With a lighthearted note and smile, I hope you will find the person who used to apply the sauce. Beg them to return or at least pass on their skill of sauce application as it was brilliant!!!!
How Long do Lakeland Toppings Last When Cellared?
- Thread starter Skippy B. Coyote
- Start date
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I've got some 2016 Ennerdale Flake and Rum Flake and both taste better than when I first got them. The toppings definitely haven't faded any. If anything, time seems to have melded them together. How long that'll continue i've no idea, but after 8 years they're still going strong
Your batch was probably made by some bloke who'd been down the pub at lunchtime. He was probably wasted and got a bit lairy with the sauce.
We still have the same staff. And believe me, when I bring up points like this in our production meetings they are baffled that people think blends have changed. A bit like the folklore of Lakeland sauce or essence.......
I was under the impression that you are the owner's wife, not the owner.
I can't assume why those good folks aren't here to answer your statement, but as a former owner of a pipe tobacco company, I can speak from my own experience. You will never satisfy everyone. Everyone on antisocial media wants to be satisfied and affirmed and sees that as a God-given right. Everyone here has an equal voice, no matter how minor their issue, or how marginal their complaint. Everyone has an asshole, and they are going to show it to you.
The starry-eyed boot lickers are in a class by themselves, but they're usually very well intentioned and mostly harmless.
For company reps, engaging with the public in a forum such as this is a losing proposition, as Leonard just found out. Rachael Gawith doesn't seem to mind taking all comers, even if it means pissing off dedicated customers. Even then, she will often double down when called on it. This, of course, is the inverse of what is needed in a customer-facing position, and only diminishes the standing of the company. But have at it babe...and cheers.
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That's
The vast majority of them all act like they're the only person in existence and act like they know how your business —or business in general— works, and they absolutely refuse to ever listen to reason and want you to pull miracles out of your ass, and will only ever hear what they want to hear and refuse to believe things don't work like how you tell them they do.
Last time I worked was as a measure tech for Home Depot Measure Services (HDMS). HDMS is a separate subsidiary of the Home Depot corporation than the stores. However, sometimes for my job, I had to go to the store to do work on a Home Depot computer, or talk to reps in the flooring department (who work for the store, not for HDMS). As an HDMS employee, I was required to wear a Home Depot shirt at work.
The number of times I was in a store in my work clothes and someone asked me for help and I tried to explain to them I don't work for the store but would try to find someone that could help them and they got angry at me, "but you're wearing the shirt...". Yeah, but I work for the company, not the store... "but you're wearing the shirt...". Like jfc.
Or how they ask me when I am at their house, questions about what's in the store, and I'm repeating ad nauseam that I can't answer because I don't work for the store, and they would just keep asking as if I am just lying to them.
"They said you'd be here at 7:00"
No, they said I would call between 7 and 9 to set up an appointment time.
"They said..."
No the fuck they didn't.
customer service.
This is part of why I don't work anymore... almost all jobs are customer service, and the customer is almost ALWAYS a fn pos, and wrong.
The vast majority of them all act like they're the only person in existence and act like they know how your business —or business in general— works, and they absolutely refuse to ever listen to reason and want you to pull miracles out of your ass, and will only ever hear what they want to hear and refuse to believe things don't work like how you tell them they do.
Last time I worked was as a measure tech for Home Depot Measure Services (HDMS). HDMS is a separate subsidiary of the Home Depot corporation than the stores. However, sometimes for my job, I had to go to the store to do work on a Home Depot computer, or talk to reps in the flooring department (who work for the store, not for HDMS). As an HDMS employee, I was required to wear a Home Depot shirt at work.
The number of times I was in a store in my work clothes and someone asked me for help and I tried to explain to them I don't work for the store but would try to find someone that could help them and they got angry at me, "but you're wearing the shirt...". Yeah, but I work for the company, not the store... "but you're wearing the shirt...". Like jfc.
Or how they ask me when I am at their house, questions about what's in the store, and I'm repeating ad nauseam that I can't answer because I don't work for the store, and they would just keep asking as if I am just lying to them.
"They said you'd be here at 7:00"
No, they said I would call between 7 and 9 to set up an appointment time.
"They said..."
No the fuck they didn't.
customer service.
This is the first time I have seen where @gawithhoggarth has said that there were variations in the amount of sauce applied to their products in the past. This makes sense, and is way better than just calling us idiots.
If in the beginning, you had been a little forthcoming like this, I would have been the first to be on your side, minus insulting beloved members like Chasingembers and Pappymac.
The only thing that still doesn't vibe is that if increasing the sauce doesn't make the sauce taste stronger on the tobacco, just wetter... then why did it make it stronger tasting in the past, when it was done "carelessly"? This is rhetorical. I really don't care if you answer.
Going forward, (to the forum abroad) it is not good etiquette to insult someone, who has just apologized. It derails the thread by making it about me instead of the topic. I was in the wrong, and I admitted that, and apologized. If you have further issues and do not accept the apology, then that is your issue.
@admin... It would be helpful if Kevin would ask company owners to register with him, before just posting as a representative. He could verify the new member's status with the company to add some validity to what they are saying. Maybe give them a company name under where the rest of us have our forum status. Or, just some sort of perk.
Recently, we've had bellringers at companies exposing insider info, and then someone claiming to be a STG employee... And, I still have a hard time believing that a company rep, owner, or owner's wife is trying to market their tobaccos with such tenacity towards it's biggest fans. With who is really behind the keyboard of certain avatars in question, the forum is becoming more aggressive as of late. and, yes, again, I apologize.
As it stands now, any new member could give themself a company logo avatar and call themself, Chacom or GH. Sykes, Greg, and blendtobak never had anyone question the validity of who they were, because none of them came on here throwing insults at us. They seemed more interested in winning more business, not calling people who are confused by the explanations that you were giving us names and such.
I really want to support Gawith Hoggarth Tobaccos. I am a big fan of strong blends. It would only be natural if I was standing up for the company, instead of feeling like a sucker for giving you my money. But, early on, you were rather rude yourself. And, I've yet to see any apologies being given by @gawithhoggarth ... not to me, but the people you've insulted on here, like chasingembers, pappymac, and the rest.
But... maybe it's best to just set you back on ignore, and just never mentioning your company again.
If in the beginning, you had been a little forthcoming like this, I would have been the first to be on your side, minus insulting beloved members like Chasingembers and Pappymac.
The only thing that still doesn't vibe is that if increasing the sauce doesn't make the sauce taste stronger on the tobacco, just wetter... then why did it make it stronger tasting in the past, when it was done "carelessly"? This is rhetorical. I really don't care if you answer.
Going forward, (to the forum abroad) it is not good etiquette to insult someone, who has just apologized. It derails the thread by making it about me instead of the topic. I was in the wrong, and I admitted that, and apologized. If you have further issues and do not accept the apology, then that is your issue.
@admin... It would be helpful if Kevin would ask company owners to register with him, before just posting as a representative. He could verify the new member's status with the company to add some validity to what they are saying. Maybe give them a company name under where the rest of us have our forum status. Or, just some sort of perk.
Recently, we've had bellringers at companies exposing insider info, and then someone claiming to be a STG employee... And, I still have a hard time believing that a company rep, owner, or owner's wife is trying to market their tobaccos with such tenacity towards it's biggest fans. With who is really behind the keyboard of certain avatars in question, the forum is becoming more aggressive as of late. and, yes, again, I apologize.
As it stands now, any new member could give themself a company logo avatar and call themself, Chacom or GH. Sykes, Greg, and blendtobak never had anyone question the validity of who they were, because none of them came on here throwing insults at us. They seemed more interested in winning more business, not calling people who are confused by the explanations that you were giving us names and such.
I really want to support Gawith Hoggarth Tobaccos. I am a big fan of strong blends. It would only be natural if I was standing up for the company, instead of feeling like a sucker for giving you my money. But, early on, you were rather rude yourself. And, I've yet to see any apologies being given by @gawithhoggarth ... not to me, but the people you've insulted on here, like chasingembers, pappymac, and the rest.
But... maybe it's best to just set you back on ignore, and just never mentioning your company again.
Poor OP still has had no one answer to what the effects of aging has on their tobaccos.
I, too am a great appreciator of GH's products. I probably have more GH/SG blends in my cellar than most any B&M has in stock at any given time. But I just can't bring myself to spend another penny with them as long as the company representative doesn't respect their customers (whether the customers deserve that respect or not).
I probably don't, h aha. When Alabama ranked number 1 for residents being the biggest assholes, we all cheered. It was the first time the country had ranked us top of the list in something besides football, haha.
But, I'm trying my best. And, I do have empathy when I realize that I have hurt someone.
Carry on, I have some sisters and cousins that need some lovin' ha ha.
We're always at least top 10, if not second place to perennial #1 worst-state ever Mississippi, in lots of asshole metrics, like worst drivers, most "couch potato-y"...
I often joke that the Alabama state motto should be: "Hey, at least we aren't Mississippi".
And these are common Alabama headlines:
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Eh, it's fine. I'm still gonna buy it, smoke it, cellar some away, and smoke that eventually too. Nothing lasts forever, but it seems like the dark strong blends I enjoy should last a good long time. If nothing else the thread did dissuade me from cellaring away 10 pounds of my favorite blends then never buying again, because I do want Gawith to stay in business so other future pipe smokers can enjoy/be bewildered yet strangely delighted by their blends too.
I'm just gonna cellar away a pound or two of each blend in Gawith's dark range for a rainy day then keep buying a few ounces of each every few months to support the company. It may not last forever, but I'll enjoy it while it does and if it's ever gone then I'll still have some to ration out for a good long while.
On a side note, as far as the differences in sauce flavor strength over time goes, it occurs to me that Gawith probably doesn't distill and manufacture their own floral essence tinctures and likely buys them from a third party. If that was the case then it's entirely possible that the application of the floral essences at Gawith may have stayed the same but the flavor strength of the tinctures they buy to apply to their blends has simply gone down over time.
That's the only explanation I've got that accounts for both sides of the story being true, that some blends used to taste more strongly of floral essence but applying more essence to the current blends only makes them wetter instead of more flavorful.
The constant laughing emoji says all I need to know. Immaturity in spades.
Admin does verify company owners/representatives.
Not sure why it would be thought I am the owner's wife.
Pretty sure I have never once straight out called anyone an idiot. Where as I have been straight out insulted, called a liar, other names besides, in fact some down right nasty things have been said. But hey - I stick to my guns, tell you how we do things and the reasons behind this and I am the one being rude and treating [a few of the] members here like crap. Maybe it's a culture thing, maybe its old school misogyny..........
"And, I've yet to see any apologies being given by @gawithhoggarth ... not to me, but the people you've insulted on here, like chasingembers, pappymac, and the rest. "
Pot calling the kettle black.............or am I just expected to take it and remain sweet and nice despite all the name calling, insults, degrading comments and so forth....and 'respect those that have absolutely no respect.
And I don't have to spend time on here. I have plenty to do running the company.
But that said, it is just the same few all the time. Rather tiresome really. And most on here are lovely. So yes please put me back on 'ignore' and then the rest of us on the forum can have sensible, decent conversations.
Its well known our tobaccos are 'hand-made' small batch and that there have always been batch variations.
Therefore, in the continued insistence by some that there has been a change in 'sauce' levels, this is the only possible explanation the production team can come up with. The same staff make the blend with the same recipes, same flavourings, same machines, same processes.....maybe the fact that Ennerdale is a stronger flavour in the first place, means any small variations in how one person makes the 'sauce' over another, makes much more difference......
Its not a case of being more forth coming - there is no big conspiracy theory. The 'sauce' has not changed, the recipe has not changed, the amount added has not changed - it's just human variance with a product that is made through a very hand's on process.
Or as pointed out above, we don't distill the base tinctures. It's very tightly controlled, regulated area and as far as we are aware we are still getting exactly the same as we always have (according to composition) but of course there is always some possibility that that production company has slightly changed something without actually changing flavour composition or recorded strength.
"The only thing that still doesn't vibe is that if increasing the sauce doesn't make the sauce taste stronger on the tobacco, just wetter... then why did it make it stronger tasting in the past, when it was done "carelessly"->
it didn't necessarily, the tobacco leaf only holds so much and excess then comes off in the remaining processes. But if the person making the sauce added maybe 21% of something instead of 20% then that may have made a difference. But I am just surmising as the point keeps getting brought up and pushed that we are adding 'less sauce' or have 'changed the recipes'. The recipes are mostly pretty old, having been passed on and down, re-written and recorded, weights and measures have changed from one form to another........slight change one way or another is inevitable in the overall scheme of things.
We are just trying to have a little more consistency, although not easy with hand made products and very old machines. In the past there was possibly more variation so there would be stronger batches, lighter batches and those that were 'in the middle'. But its just a possibility to try and account for what some are insisting is their experience.
Not sure why it would be thought I am the owner's wife.
Pretty sure I have never once straight out called anyone an idiot. Where as I have been straight out insulted, called a liar, other names besides, in fact some down right nasty things have been said. But hey - I stick to my guns, tell you how we do things and the reasons behind this and I am the one being rude and treating [a few of the] members here like crap. Maybe it's a culture thing, maybe its old school misogyny..........
"And, I've yet to see any apologies being given by @gawithhoggarth ... not to me, but the people you've insulted on here, like chasingembers, pappymac, and the rest. "
Pot calling the kettle black.............or am I just expected to take it and remain sweet and nice despite all the name calling, insults, degrading comments and so forth....and 'respect those that have absolutely no respect.
And I don't have to spend time on here. I have plenty to do running the company.
But that said, it is just the same few all the time. Rather tiresome really. And most on here are lovely. So yes please put me back on 'ignore' and then the rest of us on the forum can have sensible, decent conversations.
Its well known our tobaccos are 'hand-made' small batch and that there have always been batch variations.
Therefore, in the continued insistence by some that there has been a change in 'sauce' levels, this is the only possible explanation the production team can come up with. The same staff make the blend with the same recipes, same flavourings, same machines, same processes.....maybe the fact that Ennerdale is a stronger flavour in the first place, means any small variations in how one person makes the 'sauce' over another, makes much more difference......
Its not a case of being more forth coming - there is no big conspiracy theory. The 'sauce' has not changed, the recipe has not changed, the amount added has not changed - it's just human variance with a product that is made through a very hand's on process.
Or as pointed out above, we don't distill the base tinctures. It's very tightly controlled, regulated area and as far as we are aware we are still getting exactly the same as we always have (according to composition) but of course there is always some possibility that that production company has slightly changed something without actually changing flavour composition or recorded strength.
"The only thing that still doesn't vibe is that if increasing the sauce doesn't make the sauce taste stronger on the tobacco, just wetter... then why did it make it stronger tasting in the past, when it was done "carelessly"->
it didn't necessarily, the tobacco leaf only holds so much and excess then comes off in the remaining processes. But if the person making the sauce added maybe 21% of something instead of 20% then that may have made a difference. But I am just surmising as the point keeps getting brought up and pushed that we are adding 'less sauce' or have 'changed the recipes'. The recipes are mostly pretty old, having been passed on and down, re-written and recorded, weights and measures have changed from one form to another........slight change one way or another is inevitable in the overall scheme of things.
We are just trying to have a little more consistency, although not easy with hand made products and very old machines. In the past there was possibly more variation so there would be stronger batches, lighter batches and those that were 'in the middle'. But its just a possibility to try and account for what some are insisting is their experience.
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Well STG pretty much has the monopoly in Europe and makes blends for many other companies so I am sure you will still be left with plenty else to choose from. And you still have C&D in the USA. i am sure that some of the other smaller blenders will likely find an alternative way to continue some blends or come out with new ones. So all is not lost for you.
@gawithhoggarth
My last question is… and I promise that I will never refer to you again and I will set to ignore again… do you want us to buy your tobacco?
Over and out good buddies
My last question is… and I promise that I will never refer to you again and I will set to ignore again… do you want us to buy your tobacco?
Over and out good buddies
Dude, you’re just trolling at this point. GH needs to set YOU to ignore…