Samuel Gawith Christmas Mixture 2012

I got this from My Smoking Shop in Preston in December 2015 and opened it at the start of December 2016. The smell from the tin on opening is just amazing, a really powerful British Christmas pudding smell that is wonderful. It is ribbon cut and mainly light virginia, but beware it is very moist (in fact I would go so far as to say 'wet'), and in case there was any doubt the tin clearly states that this is an 'aromatic'. It does need drying, and I would suggest that if anyone was thinking of opening a tin for smoking on Christmas itself they do so now to allow that. It does burn quite hot once lit, but I don't get any tongue bit from it. That said the flavour is disappointing and as others have said the wonderful smell doesn't come through on the taste although I do detect cinnamon, cherry and I think a sweet vanilla/tonquin. In many ways it reminds me of a more subdued Peterson aromatic seasonal blend, so take note if you like those. But for me as a more traditional English blend lover I suspect I'll be sticking to things like Garwith Hoggarth's Rum Flake for future seasonal puffing!