Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Best Brown #2

This GH offering is far superior to SGs Best Brown and a more exciting melange of virginia and burley flavours. Try as you might, there is no bite with this one - under any circumstances.

Wonderful 'tang' and natural sweetness with no toppings and a reasonable nicotine injection. Could suit as an all-day smoke, but I prefer as an evening smoke when relaxing and have the time to nose the full flavours.

Bought this one loose and in bulk and it needs some drying. Top grade stuff and definetely recommended.

Good tobacco quality but unfortunately the taste is extremely soapy for my liking, I simply cant enjoy the lakeland soapiness.

Best Brown #2 [Lakeland Flavor];

Star Rating = 2.0;

Rating Scores - 10 is the Best and 0 is the Worst;

Pouch Note = 6;

Room Note = 6;

Flavor = 6;

Bite = 6;

Burn = 6;

After Taste = 6;

Raw Score = 36;

Rated Percentage = 60%;

Comment = Smooth, Very Strong, has the Famous Lakeland Floral Flavor, Wife complained about the nasty Aroma. You have heard the old saying “Go smell the roses”, well this is you chance to “Go smoke the roses”. Some people report that they actually like the Lakeland Floral Flavor, but my guess is most people are going to hate this Blend. I was very disappointed with this Gawith Hoggarth & Co. best seller.

This one is another fine flake from the master tobacconists of Gawith Hoggarth.

It smokes cool and smooth using the old fold ‘n stuff. Requires slightly more than the usual amount of relights.

This one has an unusual, kind of musty, smoky-spiciness lurking in the background. Call me crazy, but I think this blend has a little whisper of latakia. It’s not mentioned, I know. But as anyone with any substantial time as a pipe smoker knows, that doesn’t mean anything.

Maybe I’m wrong. It HAS happened.

Otherwise, this is a great little vabur. I really think GH sources my favorite Virginias, and they’re pretty forward here.

Like most Gawith Hoggarth tobacco, this one smokes down to an almost completely dry ash, with usually little dottle.

Will I buy this again? Maybe, but not as long as better GH offerings are on the table. I prefer both Brown Flake Aromatic and Unscented to this.

I would however absolutely recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with GH as a decent intro to the brand. The Lakeland essence is minimal here.

Or, quite possibly, I’ve become such a regular GH smoker, I no longer detect it in lighter applications.

I'd like to clear something up. BB#2 is not a floral or soapy tobacco. However occasionally you'll get a tin which is tainted by whatever was processed before it. BB#2 seems to be the only GH tin that has this problem. Most of the time BB#2 is just plain straight untopped tobacco with that vinegarish tang to it which is just a natural byproduct of fermented baccy.

Out of about 8 tins, I have had 2 'tainted' tins, which have a really nice violet/lavender thing going on. I prefer the tainted stuff myself and in fact I only order it in the hopes that it will be, because I only have access to the tinned GH stuff and none of those have the lakeland florals. The tainted stuff gets 4 stars. The usual unscented BB#2 is very high quality but actually quite boring without the floral, and is what I am rating.

I agree with the reviewer who said it's like bob's choc without the choc.

I find it strange that people detect 'floral' toppings or 'soap' in Ennerdale or Rum flake. Ennerdale tastes like almonds and citrus fruits (like european pretzel) and rum flake tastes like....rum. I constantly see people referring to Ennerdale as the 'quintessential' lakeland floral/soap when it has no floral/perfume toppings whatsoever. None of the Samuel Gawith tins have it either - except arguably Kendal Cream Flake. I just put it down to lack of experience. If you've ever tried Condor, you'll know what 'lakeland soap' is without a shadow of a doubt.

My theory is that what people are describing as 'soapy' or floral is just the effect of GH using natural essential oils and real plants as opposed to artificial flavorings. Case in point GH top black cherry uses real cherries - I even got a whole cherry stone in one of my tins! Bob's choc has actual cocoa. SG 1792 has bits of fibre in it from the tonquin beans. People are not used to it, and they are expecting soap, so they taste soap. It's a psychological thing.

Tin note reminds me of an old library, leather, well handled pages, wood and a faint whiff of rubber. I rubbed it out and gave it a modest amount of drying time. Lit easily enough and the various leaves are composed well with a nice balance between rich Virginia and nutty, woody burley. The flavour improves for me in the second third of the bowl where I found the burley making its presence felt. I get no Lakeland essence from this at all. In my humble opinion Brown Flake Aromatic is the King of the Lakelands and although this is quite a satisfying smoke it doesn't hold a candle to the King. I will put some in the cellar and revisit it at some point but it's not one I will use in regular rotation. The final third of the bowl is very cigar like and it leaves an OK aftertaste in the mouth. Room note isn't all that to be honest, a bit too ashy for me so I prefer to smoke it outdoors. A good solid VaBur if that's what floats your boat, I'll stick with my Brown Flake Aromatic as I love the way the Rose Geranium gives the flake a much more playful and enjoyable experience.

This flake is a bit thicker than something like a Dunhill Flake. This being the case, I cut this up cube style, and gravity feed it into a medium sized billiard. A light tamp, and you're off to the races. For an unscented blend, I definitely taste the Lakeland Essence. Not too heavy, but it's there. Very smooth, lots of smoke. Nic hit is mild. It's an excellent flake, but I would love it even more, without the floral taste. Probably won't order this one again...

One of the beauties of buying loose tobacco is that one can buy a small 25g sampler pack if one is unsure whether they will like the blend or not. Thus my last telephone order from Mysmokingshop.com consisted of several, one of which was G&H Best Brown #2.

Upon opening up the bag I was presented with a few mid brown straggly flakes that look somewhat 'distressed'. I stuck my nose in there expecting the famous/infamous Lakeland essence but was quite surprised to find it was not there at all! What was there was a gentle aroma of slightly sweet hay with perhaps a little tartness. It reminded me of the smell of Cabbie's Mixture but there the similarity ended.

I rubbed out the rather long damaged flakes on a tray to allow some air drying time. Once rubbed out the shreds were still somewhat chunky, not the finer cut that I prefer so therefore perhaps not best in a small bowled pipe.

I loaded up a Hardcastle bent bulldog, filled up a glass of cold Bishop's Finger and sat back to see how I fared with this new to me blend.

Lighting was surprisingly easy considering the coarseness of the cut and that it had only aired for a few minutes. As in the packet note, the actual smoke was devoid of any Lakeland essence which was nice. I don't actually mind it if its lightly applied but would rather not have it, preferring to taste pure tobacco instead. This like most blends is best sipped, then the sweet flavours come to the fore though here I did find them to be rather muted but still very pleasurable. Hints of molasses and honey came through with just a smidgen of spiciness thrown in for good measure.

I found this to be a pleasantly mild blend but one that was lacking something. I can't quite put my finger on it but it wasn't as 'wholesome' as some reviews had led me to believe it would be. Perhaps I might have better luck with Sam Gawith's Best Brown Flake which I believe is a straight Virginia.

Writing this review I am smoking it after much air drying in a large Captain Black egg and still find it to be lacking. Not quite bland but rather dull.

Certainly not a completely duff smoke, many folks love the stuff but for this smoker one that I may try again but wouldn't be too bothered if I never saw it again.

Nice meaty flakes that smell of uncased Burley in the pouch (bulk). The first time, this tobacco was quite moist and the defining taste was of a flowery perfume and a soapy finish. After a few weeks of drying, the burning qualities are highly improved and a light Burley nuttiness appears while the aforementioned taste of perfume comes and goes. It packs and burns perfectly, no bite and no gurgling, this tobacco would be perfect if it were unscented.

Virginia lover