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Henrikas M.
Reviews
BriarWorks - Smokehouse 2oz
GH Twist Reused
I want to start by saying it is quite good smoke. Jar note is very smoky - burnt rubber, campfire smoke, burnt coal, earthy. Flavour is much more delicate in comparison with smell. First one third of the bowl feels like I’m smoking some heavily grilled meat. Mid bowl things get interesting - sweetness emerges, latakia and dark fired stand out separately. Down the bowl it gets a bit stronger and dark fired take over completely. Now this is where it gets interesting, jar note reminded me closely of new version of GH Rum twist which I found to be nasty - same notes, earthy, smoky, burnt coal. I even took the twist itself to do side by side comparison and found out the smell to be almost identical. My guess is that latakia added even more smoke. Process of rubbing out flakes was strange too - flake didn’t rub out into ribbons, but fell apart into smaller pieces which reminded me of shredded twist coins and they needed additional rubbing out too. When I lit my pipe I wasn’t sure if my suspicions were true but down the bowl when dark fired took over I was absolutely convinced that I was smoking GH twist. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I believe that Smokinpipes had a lot of GH twists that didn’t sell well due to changes GH made and decided to use it as a blending component to create a new blend. That being said, Jeremy Reeves did a good job to give a second life to this tobacco. Smokehouse has additional depth of flavour and complexity I’d choose Smokehouse over Rum twist any day. However, I feel deceived by lack of transparency - I thought I was buying a new blend in celebration of Briarworks 10th anniversary, not an upgraded version of GH twist that sells poorly.
Samuel Gawith - Cannon Plug 8oz
Full flavoured aromatic
It's a magnificent piece of tobacco, oh the smell... Smell takes me back to childhood as it smells exactly like my grandpa's medicinal cabinet in a good way of course. I find the smell to be sweet with notes of sweet lemon and some spices like cinnamon. Some say it tastes like Grousemoor plug on steroids. I disagree, as it tastes like it smells - sweet, bold, spicy. Grousemoor on the other hand has that salty note. Anyway fresh plug is so intense that it ghosted my favourite cob just from one bowl, so beware of the ghost! Anyway, it's my favourite aro. If you don't like soapy lakelands or don't like intense flavour you might want to look elsewhere, otherwise be sure to check it out. One more thing - no matter how well you store it, topping evaporates over time. After few months stored in jar left untouched it still lost a lot of aromatic taste.
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Bosun Plug
Drop of quality
Pouch note - fantastic. Room note - heavenly. Taste - extremely mild, almost flat. This tobacco used to be mild to medium, complex rich tobacco notes dancing around on tongue but starting from autumn 2023 G&H started to change tobacco base in it’s blends. Bosun plug fell victim to tobacco base changes. Plug in itself is well made but due to change in tobaccos used to produce tobacco the taste is completely different. Used to be 5 star smoke, now I can only give 2.5 stars
BriarWorks - Bacon Old Fashioned 2oz
Underrated blend
This blend gets so much undeserved hate. It certainly tastes unique. Tin note is salted caramel, oranges and smokyness coming from dark fired leaves. Upon lighting you get strong smoky dark fired taste with oranges. After a few bowls taste dies down a bit and you can taste normal virginias. Smokes well straight from the jar. If you’re into aromatics it’s worth a try Update - current late 2023 early 2024 batch is different. Jar note - fanta. Taste - much milder due to lack of dark fired leaf. -1 star for changes made.
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Rum Twist
Significant drop of quality
This tobacco has changed. I’m very familiar with GH twists so I was alarmed when I realised that my recently purchased rum twist smells completely different. Upon preparing the tobacco I noticed that this twist is very soft and spongy, although it’s supposed to be hard and sturdy. It was easy to slice coins and what’s surprising that coins were extremely easy to rub out, as the tobacco is not as tightly compressed as it should have been. Tobacco was moist so I dried it for several hours. It was an easy smoke, but relatively boring one. All the depth of taste and complexity that this twist had disappeared. In conclusion, some smokers might find it attractive as it is easier to prepare and smoke. Personally I won’t probably buy it again.
BriarWorks - Back Down South 2oz
Used to be Best American VaPer
It’s quite full flavoured. Spicy figgy perique, sweet virginias with light topping which always stays in the background and doesn’t overshadow tobacco taste. Mason jar is a huge plus. Can’t go wrong with this if you like vapers, unless you’re a vaper purist and don’t like toppings. Update - current batch is shredded broken flake, -1 star for lowet quality
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. - Coniston Cut Plug
This blend has changed
Unfortunately this stuff has changed, flavouring is the same but is applied in lesser quantities. The real gamechanger here is the change of Dark Fired leaf. It used to be very bold, earthy, leathery spicy. Now DFK are much more mellow mild, there's some leather and chocolate there. It really is quite similar to the new version of SG 1792 flake. Coniston used to be a 5 star smoke, now I'm dropping it to 3.5 because it lost it's initial appeal, but it's still quality tobacco and someone will surely love it as it is. I can't really blame G&H for making changes to the blend because the demand for their tobaccos has skyrocketed. Update - I kept returining to it, hoping it would grow on me but it became completely bland after few months of cellaring. 2 stars. GH please return to your old ways!
Tasting Notes: BriarWorks Smokehouse- ► Ordered some jars. Looking forward to try it.