Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Brown Twist Sliced

This reminds me of really good natural chewing tobacco. The flavor is a pure, unadulterated tobacco flavor. The primordial ancient essence of tobacco is right here. There are plenty of occasions when I want a sweet natural Virginia like SG Medium Virginia Flake, or smokey goodness of Squadron Leader, or the polished elegance of Cornell & Diehl Opening Night. Sometimes, though, I am looking for a direct encounter with the leaf, booming with nicotine and filling my mouth with tobacco flavor. I keep this stuff around for those times.

As I am writing this I am slowly working my way through a bowl in freezing winter cold on my balcony. It works well in this weather, especially when I have rum in my English tea. The well-seasoned bowl of my Peterson 303 rustic is just about perfect for this rope.

The nicotine level is stout, but don't let that scare you away. That just means that I can read a chapter of a book while slowly sipping the rich smoke. A small bowl can last quite a while when sipped, so I don't have to stop reading to load another pipe. By the time the bowl contains only a pinch of fine ash I am satisfied and relaxed.

Update: March 14, 2016 Sometimes my perception of a blend changes over time. This is not one of those times. Right now I am sitting on the beach smoking Brown Twist Sliced in a Peterson 303 smooth. The wind is very strong, but this stuff is staying lit without getting hot. In my previous review I had allowed the tobacco to dry. Since then I have been smoking it right out of the pouch. For some reason it never steams my tongue even when with a fresh bag. This is one of those blends that I could be happy with, even if it was the only tobacco I could get. My guess is that about 80% of pipe smokers would not enjoy this stuff, because it is so strong and so primitive. For me, though, it is close to perfection.

Gawith Hoggarth - Sliced Brown Twist.

The first thing I think upon opening this is "wow, what a strong smell"! Granted it's not a false aromatic smell, only a VERY strong Virginia smell, an area where this ones score abates a little is that it is a touch damp so some airing time would avail this one well, but being impetuous (as ever), I decide to just employ a little extra hard work with the flame and to be impartial it lights relatively well.

Once lit I find the burn to be not at all intemperate in speed, pretty steady. The ash left by this one is pure white, possibly the whitest I have seen. Now, the smoke ... the temperature of it's a good one, it doesn't really bite me and it is of a thick construction. I don't get any underlying flavours of any kind, all I get is a very pure Virginia taste, which to be fair becomes a little tedious after a while, but that is more subjective! Room note, again it is pure Virginia but not particularly heavy as you would expect. To be succinct, if you like Virginia then why in hell haven't you tried this?!

Four stars.

Over time, this has become one of my go-to tobaccos for an all-day smoke. It seems designed to be carried in a pouch, partially rubbed out and stuffed into a pipe, and then to burn for a long time in a cool, smooth delivery of a sweet Virginia flavor with a hint of dark fired spice and the faintest of incense-like combinations of topping. It is very strong in the nicotine department, but if you let it burn naturally, it delivers a constant stream of thin smoke, so the effect is not disastrous but rather sustaining, especially if outside. When you first open the jar, since this is only sold in bulk, the scent of peat and crushed vegetation will reach your nose. Rub out a few of these tiny coins, then mash that mass together in your hands and hold it for a few moments as the extra moisture and ammonia drift away. Then gravity fill the pipe and push down very lightly, extra lightly even, before doing your char-tamp-light. At this point, you want to breath-smoke the bowl, drawing not at all, and letting the natural capillary pressure of your mouth closed around the stem pull the smoke into your mouth, breathing it out when you inhale through your nose about every two breaths, which is roughly seven seconds as is normal for someone concentrating on a task. An average-sized bowl lasts well over an hour, and a large bowl could go for almost two. If you have trouble getting it to light, wait a few moments; you may have seen how old school pipe smokers tend to pack a bowl, then hold the pipe in the hand while looking over whatever task is before them, then light when they know how to make it work. Once you get through the top layer of the bowl, the leaf will start to caramelize, and the flavor becomes sweeter but loses none of its depth. Expect a faint essence of leather, malt and hay. You can smoke this all day in 3-4 bowls and be perfectly content. If you want to give it some body, mix with some dark Burley and a sweet Virginia like you would find in a Va/Per, which really brings out the "voices" of each blend and melds them together into a lovely spectrum of flavors. For leaf quality and preparation, this may be one of the best values on the tobacco market today.

Smoke it slowly, or the nicotine will overwhelm and you will miss out on the flavors, which can be subtle. The flavors are varied, rich, not really sweet, but not bitter or astringent. Very satisfying. And a little goes a long way.

This has joined the ranks of my absolute favorites, ideal for a nightcap with a good red wine. I will always have a large jar of this on the shelf.

Unfortunately, I must deduct a point for the room note and the wife factor. My lovely bride detests the smell of the smoke, and the smell on my breath, after this weed. I dearly love SBT, but only when my wife is not around.

Update, 25 March 2013: I'm raising this to 4 stars. After a couple of years in a jar, BTS has smoothed out. It is less harsh. It tastes a bit sweeter, if you take it slow enough. Time to put some more away into the cellar!

After smoking this tobacco I turned my preference towards Virginia tobaccos again. Very strong, with earthy (turfy) sweet flavour, no problems with it, no tongue bite, etc. From tin it has high moisture content.

This tobacco for me is enligthment. First I liked light tobaccos, tried Burley and Virginia, and found that I liked Burley more because of "nutty solid flavour" and light Virginia tobaccos were like smoking hay for me. But this one is as "solid" and full as any Burley I tried.

Smoked Dark Birds Eye from G&H and didn't like it, so was skeptical towards Brown Twist, but it is my favorite now (second tin is empty, few more on the way).

In terms of Gawith 'browns' this is one of my favorites...maybe one of my favorites of any blend or brand, etc. A great tobacco flavor and aroma. This one has it all...just needs a little drying prior to use as what I've been sent has typically been pretty moist. Others have gone into sufficient detail to describe this one well, I'll just add that you can let it sit a bit and come back to it...and you might need to to control the ration of Vit. N. A real heavy hitter, which is not bad thing.

Sliced Brown Twist:

Another four star rating for the Kendal Brothers. Strong stuff but oh so tasty! Not a all day smoke to be sure but unsurpassed for that smoke with "a little something extra" that is called for when the craving for just such a blend comes over the smoker.I read a comment or two that said that it has no complexity and I have to respectfully disagree with that evaluation.This is one of the primary reasons for smoking this particular tobacco in my opinion.The nicotine is,of course, the other reason. Very satisfying in this regard. I do reccomend that a small to medium bowl be used for this reason though and a very respectful puffing rate as well. If it proves to be a bit much as far as flavor and nicotine content goes I do as well recommend its tamer sibling Sliced Black to alleviate the headiness of this type of tobacco. Sliced Brown burns very well and packs with little or no problem. The batch I got from Pipes and Cigars had the perfect moisture level and burned down to a fine grey ash with no relights at all.This moisture level could vary,I suppose, and some judicious drying out would alleviate that problem if it arises. The room note is not something I worry about since I have a very tolerant wife and as I have stated repeatedly I don't believe most smokers can really smell the burning aroma since olfactory overload occurs rapidly-especially with the more robust blends such as this one.Being rather lazy I don't take the trouble to go outside for nostril rejuvenation and an assesment of the aromatics of the tobbco I am smoking at the time. I am also too busy enjoying the experience of smoking it in the first place to put it own for that amount of time. All in all another fine Kendal tobacco if a somewhat pricey smoke. But then again most superb things including tobacco are that way and I refuse to compromise on quality for economic reasons. The taste of the tobacco is therefore as high a quality as Gawaith and Hoggarth tobacco(excluding the heavy aromatics)are reliably and consistently expected to be. For what it is and does Sliced Brown Twist is one I can heartily reccomend and will keep around as part of my inventory of decadent indulgent luxuries.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

20230308 edit: Leaving a bit in a small container with what must not have been a completely air-tight lid, did wonders for the smoking qualities. The moisture levels dissipated and equalized, leaving none of the ribbons crispy, and yet quite dry and still pliable. There was no compacting upon tamping, and no ice-like layer on top which doesn't tamp well with a larger nail-style tamper (acts like a snowshoe, whereas a smaller tamper will punch through). Still have to do more relights than with better-burning tobaccos, but usually just a touch of flame will do it. The nicotine from this bowl is really hitting me, even though I'm smoking it immediately after having breakfast. I don't enjoy the flavors quite as much as from the bowls where the tobacco had more moisture, but the difference is relatively minor, and the ease of smoking more than makes up for it. This would be an ideal pre-nap or pre-bedtime smoke.

Getting the negatives out of the way first: it's a nightmare to work with. From the bag it's sopping wet, and only a fool would smoke it in that state. I've tried. Somehow though, drying it nearly to a crisp doesn't make it burn well either.

Otherwise, it's dreamy. Reminds me a lot of dark fired Kentucky in its smokiness, but in little else. Not really reminiscent of any other Virginias either. I agree with another reviewer in that there's almost a roast, meaty quality to it, definitely registers as savory. During my first smoke, I got a sort of Fernet quality, sort of sweet and bitter herbal, but I'm not getting it much if at all during this second smoke. The nicotine is powerful, but it isn't bowling me over yet, probably at least in part because it's difficult to keep lit, as well as a biting quality it has if smoked too fast. The overall character is well worth the fight though, I think. I could see smoking this exclusively, intermittently smoking bowls with a long wait to dry the tobacco for the next one in between. I think the room note of just about every tobacco I've smoked is pleasant, but I'd bet this one probably is less pleasant on that scale to a lot of people. I called my wife in to tell me what she thought, and she used some descriptors that were so out there, I question whether she was imagining things or being spiteful. Suffice it to say she hated it. At least one person mentioned Lakeland topping, but I don't get that at all. The Fernet notes I got originally were nowhere near any Lakeland I've tried, and so mild and absent from the second bowl I'm wondering if they weren't imagined. I would expect a Lakeland hater not to hate this one for any comparison to Lakeland essence.

Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. - Brown Twist Sliced was bought at my local pipe store circa 2017. I decided over the Labor Day weekend to inventory my pipe tobacco collection from the past 20 years and came across this one. And no, I could not open my own tobacco store but I do have a nice collection that has accumulated over the years. I pulled the bag out of the jar and could smell this through the bag, that is how strong this one was. I guess the experts would say take it out of the bag before jarring which I usually do unless I am lazy or out of jars. The first few puffs I felt Nicotine Nirvana and kind of got light headed but it soon passed, darn. For such a strong smell this really smokes cool and pure. I had a few coughs along the way but sip this one slow if you know what I mean and you will have a blast.