Samuel Gawith Black Forest

In my humble opinion this tobacco doesn't really live up to expectation, the flavoring is extremely mild and doesn't come up frequently, it's like it's there but doesn't want to come up.

I made a mistake of buying this when looking for a sweet aromatic blend as I had never had a Samuel Gawith before. If you're looking for a Danish mixture, this won't do. The first smoke was a double disappointment. Not only it wasn't a Danish mixture I'd been looking for but also, for some reason, there was a strong tongue bite. I thought I'd made a mistake. Later on, however, when I let it dry a bit, I found it pleasant. The taste of honey is nice, but oftentimes barely noticeable as it mostly plays in the background. Overall, this is closer to a non-flavored 'English mixture'. The flavoring doesn't eclipse the tobacco, but, on the other hand, I didn't find the tobacco terribly exciting either. I'd smoked much more interesting non-flavored mixtures than this. So, overall, good tobacco, which can be a pleasant smoke, but I'm not buying it again.

Let me begin with the good. The Black Forest is the best artificial rendition of honey aroma I ever met. Actually it's not so easy to make a non-honey product (be that soap, beer, pastry, shampoo, candies, tobacco or whatever) to smell or taste like honey in a good way without soaking it in real honey. Attempts are numerous and unsuccessful. With the only exception I'm aware of: Sam Gawith's Black Forest. Its tin aroma is unbelievable. It smells honey better than certain brands of actual honey.

Unfortunately, that's where the magic ends.

The incredible honey aroma quickly dissipated after just few first puffs. Then I struggled through an unremarkable and disappointingly familiar mix of dull Cavendishes and edgy Virginias - the same kind you find in myriads of standard mass-market continental pouched aromatics. It's like upon opening an aged dusty bottle of a rare Special Reserve Vintage Grand Cru Trappist Ale you find inside a fizzy yellowish pisswasser you might buy at any corner store.

Don't get me wrong, producing such a blend would have made an honor to any Danish of German aromatic blender. It's a well behaved mixture, the aromatic juices are good and applied delicately. Still, it obviously doesn't stand up to the level of the rest of Sam Gawith product line.

Do I recommend this? Well, somewhat. You won't believe your nose when you sniff it. And you won't be offended when you smoke it. Just don't buy it by the pound. Try a sample first.

Disappointing. As beginner, I have not got experience with light aromatics. My first word after smell of fresh tobacco was: “wtf?” After smoking i wanted to find honey, but without chance.

Finaly, after several bowls in Jatoba wood I was able to find some kind of pleasure

I cracked open this blend early spring of this year the the smell from the tin was what I expected, bright tobacco with a honey hard candy note . The first few bowls were tasty, but then I put it away for a while.when I came back to it a month or two later the flavor was awful, like the tobacco went rancid.