Samuel Gawith Celtic Talisman

Tried this a little while ago and bought several tins, thouroughly loved it, then suddenly, as if a switch had been thrown, went off it, I now have four tins sitting on the shelf gathering dust. Most likely there is nothing wrong with the tobacco, I'm sure it's just me, I was probably craving something sweet, and this was it, now craving over, back to the usual, whatever that is. I still have an open tin which I take the odd bowl from occassionaly, but still, a little on the sweet side for my palate at the moment, maybe in a few months time ?

If your looking for a a sweetish tobacco, thats mild and easy to smoke without being a cavendish and not quite a pure Virginia, this could be a good choice.

It was interesting to see how SG would do a cherry aromatic. I must confess the result is quite a successful mixture, provided you hold nothing against cherry-flavored blends. It will not astound VA purists or latakia devotees, but they would not bother to buy if they read the tin description anyway.

For an aromatic smoker, Celtic Talisman might be a step towards the English-tinged aromatics (you might be at risk of ending up with Grousemoor though, so be warned..). It gives no tongue bite and the cherry flavor is really of the 'natural' kind compared to many other cherry blends, although it is still an additive. I could still smell cherries in the room I had smoked this in two days after.

I was recommended to try the Talisman for breaking in new pipes, a job which it did good. I found myself enjoying it from time to time for less practical reasons as well, as it's simply a nice fragrant smoke, good for the change of pace. Nothing extremely special, but worth 3 stars for its quality among other mixtures of the kind.

An excellent aromatic mix of Black Cavendish, Burley & Virginia with noticable notes of Cherry and Vanilla and one that gives a nice aroma to the room. I found it to be a bit moist out of the tin, but after a couple of days was much better to smoke, requiring less relights.

Overall I would say it's a very nice aromatic blend, that burns well and leaves you with a nice taste and all that in a nice price tag. If you're a fan of aromatics you should give it a try.

What a lovely tobacco! The tin note is dominated by sweet Virginia and nutty Burley. The cherry and vanilla aroma are in the background, but present. The smoke itself is similar. Very pleasant, sweet and not dominated by the aromas. The Burly is a great second player to the Virginias. The black Cavendish adds more sweetness to the mixture. The cherry is present all the way down and the vanilla flavor gives creamy sweetness to it. The wetness is manageable and the baccy packs easily. Burns to ash and leaves no goo in your pipe. Thank you SG for another light aromatic all day smoke! The Fox recommends

Very interesting blend! I’m not a fan of burley, and black cavendish isn’t a favorite either, but this has been blended well, and the casing/topping is just enough to give it a spark.

It presents itself with a lot of long ribbons of bright virginia, and only few black ribbons. Very good moisture, very easy to pack.

I didn’t detect much burley in this (and I’m happy for that) but a lot of virginia and black cavendish. The casing/topping I detected was fruity, it somehow reminded me a bit of Erinmore Mixture, but without the pineapple flavor. It was more fruite, flowery and indeed a bit of cherry, but not that heavy cherry topping you find in various blends.

Smokes very cool and doesn’t require many relights, doesn’t get hot or give any tongue bite.

Delivers a thick smoke and leaves a very nice white ash.

Not a fan of aromatics, but this is good!

Recommended!

Di buono ha solo il nome. Una vera fetecchia, un pasticcio di gusti nauseanti e stucchevoli. Mai più. Davvero pessimo...non saprei che altro aggiungere e mi stupisco che sia un SG.

I personally did not like this tobacco. Wishy washy sweet Hodge podge mix of chemical flavours. Quite sour at the bottom. It put me off Samuel gawith for a long time but st James plug is a masterpiece. I am not experienced with aromatics. So it could well be a good one.i shall not be buying anymore however.the room note is like josticks I used to disguise my smoking as a boy.

Little bit overwhelmed aroma of fresh tobacco with some kind of fruits. For me similar with Water tobacco of Four Elements from Sam Gawith and Stanislaw. Fruity aroma was stable all time during smoke but not overpower VA taste. No moisture but few relights was needed. Overall not bad smoke but very flat. I expected more... well more.

Big disappointment for me. Was expecting anything but taste is almost same as Sir Henrys Duke but the price tag is more than double. I pay the hefty price for SG Balkan Flake but this is like any decent aromatic which is available in Germany from 5 to 10 euros.