Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Coniston Cut Plug

The bold dark fired Virginia offer a bit of earth, smoke, wood, floralness, vegetation, spice, bread and plenty of fermented tangy dark fruit as the main player. The dark Virginia provides earth, wood, tangy ripe dark fruit, bread, sugar, and a little floral grass. In a support role, the Malawi burley is earthy, woody, very nutty with a little molasses, and a touch of cocoa. The Lakeland topping is obvious without totally drowning out the strong tobaccos. I’m not sure what the other toppings are besides some tonquin, but they are much more subtle. A very strong blend that's very full in taste. The nic-hit is quite potent. Won't bite or get harsh, but it does have a few rough edges. Well balanced, it burns cool, clean and slow with a very consistent flavor all the way through to the finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a fair number of relights. Has a pleasant, lingering smoky sweet after taste, and stronger room note. Not an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Of all the blends that both sides of the Gawith clan puts out, this one gets my nod as the best in terms of what its like to work with and what it gives during the smoke. Not too shredded, not too firm...drys fast and easy to pack and ignite...fabulous flavors balancing richness, strength, sweetness and nuance development...sip it slowly and pay it no mind or worry over every little shred of goodness delivered to your tobacco pleasure center. To me this is all things, striking the perfect balance...not too smoky, not too strong, not too sweet...like those planets that are neither too close nor too far from the Sun to be likely to support life...this one inhabits the "Goldilocks" zone. It's just right!

By Gawith, Hoggarth & Co, of Kendal, Cumbria, England (should be easily obtainable by Americans)

A very traditional Lakeland flake (from The Lake District of Cumbria in the North West of England, famous for Wordsworth and its large lakes - not as large as the American Great Lakes, of course, but then they do actually look like lakes, rather than oceans).

It looks like a rich, dark, broken flake and smells of the cheap perfumes that old ladies in nursing homes wear to disguise the tangy aroma of piss. In other words, it smells like a good, proper, British pipe tobacco should.

It is mainly a dark, fire-cured Virginia leaf, with some Burley.

Throughout the smoke, there is a hint of a tonquin topping (tonquin is an essence, derived from the tonka bean in Guyana, which Britain used to own in the good old days, and is a fairly unique flavouring, but has a suggestion of vanilla about it. Incidentally, tonquin is banned as a food additive by the FDA in America, but then we're not going to eat the bloody stuff, are we?).

The perfumy aroma soon dissipates and the tonquin topping stays in the background to leave us with a glorious, cool, rich, powerful smoke - plenty of nicotine here - that will have even the least imaginative of us writing poetry halfway through the bowl.

In my book, it's just one stop short of, and an ideal preparation for, the mighty Condor.

PS - I have marked the 'room note' as 'pleasant', but it is appearing as 'mild' - not my intention, but hey-ho....

I bought this as a replacement for condor, as we all know since its move to Poland, condors quality has gone way down the pan.

So does coniston shape up? absolutely and then some, I dare say it is better than condor.

reviewing it on its own merits it is an exceptionally stout smoke, this is no way at all ideal for the complete novice, it would be like weaning a baby off milk and putting it straight onto port.

opening the bulk pouch, an aroma of Turkish delight hits the nose, along with a sweet very Smokey edge. very dark mottled only slightly with lighter tobaccos, did I mention this is powerful stuff?

packing is rather easy and lighting takes only a touch extra effort, although a slight drying time will alleviate this.

smoking, that slightly floral edge stays throughout the smoke, but the main flavour is that smokeyness and the strength quickly builds, this will knock you on your arse if you don't show it respect, and it will turn you green if you aren't used to nicotine. But if you like powerful blends this will satisfy the smoke is very thick, so thick in fact it is almost chewable and when I was finished it felt like I had had a good hearty meal.

all in all this is absolutely not recommended for the beginner, it would be foolish of you try and quite sadistic of you try and tempt a beginner with this. But once you feel you are ready this is another bucket list tobacco in my book, it leaves condor for dust and is much much superior to it.

room note won't win you any none smoking friends, the smoke, while not particularly potent like a heavy latakia mix it does produce lots of it and very dense as well. maybe one for the outdoors, unless you have a very understanding other half.

All in all a blend that is an acquired taste, but if you are like myself and have that acquired taste then this really is something very special, it's strength brings about a meditative feeling and you can't help but drift away, it is a fantastic smoke and one I look foreward to repeated bowls of. p.s will ghost a pipe so dedication of pipes or trying in a cob first is good practice.

4 stars effortlessly earned and one that's staying around with me.

Like Marmite, either you love it or you hate it. Well, I love it. In true honesty, I am impressed. Not as full as Dark Flake, but pretty much in that line, this baccy is. For burley/dark fired lovers, this tobacco is a must. The Lakeland casing is somewhat different from what I know, but it plays an important role giving this blend a very noticeable zesty and licoriceish flavour. The ratios seem to lean towards the burley side of the argument giving this blend a dark and full-bodied character. The nutty dimension this tobacco drives you into is something to die for and it somewhat reminds me of 1792 Flake. I am not sure it contains any Tonquin beans, but I think I can detect it. As a matter of fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't. This tobacco is performing quite well in many fronts and will get a solid 4 star rating.

Among a dozen or more blends I first sampled in 2017 this one was undoubtedly The Discovery Of The Year. What a gem is this! Why didn't I try Coniston long ago...

At the first puff it might look like a crossbreed between Ennerdale Flake and Dark Flake: it's both floral and smoky. Upon closer inspection I came to conclusion that Coniston is superior to both.

Comparing to Ennerdale, Coniston's floral tone is much more subdued while more sustainable. Where the Ennerdale's olfactory burst greatly subsides by the middle of the bowl, the faint flow of sweet floral juice in Coniston remains almost unchanged through the rest of the smoke. And it's completely different juice than in Ennerdale (more pleasant to my taste, I should say).

It's not a Dark Flake sprinkled with a floral essence, either. Coniston is made of the same Dark Fire Cured leaf as the Dark Flake and equals it in fullness and richness but is noticeably mellower in strength.

Coniston is a lucky combination of Lakeland Aromatics and Dark Superstrongs: it's floral and strong, though not cloying or overpowering.

From now, Coniston Cut Plug is a new entry to My Personal Hall of Fame.

Highly Recommended.

Perhaps this Coniston Cut Plug Unscented changes from time to time? My impression is that there's only a small difference between Scented Brown Flake and this stuff, mainly that the scented componet has been toned down. But this is a very nice tobacco with very polite smoking behavior; easy to light, no bite, long lasting and good to the bottom of the bowl. This is an honest medium+ strength tobacco, certainly nothing to be afraid of. There's a light floral scent, a sweet fennel taste and of course that wonderful G&H caramelized Virginia flavor. The taste is consistent for the entire bowl. Room note is pleasant and beard note is great for bedtime - Ivory Soap. Probably should be treated as an aromatic as far as pipes go, but the ghosting would be compatible with Latakia blends. I highly recommend Coniston to Virginia lovers who are looking for a little variety, but prefer to stay away from heavy handed aromatics. PS As I'm editing this I am enjoying the wonderful aftertaste, which I forgot to mention.

This, for me, is the perfect lakeland.. Although I greatly enjoyed dark flake.. this Coniston is slightly more versatile.. it is still heavy but considerably more approachable.. the essence for me is just right.. it starts out strong on the first puff.. but once acclimated you get the tobacco forward and just a nice creamy backdrop of flavoring.. the dark fired virginia is bold but pleasantly rounded off by the burley and straight virginia.. this is one I could smoke anytime.. Enough strength.. but also pleasant to just puff on and relax with.. this is what Gawith Hoggarth does best.. old fashioned blend.. if you aren't quite up for a rope this will do the trick.

My introduction to Lakeland style tobaccos was with the famous/infamous Condor, before that I didn't even know there was such a category called Lakeland. So, after having smoked a few pouches of Condor and having liked it very well, I decided to dig around and see what other Lakeland style tobaccos can be had in the U.S., that's when I found this blend.

Upon opening the bag (bought in bulk) I was greeted by that strong, pleasant floral smell some call soapy. In excitement I packed and lit my pipe, and was greeted by both satisfaction and disappointment.

The Lakeland flavor comes thru and is noticeable, but not as pronounced and "in your face" as I had hoped. That was the disappointment.

The satisfaction comes from everything else. See, even though the Lakeland essence is milder than I had hoped, it still comes thru and satisfies my craving for that taste. Further, the tobacco flavor comes thru and it is a very good flavor indeed. I can't really say that I find much complexity here, but the tobacco is good, tasty, most of what I taste is Va.

The body of the smoke comes from the Kentucky, which gives the blend the tobacco-y kick without being too strong. I would say this blend is full flavored and packs a decent nicotine punch, but it is not at all overwhelming. The cut plug (another fancy name for chunks of flakes, really) rub out easily. While lighting takes an extra second or two than, say, a shag cut, it is pretty easy and stays lit.

As far as moisture content, I have to say that, like many tobaccos out there, it comes with too much moisture, but this one perhaps a little more moist than most. Keep in mind it is better to have tobacco that is too moist than tobacco that is too dry and have to re-hydrate. With that said, I find it necessary to dry out the tobacco before smoking. A pipeful of rubbed out tobacco, spread out evenly, gets to a good smoking condition in about half an hour.

The one thing I can't help you with is the room note. I like the room note of pretty much all pipe tobacco and so does my wife. What I can tell you is that if you can only tolerate sweet aromatic roomnotes then this might be something you need to smoke outside.

This stuff is expensive, but worth it if you want a quality Lakeland. After having smoked 8 ounces I can say that, while I have not found a suitable replacement for Condor, I will buy Coniston again because it is a good Tobacco.