Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Westmorland Slices

Sweet smoked virginia. Pleasure each time you sip creamy smoke inside your mouth. For VA lovers it is the best replacement of latakia blends. This is how winter flake should taste.

In my vintage Dunhill group 4, landscapes of Africa explode into view. Filthy, dirty, muddy, rich soil-like tones carry elegant but prominent hints and suggestions of cocoa powder, coffee grounds, espresso.

On top of this gloriously expansive compost heap are sprinkled a few tiny flowers (the geranium oil topping, very lightly Lakeland which I don’t usually care for but here integrates — and gets mostly lost — beautifully.)

This is a magical smoke for me. I am otherwise a huge Sam Gawith fan but don’t love everything they do. Usually I am with FVF and Cabbies, other magical weeds, happy. For example, Lakeland Dark has some similarities but this is far more rich, beautiful, complex and three-dimensional.

Other similar elements shared with Black Flake / Dark Flake but none reach the expansive, near-religious heights this one does for me. It’s a strong but rich and beautiful experience.

Well this one is a BLISS! I remember first time I throw this to a bowl I was amazed and immediately thought: This would be my no.1 tobacco! I finished the sample rather quick and ran to store to purchase a whole pouch. But when I opened it the smell was a little bit different than the sample. A lot more lakeland. Now even the look was different. In the sample it was a flake/broken flake. Now there were very uneven slices, some of them were almost 1cm thick on one side narrowing to the other side. I cut it and rub it and packed the pipe and light it just to stay a little bit confused and dissapointed. It doesnt taste like the sample did by far. The lakeland topping was everywhere to hide the original sample taste. I am not a lakeland hater but this was too much. So I throw that to a jar and jar to a shelf to painfully dissmiss this one as a no.1. And I did well! I came back to that jar during the year several times. Guys, this tobacco ages like quality wine! Now the superb taste is back! The sweet, dark, mellow virginia with hints that I could describe as burly-ish and kentucky-ish but without those sharp notes. The aroma is nice lightly floral and ceam-ish and a little bit smoky but unlike latakia smokiness. It could be now retrohaled without problem (It was not possible at fresh state more than like three times because it pinched the nose like hell). Well, the BLISS is back. And I am glad.

Smoke and drive: Cool and pleasure.

Well, this a baccy that stress me a lot! Let me explain: I'm a sucker of Hoggarth & Gawith as well as HU tobaccos. I basically grew up with them: all Lakelands and their essence are like fresh air for me, from Ennerdale to Grasmere, not to mention Bob's Chocolate or Conistong cut plug (my first choices).
I bought Westmorland from Synjeco with a very light heart. Another winner, for sure. I loaded one of my trusty Bang pipes and I went lost in space!? Unfortunately, not in the good way as I hoped. I found the almost jet-black loose flakes quite enticing to my view. Easy to stuff or broken but the aftermath wasn’t that expected.
Really dull, neither strong nor soapy ( I realised immediately that Westmorland wasn’t a companion of the most scented GHs so I didn’t expect anything similar). Virginias are top-notch but I cannot discover the right amalgam, like a good red wine that doesn’t marry a good food. Honestly I was let down! Was I?
Ok, I thought, knowing the quality of GH and my esteem for their products a second attempt/chance was a must. I left the baccy in a jar for few months and today I tried it again.
At no avail, I would say. Again a very dull, flat result… I cannot detect any kind of interesting stuff to mention and I fancy it’s a pity. Other Briar-Brothers made high praise and I consider them more ‘evolved ' in their palettes than myself.
What may I say? De gustibus non disputandum est (tastes are peculiar) the old Latin say.
I’m happy (to certain extent) that even super-humans at GH make mistakes, they’re human beings then!
Sorry chaps, not my cup of tea.