Samuel Gawith Golden Glow

Good name for this one! When I opened the tin, the tobacco color was indeed golden and it did seem to glow. Really bright colored blend of broken flakes. Easily rubbed out, which is how I smoked it most of the time and how it seemed to work its best magic.

Tin aroma was really nasty for a virginia, which took me by surprise. It did not make that first load very appealing, but the taste made up for it. A highly and naturally sweet blend, this one showed its Citrus Spunk with the lemon virginia but the citrus didn't overpower me as it does with some VA's. Mostly high note oriented, this one still satisfied with some midrange depth. A reasonably complex blend, the flavor ran the gamut of citrus, hay and tang. This would be a good all-day blend for smokers who run that way but I found it kind of lacking in the evenings. A little brother to FVF? Perhaps. Not nearly as seasoned as FVF and a lot more playful. I prefer the zest of FVF over this but this was a very worthwhile journey. Try this one if the various brown flakes are too much for you and blends like OGS and Dunhill Flake are a little too "fruity".

A little citrus, a touch of honey-like sweetness, and a bit of hay. Not very complex, but a very pleasant smoke. I like this both alone and as a blender. A pinch of Latakia or Burley added and you get a really great smoke. Goes especially well with Syrian Latakia. 3 stars by itself. 4 as a blender.

Mild to medium in body and taste. Burns very well.

It's been a while since I had an SG tobacco that I've haven't tried yet, or tried not to get my hopes up with. So I approached Golden Glow with a little trepidation, doing what I could not to be as much of an SG fanboy as I know I am. So here goes.

Opening the tin to be greeted by a slightly weird smell of hay, I got flashbacks to my youth, wandering through those farmers fields under a baking sun. The yellowish colour too added in the reminiscence. Not sure I'm completely happy with the whole broken flake idea though, this almost had the look of a sorry mixture of hay and cowpat, as I tried to fish out something to smoke I felt like I was sifting a bull turd for a wedding ring. Still, I've paid for it so I'm going darn well smoke it! The packing was fairly easy, the lighting, not so - it does need a little drying. As for the smoke itself, it's a little queer, a little citrus and a touch of hay pop in and out of a generally nondescript puff of the old leaf, and yet it somehow manages to please. It's inoffensive, doesn't hit the back of the throat or hammer you with any tonguebite, in fact it's incredibly smooth. Like a previous reviewer, I do wonder if it's been spliced with something else, though I picked up a hint of boot polish, aka black cavendish. Might be wrong but there goes.

So, what to make of this little summer frock? Maybe that's exactly what it is, it's like seeing the rather plain girl next door day in day out and then one summer, seeing her step out of the door with a pleasant summer frock and a little slap on her. It just nicely spices her up, makes you look twice and think "Maybe I'm missing something there.". Like her, this tobacco isn't a stunner, but there's a certain pleasantness to it. I've been humming and harring over whether to give this a two or a three star review, now I think that analogy has put it into perspective. Pleasant if not astounding.

I just finished a tin of this and was, overall, happy with it. It wasn't the best Virginia made by SG by any means, but it is still a great tasting Virginia. This one is lighter than FVF to be certain, but has all the sweet hay and citrus you would expect to come with a Virginia of this complexion. The color is as golden as you would expect from both the name and the look of the tin.

If you find FVF or BBF to be a little too bold, this would be a good alternative. I, personally would rather smoke FVF or BBF. Overall, a good leaf.

This straight Virginia is very good, but too much moist. The raw tobacco has a very pleasant smell, sweet and fruity. Of course there is top dressing but I think there is also a little bit of casing. It is difficult to understand which kind of flavoring is used because the fruity smell is peculiar and not comparable to any single fruit. Anyway this is a very good tobacco and the flavoring agents are almost certainly natural ingredients. In my personal rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 8 and three stars.

A nice Virginia blend , but I can't help thinking there is some Perique in here. It does have a spice and some strength and it does come too moist to smoke. As I got down to the last 1/3 of the tin, the tobacco improved ( dried some).

This review will read as a chronicle of my stupidity. You see, I really killed this tobacco. It began with the arrival of a Virginia heavy order. Upon opening about four square Gawith tins (and a couple other brands with similar designs) to sample the contents, I promptly returned the lids to their containers. I'm not sure why I did this, knowing they're prone to air leakage. It's just...I become impetuous when I smoke, like a little kid playing with his new toys under the Christmas tree. Two weeks later all blends were bone dry, and I went about the task of radical rehydration. For each tin, I took a wet paper towel, folded up, stuck one in every receptacle and then wrapped the tins individually in plastic wrap. I returned in two weeks to revel in my industriousness.

The tobacco in every tin was sopping wet, and most were covered in mold. I cursed loudly. An entire tin of Scottish Flake was destroyed, with barely a couple flakes removed. I thought I could salvage Golden Glow, so I set the tobacco atop a sheet of paper, picking out every instance of mold I could see. I claimed victory, and left the tin open to dry a bit before transferring the contents to a mason jar. I returned in another week. To more mold. Well, I repeated the experiment and came again. To more mold. Having picked apart the spore laden leaf this time around, I decided to smoke a bowlful of the affected weed.

Noo, what about highly toxic, virulent mold spores?!! I just didn't care. It had to be done, for science. Relax, whatever brain damage I have was likely the cause of this incident, and not the result. The tobacco tasted like its unaffected half...

Pure, unadulterated, the scent and flavor characteristic of hay, of medium body and nicotine. Golden Glow has a natural disposition, far removed from Full Virginia Flake, with its dark press and molasses-like flavor. What you have here are the high notes, a huge change of pace from Golden Glow's more popular cousin. And the smoke is consistent, it doesn't waver or modulate from top to bottom of the bowl. You expect a bright Virginia would be sugary and bitey, both of which remain foreign to Golden Glow. And though I perceived a lacking of complexity, there is a richness that pervades the experience, particularly when paired with a high percentage of Perique. At 30%, Golden Glow really shines. It's a testament to Sam Gawith that the blending house can offer two radically different extremes of Virginia in the same line of tobaccos.

Because of my poor judgment, I've been paranoid about my remaining bits and ends of that dwindling, tragic sample of Golden Glow--checking it daily for new growth and consuming frantically what might soon spoil for good. Now here's some advice...once that tobacco gets a taste of mold, it won't disappear--even with great care taken to eradicate any sign of blight. It's like cancer. Delicious, tasty cancer.

If you want to freak out, read all the reviews here on this tobacco. You will see that they do not match in taste, color, cut or degree of humidity. I'm going to add to that confusion my own review.

The tobacco comes very pressed and the type of cut that I got is a mix between ribbon and shag, not a broken flake. Perhaps the tin has suffered a lot, (but a lot!), With the transports, helped by a possible defect in the closure given that the degree of humidity that it has is pulling down, something that always surprises when this happens with a tobacco of SG, with some exceptions… The color of the virginias is really brilliant and the very fresh and herbal smell typical of the light virginias, already foreshadows what he is going to offer after lighting the pipe. Taste of slightly sweet and citric hay, straw, bread, grass ... very fresh, very smooth and very light. It burns well without leaving moisture and the room note is pleasant.

As some other reviewer says, a good summer smoke. Of course, if you like virginias with more intensity of flavor, this may not be your cup of tea.

I have introduced myself in the Virginia's world with this one. I've smoked a few aros, some was not bad. I have tried one or two english blends, maybe too much complexity for me to appreciate as a novice pipe smoker. Then my tobacconist recommanded me this particular tobacco. The first time I've smoked SGGG I've said to myself; '' That's it, it will surely never become better than this''... Now I know I was far from the truth but it's still a very good blend. When opening, the tin aromas are really amazing; fresh cut hay, raisins and figs, almost like a good white wine aromas. The smoke do not give the same complexity and stays about the same all the way down but it is a very good easy to smoke bright VA. Very good quality. One I like to have in my rotation. I give it 3 stars.