Is Gawith the Only Blending House Making Dark Fired Virginia Blends?

[woodsroad]

Absolutely. Those are in no way related or similar to Flue Cured varietals that pipe smokers call Virginias.

You don't see US companies using them at all. My guess would be that importing tobaccos from Africa is just not feasible. You don't see much of anything imported to the US from Africa besides minerals, gems, coffee and cocoa. This would be a good question for Jeremy Reeves.

If you look at the home page for Universal, they have offices and facilities all over the world, including Malawi and across the the US , so importing from Malawi is not impossible at all, at least according to logistics. If there are regulatory or tariff impediments, that could be an issue.

And here's some good news for Malawian exports:

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/malawis-tobacco-revenue-up-40-despite-drought-2024-09-14/

 

[Sobrbiker]

Either that or they just taste and smoke like hot garbage until they go through Gawith's prehistoric steam press thingamabobber to smooth them out. If it's a tobacco varietal that exists you'd think more than one company would be blending with it, barring some kind of exclusivity contract with the farmers or distributors over in Africa. I think I will shoot Mr. Reeves and email about it!

What’s in their Dark BirdsEye?

 

[pinem]

So what I'm gathering here is that the dark fired Virginias that Gawith uses in their dark range of blends are African or Indian grown and may be in some ways more similar to Burley than the Virginias we're familiar with in the US, grown and cured using particular methods likely known only to Gawith and the farmers who grow them; since it's not a tobacco varietal you see other blenders using.

In any case, I sure wish more blenders would use them! There's a really remarkable gentle smoothness to the smoke they produce that you just don't get from dark fired American Burleys, which can tear up my throat something fierce, but Gawith's African and Indian varietals smoke easy and gentle as a stoved red Virginia. It's pretty astounding stuff, and I'd love to see what G.L. Pease could do with them if he got ahold of batch. Union Square with a healthy dose of Gawith's African dark fired Virginias mixed in would really be something special!

No expert either, but the smoothness you find in Gawith blends I'd likely due to the process not the tobacco origin. It really is a shame that Laudisi won't spend the money to get proper steam presses. MacBaren did, Dan did, why can't C&D? Maybe if anything good happens from the STG acquisition, MacBaren's steam presses with be offered up for for sale and Laudisi will finally step up to the plate and stop this laughable amateur attempt of making plugs and flakes in a redneck press.

 

[bullet08]

Burley, Virginia.. What's the difference? Once in my chamber, they are all dark fired by my Zippo.

 

[Strange Quark]

No expert either, but the smoothness you find in Gawith blends I'd likely due to the process not the tobacco origin. It really is a shame that Laudisi won't spend the money to get proper steam presses. MacBaren did, Dan did, why can't C&D? Maybe if anything good happens from the STG acquisition, MacBaren's steam presses with be offered up for for sale and Laudisi will finally step up to the plate and stop this laughable amateur attempt of making plugs and flakes in a redneck press.

Based on STG's scorched earth intentions for Sutliff I doubt they'll sell off Mac Barens equipment to competitors. I have thought along those lines but realize the cost for design and build of such proprietary equipment if it can't be bought second hand could be astronomical, like in the six or seven figure range. I never quite liked C&Ds stoved red virginias; They are not stoved but steam cooked.

 

[64alex]

So what I'm gathering here is that the dark fired Virginias that Gawith uses in their dark range of blends are African or Indian grown and may be in some ways more similar to Burley than the Virginias we're familiar with in the US, grown and cured using particular methods likely known only to Gawith and the farmers who grow them; since it's not a tobacco varietal you see other blenders using.

Here is a link to a very informative 30 min G&H video outlining the source of their tobacco and their production method.

What is interesting is that they keep only 12 tobacco leaves types, less then the competition. It looks like the "dark leaves" come all from Malawi and Indonesia so I would assume the differences between the different dark leaves blends is more related to how the tobacco is treated rather than actual difference in the baccy.

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

Here is a link to a very informative 30 min G&H video outlining the source of their tobacco and their production method.

What is interesting is that they keep only 12 tobacco leaves types, less then the competition. It looks like the "dark leaves" come all from Malawi and Indonesia so I would assume the differences between the different dark leaves blends is more related to how the tobacco is treated rather than actual difference in the baccy.

Thank you very much for the link! That was a really informative and fun video to watch, and I've been enjoying checking out Gawith's other videos on YouTube as well since they really are my favorite tobacco company. I especially appreciated the insight into why Gawith's blends differ a bit more from batch to batch than other blenders, since they only use half a dozen types of leaf and the crops of the small farmers they buy from vary in color, flavor, and other qualities from year to year.

I don't particularly mind that though, since to me the little variations from batch to batch make Gawith's blends somehow feel a bit more natural than the blends from bigger manufactures where they use a couple dozen or more different leaf types to create a product that's more consistent from batch to batch but also a little homogeneous. Some years the local fruits and vegetables are a little better than others, and some years Gawith's blends are a little better than others. It's a natural thing.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Here is a link to a very informative 30 min G&H video outlining the source of their tobacco and their production method.

What is interesting is that they keep only 12 tobacco leaves types, less then the competition.

Funny how C&D is the one that gets static for producing 250+ blends out of only 12 different leaves, though...