Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Coniston Cut Plug

This tobacco is nearly perfect: a strong but harmonious mixture, delivered in shreds that if folded and inserted gently into the pipe with frayed ends upward, lights relatively easily with a match. It burns well and delivers a glorious full dose of nicotine. It tends to leave a few partially-burned fragments at the bottom of the bowl but for the most part burns completely. Where this goes wrong is in the rosewater soap flavoring in which it is soaked. I purchased the unscented variety to avoid that, but ended up gagging at the dead rose stench that floated off the two ounces in my bag. For those who fear the pipe ghost, this leaves an entire undead army of elderly zombies bathing in horrific soapy rosewater. It melts down into the pipe and manifests itself at random in future bowls, usually toward the end of the burn. While the impact of this is excellent, and its flavor -- what can be detected under the foamy surge of dead flowers -- is both strong and nuanced, the rosewater deluge utterly kills this tobacco for me.

This comes in two varieties -- scented and unscented. I bought the unscented version. It appeared as relatively thick slices, like tree bark, which were dark brown with slightly-lighter strands. It smelled like a powder box of Arpege my mother used to have.

I smoked this in a Missouri Meerschaum General. The smoke had a thick, pleasant quality, like drinking a tobacco milkshake. The perfume lingered throughout; the tobacco itself showed a lot less flavor, and only matched the perfume in the last third of the bowl.

I kept tasting the "Lakeland" scents hours after finishing the pipe. They were unpredictable, jarring and unpleasant, like someone suddenly drawing his nail across a blackboard. I can only imagine how long one would have to endure this after-effect with the scented version.

I’ve long been fond of the folks at Gawith Hoggarth. I respect what they do there, and definitely recognize the quality of their products.

However, until this calendar year (2021), I was blissfully ignorant of the vast majority of their catalog.

I’ve been making every effort to change that, ordering small quantities of a variety of GH offerings upon the two most recent “drops” of GH stock here in the states.

My most recent sampler included the blend in question, Coniston Cut Plug.

I came to this blend with high expectations, having at least liked every other GH blend I’ve tried... at this point, probably 8-10.

This is quality tobacco. Strong, hearty stock. I’d probably like it a great deal if it wasn’t absolutely saturated with what can best be described as “old lady perfume.”

Admittedly, it doesn’t necessarily impact the flavor of the tobacco. But the retrohale and room note are reminiscent of that one aunt who goes way too heavy on the perfume. It’s overwhelming and borderline nauseating.

Hopefully this will dissipate some over time. However, I’m not optimistic. Even half as much of it would be too much.

So my advice to anyone would be to buy a small a sample as possible for your first encounter with this. Because I have a feeling that this stuff turns off more smokers than not.

In, the meantime, there are plenty of more worthwhile GH offerings out there. My new favorite is the Brown Irish X rope.

Reading the other reviews, I'm a bit shocked, like maybe somehow I got a different GH blend than what I ordered. This is based on a couple of bowls, no more, no less, but my tobacco was fairly light in color, and I didn't get any of the flavors I associate with Kendal blended dark fired leaf blends. The smoke was fairly acrid and tended to bite. The Lakeland essence started off present, but then disappeared. I just wasn't happy with this tobacco at all.

I like many of the other GH blends, such as Kendal Kentucky and the Dark series (Thick, Flake and the default shag), but just didn't get this one at all. The other reviews sound a lot more interesting than what I just smoked...

Do you like strong, highly floral, monotonous tobacco blends? If so, give this a try. I personally prefer to have my roses in a vase, my urinal puck in a bathroom and my sharpness in a cigarette (which I then will choose not to smoke).

British tobacco rope enthusiasts may enjoy this. But not me.

No cheers.