Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Kendal Mixed

Yes, this is one of the Kendal's, and it shows in your smoke right from the outset. They sell this mixture as a blending tobacco, but the Kendal essence is spoiling it for that particular purpose in my personal opinion. I am not trying to imply this tobacco is not good enough, but that you would have expected a blending tobacco to be more neutral in order to marry well with other tobaccos. Having said that, Kendal's Mixed seems to be a good smoke even though I am not overtly excited about it. The appearance is borderline with shag tobacco, so it burns quite evenly in your bowl. As you approach your mid bowl the flavour changes considerably. The Kendal essence becomes less apparent and something of a Burley undertone sort of flares up. It has earthy undertones and a sweet dimension that comes and goes as you progress with your smoke. I guess I will have to have a few more bowls to get a better appreciation of it, but my first impressions are good.

Shag cut that burns fast, like smoking cigarettes in a pipe. Very light and ordinary flavor, a below average, monochromatic tasting, Virginia. There is some extremely mild topping, licorice maybe, that does not transfer into the smoke.

Virginia lover

I bought a 2 oz sample of Kendall Mixed and liked it. By appearance it seems to be a mix of mostly light virginia & burley with a small amount of dark fired tobacco. The cut is a very stringy shag, with absolutely no stems. I like it. It packs easily. The flavor is TOBACCO. Reminds me of a high quality roll your own cigarette tobacco (something like "DRUM" only much better) in appearance, smell & taste. KB smokes cool & dry to the bottom of the bowl with a very consistant flavor. I found KM to be a delightfull change of pace tobacco. I'll be buying more of this. Based on the quality of this tobacco, I think I will sample some of the other shag cuts Gawith,Hoggarth has to offer.

Gawith Hoggarth Kendal Mixed - Sweet grassy floral and bready . Spicy nutty and herbal and some wood and vegatation . A little caramel . A vabur blend . A rough thin cut . No bite . It smells and tastes like Brown Flake unscented a little bit but much more burley forward . A little rough around the edges . Near medium nic hit . It satisfies but nothing special . 2 1/2

This is a fine option from GH. I’m a fan of these folks anyway, and this blend, sold as KENDAL MIXED by many popular online retailers here in the states, does nothing to lessen my opinion of Gawith Hoggarth.

What we have here is several different GH offerings all in one tasty blend. There’s a solid base provided by the Kendal Dark. I suspect there’s a dash of Kendal Kentucky. Enough Kendal Gold to keep everyone playing nice. And maybe one more thing in there. I’m not sure. I can definitely detect the dark and gold.

Anyway, whatever it is, it works. For me, it works best in smaller bowls. The way I smoke, with larger bowls of this particular blend, everything tends to become murky after the halfway point.

In a smaller bowl, like the more petite system pipes, everything remains much more pleasant and interesting start to finish. Although I do find that, as things progress, the darker, bolder varietals tend to become dominant. Maybe a little too dominant for me.

So this blend gets a solid three stars from this reviewer. But, for my own purposes, I think I’d prefer blending my own version of this... probably going a good bit heavier on the gold, for the sake of a more pleasant latter portion of every bowl.

This looks like cigarette tobacco. It smells like cigarette tobacco. It's neither. Its a wonderful mix of Virginia's and Dark Fired's. It smokes smooth and rich. Not as rich as their ropes but don't expect it to be a light tobacco based on it's appearance. It packs the Vitamin N so caution if you are sensitive to that. Good on its own, this also makes a great tobacco for mixing into blends that need a tobacco boost. People have said it burns fast. It's the SR-71 Blackbird of tobacco, gone before you know it.

For virginia this tobacco is not very sweet, instead it tastes flat, like a drugstore tobacco of lesser quality. Kendal's Mixed is one of my least favorite from Gawith & Hoggarth. The flavor is straight tobacco, that I do like, but the shag cut is "roll your own" tobacco and the taste comes through as such. This offering would have been much better had it been a plug like Triple Play.

This tobacco is better than a 2 star blend, but falls short of Gawith & Hoggarts usual 4 star status. I can comfortably give this 3 stars and recommend it to friends who are Gawith & Hoggarth fans.

Before i start this is also known as kendal northstar, sold in 12.5, 25, and 50g packets from a local newsagent in my town.

This was originally sold to me as a ryo, opening the packet not so, this is a shag cut pipe tobacco.

Opening the packet one can be forgiven that there is no scent at all coming from the pouch, but once you dig deep there is delicate aromas coming up from the pouch a fresh virginia and burley scent, this is a pure straight up unscented uncased virginia burley mixture. quite moist out of the pouch, this does need some drying time, as packing straight out the pouch can just leave a plug of tobacco that is impossible to get lit and stay lit. If drying isnt your thing this needs to be packed looser than normal. It does take a bit of a certain knack to pack it correctly, i find it smokes best, slightly dried in a falcon pipe with billiard bowl. Lighting up and progressing through the smoke, the tastes are delicate but enjoyable, nice lemony citrus tastes, along with a slight spice and nuttyness from the burley. Again a certain knack is needed as to regards with smoking pace, if you try to rush this it will bite hard, but with the right smoking pace (i found slow, gentle sips of my pipe got the best from this mixture) this can be a very enjoyable experience for someone who is looking for a straight up unscented unflavoured mixture. Although this isnt my normal go to type of blend, i do enjoy this mixture from time to time, and the price is very reasonable as well. I have had bad experiences with shag cuts before but this has turned my oppinion, a good qaulity shag cut tobacco can be just as enjoyable as any other good pipe tobacco. A solid three star rating from me.

Update 31st may 2015 Hello all im upping my rating for this tobacco too four stars for a few reasons. I bought a pack today and the cut looks to be a touch wider and also there seems to be a more substantial amount of darker leaf. Moisture in pack is also reduced which gives it big plus points as you can pack in your pipe straight. This is quite a complex smoke and one id recommend highly for more established smokers and virginia lovers. The flavours are subtle but delicious zesty freshness of virginia with a little bite and then a more nutty flavour from the darker leaf. Its not something id recommend for new smokers as the flavours are subtle and this will bite big time if you rush this type of blend. But for a leisurely and surprisingly strong smoke for those who can appreciate a good tobacco this is a must.

I'm not sure what makes this Mixed, but I suspect I'd like the components more than this blend. Kendal Kentucky is a favorite, as is Dark Flake (and shag and thick cut). This is a good tobacco, reasonably interesting flavor, easy to keep lit due to the shag cut, requires careful packing to ensure a reasonable burn rate. I like it, but don't love it. Worth trying if you like other GH tobaccos but are looking for something a bit more straightforward.