Two months. I have been smoking Kendal Dark nearly every day for two months, because that's exactly how long it took me to make up my mind about this darn blend! I can safely say that this was by far the most challenging pipe tobacco review I've ever done, and I spent weeks going back and forth about whether or not it was a keeper for me, but I've finally made up my mind now so it's time for the review!
Blend of the Week #26: Gawith Hoggarth & Co. Kendal Dark (and Dark Bird's Eye)
Generally speaking, pipe smoking isn't a very convenient way to get nicotine. There's a lot of pipe cleaning and maintenance involved, tools to be carried around, and typically a good bit of preparation and careful packing of the tobacco required as well; which is to say nothing of the smoking techniques that you have to learn to keep the tobacco burning cool and flavorfully. If nicotine is what you're after then cigarettes, vaping, chewing tobacco, snus, or those little nicotine pouches that have become popular as of late are much easier, more convenient, and effective nicotine delivery systems. However, if you are dead set on smoking a pipe for the purpose of nicotine acquisition then Gawith Hoggarth's Kendal Dark makes the whole matter about as convenient and easy as attaining nicotine from smoking a pipe is going to get.
Kendal Dark's ease of smoking is largely due to it's cut. It comes in a very fine stringy ribbon cut that's bordering on shag cut, though not quite as fine as a true shag cut tobacco like Drum RYO tobacco or Tabac De La Semois Le Petit Robin. It's a nicely moist tobacco as well, which makes it easy to pinch off a clump from your pouch and stuff it in the bowl without the rest of your tobacco blowing away in the wind if you're trying to load your pipe outdoors on a blustery day. No dry time is needed before smoking, since the fine cut allows it to take to the flame easily and burn down to the bottom of the bowl from the charring light with no relights necessary the vast majority of the time; regardless of how tightly or loosely you pack your pipe. Kendal Dark is about as non-fussy as a pipe blend can get when it comes to it's burning mechanics.
Moving on to the tin note and flavor of the smoke, as the name might suggest Kendal Dark is a very rich, dark, and sumptuous smelling blend! The tin aroma (or bag aroma I suppose, since this is a bulk blend) is redolent with an intense fireplace smokiness that borders on almost a dark chocolate scent, though this is a 100% natural tobacco blend with no added toppings or flavorings. If you're a lover of dark fired blends then the tin note of this one alone may make you salivate a little, and thankfully that aroma does carry over into the flavor of the smoke! When smoked Kendal Dark offers a very rich, full, and satisfyingly fireplace smokey charred wood dark fired Virginia flavor with an occasional bit of nuttiness that makes me think there may be some amount of Burley in the mix as well.
The room note from Kendal Dark mirrors the flavor of the smoke, with an intense fireplace smokey and tobacco'y punch that I find delightful but may be hit or miss with bystanders. Even people who don't smoke will go, "That smells like a really strong tobacco!" from one whiff of it. On an interesting side note, as you may have noticed from the picture above, the current production versions of Kendal Dark and Dark Bird's Eye are absolutely identical. There's no bird's eyes in the Dark Bird's Eye anymore, it's just relabeled Kendal Dark.
In terms of how the flavor of Kendal Dark compares to Gawith's other unflavored dark fired blends, I think the best way I can put it is to say that Gawith's dark fired offerings exist on a sort of scale of musty funkiness. On one end you have the turbo musty and funky brown ropes and twists like Brown Irish X, Brown Bogie, Brown Twist, and the various flavored twists where just one whiff of the tin note will curl your nose hairs a bit and make you wonder if perhaps the tobacco has gone bad. After those come the much less funky smelling and tasting but still slightly musty and no less strange black ropes like Black Irish X, which smell and taste largely of charred meat and olive oil, and then towards the lighter end of the musty funkiness scale is Dark Flake Unscented (and presumably Dark Plug, though I haven't tried that one yet) which has none of the funky "Are you sure this is safe to smoke?" aroma and flavor of the ropes and twists but still has a little bit of dirty smelling and tasting cigar-like mustiness to it.
Finally, on the lightest end of the scale comes Kendal Dark, which is very clean smelling and tasting and has none of the funky or musty qualities of the Gawith's other unflavored dark fired blends. The tin aroma and flavors of the tobacco are all very smooth, clean, refined and appealing. It's a real gentlemanly dark fired blend, and not being much a fan of musty funkiness in my tobacco I really appreciate the civilized character of Kendal Dark. That isn't to say that Kendal Dark doesn't have it's potential problems though, and now seems like a good time to get into them.
First off, when it comes to the nicotine content this is a true "Extra Strong" blend right up there with 1792 Flake, Dark Flake, HH Bold Kentucky, and War Horse Bar. Those with a low nicotine tolerance may find the room spinning as they scramble to locate a convenient place to regurgitate about half an hour into the smoke, and even as a pack a day cigarette smoker I find that around 20 minutes is pretty much my limit for how long I can smoke Kendal Dark before the cold sweats of nicotine sickness start to set in. For the vast majority of pipers this will not be a blend that you're going to want to sit back and leisurely sip on for an hour, and you'll likely find it much better suited to short smoke breaks in a very small bowl to get a quick 15 minute nicotine fix then get on with your day.
Another issue with Kendal Dark is that the smoke tends to turn very harsh, prickly on the mouth, and abrasive on the throat towards the bottom third of the bowl. This is a problem I've noticed fairly consistently with dark strong blends containing Burley, which further leads me to believe that there's likely a good bit of Burley in the mix, though it's propensity to turn harsh towards the the bottom of the bowl can be reduced and sometimes even prevented by only smoking Kendal Dark in small bowls and sipping the pipe very slowly to keep it burning cool; so that the tobacco near the bottom of the bowl doesn't become saturated in moisture and tar by the time the ember gets down to it.
Lastly in the complaint department, Kendal Dark also doesn't relight well and turns quite harsh if you set the pipe down part way though the smoke and come back to it an hour or two later, so I'd recommend only loading your pipe with the amount of tobacco you plan to smoke in one sitting. I'd also advise keeping the tobacco burning slow and cool if you plan on retrohaling the smoke, since the retrohale can send a fiercely potent sting through your sinuses if the tobacco gets burning a little too hot, though as long as you're careful with your smoking cadence Kendal Dark can be fairly retrohale friendly and gentle on the schnoz.
I've been pontificating on this blend for quite a while at this point though, so I think it's probably time to wrap up the review with my personal thoughts and verdict on Kendal Dark! Given all the negatives I just rattled off you might think I didn't like this blend, but after smoking it nearly every day for two months I can honestly say that Kendal Dark has become my all time favorite pipe tobacco! Yes, the smoke can turn really harsh if not sipped slowly and in a small bowl (and it sure brutalized my throat many times over the past couple months when I didn't sip it slowly enough), and the nicotine content is so high that it's very easy to overdo it if you're not careful; but it's also an incredibly smooth and pleasantly natural tasting dark fired blend when smoked gently and fantastic for when you just want to load a pipe quickly on the go and don't have the time or preparation area to slice a plug or rub out and dry flakes. With Kendal Dark I can open my tobacco pouch, stuff a couple pinches in a pipe, and be enjoying a quick and very satisfying smoke 30 seconds later with no fussing about.
It's an excellent cigarette replacement for those trying to give up or cut back on their cigarette consumption, and an incredibly convenient blend for dark fired tobacco enthusiasts who like to smoke while out and about. As far as dark fired blends with no added toppings go Kendal Dark is my favorite for it's deep, rich, clean, and refined flavor; and as much as I enjoy 1792 Flake and Coniston Cut Plug I've found that most of the time I prefer a natural tasting tobacco blend with no added toppings or flavorings. The convenient cut and ease of preparation with Kendal Dark are just added bonuses. It may not be a perfect blend, but if I had to pick just one pipe blend to smoke for the rest of my life and get rid of all the others then the one I'd keep would be Kendal Dark.
Now that I seem to have found "my blend" I spent much of the past week giving serious consideration to hanging up my hat and not trying or reviewing any more blends, because frankly there doesn't seem to be much need to anymore. I found what I was after and I could just happily smoke Kendal Dark for the rest of my days and be happy with it.
However, I did spend a buttload of money on pipe blends to try and still have a several shelves full of jarred up blends that I've never given a fair shake and writing reviews is fun so I'll just keep on keeping on! Let's just hope the next one doesn't take me two months to make up my mind about!
Next week's blend of the week is...
Peterson Nightcap
Just started playing with Kendal dark/kentucky/birdseye last year. Need to hit that this week, so I can compare against your thoughts.
