Samuel Gawith Perfection

It's almost impossible for me to give a true review of this blend since I ended up adding nearly an ounce of Cyprian latakia to a 50 gram tin. My first experience with this blend was just a whiff of it, in bulk, at my local pipe shop. Even though described as a mild blend, it did have hints of the latakia aroma I like. It wasn't until several weeks later that I went back to purchase several ounces of it but found that they were out of the bulk. I ended up buying the 50 gram tin and it sat around my house for nearly a year before I popped the tin. When I did, it had a flat aroma. With every tin I open, I typically dump them in glass jars for aging. I let this sit for several weeks before smoking a bowl. Again, its aroma was just flat and I was not, in my opinion, smoking even a mild English blend. Not being very patient (I probably should have let it sit for several months), I went back to my local pipe shop and purchased an ounce of Cyprian latakia. A small portion of it I added to another blend but nearly three quarters of this went into the rest of PM. Interestingly, its aroma (pre lit) is now close to that of Skiff. However, once lit, it does not smoke like Skiff but as a slightly sweet, almost medium robust English blend. I'm not saying this is a bad blend because I believe Sam Gawith to be one of the finest blenders and produces high quality blends. I love both Squadron Leader and Commonwealth Mixture. This is just a blend that's not right for me. Without the additional latakia, I gotta give it a two rating. However, give it a whirl as is and you may like it. If you find you don't like it and if you're into "making your own blends", you won't be disappointed by adding in some latakia.

I would love to tell you all that this Perfection is, in fact, some lovely kraut, but beat me senseless, I can't do it. Both Gawith brands are favorites of mine and I have a hard time knocking the smokes they make. Most of the time I don't have to because they both make some spectacular flakes, mixes and twists. Most of the time, also, these smokes take off in (sometimes wild) directions that no other blender seems to have thought of. That, my friends is general perfection. (Though divided between two particular, peculiar companies.)

This specific Perfection mix misses it for me because it never got up and went where it was meant to be. I think it is sort of Frog Morton over the Vanilla Bean. The vanilla is there with VA and Latakia in a pleasant enough, easy packing mix, but after the first third, well, the game was called onacounta rain.

Not a bad blend by any means but my own, this is definitely in the "try them, try them and you may, Try it and you may, I say" category.

One note though........I think that Squadron Leader mixed with Cob plug (1792) at about 5:1 is a Great Smoke along the same line of thought.

I hadn?t reviewed this tobacco because, quite frankly, I don?t like it at all. I wouldn?t go as far as to say it is dreadful, but it definitely pales against other Gawith offerings. I hadn?t really found the time to put into words the reason I dislike artificially sweetened Latakia or Oriental mixtures (be it by the topping or the casing methods). But, well, I?ve just been on a holiday and after giving it some thought, I hope you don?t mind me sharing my perspective.

Personally I dislike artificially sweet Latakia mixtures. I get the impression the tobacco becomes bloated, heavier than it really is, and confusing. More or less the same thing happened when I smoked Bob?s Chocolate Flake, or MacBarns? Latakia. The thing is I don?t enjoy the STRUGGLE in my palate between the vanilla casing agent (or chocolate, or cherry or whatever) and the salty-mineral-earthly-humid leather-burnt wood nuances of Latakias (especially the Cyprus variety)

Mind you, I?m not referring to the savoury interplay between Latakia, and the NATURAL sweetness of Virginias, Orientals, or even Burleys. In fact McConell?s Scottish Mixture uses a fire-cured Kentucky that provides a naturally sweet and smoky enhanced contrast to the Latakia, not to mention Dunhill?s use of an UNSWEETENED variety of brown Cavendish leaf in My Mixture 965 (nowadays I have no idea what Orlik uses in that blend).

However, in Perfection, as in Chocolate Flake, or in MacBarens? Latakia mixture, there?s too much of a contradiction in flavour, and it poses, at least for my poor palate, something impossible to solve. I mean can one imagine the Pittsburgh Steelers? Iron Curtain playing a gentle and suave defence against the Dallas Cowboys? Not that Latakia should have the strength of Mean Joe Green or Jack Lambert, but it definitely is no Lynn Swann either (yes, yes, I?ve been watching the NFL channel).

This one is similar to squadron leader but with a light - hard to detect note of vanilla! Not 'perfect' but nice English alternative to your rotation!

If you smoke aromatic pipe tobacco blends to please the crowd, you'd better be socializing with some fairly stout friends. Otherwise, you might end up playing solitaire afterall. Perfection is not a teaser, but a substantial blend, manly dare I say.

This would have been better named "Pleasing" rather than "Perfection." I would want a bit more vanilla before I would proclaim it perfect.

This is nothing less than an English blend Americanized, making it less direct and a little more gentle than it would likely end up without the added flavoring.

Having smoked Squadron Leader for years and consider it my all-time favorite English blend, Perfection seems akin to SL, but a little softer, with a definite, though fairly mild, vanilla topping. Even the unburned tobacco is softer to the touch than SL. Perhaps the steaming and topping have conditioned the leaf to this effect.

This smokes nicely after a bit of drying out, smells good even with the substantial Turkish element in the mixture and has a mouthful of taste. The remnant ash is mostly grey with a bit of white. Pipe was left clean, as was my palate. Good for an occasional change for latakia and Turkish leaf lovers.

This tobacco is exceptional and delivers IMO what it promises. A very lightly aromatic (read that - softened aromas with a mysterious creamy yet not easily identified as vanilla-ish tone) When I bought this I cleared out a small tobacconist's aged stock of a few tins.

This tobacco has English breeding and is what I call a very "public" tobacco. I found the flavors to be quite good. As I read some of the reviews, I notice that the lower ratings came from those that seemlingly expected something else.

Cheers, VC

*Update to 9/05 review above - I've downgraded this blend because I have found other blends that ring this bell with higher quality tobacco and better consistency.

I agree with distinguished gentleman: this is the most interesting, yet decidedly bland tobacco you'll ever try. It's full of mono-dimensional complexity, if such a description exists. It's cool, wet, damp and musky like an English autumn. I almost believe that this tobacco is boiled, not steamed. Imagine bangers and mash or steak and kidney pie - comforting stuff but after 5 or 6 mouthfuls, you get the idea. A truly distinguished English, nonetheless. Kind of what I had hoped Dunhill 965 or the Standard Medium would be like prior to its outsourcing. Gawith is still a steadfastly English blending house, and compared to a lot of the crap now being made in Denmark or Germany, this is a cut above. A blend no fastidious Anglophile pipe smoker should miss.

Three of five stars

Perfection from Samuel Gawith is a pleasantly mild smoke. I fully expected to note a stronger vanilla casing in smoking this weed, but the casing is barely noticeable. The touch of Latakia, however, is welcome and helps to keep the Virginia base from becoming boring. I enjoy Perfection even though I will not rush to purchase more. Samuel Gawith blends much better tobacco. Nevertheless, Perfection is enjoyable and a respite from my catalogue of standards.

This is an interesting blend to be sure. It is one that you have to nurse by being very light on the draw mixing the smoke with a porton of room air to gain the subtle flavors that are there otherwise the VA overpower everything else that is going on here. I don't consider it a well-behaved tobacco. Smoking a 1/3 bowl while breaking in a Savinelli natural, 4 slow draws produced a flood of fluid in the stem. This will keep me from working at finding the complexities that I am sure are there.