Samuel Gawith X Blend Limited Edition

I pulled out my notes on this one because it has been so long since I smoked it. In fact, the only reason I was reminded of it is because it was recently sent to me by a customer to sell.

I am not really sure why so many reviews of X-Blend are less than positive because I found this limited edition offering to be wonderful. It is not often that a blend contains a specially processed Virginia Cavendish that includes Oriental components. The combination worked for me and I loved the deep and creamy flavor of the Cavendish with the spicy undertones of the Orientals. It did not take me long to smoke the entire tin. Not a real full tobacco regarding strength, but no baby either.

Pipestud

I must disagree with my predecessors' comments in their reviews, for I find this a very pleasing tobacco indeed.

This is quite a heady mix and, as such, is best appreciated smoked slowly in a smallish (group 3 perhaps?) bowl. Packed with a moderately firm touch, it takes light easily and settles down to producing copious billows of smooth, rich and very flavourful smoke. It can bite a little and even make the head spin if puffed too quickly and greedily, so it is best to settle back in a deep armchair and relax into a surprisingly long, pleasureable and satisfying smoke.

My only regret is that it is, as it says on the tin, a "Limited Edition".

I too am disappointed with X Blend. I am a lover of orientals and I honestly thought that the combination of orientals and an aged cavendish sounded intriguing. I imagined the cavendish would add a bit of sweetness and a mellow aftertaste to balance some of the anticipated spiciness from the orientals. My tin, I should note, is number 290 of 500 produced and has been on my shelf unopened for about 2 years. I popped the tin just prior to a trip to PA and NY last week for Thanksgiving. I am currently half way through my first bowl and am terribly underwhelmed. I think the real mistake here may have been a too heavy percentage of the cavendish. This MAY be a salvageable blend if it was heavier on the orientals... I was really looking forward to trying this and now I'm sure I won't finish this tin. It's very mild tasting, not a hot-smoking blend at all, just sort of bland. I keep thinking of damp cardboard while I'm smoking it. Not a recommended sensation or blend. Sorry, Samuel Gawith, I tried to find some redeeming characteristic but it just escapes me.

Non-descript mottled mostly brown ribbons with the weirdest tin note I've ever encountered. Smelled like a combination of frying pork and some sort of disinfectant/air freshener. Really off-putting! Thankfully the aroma wasn't very strong. This came to me jarred but the gifter noted that it was from tin # 378, as he recalled. As I've smelled worse and smoked it, I gave this one a go.

The taste was just as strange. Not terrible but not terribly pleasant, either. There were some cigarette notes but mostly this was a dry-ish semi-sweet Cavendish with some simmering oriental thrown in. My reference for such a blend is McClellands Oriental Cavendish but this was not a basic black cav base and the orientals were more subdued. The Cavendish here reminded me more of the SG Westmorland variety. The orientals were neither spicy nor overly flavorful in any way. They lent a slight spice. I have no idea what SG was trying to accomplish here, but the results were unpredictable. I found this best after a meal but even so it was no flavor powerhouse. Not much nicotine and certainly not very complex, although it did show some mild changes over the course of a bowl. I think perhaps SG came into some leaf that wasn't to their standards and decided to create a limited edition blend to use it up. Not for me. I actually smoked 6 bowls and gave the rest away.

Alright. Not a well thought of blend to be sure. I’ve had tin number 496/500 since July of 2007.

I opened it today. (9/26/18). I’m reviewing this off of two bowls in different pipes.

Tin aroma is decidedly feet. Sweaty feet l. I don’t get it but, it was first thing that popped in my head. Not pleasant at all.

Mild moisture, leaf color mostly black with some Browns here and yonder in a ribbon cut. No mold or anything on the product.

I shrugged and started packing, first light is strangely burnt hair? This has to be the strangest smoke I’ve ever experienced to be honest. However, puff dictates taste and flavor. No problem at all lighting. It went up like a car in a Michael Bay movie however did run into issues keeping it lit for the first 3rd.

Slowing down orientals came through big time, lots of oiliness, earth, and sour with the background note still being the burnt hair/faulty electrical wiring. I reckon that’s the cavendish. I really don’t know to be honest. However, if you more than gently sip this stuff turns harsh in a heartbeat. Back to the unpleasant side I mean. However slow sips and yes there’s something there. Not all good but I will endeavor to smoke more of this to find out. Who knows a few days of air time on a 12 year old tin may help.

Room note is terrible btw, and I prefer Latakia blends but this? No.

Won’t recommend it as they’ve never remade it and hard to believe out of 500 tins there’s only 7 reviews. Might have been a hint honestly and it’s a big part of why I didn’t open it, did try to use it as trade bait but I reckon folk were reading reviews here. Not much of a nibble.

Coming to terms that I only like SG flake tobaccos though, I’ve not had a ribbon they’ve made that I’ve ever really cared about and I’ve tried a few.

Though if you do find one? Give it a go, you only live once right?

After ready the other reviews and then this came to me, i was somewhat hesitant about it. It smell like cigarette tobacco in the tin and had a little of the fine ribbon cavendish cut. It packed easily in the pipe and for me it took several relights though it was not wet and left no moisture in my pipe. But from the first puff to the last it had a nice, nutty smooth smoke with just a touch of the turkish sweetness. I thought the room note was great but I was alone at the time sodon't have another opinion but why anyone would not like this tobacco that likes English is beyond me. If it were not a limited production I might add this to my regulars in rotation. I really like the flavor from beginning to end and that is how I like my tobacco. Don't be afraid to try it.

This tobacco to me was pretty disappointing, as until now I've had nothing but positive experiences with SG blends. It seems maybe the aging has not been kind to the cavendish here - either that or it was crummy to begin with. The predominant flavor here is kinda like the burned fatty gristle on the edge of cheap steak. I think SG shoulda cracked a tin open and sampled it before releasing this funky baccy on the pipesmoking public. Yikers...

Unfortunately, I received a very generous sample of this in an exchange with a fellow pipe smoker. X Blend is, thankfully, a limited-edition release. I should have taken that as a sign.

I couldn't quite wrap my head around how an Oriental/Cavendish blend might be tasty in the least, and my skepticism was justified when I set all good reason and judgment aside to try X Blend. I suspect that Gawith had some tobaccos sitting around, perhaps from other experiments, and, for the sake of a good joke at the expense of those who snap up anything limited edition, tossed these bottom-shelf weeds together and tinned them. Slapping a Limited Edition label on the tins was a slick way to move this foul stuff.

Ever wanted to taste heat, smoldering plastic, charred pork, acid, and all things bitter, burned, and sour at the same time? Pack your pipe with X Blend. Want to get back at that son-of-a-bitch brother-in-law of yours who has all the $2000 high-end pipes? Encourage him to fill his best bowls with X Blend. He'll be using his fancy Danish briars as kindling to start the grill at the next family cookout.

I'd sooner use my favorite pipe as an instrument to assess my dog's stools via combustion than punish the briar with a bowl of X Blend. In fact, I feel sorry for the landfill that must accommodate the rest of the sample I discarded.

My first review here, so keep that in mind. I generally like SG blends. In fact, they're some of my favorites. So I was eager to try this limited edition leaf. It's now up for trade or gifting to someone who might like it, because I certainly don't. Harsh to the tongue, offensive to the nose, and generally lacking in any taste to recommend it. Unless you like the aroma of grilled beef in your tobacco, then this might be just the ticket for you. I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the idea that further aging might do the trick. But since it was tinned and aged before release, I don't hold out much hope.