Wow. All my unsophisticated palate can say is, this stuff is just like drinking a chocolate milkshake. The only thing missing is the fries.
Opened a Jar of 2019 Dark Bird's Eye
- Thread starter brian64
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Better enjoy that stuff. My understanding is that it's been changed.
Apparently they stopped making it but a similar blend was still packaged under that name, at the behest of the US importer? Recent supplies are different, although someone here said they were hard pressed to notice much of a change.
Yeah, I guess they've changed the name of Dark Birds Eye to Kendal Kentucky. That explanation doesn't make much sense to me either, because both blends already existed.
I was reading the explanation posted on this site, but I feel like I don't understand what I read. Haha
I was able to get out of it that something has changed, and I know that means it did not improve.
I was reading the explanation posted on this site, but I feel like I don't understand what I read. Haha
I was able to get out of it that something has changed, and I know that means it did not improve.
My understanding, based on a post by a company rep on other forums, is that three of their tobaccos—Kendal dark, Kendal Kentucky, and dark Birds Eye, are all now Kendal dark (?). In any case I take it to mean dark Birds Eye is no longer dark Birds Eye, but another tobacco sold under that name.
Makes perfect sense. Why bother making different blends when you can just give the same blend multiple names and only Jim Inks can tell the difference?
EDIT: fortunately for me I have quite a bit of the 2019 batch jarred.
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Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Dark Bird's Eye | Buy Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Pipe Tobacco at Smokingpipes.com
Smokingpipes.com is your one stop shop for Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Dark Bird's Eye Pipe Tobacco and all your tobacco smoking needs. From new tobacco pipes and estate tobacco pipes to tin pipe tobacco and bulk pipe tobacco, we have everything you need
www.smokingpipes.com
Still there under the name but the cut is obviously different now from the picture. Looks more like a ribbon then a shag which is a shame because I preferred the shag.
RIP
An important change --- Dark Bird's Eye doesn't have any bird's eye (tiny stem pieces around which the leaf was spun before being cut) in it anymore. Pretty soon we'll have two types of tobacco to choose from: dark and light.
Yes, this condensing of blends is exactly what Rachel told me via a comment on FB re: Dark Birds Eye. Which is strange, since I have all three: Kendal Kentucky, Kendal Dark, and DBE in my cellar, all purchased in June 2024, and they are most definitely different blends - the cut is different, there are actual birdseyes in the DBE, and they all taste different. Hard to know what is actually going on.
I bought all three from smoking pipes at the beginning of this year, and they are the same—with no Birds Eye’s in the Birds Eye. Maybe other sellers still have/had the old stuff.
I was actually doing taste tests, struggling to tell the difference between the three, when someone here broke the news to me that they are all now the same thing.
I notice that SPC has both shag cut and ribbon cut versions. I wonder if they're both the same, or if the shag is actually still the original blend?
www.smokingpipes.com
www.smokingpipes.com
Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Dark Bird's Eye | Buy Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Pipe Tobacco at Smokingpipes.com
Smokingpipes.com is your one stop shop for Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Dark Bird's Eye Pipe Tobacco and all your tobacco smoking needs. From new tobacco pipes and estate tobacco pipes to tin pipe tobacco and bulk pipe tobacco, we have everything you need
www.smokingpipes.com
Dark Bird's Eye Vintage Cut - Gawith Hoggarth & Co.
Available in a ribbon cut, Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. Dark Bird's Eye Vintage Cut is a pipe tobacco showcasing Dark-Fired Kentucky and Virginia leaf.
www.smokingpipes.com
Very strange, because my June purchase was from SmokingPipes.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Just pulled the three from my cellar (I smoked a bowl of Kendal Kentucky to break in my new pipe, so it was handy):
The Kendal Dark, on the left, is relatively moist and a ribbon cut.
The Dark Birds Eye, center, is a shag cut and a little less moist than the Kendal Dark, with the light bits of rib that form the Birds Eye mixed in (hard to capture as they are so small).
And the Kendal Kentucky (vintage cut) is the driest of the three, in a ribbon cut. It has a strong fired aroma, much more so than the KD (and the DBE has only the slightest smokiness, next to none).
These were all in the same purchase from Smoking Pipes. (I noticed that I wrote the date wrong on the KD, but they all arrived the same day).
So… as I said, hard to tell exactly what’s going on with GH.
Well count yourself lucky! I miss the dark Birds Eye. It was my fave of the three
Again!
Kendal Kentucky was discontinued a few years back. the USA distributor bought our remaining supply so maybe still has old stock. But it had essentially due to leaf changes and availability morphed into Kendal Dark.
DBE no longer had the birds eye stalk bits in it so we opted to stop producing it because without this it was effectively the same as Kendal Dark. The US importer wanted us to continue to produce it under the same name. This was agreed in order to give time to market Kendal Dark. We currently no longer make DBE until and IF we can sources the birds eye bits.
Kendal dark is produced.
The USA has a specific cut just for the USA - a very fine shag cut. Such a cut is illegal in the UK and elsewhere as it is effectively RYO. We make this very fine cut just for America but each blend is also done in the usual 'UK' cut which is called 'vintage' when sold in the USA. So some blends will be available in the two different thicknesses/cuts - classic (for America) and Vintage (UK cut).
Kendal Kentucky was discontinued a few years back. the USA distributor bought our remaining supply so maybe still has old stock. But it had essentially due to leaf changes and availability morphed into Kendal Dark.
DBE no longer had the birds eye stalk bits in it so we opted to stop producing it because without this it was effectively the same as Kendal Dark. The US importer wanted us to continue to produce it under the same name. This was agreed in order to give time to market Kendal Dark. We currently no longer make DBE until and IF we can sources the birds eye bits.
Kendal dark is produced.
The USA has a specific cut just for the USA - a very fine shag cut. Such a cut is illegal in the UK and elsewhere as it is effectively RYO. We make this very fine cut just for America but each blend is also done in the usual 'UK' cut which is called 'vintage' when sold in the USA. So some blends will be available in the two different thicknesses/cuts - classic (for America) and Vintage (UK cut).