Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. No. 25 Mixture

Package note of sugar, sweet wine and smoky. Tobacco is a ribbon cut of light brown, brown and black. Moisture content is great. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of sweet tangy citrus, smoky, floral, dry herbal vegetation, spices, sugar, orange zest, mild incense, toast, molasses, leather, wood, cocoa, earth, lemon grass, savory, a sweet nutty and hay background note, and a peppery retro. Virginia is leading with Burleys and Latakia supporting. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

this is a wonderful smoke. everything in the blend marries well together. I get very little Lakeland. Mine is a bit over a year old and is just great. smooth all day smoke. I like to sip it to get all the notes and flavors. The quality of the leaf is second to none. Burns well and consistent. A favorite,

Light all day smoke. Grassy nutty fresh. Latakia does not overwhelm here and it is a perfect fit here - makes an stronger appearence towards the end. One of the best Oriental forward blends right up there with McConnell Original Oriental.

A very well mannered mild to nearly medium English mixture. The cut is just excellent for a pipe with long, shag cut Virginia and burley and smaller pieces of latakia. It typically comes fairly moist and can use a little bit of airing before smoking. The burn rate is very consistent. The flavor profile is that of a smooth and creamy mild English blend with no additional small leaf Oriental and burley taking the place of the Oriental leaf. The amount of Latakia pushes the presence just a hair above "mild" for most.

Longer and stringy burley and VA tobacco is what sets it far apart from the rest in the category.

Well not every English made English, can be a great English. This one fell flat for me. The 20% Latakia was present and did give the mix the associated odor, but the smoked product lacked beef (those juicy Oriental flavors in richer versions were missing).

The cut was very light, dry, and bouncy (the 1oz bag of dark blonde leaves, puffed up into a 2oz pillow). The ribbon reminded me of their Kendal shag products, or some cheaply made Aromatic. In itself, this wasn't the issue. The resulting smoke was just flat and the taste left me wanting more.

Not all English blends have to turn your tongue to leather, but even milder ones should remind me of charcoal smoldering in a fireplace. Still, there was nothing inherently wrong with #25, so I won't begrudge fans of it, but your money will be better spent on Peterson's reissue of those classic Dunhill blends (965/Nightcap), or go for the gold with some Nat Sherman 536.

This could be considered an entry point for someone new to English blends, but if your goal is to try a juicy Italian Sausage, why order a hot dog first?

Another terrific fall/early winter blend from G&H!

Pouch aroma/appearance: This is a ribbon cut, but it seems I may have received the bottom of the barrel from SP.com, as most of the 4 oz I ordered was small pieces of broken ribbon. Doesn't effect me in the least. As the description states, the blend is over half bright VA. A decent aroma of Latakia, and some sweet Va. Again, I do detect a very, and I mean very, slight floral Lake aroma.

Packing/lighting/smoking:

Due to the small, chopped up ribbon, the tobacco packs nicely. A bit of spring, and doesn't swell to much when touched by the match. A healthy charring light is all that is needed, as the moisture content is again on point. The balance of the Latakia, Va, and burley is perfect. The Latakia delivers a salty, smoky flavor, while balanced by the sweet Va and nutty burley. The sun cured also brings on a slight molasses type sweetness unlike the Va sweetness. I smoked this a lot on my morning commute, so I did have to relight more than usual as I wasn't paying close attention to the pipe. I love the characteristic clouds of the creamy, salty smoke. I fell in love with the room note of this mixture, it just reminds me of the fall in Michigan. Watching the color changes of the maples and aspens, raking leaves, and simmering a pot of venison chili on the stove. Maybe even a loaf of sourdough bread in the oven. If you see this in stock, you'd be wise to order an ounce or 8.

A very nice surprise. This latakia based mix is mild, satisfying, slow burning but sweet with Virginia and a rounding burley note that could easily make it one of my favorite evening choices. Great find!

I wouldn’t say that you have to be devoted to Latakia tobaccos, but maybe not afraid of it in a blend. The Latakia is light and only here to create a more hearty smoke. This has the taste and flavor of a refined Cabernet Sauvignon for those of us that have been brethren of the briar for many a year. This blend seems more adult and refined with components all making for a heartily leathery delight. The Latakia is used quite lightly and it only comes across as a slight Smokiness. A good pipe to end the day.

It's a very high quality English blend. Latakia firmly defines the general flavour profile without pushing forward. Just a perfect balance between Latakia and other tobaccos. The aroma and flavour of this blend remind me of old fragrant wood.

Unusually, the Burleys here successfully do the job reserved in most other English blends to Orientals: they add some fragrant spiciness. The Burleys in No.25 are of such spicy and aromatic kind, I'd think the blend contained some Orientals of the milder sort if I didn't know otherwise from the description.

The only thing I miss is sweetness. I expect any Latakia blend to include at least some sweetness, less or more, and this mixture lacks it entirely. Although it's promised in the manufacturer's description that the dark sun-cured leaf would sweeten the smoke, I don't taste any, so the smoke is completely dry, like the old wood, mentioned above.

A good mixture, Recommended for any Latakia lover.