So I had my first smoke of some Gawith Hogarth & Co Kendal Flake. I enjoyed it but now I see what people are talking about when they bring up the soapy smell. Is it a topping that causes this smell?
Soapy Essence
- Thread starter eljimmy
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I believe that is the "lakeland essence" Kinda like an old lady's perfume/soap cabinet
Do people actually mean soap? Or do they mean floral? I have some with floral toppings, but none that smell like soap.
I never smoked any lakelands but I have snuffed a lot of their snuffs and not only is their a floral quality there is some background note that is soapy at least in the snuffs. Who knows what they use to get the floral scent in there? Recipes from the time these companies where new can include some crazy stuff. Who knows it might actually have something similar to soap in the sauce.
There is a reason that it tastes like soap. It is the exact same fragrance that is used in the perfume industry, rose geranium.
Keep in mind that if you put a drop of this on your tongue it will be a very nasty chemically soapy taste.
This is why I don't understand purity laws. Why if England had purity laws for tobacco could they continue getting away with putting the things they do into Lakelands.
It always reminds me of my grandma's bathroom, with those rose geranium soaps on display on the back of the toilet. BLECH.
Keep in mind that if you put a drop of this on your tongue it will be a very nasty chemically soapy taste.
This is why I don't understand purity laws. Why if England had purity laws for tobacco could they continue getting away with putting the things they do into Lakelands.
It always reminds me of my grandma's bathroom, with those rose geranium soaps on display on the back of the toilet. BLECH.
Yes. Usually you get used to it pretty fast. Other British style tobaccos can have it to a more or lesser extent, though the current iterations - less so. St. Bruno and Condor come to mind.
I don't taste it at all in Condor. Never had St Bruno, but if it has it, maybe I understand why now.
Condor has a suntan lotiony taste to me.
I went to a soap factory as a kid with a relative and they had these soap/soap decor that smelled a lot like what this tobacco smelled like. I was just curious, I enjoyed smoking this.
When I first smelled it I was like WTF. I don't mind it though.
Tonka beans are another lakeland fragrance. It is very similar to vanilla, and it is used as a vanilla substitute in perfumes. Ummmm, why not use vanilla?
Hahahaha! I'm going to have this exact image in my head when I smoke this stuff now
Real vanilla is expensive?
Lakeland fragrances smell old fashioned to me, i.e., they smell like perfumes and toiletries that I remember as a boy, but nothing like what is available today, except in the tobacco from Kendal. That's part of the attraction to me; it's the smell of a world that has otherwise disappeared.
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Don't get me wrong, there are some Lakelands that I like, really like. But, the rose geranium and tonkan is used more than just a hint ruins my smoke. I like those old fashioned granny smells too. They remind me of her teeth in a jar, a big red enema bag hanging in the bathtub, and little bottle of caster oil, camphor, and mercurochrome in her bathroom. But, I don't want to smoke it.
Vanilla isn't so expensive that half of the aromatics made can't have vanilla as it's main aromaticness.
No, no, I get it. It is just weird to me. Growing up and smelling all of the different fruity flavored tobaccos and english blends at the Tinderbox to... perfume industry smelling stuff. They are usually some strong leaf used in those blends too, which makes even more upset. If I ruled the world, I would use all of those wonderful Imperial tobaccos to make stuff free of those perfumes.
I just keep imagining some big tough guy, smoking a strong blend that fills the room with the aroma of grandma. It's surreal, David Lynch-esque, Freud would have a field day with that.
What, you're not into granny porn?
I've totally underestimated you, Mingc. You've just went up two notches on my weirdly interesting list. I will have to come up with a new safeword when interacting with you.
Grandpa always smelled like farts and old newspapers. That would be a C&D blend.
Remember the smell and flavor can be very different things, someone who has had a bar of soap in their mouth would never associate that flavor with Lakeland blends, and you can actually get the taste of soap from Latakia quite easily by puffing too fast.
Kendal tobacco has a perfume aroma, but the resulting flavors are some of the most enduring sweetness you'll find in any tobacco.
A good point. The floral quality must be what brings the idea of soap into play.
Haven’t had condor in more than a decade so I may be off, lol.