Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Curly Cut De Luxe Sliced

This blend is the second of three 2 oz bulks in pint canning jars that I bought last April from a familiar and trusted Ebay seller. The first was Gawith, Hoggarth &Co.'s Kendal Kentucky and this blend is their Curly Cut Deluxe Sliced. I wasn't particularly happy with the Kendal Kentucky and I feel just the opposite about this blend. First of all, it makes a wonderful display in the jar made up of about one third spun circles and the rest in circle remains. It shows a fine varigation in light browns to almost black in the spun disks and looks like it was darkened by some process on the surface when it was in the spun log stage. The jar note was unique and reminded me of a combination of bran muffins and apple sauce all at the same time. A long time pipe smoking bud of mine and I loaded up and lit up at the same time. He was the first to exclaim that this is a good tobacco but I wasn't far behind him. Soft and round yet full of flavor, this blend's quality was very apparent and I feel it is the best matured Virginia blend I have ever had the pleasure to smoke. Oh, as to the Lakeland essence, it was there in the early stages but had noticeably declined by about the one fourth stage of the bowl. The decline was rapid and, by the one third point of the bowl, it was gone. The best matured Virginia I've ever smoked, one of the best Virginias I've ever smoked and one of the best pipe blends I've ever smoked all adds up to an enthusiastic four stars.