Samuel Gawith Westmorland Mixture

A new mixture from Samuel Gawith. The tin description indicates it is well-balanced. I suppose that would depend on your idea of balance. My everyday Latakia mixture is Odyssey, so keep that in mind reading this review.

The tin aroma (actually a baggy sample) does not have the intial smoky Latakia aroma I expected, but had a very reserved aroma. It is a ribbon-cut mixture with mostly yellow ribbons with very few darker ribbons. I didn't detect any casing, which the tin indicates it contains. To make a long story short, there was not nearly enough Latakia in this mixture to satisfy me, however, as a very mild VA mixture this may work for you. I do not recommend this to a smoker that glp calls a Latakiaphile.

Samuel Gawith's Westmorland Mixture is bizarre. This weed does not know if it wants to be an English or an aromatic. The raw tobacco is mostly light in colour and I do not know where the Cyprian Latakia is hiding. Indeed, forget the description as it is more than 'lightly sweetened' and certainly not 'wonderfully round and supple'. With that said, if you like aromatics and want something stronger than the usual aromatic this might be for you (even if does not pack well and can, without care, burn hot). In America's southern states they have what is called (if I recall correctly) 'sweet tea' (with the accent on 'sweet')--this is a chilled (iced) tea with a massive dose of sugar. The flavour of this stuff certainly reminds me of sweet tea--sickly sweet. And it is not MY cup of tea for certain. I can only conclude that it I were stranded on a deserted island with 300 of the best briar pipes in the world and 300 tins of this stuff, I would build a raft out of 299 of the pipes and set sail. Yes, I would save one of those pipes for the time when I reached civilisation.

Samuel Gawith - Westmorland Mixture.

An early review I thought should be re-posted, I didn't think it was very good! I wasn't a fan when I piped this years back, to be honest it still doesn't float my boat!

A good point about Westmorland is the hydration, although it's a bit damp, it isn't actually wet! I could see by the look of the blend that a Lat-Bomb this isn't. In fact, the Latakia takes on a 'seasoning' role, keeping the way clear for the Virginia. I'm unsure as to what, exactly, the other/misc flavours are, but I notice a herby taste, which seems to become almost floral after half a bowl. Half a bowl, it reaches this point in no time whatsoever. It also bites, and burns hot.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: strong.

Although I hope the quality of my review has changed, something that hasn't is my rating. Not recommended:

One star.

The epitome of blandness, flatness and prominent absence of any character.

Not enough Latakia to be an English blend, not enough flavourings to be an aromatic. Just plain warm steam going back and forth down the throat. Not offensive, not harsh, not pungent, doesn't bite when over-puffed, doesn't produce enjoyable aromas when slowly sipped. Just Nothing, however you smoke it!

Westmorland may be a good newbies' sandbox blend which won't harm a baby however he abuses the pipe. But for me, it's just a Great Nothing.

Total waste of money, I regret I didn't buy whichever other SG blend instead of this. The blend might perhaps get a little better after it dries for some time in the tin. Then I'll try it again.

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UPD 1.5 years later:

Well, I tried it again. And I found a perfect use for Westmoreland: I beautifully stained a pipe with it! Here's how:

I soaked 10 g of Westmorland in 100 ml of 5% ammonia for 2 days and then refinished my Peterson with multi-layered stain-and-polish. What a beautiful deep color it gives! When staining, ammonia smell was evaporating faster than the stain was drying out. What it smelled afterwards was a pleasant hint of tobacco. The Westmorland stain keeps perfectly on the briar, no colour fading after a month of use.

Despite this huge success, I won't add any stars. Westmoreland Mixture is very good for wood-staining but just awful for smoking.

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UPD 3 years later:

I'm happy to note, that the Westmoreland-stained Peterson still looks brilliant. Not even a faintest discoloration despite quite a heavy use. Now I know for sure what Westmoreland Mixture is really good for.

I have only one question about this blend: What in the hell were they thinking about?

I thought I'd give this blend a try especially since so many others have already said such bad things about it. I know now that's not the best way to choose a tobacco.

In the tin I can see and definitely smell ever so slightly the Cyprian latakia in the blend but it's clearly a minor player in the overall blend. Very noticeable is the Cavendish and unless my nose is tricking me, it seems to be a bit sour-ish smelling ... very interesting twist to Cavendish. There are supposed to be VA's in there too but I sure can't see 'em or smell 'em. The moisture content from the outset seems perfect for smoking - no drying time needed.

I can faintly feel the brush of latakia across my tongue while enjoying a mildly sweet Cavendish on the top of my palate. When I exhale and subsequently breathe in, I can smell the most wonderful Cavendish sweetness mixed with the Latakia smokiness in the smoke ... but it's nondescript. The VA's never come to the forefront in any way. Must be a super small percentage of VA's in this mixture ? I was hoping for slightly more.

Well, those two paragraphs were my initial impressions of this tobacco but things evolved over my testing period.

The majority of my test smokes were done in a group 3ish SMS Meer. I did also test it in a group 2ish Dr. Grabow, a Cob, and also in a group 3 briar (Stanwell HCA II with short stem), and finally in a large group 4 Tinsky. These pipes also varied shape from Billiards, Bent Bulldogs, and Freehands. So, the test is pretty inclusive.

Here's the result: This tobacco is pretty bland, non-descript, and overally yucky (sorry for the techinical term there). The Cavendish ingredient seems to take center stage and never marries very well with the Latakia. The Virginia tobacco must be an exceptionally small percentage as I never even tasted it. The most pleasant thing about this tobacco is not it's flavor as it clearly doesn't have any to speak of, but the way the smoke wafts across the front of your face will lend a super sweet smell at the tip of your nose and subsequently across the top of your palate. Enjoy that for all its worth, there ain't no more to like about this tobacco. Concerning the topping / casing ... sure it's there and you'll suffer a full mouth of soap every time you smoke this tobacco. Room note: not overly intense but just simply terrible. I finished smoking my meer one afternoon and had to run out of the house for about an hour - when I returned, much to my dismay my home smelled like some stale taxi.

So, a long review but it's been a longer test than I wished it might have been. At the onset I had high hopes that if I could ignore the soapiness, the flavor of the tobacco might come through but it never happened. Add on top of that the weird tongue bite that comes after smoking other blends first (not evident if this is smoked first oddly enough or even multiple bowls back to back of just this blend), and the rotton room note, this tobacco is simply a loser. Pass by, go elsewhere.

I really wanted to like this and tried it in various pipes hoping to find the perfect one, however I could not. This was less flavorful than I hoped, though that flavor was of some very good Virginia as you would expect from SG. If I want that though I can just smoke FVF which is a great deal better than this offering.

I have reviewed Skiff Mixture by this Kendal based blender which I gave full marks to as my hands down favourite but for some reason best known to myself I bought 50 grms of Westmorland Mixture. I committed the cardinal sin of mixing it with the Skiff Mixture because of the distinct acidic content of Westmorland Mixture which means I have now rendered unsmokeable half a jar of tobacco. I assume the acidity comes from the Cavendish tobaccos but I don,t know