Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader

I order two tins, smoke as soon as received , I thought I just wasted my money. I mixed the first tin with anything just to get rid of it. 3 mos. later I tried the second tin, what a surprise it turn out to be one the must balanced blends I have smoked, and I smoke a LOT of English.

Squadron Leader is soft smooth and satisfying smoke, anytime of the day or all day if you choose . None of the tobaccos stand out as dominate taste, you enjoy each with every draw, in my opinion it is just hard to beat.

Great description from the tin...I think it fits perfectly. A medium english blend that is refined and flavorful, but not over powering. I get the combination of virginia and latakia (sweet & smokey) mixed with a bit of nuttiness. It is just slightly sweet, but leans more on the salty/savory side. Great balance and nice creamy smoke throughout the bowl. No tongue bite and just an overall great english blend. Quite impressed. Reminds me of one of my favorite blends P.S. English Luxury.

**2016 Update** Smoked a portion of the remaining tin. Wow! This is really a great English blend. I can see why so many pipe smokers consider this a classic. It doesn't retain much moisture if left in the tin though...so make sure to put the tobacco in a jar after cracking the tin. Great stuff!

UPDATE 22.03.2018: I attacked my second tin of Squadron Leader. The tin note was a little disappointing compared to my first experience, but still very nice. All in all it is still the same, very good English Mixture, although this time I sense the Orientals' spiciness more than the Virginia sweetness, which is more on the background. Sam Gawith products are hand crafted so I suppose some quality variations are normal. Or maybe it's the age of the tin? ******

****** This was the first EM I bought in a long time. I fact, the first pipe tobacco after I resumed pipe smoking. I was looking for something not too heavy on Latakia and on strength, and the tobacconist recommended this to me. I must say, I was not disappointed at all. In fact, I loved it from the start.

At the opening of the tin, I was greeted by such a wonderful, intense, mostly sweet with some sour and a little smoky smell, I was almost moved. If you had none of this, there was some problem with your tin guys - it made me feel like eating it. And the smoke was just divine, quite corresponding to the scent, very relaxing, inebriating I would say. Of course, the tobacco was very moist, like everybody says, but hey, they must have a good reason why the make it like this...

So I can recommend this to everyone, as I don't see why a pipe smoker should not at least like it. My only advice: if you haven't consumed it within a few weeks or even days (which is probably the best thing to do) store it well, because it tends to lose this wonderful sweet aroma after a while. Now, after a couple of months, the sour and smoky notes have become more intense, and the sweetness is less. Some may like this, for me it has gone down... from extraordinary to very good. I'll definitely keep it in rotation in any case. Ciao

PS try it with some sweet/spicy chai tea!

I purchased tins of this much venerated tobacco from smokingpipes.com. Building up stocks of quality English blends for the summer evenings. As much hype as this received it's about time I included it into these special and most favorite times of the year. I couldn't wait to try it so I cracked just one. Tin note as stated in previous review is not overwhelming. But pleasant for sure! Packs nicely and I didn't even have to dry it out. I did however give it a little rubbing to fit nicer into the small bowled Peterson Calabash. No stem and stock in the tobacco. Pure nicely cut leaf. Takes a light easily and delivers a big satisfying smoke. I found it amusing. A heavy manly smoke from a dainty feminine pipe. It builds off the Latakia nicely. Sometimes cool and creamy. Perhaps at times a slight cocoa or nut like flavor. Then a brief zing of the orientals. All in all a fun, complex blend which I found was exactly what I hoped it would be. Can't wait to run this in bigger pipes out by the fire.

A tin I was looking forward to for a long time, and was not disappointed. The tin comes very fully packed with a beautiful, easy to light ribbon cut. A bit on the moist side, but gives it time to age and light.

The strength is what I would say a light english should be, maybe a little stronger which I prefer.

The flavor is incredible and complex. It's well balanced with all of the tobaccos and comes out to be really smooth, with even a decent room note the wife doesn't mind.

As I got further down the bowl, some darker virginias appeared and it was beautiful. It's just one of those smokes that changes during the bowl. It keeps things interesting, and gives you different flavors.

Definitely one I would recommend for aromatic and english smokers.

What is the fascination with this blend?...At best, a rather mundane English blend...There are others out there which are better, more complex, and certainly less expensive...Don't get me wrong...It's not a bad little blend...Just not worth all the hoopla that's made of it...Pleasant enough to serve as an all day smoke but, nothing to write home about

I have been smoking SL on and off for about two years now and it has taken me that long to really get a feel for why this is an on/off tobacco for me. SL is a very steady “Oriental leading” English blend. I enjoy blends such as this with heavy Oriental and light Latakia as Early Morning Pipe is one of my all time favorites. SL smokes smoothly out of the tin, doesn't bite, and ages nicely. The quality of the tobacco is also very good. SL simply lacks that extra something that keeps me interested in a world filled with English blend choices. By the time I reach the end of the tin I am anxious to get on to something else. I am fortunate enough to have a couple of sleeves left as it is difficult to obtain here in the US. With that in mind, SL is a little too pedestrian to keep me hunting for it in the future. Given the choice of Sam Gawith English blends, I think Skiff is a better choice. Recommended.

This is the first tobacco I have bought on the strength of reviews here and, I must confess, initially I was quite disappointed. The smell from the tin upon first opening perturbed me somewhat as the smell of a whisky-style tar hit my nostrils, reminiscent of the taste of Laphroig whisky - far from my favourite because it is way too tarry. My first smoke, too, was in a similar vain and rather disappointing. I endeavoured, however, despite an urge to dash onto here and type up a appropriately poor review. Thankfully, I chose to persist and allow myself to adjust to it's peculiarities before truly condemning this tobacco to it's smokey grave. Here continues my story...

As I have smoked this over the past few days, the flavour has grown on me. It is actually quite a subtle smoke which does, indeed, start off with a tarry flavour with hints of the smell of an log fire breaking through and continues into something lighter and more nuanced. There also hints of flavours similar to Condor Original Long Cut and Gold Block in here, two tobaccos that sit well in my wee stash. It's mixture of strong and mild flavours provide pleasant surprises through this smoke in a way I've not found with other tobaccos.

On the whole, a very enjoyable tobacco that I am proud to add to my list of those sampled. My only two criticisms are that it can make the mouth a little numb and it smokes too quickly.

Update: I've increased my rating from recommended to highly recommended, this tobacco has become a favourite and I have ended up smoking this every day.

I loaded up a Pete with some Squadron Leader three weeks ago and damn near forgot about it. It's been sitting in my little rack, entirely neglected by my absent mindedness. I hadn't put the thing to fire yet and can't quite remember why I hadn't gotten to it. Anyhow, someone else must have laid the pipe back in its home. Ten minutes ago I stared at this sight. "Should I smoke this," I thought? I prodded the top layer of tobacco in the pipe. It was dried to an absolute crisp. So I set down my tin of London Mixture and fired her up. Man, this is good stuff.