Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. American Blend Coffee Caramel

The tangy, dark fruity, earthy, lightly woody, cigarish and floral Virginia works in concert with sugary black cavendish. The rich caramel synergistically merges with the deep coffee flavor to provide most of what you taste. The strength and taste levels are in the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is mild to medium. No chance of bite or harshness. Burns cool, clean and a little slow due to the cut and moisture level, though I saw no need to dry it. Has a mostly consistent flavor, though I notice the Virginia a little more toward the finish. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and needs some relights. Has a pleasant after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

I purchased on a whim whilst buying my usual rotation and upon opening the pouch i found an inviting burst of sweet, pudding aromas lept out. The blend smells like a rich desert and together with the appearance of the dark tobacco promised a sweet flavour sensation. The coffee was there, but the caramel took centre stage.

It was at this point my love affair ended. It's very sticky and no amount of drying seemed to get it any dryer. On lighting the smoke was sweet and flavourful but in a sickly, syrupy manner. I found the Cavendish heavy blend to taste harsh, ashy and boring in the tobacco dept, and too much sweet in the topping dept.

If sweet is your thing, this might be up your street, but for me it was a step to far.

This was a Christmas gift. The reasons many people dont smoke aromatics can be found in this blend. While not intolerable by any means the tongue bite doesn't make this a relaxing smoke in any way. You can try to dry it out before packing if you want to wait a week or two though it does pack easily and burns evenly. The liberal addition of the sweet topping in the cavendish means you are stuck in a constant battle between trying to keep the pipe lit and stopping the burn rising to the same temperature as the surface of the sun. With some difficulty. The sugary coating sears the Coffee Caramel flavour into the mouths lining long after it all burned off the tobacco in the initial first third of the bowl. Someone out there will love this I am sure but not for me.

Gawith, Hoggarth & Co.'s blends were the first aromatics I ever tried. I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet smell of the tobacco as I let it out to dry. Drying this tobacco is an absolute must, it's past damp and slightly moist. I never got the coffee from smelling the tobacco, mainly the caramel, and when smoking, it just tasted like a generic aromatic pipe tobacco except that it's smoother than the other Gawith aromatic blends I've tried..

Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - American Blend Coffee Caramel.

The blend's jet black, too damp, shiny, and smells pungent; it has a very sweet aroma. It needs to be given a good period of time for the water level to decrease, and then it gives a decadent smoke.

Because it's coarse I have to use my jet flame to get a bowl going. And then, if you like heavy aromatics, I recon you'll love this! The caramel gives the smoke a stickiness, and the coffee a sharpness/richness; there's no mistaking what this is flavoured with! At first the caramel leads by miles, but that's partly because of the sticky feeling it causes, then after around five minutes I begin to appreciate more of the coffee flavour. The weight of the casing causes a great paradox: I get a wonderful aftertaste in my mouth! The smoke's extremely thick, very cool, and stays bite-free throughout an entire bowl. At the risk of pointing out the totally bloody obvious I'd like to highlight that this pairs exceptionally well with a cup of coffee!

The nicotine's very mild, and the room-note's adorable.

A fabulous aromatic:

Four stars.