Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown House Roll Cut

Well this was a surprise. I reckon I've had 19 different Gawith Hoggarth blends; some I've liked more than others but all have been of a certain quality whether they have been to my personal taste or not. All except this one...

Although way too moist the tobacco dries well and the presentation in loose coins that easily rub out to a good ribbon was very appealing. There is however, an odd, hard to define but not particularly pleasant and not very tobacco smell from the pouch. But I didn't let that put me off.

Indeed, at the match is a nice, not overly sweet maple/Virginia flavour which initially led me to believe that the tin note could be ignored and Gawith's history of quality could be trusted. Unfortunately the pleasant maple topping quickly dissipates to leave only a bland 'tobacco' flavour, and from there it only gets worse.

The indefinable near-unpleasant tin note translates quite quickly to an indefinable quite unpleasant taste, which in the second half of the bowl is closer to burning cardboard than lit tobacco... Strangely, it is always good when exhaling through the nose, when the maple is revealed again, but the rest of the experience is poor.

Initially I thought this must be due to: The pipe - it wasn't; My preparation - it wasn't; Cadence - made no difference. I wasn't willing to give up and in all I tried 5 pipes of different shapes, sizes and producers (Peterson, Savinelli, Falcon, Carey, even Missouri Meerschaum - I wouldn't let it near my Nørding...). I tried leaving the coins whole, packing tightly, packing loosely, drying till almost crisp... Nothing I tried made any difference. Well, at least you could say it is consistent. And how many tobaccos can you say that about?

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*Room note must be selected to submit a review to this site but it is not particularly strong and it is certainly not any version of pleasant. I plumped for 'tolerable to strong' - 'Intolerable' would be closer to the truth but that option is not listed.

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Update 2021

Following on from Pipeologist's review - another Brit 🙂 with more pipe experience than me - I felt that since I still had a little Roll Cut in glass, in the dark, I should give it another go incase I had been a little harsh initially. I wish I could say that my opinion of this tobacco from a genuinely legendary and ancient producer had changed. Neither my opinion of the company nor unfortunately, the tobacco has changed: Gawith Hoggarth are still wonderful producers but THIS tobacco is still, if not unsmokable, certainly unenjoyable. The one thing that has changed after a year is that the very odd and off-putting tin-note has dissipated and it now smells like a Virginia, but after the light, not much has changed for me. I hate doing it but I might just throw the rest out.

Gawith, Hoggarth & Co./Sam Gawith- Brown House Roll Cut (Reunion).

For my Sunday smoke I normally opt for an aromatic; something insouciant and sweet! So, seeing maple listed as a flavouring I went with this. Unfortunately I never read the description thoroughly. It isn't a nonchalant aromatic, it's a potent smoke with a light topping.

I won't bother describing the appearance, you can see on here it's synonymous to Mac Baren's Roll Cake. The pouch note isn't indicative of much flavouring, it's more of a raw tobacco one. My pouch had good hydration to it. I took a pinch, ruffled it, and stuffed it into my bowl.

As I expected I struggle to identify much maple. Instead I get a fairly puissant, heady, tobacco flavour. The dark fired occupies first place, to me. The Virginia gives some support, but any grassy, hay-like, or fruity notes struggle to compete against the formidable Kentucky. It burns steadily, but is a bit warm and bites; well, it bites me!

Nicotine: above medium. Room-note: I don't like it.

Brown House Roll Cut? Although I enjoyed the Bourbon Flake from the Reunion series I can't say the same for this. Somewhat recommended:

Two stars.

Here comes the cavalry to save this one. Yes, it’s nothing to write home about, however, in my humble opinion, it does not deserve the beating it has received from my fellow reviewers. On the nose, out of the packet, loads of sweet Virginia. Not in any way discombobulated....eh ! Actually, I quite like this and I’m hard to please. A little damp, but so what. It’s tricky to get going , but when it does, really, for me quite a pleasant smoke. No bite, at all, which I hate, no grassy, hayey taste, which I detest. No Lakeland flavour, which I occasionally enjoy, not really present here. Do I get the maple, yes, but only just.This is a good tobacco, in my opinion , but not as pleasant as the other two Reunion offerings, I must admit. However, try it out and make up your own mind. Subjectivity will vary, I’m sure

Having only smoked a pipe for 23 years, I consider myself very much a junior pipeman, and my rotation only includes seven or eight blends including aromatics, orientals, periques and Lakelands, which I remain staunchly loyal to. Still, I wanted to try something different, and when my local tobacconist held the jar of Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown House Roll Cut under my nose, I picked up a strong aroma reminiscent of rich clean hand-rolling tobacco, sweetened with maple. Before the tobacconist could complete his explanation that this was a 'Reunion Series' blend marking the reunion of the great Kendal producers of Samuel Gawith and Gawith & Hoggarth, and was named after the famous Kendal Brown House, and was heavy with dark-fired Kentucky, like the impetuous junior pipeman that I am I had already requested a 25g sample on the spot.

The presentation of small rough cut coins of varying shapes, sizes and states of disintegration appealed to me, and whilst being a little moist for not having been aged, these rubbed out easily enough. And so I settled down to enjoy my first tour of the famed Kendal Brown House.

Now I have to say that at first, I was disappointed with this pipeweed. I was expecting more sweetness from the Virginia and a pleasant Maple topping, over some intriguing dark spice. However, this simply smoked like a generic strong retail pipe tobacco, uniformly dark and bitey. The Maple was not detectable at all. Then I read the negative reviews and considered that I might have bought a lemon, although this has never happened before even once.

But a day later, and I noticed that that bowl had rewarded me with a wonderful clean light-headed nicotine hit that was still gently lowering me back to Earth by parachute, and I lustily loaded another bowl, having left the coins out to dry a little in the meantime. This second bowl was much better. An ex-cigarette smoker, I used to love good clean dark shag rolling tobacco, and I found the spiciness of the moist dark-fired Mozambique reminiscent of the taste of a good chubby roll-up. Not a sophisticated flavour, but one which I recognize and have enjoyed for many years nonetheless. But then the bowl started to evolve, as first the Virginia made her presence felt, and then the spice of the Mozambique Kentucky became subtly more piquant and peppery, and I had to pace myself to ensure it didn't become bitey again. By the end of the bowl, the Kentucky had subtly evolved into dark coffee beans, which might have become just the wrong side of bitter but for the masterstroke of the light Maple topping, which, having been undetectable for most of the bowl, had collected and toasted at the bottom of the bowl to make its late entrance, with a slight delicious toasted ginger biscuit flavour! Coupled with the heady but by no means overpowering nicotine high, all thoughts of my giving up on this weed had entirely evaporated. I thoroughly enjoyed this smoke.

Brown House should not be smoked moist; the flavour becomes muddy and bitter and unsubtle, although the high remains superb. Also the dominant tobacco flavour may not be to everyone's taste (I love it). But with the proper moisture content, this is a medium-strong but subtle smoke, which rewards a conscientious cadence and thoughtful consideration of flavour evolution with buried treasure. It may not become part of my regular rotation, but I will certainly be chugging my way through this 25g to see what other secrets there are to discover in the legendary Brown House, and will always keep some of this intriguing pipeweed on standby for when something a little bit different and special is required.

Usually, when I get a new mixture, the first thing I think about is whether there's a similar product to compare it to, and if there's nothing to compare it to, it's special.

BHRC reminds me of Mac Baren Dark Twist Roll Cake, they have the same shape, yes, this one has a little maple aroma, but it's very faint, I love different interpretations of the same type of mixture, easy to burn, no bite, a hard thing to choose.

I was given a bag of this by a nice chap at a pipe meet. The bag aroma of maple flavouring was a little off putting to me (I'm not a huge aromatics smoker) but I never look a gift horse in the mouth so promptly got to work.

Its a cut twist much like the lovely Cabbies Mixture, little coins and broken bits in the bag. You can stuff it in whole if you've got a big pipe, but you'll get a more even burn if you rub it out.

The pouch aroma of maple doesn't translate into the flavour (I find with aromatic that it almost never does), but unlike most of the Cavendish blends, this is real tobacco, and tastes like it. The Kentucky really is great here, with a nutty, leathery character. The Virginias give a bready flavour in the background but it's hard to detect any subtleties from them, while the topping is a very background thing, perhaps adding some sweetness to the flavour and aroma but in a very subtle way. I don't think bystanders would notice much other than tobacco aroma.

It offers a satisfactory dose of nicotine, again thanks to the excellent Kentucky leaf, and burns without much fiddling or input to leave minimal dottle. I've not noticed any tongue bite or other problems. It won't ghost a pipe.

Two stars to me only because it's not quite my kind of thing, I doubt I'll get it again, but well worth a try and to me, a nice change of pace.

Thin cut rolls that dry and rub out easily. Tin note is the dark fired forward and bright sweet Virginia with a hint of maple. Spicy and rich with the maple fluctuating through the whole smoke which I find the high mark of a good aromatic executed with skill and subtlety. An excellent smoke.