Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Kendal Kentucky

Fluffy shag.... that's for sure. This is my first experience with something so.... well, so shaggy! This makes it easy to pack, stays lit and smokes down without any need to mess with it. It has a pleasant, straight forward taste. Tastes like tobacco! Imagine that, in a world of any flavoring available. With Kendal Kentucky you get a straight forward smoke. I seem to get quite a nicotine kick out of this stuff too. We live in a great time, with so many varieties of tobacco to choose from. I strongly recommend that you give this one a try - you won't be disappointed.

Thanks to all of you tobacco mavens.......and you know who you are. I got around to trying K.K. What took me so long? I've been on the Virginia super hiway...and what a hiway it is. The description above says content "Virginia", but the best I can tell is this is pure Burley. For someone that in the past didn't think they liked burley a few blends that were recommended here have certainly changed my mind ie. Stonehaven, Aged Burley Flake, etc. Now comes this fine blend. Besides the price for this bulk blend, I find that this is "bout as good as it gets!

This is a "lazy mans" smoke. No drying, rubbing out.....just untangle, stuff, light, and enjoy. Strong for sure....loads of flavorfull smoke.reminds me somewhat of another favorite Irish Flake. This is a great buy, and a great smoke from one of the oldest tobacco houses around. I rate this onbe * * * *

As with all comfirmed pipe smokers, we have all countless hours, money and time in search of the perfect tobacco that matches their taste. This is the one for me. Straight up stoved burley tobacco. This is not for the beginner and is most surely a aquired taste. For me the taste and aroma are outstanding. The shag cut is easy to pack but be cautious don't tamp too hard or it will not draw. The flavor stays consistent to the bottom of the bowl to a fine white ash. No tongue bite at all. A very smokey taste and aroma due to the stoving process. This is now my all day smoke.

- A mixture of various dark fired leaf from Africa in a shag cut

First off, really great! Harmonious smoking qualities with characteristics of slight smokiness (from it's curing method), mild nutty and cigar-like overtones, enough natural sweetness to just round out flavor and aroma. This may be mild on the palatte but has a goodly amount of nicotine, as to be expected from fire cured types. Being so satisfying in that regard this may be descibed as "A bowl will do ya'." By the way, smokes dry and very easy to keep lit via shag cut. This is similiar to Gawith's "Dark Birdseye" which is more smoky, intense and stronger than Kendal Kentucky. This is most likely will become a regular smoke for me. Straight burley smokers should try this along with cigar aficionandos.

- Highly recomended

I agree with just about everything in Paddy's review. Kendal Kentucky has the same miniscule shag cut as Dark Birdseye. It's about the same strength, and I find it more flavorful.

I've put this in my regular rotation for evenings when I don't have time for a full bowl of a dark Kendal flake such as 1792. The cut of Kendal Kentucky makes for a less densely-packed pipe, so the smoke goes faster than with a flake.

I perceive the "nuttiness" that Paddy describes also in the aroma, both in the room note and in the aroma the tobacco imparts to the briar or meerschaum as it's smoked. I haven't seen this latter pheonomenon discussed on Tobacco Reviews. I have the (perhaps strange) habit of smelling the briar or meecschaum bowl as part of the enjoyment of a pipe. Each tobacco imparts a unique aroma to the pipe during the smoke. Each of my favorite briars also seems to contribute something unique to this aroma, while all meerschaums seem to contribute about the same pleasant patina. My favorite pipes and favorite tobacco blends are ones that excel in this quality.

Does anyone else experience this, or am I just weird?

Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Kentucky- I liked this tobacco from the moment I first put a match to it It looks just like Dark Birds eye and tastes very similar although this one is much sweeter . Smokey toasty woodsy nutty with a hint of cocoa and brown sugar . I feel like it must have a light flavoring to it and maybe licorice? I may be wrong but it’s mighty sweet . It’s a great smoke for sure and no lakeland to be found yet but I was hoping for maybe a little . I’ve been coverted to Lakeland Essence ! Gawith and Hoggarth make some fine blends . Be careful with this tobacco as the sweetness can fool you into thinking it’s medium strength nicotine. At least it did me . It may be a while before I can stand up here with a quarter bowl left in the pipe ! 4 star tobacco for the taste . Strong nicotine!

Very full flavored smoke with a savory gusto and umami aftertaste. Has light topping with an herbal quality and a minor floral note (though not the traditional lakeland one might expect). The main show is the pure tobacco flavor--in this case 100% dark fired made from several African grown varieties of leaf. I'm not typically a dark fired fan but GH does it better with than most and it's also a rather different dark fired experience, much richer than just a monotonous blast of BBQ smokiness. It's hard to understand how they could arrive at such an interesting blend without including VA, cavendish, perique or condiment tobaccos. Exceedingly strong in nicotine. A small bowl pipe works best. No tongue bite but does have a tendency to fatigue the palate. Not an all day smoke.

- Logs

This is a magnificent tobacco. Lovely smokey smell.big hitter on the nicotine. I have blended it with some original flake because although not fast burning it seems to fine for a pipe. It would actually make a brilliant stern roll up. Because it's cut so fine it looks like you get twice as much. It's difficult to knock this. It's a rich manly tobacco. Puts hairs on your chest.

I wish this had been the first pipe tobacco blend I ever tried. Could have saved me a lot of time and money. Once I smoked Kendal Kentucky I pretty much stopped wanting to smoke anything else. Of course the problem remains, I haven't tried everything else. Maybe there's a blend out there on par with this, or somehow surpassing it, but I haven't found it. I haven't tried Dark Bird's Eye yet, so we'll see. I suspect I'll like that too. Kendal #7 is very similar to this, though in that blend you can taste a little fruitiness from the Virginia which this is lacking. This is spicy, smoky, earthy, a little sweet, leathery, a little incense-like (the faintest of Lakeland essence far in the background), and a bit chocolatey. I imagine it tastes like the tropical sun and ancient soil of East Africa. It does taste somewhat cigar-like to me.

I was always a huge fan of Drum tobacco when I used to smoke RYOs, and that contains to my nose, the same Kentucky leaf as this. What I love about this though is it contains nothing but Burley, and yet the flavour is deep and complex. Who needs Virginia? The shag cut burns perfectly every time too. Who needs flakes or ribbons?

The nic hit is pretty heavy so use a small bowl. I purchased a Peterson Belgique with a .60 inch bowl specifically for smoking KK. Love it.