Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Sweet Maple Twist

I enjoy aromatics mainly for the endless possibilities of added flavors. Often I want the flavor to be very present, otherwise, why bother smoking an aromatic? I could not smell any maple out of the bag, instead it had that earthy barn/hay odor.

Some sweetness came through once lit, though any maple was too mild for my tongue to detect. I was surprised by the lack of soapyness (this was the first Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. I've tried without it). It was quite meaty and full of nicotine, and I could see why those fond of full tobacco taste wouldn't mind this as an aromatic.

I didn't mind smoking the rope, but if I buy a maple aromatic, I want some maple syrup in my smoke. To this I'll stick to McClelland's Town Topic.

This comes in a rope. Mine wasn't the neatest. It came a little unraveled. Maybe too much handling took place. The smell is just of strong, air-cured tobacco, but this has a touch of obvious sweetness in the smell, but not off-putting.

The taste is just like the rum twist un-sliced, which is a dark, cigar-like taste with wood notes, some smokiness, a slight floral quality. There isn't must sweetness, other than a dark, grainy sweetness, and just a hint of added sweetness somewhere in there, but this is certainly not a sweet blend. No cane sugar-like sweetness, and no flue-cured Virginia sweetness.

I would recommend this to the person that likes cigar blends, cigars (in general), and the person that likes twists. This is up there on the nicotine scale, but won't kill you if you take it slowly. There will be lots of re-lights no matter what, and drying it out too much will strip some of the flavor from the tobacco. I preferred to slice and use small scissors to cut it into even smaller bits to get a good burn. It's an okay blend for me. Not something I would buy twice, but something I'm glad I tried. I prefer more nuance and intrigue in my smoke. Somewhat recommended.

Cut: Thick rope tobacco, about 4 inches. Jarred for four months. Used my Savinelli Porto Cervo Rusticated (author shape). Moisture: moist towelette Aroma/Tin Note: very pleasant, sugary sweet maple, earth, but not overly sweet Taste: Maple was somewhat understated with medium-thick smoke. Very mIld maple and hay flavor Likes: Smooth mouthfeel. The cut is interesting but i'm not sure it's worth the additional work vs ready-rubbed. I would expect the room note to be pleasant but I was sitting in my garage with the door open on a cold day, so it was difficult to judge. Dislikes: Used my extremely sharp, surgical steel cigar cutter but because the rope was oily, it gummed up the cutter somewhat. Should have allowed it to dry out more before packing as it would not stay lit, and required multiple relights. Flavor profile is modest in strength, fullness and depth. I've been focusing on English blends more, so aromatics now seem a little understated by comparison. Supposedly a very strong tobacco, but I felt it was no more than medium in strength with almost zero nic hit. The constant re-lighting was annoying. Interesting blend but it is unlikely I will purchase more Sweet Maple Twist in the future.

Strong is a good discription for this one. The maple is barely discernible , but it's there. To me, this is stronger than the Brown Irish rope. Burns well when dried a bit. Lots of creamy smoke. This is a good one to have around, when the Brown is back ordered ...

On another note, I've seen some folks say it a bugger to prepare. I found that a cigar cutter works great for prepping this. I cut a 1 1/2 in piece off. Let it sit over night, then I cut it into small pieces with the cutter. I break it up a bit more and it smokes quite well.