Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader

Having been an airplane pilot myself in my forties I was drawn to to this blend by its name and its artwork. Because of its great reviews I bought my one tin with great expectations. Alas, I simply could not get myself to like it.

Opening the tin, the tobacco was moist, way too moist. Drying it and letting it age made it easier to smoke, but did not change its taste, which is is mild and flat in a way I personally fail to appreciate. I just can't see any reason to buy it again. It may though be interesting to those who do not obsess with latakia and smoke very often.

I am a relatively new pipe smoker (2 years now, but on and off). I'm more of a havana cigar man, but I find the romance of a pipe attractive and worth exploring. I have been trying a number of pipe tobaccos but I do not think I have found my match (GL Pease's Blackpoint is the only one I really enjoy so far).

Tried this pipe weed many times already, and I found it to be bitter and tarry. I prefer a stronger presence of oriental tobaccos than latakia. There are sometimes hints of sweetness and exotic spice that peeks through the strong taste of tar, but it came too seldom and faint to be enjoyable to me. The aftertaste lingers a couple of hours; eating chocolate and brushing my teeth did little to wash it out.

Perhaps I would come back to this when my taste for latakia develops. I know many people enjoy the pleasant bitter flavors of some foods and tobacco, but I can't enjoy this one at this time. Maybe Samuel Gawith's Skiff Mixture will work out better for me.

I've bought a tin of Squadron Leader a month ago, in Switzerland... it's quite expensive, not at top end prices, but expensive. Nice classic very british tin, at opening you can smell the very tipical scent of a classic EM... but it lacks something, what? Correct moist, not too much; quite thin cut for an EM.

Scent: classic EM, but not strong, nor spicy.

Taste: latakia and virginia, well, but not enough orientals, some veeery light nutty ang grass notes. No biting at all. But really too flat, and too light: this is an expensive tobacco, I'm more demanding to such a serious manufacturer.

Room note: less heavy, intrusive and persistent than usual EMs. It's OK, and easy.

Burning: everything is all right, it lights in a while, burns a bit faster than competitors, but is OK.

Best briars: EM dedicated, and all the others, no problem.

Good, yes, but not enough. Maybe elegant and easy to smoke all-day-long, but I prefer stronger EM, and much more rich in personality: only a couple of bowls in a day, but more satisfying is better, by me, and so at this price I prefer some different blends by S.Gawith. Two stars and half.

P.S.: I think I need more than four stars, maybe a 1-10 degree scale would permit a better evaluation? 🙂

Quite fine cut tobacco, which smells nice, with a hint of latakia.

Tongue taste (the taste you feel on your tongue when you first get the smoke into your mouth): Mild virginia, with some mild latakia an a hint of sweetness, almost towards sweet liquorice.

Snork taste (the taste when you roll the smoke around in your mouth and out of your nostrils): Practically identical to the tongue taste.

All together: A nice looking and nice smelling tobacco. Slightly moist, which can make it tricky to light at first. The taste is rather pleasant, with the hints of latakia and sweet liquorice, but very mild. So mild, it sometimes get too weak to really enjoy. Tastes the same all through the pipe, with no real changes. Consistant and pleasant, but too weak taste.

For such a legendary name in the tobacco world, I'm not so sure the Quality Control / Quality Assurance at SG is successfully staffed by someone who is taking care of business. I didn't mind this one but I'm not so sure that I'll be looking for it in the future.

Not as full as I'd like, its a pleasant smoke but perhaps unremarkable? This is the second stab at SG for me and I'm still waiting to find one that rivals others in this category.

Its nice to work with, fills nicely, lights well and I've found that the burn gets better the deeper into the bowl it gets. I'm glad I tried it but it has yet to kick me in the teeth. A little moist in its freshness, it gurgled for the first few bowls until it was aired out for a while.

Still, throughout, I can detect the latakia which reassures me that it'll get better, but again, unremarkable.

I'll happily finish the tin but I'll be reaching for others well before the Squadron Leader.

I really want to like this blend. The latakia is just right. Strength is just right. After a big dehydration the tobacco smokes like a dream. The smell when you open the tin is great. But in all my pipes it tastes like lint. I remember the smell from my mother's handbag, the smell of old fading perfume. When you light up the latakia is just right, but somewhere along the line comes this flavored taste like Murray's mixture in the old days. Not so pungent to be fair. I'll stick to EMP for the time being. Untill someone tells me where to get a blend with more sweetness. But SL is a nice blend and great that so many loves it.

As always with SG, the tobacco is damp. It's unsmokable right out of the tin and needs essential drying. After drying it takes the light easily and keeps it down to the bottom of a pipe.

The tobacco is weak in nicotine, without any latakia taste whatsoever. The biggest problem for me is this "Lakeland" flavor. Once tobacco does not grow in England, I can not assume that some neat British bees brought the taste of flowering meadows. More realistically, it's some aromatic chemistry which contradicts my nose.

To improve all this, I'm mixing it with Robert McConnell Pure Latakia. This way it's acceptable.

Still, Virginia is sweet and good.

Will I finish the tin? Yes. Will I buy more? Not sure.

Someone talks about complexity about this SG classic but I can't really sense it. I feel this blend is solid as stone because it is quite simple & "mathematic" instead. I mean, Virginia, OK, a little latakia not stealing the stage to that musky oriental leading on the back from the beginning to the end. Solid & recommended, even for an all-day.

Back to the pipe with this - Aging didn't really change anything about, except I sense a little similarity to Rattrays Black Mallory..and as with Black Mallory I always have the feellings I am not really satisfied with the body of Squadron Leader. It is too faint, at least for me. But It grows in sweetness as I use smaller pipes to smoke it. Strange. Overall 2 stars, no more then two, because: 1-SG con do a lot better, in body and taste, 2-I simply prefer more "heavy" tobaccos or, maybe simply I'm not witty enough to see the "grandeur" here, as in others SG tobaccos.

I tried and found out a little kick from a 20% Oriental McConnell, get the job done with SL lack in "personality"

SL is not bad, but not great. Presby Mixture is smokier, Good Morning is tangier, Nightcap is pepperier. I find SL to be a plain, bland smoke with just a snap of pepper. And I'm not crazy about the ribbon cut. Hard to pack, for some reason.

Squadron Leader is probably too spicy for the newcomer to English blends, too mild for this Lat lover. I'd rather smoke Larry's Blend.

Two out of four stars, exactly 50/50.