Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Coffee Caramel

Coffee Caramel was one of the first aromatic tobaccos I tried when I first began smoking pipes and I enjoyed it a lot!

I hadn't had anything much to compare it to (my first aromatic tobaccos were this one and Licorice Sambuca, I think it was Century Sambuca?) but I know what I liked and I liked this. Pouch note is sweet with tones of caramel which isn't entirely unpleasant, my mouth waters when smoking a bowl of this.

On smoking this tobacco I got more sweet, caramel/toffee than coffee although it isn't non-existent. A bit goopy but I've found a lot of G&H aromatics seem to be that way.

I would definitely buy a couple of oz of this again, or even in bulk to enjoy the odd bowl now & again whenever my sweet-tooth needed to be appeased.

As a lover of aromatics, I was amazed at how long it took me to discover this stuff. The first thing worth mentioning is that the tin note is, in my opinion, otherworldly. Mouthwatering aromas of treacle/caramel mask a more subtle coffee undertone, with a hearty Cavendish presence sitting as a backdrop.

Lighting isn't too much of an issue, and once it gets going it burns like a dream. Perhaps this product just suits my smoking style, but it burns evenly and smoothly throughout in my experience. Little tongue burn to speak of as well, which is always a plus.

The flakes are medium cut with the lovely dark appearance, the kind we have learned to expect from a quality base tobacco from G&W.

The room note is simply divine. As we know, some G&W aromatics can lose a little of their topping once burnt, and this one loses a touch of its coffee unfortunately. However, its caramel remains fairly prominent.

Overall, was very pleased with this and would highly recommend to lovers of aromatics in search of something new to try.

I was reccomended this blend by a regular customer for whom we placed a special order. when it arrived I could not resist trying it myself to see what he was raving about. I was not disappointed.

Im not a huge fan of heavy Aromatics as a rule, prefering plain Virginia blends perhaps with some cavandish (black or otherwise)thrown in for a touch of sweetness.

This tobacco is very moist indeed in the hand and gives off dark syrupy notes of caramel and chocolate.

I found it had to be packed quite loose to get it to light which is always a problem with very moist blends.

However when lit it was a real treat burning very slowly and very cool. Keeping it lit was tricky but when got right it smouldered so slowly that 2 pipefulls burnt for an entire afternoon!

The taste was subtle creamy and slighlty bitter with a definate caramel flavour.The coffee was in my opinion a bit light but just about there as the pipe burnt to the middle. considering how much topping there is on this blend its not overly sweet and cloying.

The room note was again subtle and low-key, a fairly soft burnt chocolate smell.

Further experimentation lend me to blend it 3 parts with one of a light american virgina called Sparrow. In this form it is far easyer to light and keep lit, without detracting from the flavour. Furthermore this helps to eake out what is a fairly weighty blend, the moisture meaning you get slightly less for your money.

I like this Tobacco a lot and will smoke it again. The quality and smoking properties of a natural/traditional blend with all the taste of of a fine aromatic.

An extremely dark, heavily cased weed that is not overly tacky in feel, this is a reasonable choice for lovers of the aromatic, albeit not quite as good as I'd primarily hoped.

The pouch is irresistibly sweet, with a well-pronounced coffee aroma riding shotgun next to a deliciously faithful caramel scent. It's a great one for exciting the senses and remarkably like stepping into the warmth of a Starbucks on a cold, winter's day.

Like many of the Gawith aromatics, it smokes a little wet and would probably benefit from some air time. Initially a sweet smoke, it becomes a tad bitter as the flavour comes through as you get past the topping. Unfortunately, the coffee/caramel doesn't extend much past the first few puffs and the smoke isn't quite as smooth as you might expect, which relegates this to a round 2* tobacco in my book, and not the 3* that it could perhaps have been.

Having said that, it's a nice enough morning smoke and one which stokes your coals, complementing your first coffee of the day and the newspaper.

If you like an easy aromatic, this blend will give you a pleasant hour. Nice tasty, thick, creamy smoke - not so strong on the coffee flavour at times, although it is more noticeable when exhaled exclusively through the nose.

Bit moist and hard to keep lit all the way through the bowl, but not hard to relight and no bite whatsoever.

I am really enjoying this.

Coffee Caramel is an extremely rich smelling blend, it?s sold loose at my local tobacconist, and every time I open the jar my first though is to grab a spoon as the caramel smell puts me in mind of pudding. Yet while it has an aroma that makes mouths water the smoking properties leave much to be desired. The black Cavendish dominates the smoking experience; it also gives the tobacco a predominantly dark appearance. The tobacco is also very damp, a by-product of being heavily cased, very much in the American style. While this does not overly bother me, I know that others out there find it not such a favourable trait. I find drying it out for a while before smoking improves it, reducing the pipe gurgle, yet will not eliminate its tendency to become very bitter at the end of the bowl. If smoked slowly it never bites so this is one of its positive traits. Taste is quite good if you like heavy Cavendish blends, but I would not recommend it to a dedicated smoker of English blends.

A good friend of mine used to smoke this on a regular basis and it was through his experiments that I became familiar with the positive blending possibilities of this blend. Now I normally always blend it with another tobacco rather than smoking it straight, as on its own can become overpowering and monotonous (trust me it may not make much sense but it does). I would recommend playing around with mixing it with other blends yourself but suggest as a starting point to use 1 to 1 mixing ratios. I have found myself smoking it regularly of lately, as I smoke often in mixed company and people have become more vocal of late in expressing displeasure with blends that don?t smell so nice. This has forced me to leave the Latakia blends for long walks, when I?m on my own. In social situations Sunset Breeze or Classic Port are preferable in aroma but their high cost often means that this is a good substitute.

My subjective opinion is that this is a nice relaxing smoke that puts one in the mood to discuss weighty matters in the pub over a good pint of real ale, without offending the rest of the pubs patrons.

3 out of 5 overall.