanilla sweetness that helps to mellow things out nicely. If you want a fuller English, this ain't it. This is just a tick above mild for me.

Just a well blended, perfectly burning, mellow, flavorful smoke. Well worth the coin!