Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Black Cherry Twist

I got this as a sample from Mike at Mars many years ago. When I figure out what I did to piss him off, I will apologize profusely.

Pretty to look at and fun to slice with a sharp knife. Rubs out easily and smells like it was soaked in cough syrup...I even detected some camphor or menthol buried deeply in the unsmoked aroma. After several hours of drying, I loaded and lit up.

That was my first mistake.

Shortly after reaching cruising altitude, the flavor of the topping began to concentrate. I'm used to these flavors burning off. Not this one. The syrupy, medical flavor and aroma started getting very assertive. I returned my table and seat back to their upright positions. That was my second mistake. It wasn't the nicotine whirlies or whips and jingles. It was the noxious goopy flavoring that was making me reach for a barf bag. I didn't care much for this one. Burns great and there's real tobacco in there somewhere. Fans of this type of tobacco will no doubt enjoy it very much, as it is top quality leaf, professionally prepared. Just not my cup of tea. Or cap full of cough medicine.

Somewhat harsh. Flavoring barely noticable. Will try some again as this is my first experience with rope. It needs to be dried out a bit as it is very wet and difficult to keep lit.

Update: I can't taste the flavoring. It seems to be overpowered by the harshness. This is a good test of manhood. If you can survive a bowl you are a real MAN. I'm apparently a WIMP!

"Could this be the often-hoped for aromatic with flavor?" Sorry, but no. This is a strong, harsh tobacco that the flavoring hardly touches. If you like ropes, this might be a fun diversion, but it is too much for me.

Oh my! A friend – I use the word in a fairly loose sense - gave me some of this to sample. I didn't like the look of it, but I'll try anything once, and it would've been rude not to. Here's my advice in a nutshell: if you like very strong and very heavily cased tobacco, you're going to enjoy this; if you like your tobacco to taste only of tobacco and not to knock you flat with its Vitamin N content, leave this one well alone. Very little makes me want literally to throw up, but this managed it.

I do realise that some people like this kind of thing, and great luck to you if you do; but, in my opinion, Black Cherry Twist is not compatible with human life, and Baby Jesus cried when they invented it. It would be bearable, even commendable to those who like a very strong smoke, if it weren't for the dreadful taste. Someone in a previous review has likened the casing to cough medicine. I agree entirely; but who at G & H could possibly have thought that a tobacco should taste like that? Also, what substance, exactly, is used to create this dire effect? I can't believe it's anything natural. I've never come across a 'cherry' tobacco that tastes anything like real cherries.

Jim, my Durham friend/tobacconist (whom Fuzzypeg knows also) tells me that people chew BCT. God help them, is all I can say. If you smoke it, and assuming you can get it to stay alight (no mean feat), the nicotine will kill you for sure if the terrible flavour doesn't. If you're a normally constituted human being, you will, after half a bowl, want to sit on the floor and cry.

No doubt drying it will improve the smoking quality (see earlier reviews); I imagine that aging it would calm it down a little also. I probably haven't given it a fair gallop (no DGT, for example; perhaps the topping isn't so fearsome the second time around). But why bother, when there's so much tobacco out there that doesn't do such horrible things to you? Give it a try if you like; but don't say I didn't warn you, and do use a small bowl. Only real men can smoke this, or would want to. For ordinary mortals, not recommended. No no no no no. Blecccch.