Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Sweet Coconut Twist

I go back to the mason jar of this every year or so but it remains a bit of a disappointment, even after 8 years. I've never found a way to keep it lit well, aside from excessively drying and mincing it, and even then its temperamental - much more so that plain Brown rope or Brown Bogie.

Coconut? Well, not really. If I try hard I can imagine its coconut, but primarily it is a solid nutty overtone that supersedes the usual leather and cigar notes of brown rope. In that sense it succeeds, but all-in-all its not worth the effort.

I am not an aromatic fan, but I am a huge fan of G&H ropes and twists. This one is not cloying, although the flavor is present throughout the smoke. If definitely subsides significantly, leaving the majority of the bowl with a solid, familiar G&H twist character. It's an interesting changeup once in a while, but it's not one I would smoke regularly.

Ah, rope tobacco. You'd think that after an experience with Black XX that I'd learn my lesson. Fortunately, I'm hard-headed, and I ordered some of this stuff on a whim. I'm a coconut fan, an aromatic fan, and a nicotine fan. Check, check, and double check! The package provided me with a curl of very dark colored rope tobacco. The pouch note was that of very strong, oily tobacco with a hint of natural coconut. I'm pretty sure if you put baking coconut on a Maduro cigar it would have a similar aroma. I used a cigar cutter to slice thin coins and I packed them in one of my cheap briars (you know, in case it created an environmental hazard like the Black XX did). It took a while for this to catch a flame, but once it did, wow! I could taste the coconut at first, but after half a bowl it faded out completely. There is simply nothing on this planet strong enough to drown out the taste of the tobacco used in this rope. However, the tobacco tastes GOOD. It wasn't heavy (thanks to the Cavendish, I presume) like other ropes, and lacked that oily mouth feeling. It burned relatively cool, and the nicotine level was just the way that I like it: high as hell. I would recommend this to any smoker looking for something different with a high nic hit. I find myself reaching for this more and more. I guess it's time to reorder!

This is basically brown twist with a coconut topping. The coconut topping burns off almost immediately. However, the underlying tobacco is awesome. Nice and string. It is hard to prepare and hard to light though.

Sweet Coconut Twist;

Star Rating = 3.5;

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

Pouch Note = 9;

Room Note = 9;

Flavor = 9;

Bite = 9;

Burn = 9;

After Taste = 8;

Raw Score = 53;

Rated Percentage = 88%;

Comment = Smooth, Strong Strength, Full Body Tobacco Flavor (but no coconut Flavor), has a slight After Taste, White Ash Burn.

If you are one who likes to “play” with your tobacco, by all means get this “Twist” form of tobacco, you can spend countless hours “Slicing, Dicing and Drying” this “Twist” tobacco before it is ready to smoke. I admit I am a lazy pipe smoker so I didn't find this necessary extra preparation exercise to be of any value to heighten my pipe smoking enjoyment. You had better have a sizable ignition source on hand because you are going to need a lot of BTU's to get this “Twist” tobacco to light. Once you achieve the first ignition you will need to have your best “Tamping Tool” at the ready to handle the endless re-packings and re-lights that this “Twist” form of tobacco requires. Perhaps you have detected that the “Twist” form of tobacco is not my “cup of tea”.

A previous reviewer has said that "coconut" and "tobacco" are words that don't belong in the same sentence. Couldn't agree more. I'm not sure what the flavour actually is (it doesn't taste like coconut to me), but I don't like it and I don't think tobacco should taste of it. Each to his own; some people like it, after all. Try it (in a small bowl) if you like a smoke with an arresting flavour. It's cool and slow, which are plus points; but so are many tobaccos that don't violate the taste-buds in the way that this one does. It's as rough as a badger's ear if you smoke it too quickly. If my aged grandma got down on her poor old bony knees and begged me to smoke it, I would. Not otherwise, though. SWMBO and Klio were very satirical about the room note. Klio rushed outside, rolled on the grass, and presently brought a dead mouse in. Says it all, really.

I have really grown to like GH tobaccos and knowing that the scents of GH are not really that of an aromatic (at least in my book)I find that I am attracted to the strength of the brand. Coconut Twist doesn't fall short in the strength department. When I first received my "rope" the scent was very strong, confirming that the word coconut and tobacco don't belong in the same sentance. However, upon lighting, the scent quietly moved to the background leaving only a small amount of coconut flavor that actually worked well with the tobacco. CT fell short for me because even though I rubbed it out well and made sure that the wrapper was well mixed with the filler, I still found it to grow bitter as the bottom third of the bowl approached. Having smoked a lot of GH tobacco's I took care in smoking it slowly, but CT still left my mouth without taste for the following two days. I opted to try CT with another pipe and the result was the same. This is a quality tobacco that mixes well with its unusual scent, but it simply isn't for me.

I can't really add much to the previous review-it nails this tobacco perfectly. Just like Strongirish, I found that the strong bag aroma of coconuts does not translate to the actual smoke beyond the first few puffs, and that this tobacco is very cigar like. But if all the cigars I've tried tasted like this, I might smoke more of them. Really good stuff, and I will be glad to have some around. I will update when I have really gotten to know this rope, especially after it has started to age. I have it in a jar already. From the picture on the retailer's website, I expected it to be a blacker, thinner rope, but it is the size of S. Gawith Brown #4, and only a little darker.

I frequently hear people saying that a lot of ropes taste like motor oil. I like to smoke ropes and I know what they mean but I liken it more to the flavor of a maduto cigar versus a Connecticut type wrapper. When I was sent this rope to sample and review, I was expecting this type of flavor, but my expectations quickly changed. This is a very pretty rope, nice and soft and looking like a very nice cigar. The coconut flavoring that is added makes it smell great in the bag, and I expected to find here a very strong aromatic. I sliced this into coins and set it out to dry for several hours but also took some right out of the container and rubbed it out as is and smoked it right off. I think after smoking several bowls of this both dry, medium dry and as is and it is better without drying. It is a medium brown color and slices quite easily. It rubs out to nice thick ribbon rough cut flakes of varying colors of brown. I was easy to pack into my pipe but did take several lights to get it going but once lit, it sustained a nice slow burn and did not require more than one relite to the bottom.

Upon sitting back to enjoy a nice long slow smoke of this, I was very surprised that the coconut flavor did not really come through into the smoke. It really tasted much like a nice cigar with a rich, creamy, flavorful smoke, with a sweet overtone. Did not taste like an aromatic but more like a sweet VA but very rich and full. It is amedium to strong smoke but does not bite at all and there is none of the motor oil taste of other rope. A beginner could smoke this with no problems. I must state that if you accidently enhale some of the smoke, it is very strong and harsh. This one needs to be savored nice and slow. It has a great room note due to the coconut additive and it does leave a nice seet taste on the palette after finishing the bowl. It burns down to a nice dry dark gray ash leaving no gunk in the heal of the pipe at all. I have enjoyed the numerous smokes I have had of this and I higly recomment this blend. It would be a great introduction to ropes.