Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Dark Virgina Cavendish Chocolate

Willy covered most of my impressions, but I want to emphasize his comments regarding a zesty Virginia character. I love GH Virginias, but the steam processing generally removes the citrusy high notes that are so delicious in McClelland, C&D and GLP blends. So I certainly didn't expect to find them in a steamed Virginia Cavendish blend. Yet there they are, at least for the first half of the bowl.

As for the chocolate topping, this is nothing like an American-style aromatic. I doubt most people would identify chocolate if they sniffed a baggie of this blind, and the chocolate comes through more as a smoothness than as a flavor in the smoke. Picture the aftertaste of a sip of bittersweet hot cocoa, and you come close. Viewed comparatively, this has about the same amount of chocolate flavoring as Bob's Chocolate Flake, which I think is quite subdued.

An interesting note to me: most Virginia-containing blends taste different when smoked normally vs. air-smoked, i.e. puffing while allowing air in around the stem. This smoked exactly the same either way. While this isn't a complex blend, the interplay of zest, smoothness, and sweet pastry flavors keeps it interesting.

But wait: a two-hour DGT at 1/2 bowl changes things. Instead of smoothness, a fire-cured flavor asserts itself, with all of the back-of-throat edge, lip-numbing, head-spinning characteristics. Is this the same tobacco? Yes. It retains some sweetness, and the overall effect is still good, but it is a different animal. This calms down over the remainder of the smoke, but never returns to its original self.

I like this blend. Give it a try.

This was another sample I received in my trial pack of G & H tobaccos. They are, IMHO, akin to the Esoterica tobaccos in that many of each one appear alike in looks, smoking characteristics, tastes and rate of burn. I really like the Esoterica blends, and the G & H blends are equally pleasing to me. DVC Chocolate is a dark, nearly black blend with lighter brown bits mixed in. It's mostly broken, but there are some larger flakes that will need to be shredded for better packing. The aroma upon opening the bag is most assuredly sweet, but in a subtle way, and is like a semi-sweet or dark chocolate flavor. Remember, we're not talking Hershey bars here. I don't feel they were too heavy-handed with the flavoring, because it certainly isn't in the category of the "goopy" aromatics, but the flavor will be noticed. Packing was typical but with a little less pressure because of the moisture content. Since I fill by the three step method, I just backed off a little at the top. I found on subsequent bowls that about half to one hour air time made a big difference in the moisture and packing. I'll just put some on a paper plate and go on about my business for a while. Come back later and ,hey, good to go. The initial light took an additional match or two, but I've noticed this with other darker tobaccos so to me it was no big deal. BUT, once lit and going....man what a good smoke! I have two Weiner pipes dedicated to this tobacco only. One is the brown bent sandblast featured in the article P&T did on Steve a while back, and that pipe and this tobacco seem to go together like hand-in-glove. I feel that any size bowl would accomodate this tobacco very nicely, but a very deep "chimney" could make for some bitterness near the end of the smoke. The sweetness is present but in a discreet and subtle way. It's a very light dark chocolate taste that in no way overrides the familiar VA taste. There is also that spicy VA tang that we all know and love, and a slight, slight tartness that balances the flavor nicely. Being a steamed cavendish does make for a pleasant, easy smoke with an edge that keeps things interesting, but there's no sharpness to bite the tongue. The blend keeps on burning, and burning, and burning and the sweetness does diminish (but lingers slightly) and the flavor changes to a rich, smoky tobaccoey taste which is in no way unpleasant. I found no problem with wet burning except for one swab with a pipe cleaner about halfway down. The rich VA flavors and the subtle chocolate flavor do, IMHO, complement each other very nicely and make for a great anytime smoke, but maybe something a bit heavier would be more suitable in the evening. I would recommend this tobacco to others who like the VA taste but would like a bit more sweetness in the flavor without ruining that natural tobacco taste. Like many of you, I don't want to smoke casings and flavorings, I want to taste the nuances of the tobacco I'm putting in my pipe bowl. DVC Chocolate provides the best of both worlds and leans to the natural tobacco flavor more than the artificial flavor. The tobacco burns to a dry, white ash (i.e Esotericas) and leaves the pipe clean and dry with maybe a hint of dottle. Puffing a little extra hard as a test did not produce that HOT sensation we don't like to taste, although if you huff it like a freight train pulling a heavy load uphill I suppose things could heat up considerably (what tobacco wouldn't?) As an aside LSW says "Hey, that has a nice smell honey. Which one is that?" We have a winner folks. If you want a tobacco that very successfully bridges the "aromatic" and "natural" gap you may want to give this a try. I'm glad I did.

This was a surprise. It mentioned chocolate in the description which can put some of us off. It actually has a bit of character and doesn't fall flat on the flavor. It makes a great all day smoke and I would mix it with some other stuff that we just try to save sometimes. Try it. It works.

I agree with what everything Darth69 said. I picked this up mainly because I liked the smell. I really like this blend as an all day smoke. The chocolate isn't as pronounced as Bob's Chocolate Flake but it is definitely in there.