Jim's Watch City Simply Cavendish Review.

[JimInks]

This went on sale today.

The various gold Virginia cavendishes provide a wealth of distinctly tart and fairly tangy citrus, fragrant floralness, bread, sugar, vegetative grass/hay, sour lemon, spice, and slight acidity as the lead components. The izmir offers a moderate amount of floralness, incense, herbs, sharp, bitter sourness, earth, wood, vegetation, spice, and light buttery sweetness. It’s a couple of steps above the condiment line. The lightly applied vanilla has a mild effect on the proceedings. The strength and taste levels are full. It gathers a little potency as you go along. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the center of medium to strong. Well balanced, and deeply zesty rich, it burns cool and clean at a reasonable rate with a very consistent tartly sour and tangy sweet, fruity, floral, spicy, slightly tingly acidic flavor that extends to the pleasantly lasting after taste. The room notes are strong, floral and sweet. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl. Barely requires a relight. I recommend no more than a medium bowl at the most. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Will ghost a briar and in time, a meer. Four stars out of four.
©Jim Amash 2025.

 

[renfield]

Sounds interesting, great review as always.

What component is responsible for the ghosting, the vanilla?

 

[JimInks]

Sounds interesting, great review as always.

What component is responsible for the ghosting, the vanilla?

I would say the tobaccos more than the vanilla. The vanilla is fairly light.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I've been following Ernie's posts on the other forum, and was surprised to see from your review that there are Orientals in it. Sounds delicious though!

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

Thanks Jim! ️

 

[buroak]

This went on sale today.

The various gold Virginia cavendishes provide a wealth of distinctly tart and fairly tangy citrus, fragrant floralness, bread, sugar, vegetative grass/hay, sour lemon, spice, and slight acidity as the lead components. The izmir offers a moderate amount of floralness, incense, herbs, sharp, bitter sourness, earth, wood, vegetation, spice, and light buttery sweetness. It’s a couple of steps above the condiment line. The lightly applied vanilla has a mild effect on the proceedings. The strength and taste levels are full. It gathers a little potency as you go along. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the center of medium to strong. Well balanced, and deeply zesty rich, it burns cool and clean at a reasonable rate with a very consistent tartly sour and tangy sweet, fruity, floral, spicy, slightly tingly acidic flavor that extends to the pleasantly lasting after taste. The room notes are strong, floral and sweet. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl. Barely requires a relight. I recommend no more than a medium bowl at the most. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Will ghost a briar and in time, a meer. Four stars out of four.
©Jim Amash 2025.

WCC’s description emphatically labels this an all day smoke. @JimInks , would you say your assessment that it is not an all day smoke is based more on the strength of the flavor or the stage presence of la diva nicotina?

 

[JimInks]

WCC’s description emphatically labels this an all day smoke. @JimInks , would you say your assessment that it is not an all day smoke is based more on the strength of the flavor or the stage presence of la diva nicotina?

Ernie obviously feels that it is an all day smoke, and for him, it must be or he would not have written that. I don't see it that way because the Va.s and Izmir have a lot of strength to them. I don't think the nic-hit is too strong for experienced smokers, and probably not for the less experienced. Overall, I tailor my reviews and ratings largely for what I believe will be the way the average smoker will experience it, especially regarding strength and taste levels.

 

[Auxsender]

Ernie obviously feels that it is an all day smoke, and for him, it must be or he would not have written that. I don't see it that way because the Va.s and Izmir have a lot of strength to them. I don't think the nic-hit is too strong for experienced smokers, and probably not for the less experienced. Overall, I tailor my reviews and ratings largely for what I believe will be the way the average smoker will experience it, especially regarding strength and taste levels.

Earnest question:
Since reviews are by nature subjective, why tailor your review at all? Why not call it purely as you perceive it as opposed to how you think the average smoker will perceive it?

I know you’ve been doing this for a very long time and asking this question is akin to asking the sun to shine differently but I am truly curious.

 

[JimInks]

Earnest question:
Since reviews are by nature subjective, why tailor your review at all? Why not call it purely as you perceive it as opposed to how you think the average smoker will perceive it?

I know you’ve been doing this for a very long time and asking this question is akin to asking the sun to shine differently but I am truly curious.

That's a fair question, and I should have given a more detailed explanation. I do review it precisely as I experience it. I would think that is a given after all this time because there's no other serious way to do it. I consider myself to be the average smoker, and as such, I tailor the reviews for the average smoker. I may smoke more bowls a day than the average smoker, but that's the only difference I see. One of the many reasons I like the monthly smoking thread is to get a gauge on what people like or don't like, and the occasional reasons reported for that. I find that very helpful to me. And most of those who post in that thread are great people and fun to be around.

Most average smokers have lots of experience and know what they like and don't like. Same goes for me, although I keep my personal opinions to myself. As you know, I try to be as objective as my body chemistry and experience allows me to be. I don't believe offering my opinions helps anybody. All that would tell you is what I like or don't like. That would be as unhelpful as the reviewers who write stuff like "I like English blends, and hate aromatics, so this aro gets one star." I stay as far away from that kind of "thinking" as possible.

I rate blends against other blends in similar genres, and not for my personal taste, e.g., peach blends against other peach blends, light English against other light English blends. It's not fair to rate a light English against a stronger one, or a cherry blend against an apple blend. I think that helps the average smoker more than if I gave my own opinion on what I think a blend is. Tailoring reviews for others is a more helpful endeavor, so it's more about us than it is about me.

 

[buroak]

Ernie obviously feels that it is an all day smoke, and for him, it must be or he would not have written that. I don't see it that way because the Va.s and Izmir have a lot of strength to them. I don't think the nic-hit is too strong for experienced smokers, and probably not for the less experienced. Overall, I tailor my reviews and ratings largely for what I believe will be the way the average smoker will experience it, especially regarding strength and taste levels.

Thanks! Usually I can deduce (or at least think I can) why you classify a blend as repeatable or all-day. This one, obviously, stumped me, and I couldn’t abide not knowing.

I appreciate your “average smoker” approach to reviewing. It gives a consistent baseline against which I compare myself and my preferences. In general, any blend that you deem repeatable is one I would likely enjoy all day. Ernie Q probably has a similar taste for strong blends and tolerance for nicotine.

I rate blends against other blends in similar genres, and not for my personal taste, e.g., peach blends against other peach blends, light English against other light English blends. It's not fair to rate a light English against a stronger one, or a cherry blend against an apple blend. I think that helps the average smoker more than if I gave my own opinion on what I think a blend is. Tailoring reviews for others is a more helpful endeavor, so it's more about us than it is about me.

I don’t understand why so many other reviewers don’t restrict themselves to in-genre comparisons. Whether it’s TR or Beer Advocate, there are too many reviewers damning a thing for not being something that thing was never meant to be. Slamming Guinness for not being a Trappist Quadrupel or Condor for not being a Balkan mixture helps no one.

 

[Friendly Piper]

I’m smoking my first bowl of Simply Cavendish now and am happy to report that @JimInks accurately describes what I’m getting—including the 4 star rating. I was skeptical that a blend with this name could be categorized as full in strength and flavor but, lo and behold, it certainly is.

For the first few minutes I was thinking “all day smoke.” Then the flavor continued to ramp up and, while I could happily smoke this every day, I can’t see smoking it all day.