Gawith Hoggarth & Co.: Best Brown #2 Flake 50g Pipe Tobacco

Founded in Kendal, Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. has fashioned quality pipe tobacco since 1887, utilizing processes and techniques that date to 1792. The Cumbria-based company prioritizes natural tobacco flavor, and in many of their mixtures, Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. maintains the standards enforced by the United Kingdom's strict purity laws of the 19th and 20th centuries — such laws dictating how much and what type of flavorings could be added to pipe tobacco and ensuring that sub-quality leaf wasn't hidden under the veil of exorbitant toppings.

Best Brown #2 is a flake mixture of the finest Virginias and Burleys with a slight casing of complementary sweetness, and it's among the pinnacle of Gawith, Hoggarth & Co.'s production. The blending house is particularly lauded for their flake tobaccos, which are still produced using machinery from the 1790s and with production patents from the late 1800s. Gawith, Hoggarth & Co.'s only production change in the last 100 years involved transitioning from coal-fired to gas-operated tobacco presses, and their flakes are pressed for nearly a month before being sliced and tinned, personifying traditional pipe tobaccos at their best.