Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Sweet Coconut Twist

I've got a real thing for the amazing twists from the Gawith twins.

A few months back an estate pipe arrived and after a double dose of pipe sweetening, reaming, etc., I fired up a bowl of some neutral Burley. And what did it taste like? Coconut. Being a suggestible soul, I developed an immediate craving for coconut. And after about 30 seconds of research, I ordered 8 oz of this blend. (Suggestible and impulsive and optimistic all in one, it seems). I've long been a fan of Sam Gawith's ropes and I figured that Gawith & Hoggarth must be equally adept at producing them.

And so they are.

When a twist arrives at my door, I tend to have at it with a big chef's knife. Most of it I cut it into segments about 2 inches long and stuff into jars. For immediate smoking, I just chop some roughly and toss it into a smaller jar. I rub it out further before I load and I find that drying to the crispy stage seems to work best for me.

Coconut twist is not an aromatic in the usual sense: there's nothing remotely goopy or bitey about it. It is first and foremost a powerful brown rope bursting with classic African Virginia intensity and depth. On top of that robust, cigarish tobacco flavor is a very subtle coconut quality that tends to diminish as the ash builds.

I often read how the various ropes are 'not for beginners,' but I don't think I agree. I think that anyone coming to the pipe from a different form of tobacco--cigars, cigarettes, or chew--might be best starting with these nicotine-rich, inspiring tabacs. It's true, of course, that some find these tabacs to be utterly vile, gruesomely potent, so be forewarned. But I think they're a great historical introduction to the pleasures of the pipe.

Well, I did get this as a free sample, though mine was brown and not black, as OSR mentioned. (hope I'm reviewing the right rope here!) Somehow, this rope really hit me right. I got a load of free samples to start a box pass from a kind soul in a forum.....most of what I tried were ropes, and this one did the trick. To me, it was just like a normal brown rope with, well, a coconut twist. Maybe it was aged, because it sure was smooth. The smoothest rope I've ever smoked. I've just located a place to get it online, marscigar, and I'll update this when I've smoked some more. If you like ropes, this is a strange, but good choice. 4 stars!

This rope is not your typical GH offering in that it has just a hint of the usual GH taste, however, the presence of coconut is there. This is a very mild aromatic and I recommend it to those who wish to enter the world of ropes and twists. It's especially nice as a "relaxing in the hot sun" smoke.

Package note of light coconut, mild allspice and tart fruit. The wet, three shades of brown, 7/8-inch fat rope needs slicing into thin coins (with a razor or thin sharp knife) and rubbed out to get the fastest drying time. Burn is slow and requires relights. The strength is medium to strong and nic is mild-medium. Flavoring is mild and consistent, with notes of mild sweet coconut. Taste is medium to full and mostly consistent, with notes of wood, earth, toasted bread, light dried fruity, hay, floral and a spicy cigar retro. Dark fired wrapper leaves are fighting renegade Dark fired wrapper leaves and dark air cured Indian leaf with coconuts. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is good.

Upon opening this bag I was greeted by a mild Toasted Coconut aroma and a medium Almond and a medium earthy background. I cut the rope up with my hunting knife into a coarse cut and left it sit out for 45 minutes on a paper towel. Unfortunately after loading and lighting I decided to remove and leave out for another hour and a half. The reason was it was hard to light and wouldn't stay lit past 2 sips no matter how much I puffed to get it lit. That is fine I I like to sip, but to get the flavor it takes a few sips. When "lit" this smokes profusely and leaves a tolerable room note. I think this could be a all day smoke if one could keep it lit. Burns super slow even when it feels dry. Despite claims otherwise this will slightly nip you if you puff hard and if puffed slightly it gives one a cigar taste, which is great if you like that in your pipe tobacco. The heavy smoke lingers long but is sort of ncie to look at. Surprisingly no moisture in the bowl when finished a hour and a half later. Burned down to a dark ash. During the few sips I could get in a row this left a lightly sweet aftertaste of coconut and almond. The last quarter of the bowl grew bitter and after done smoking I tasted a mixed aftertaste of slightly sweet coconut, a slight bitter taste and some cigar.

Upon "lighting" and I use that term loosely, I was greeted by a nice lightly sweet coconut and a mildly sweet almond. There was a mild earthy taste in the background and that is all I could taste except when puffing a bit to see what it would do. What it did was threw a lot of wonderful smoke, had a cigar taste come forth, slightly nipped and 30 seconds later went out.

I have a rather mixed reaction to this. I had some quick short lived enjoyment of the flavors I could find, love the smoke, I like smoky smokes, was nice to find no moisture in the bowl, enjoyed what others called a tolerable room note but the constantly relighting and hardly any long term tasting while sipping, and not finding anything in taste other than he coconut, almond and earthy flavors that seemed to play okay together left me feeling that this was a smoke that offered little enjoyment. The flavors that I tasted for short quick lights were pleasant., Would I buy it? No and I am grateful my friend gave me this to try. I give this a 2 out of 4 stars. I do think everyone should try it for it isn't bad but it is rather more annoying to smoke despite almost 2 and a half hours of drying on a paper towel under a ceiling fan. I know friends who would love this, but it just isn't the twist I need in my life for it isn't my cup of tea flavor-wise.

Update- tried this multiple times and disliked it more each time. 1 star rating.

The two word review of this rope: powerful coconut. This was my first exploration of rope tobacco, and I'll be delving further. First, the twist is a pretty cool presentation and allows a close inspection of whole leaf. There is not a lot of complexity to the blend. The raw power is my lasting impression of this smoke and I would caution lightweights to be wary; it's still a tolerable level but one I wouldn't want to exceed.

While coconut is an uncommon pairing with tobacco it is welcome. It is strongest on the light and fades over time, but the decay rate is constant unlike many other aromatics that volatilize and subsequently lose all topping in the first quarter of the bowl. While this is a cavendish, I think it's a purer expression of a steamed and pressurized leaf rather than heavily cased with all the nicotine cooked off. I would guess that it is a burley cavendish. The coconut starts intense, and I think it pairs well with a strong tobacco. I also get a note underneath that's like evaporated milk, unusual but nice. Once this settles down the tobacco dominates. It's pretty one note, but a good note like very well seasoned firewood. As I said above very strong, but not harsh. Definitely a cigar-like quality to it, perhaps because of the layered whole leaf. If you can cope with higher doses of Vitamin N give it a go.

Wow. This was something of a surprise to me. I didn't expect this twist to be as good as it turned out to be. Strong enough to satisfy you and yet pleasant enough to keep coming back to. Excellent taste and just enough 'tropical' essence to make it unique. Goes great with a glass of good dark rum.

Wife note is strong on this one.

I just received a couple ounces of this today. I have been wanting to try a rope tobacco and this seemed like a good choice. This is a high quality tobacco with a very light topping of coconut (I assume). It doesn't really taste like coconut but it is nice and sweet and pleasant tasting. There is somewhat of a cigar type of room note that goes along with it. It is also very VERY strong. I rubbed out a couple small coins I cut from it and lit em up. Halfway through the bowl I thought my head was going to fall off. Tread lightly my friends, until you get a feel for how much of this you can handle. With that being said it is of good quality and excellent bang for the buck, it will take me some time to work through a few ounces but that is perfectly ok with me, there is plenty of room in the cellar. I recommend this blend for when everything else just isn't strong enough and you would rather not go for a full english blend.

I had some trouble keeping this leaf lit but once I got it going it burned well. I sliced off a few little coins, rubbed them out and stuffed them into a small cob pipe. There's plenty of flavor but I can't state that I detected anything I could say resembled coconut. The flavor was sweet and I kept thinking of some of the better cigars I've smoked. The nicotine left me with a pleasant buzz and I was glad I had chosen a SMALL PIPE to smoke this bowl. This is quality tobacco but I'm still trying to pen down the actual flavor.