What Has Happened to Samuel Gawith Blends?

[condorlover1]

I am not sure if it is me but has anyone noticed the change in the Sam Gawith current output. The Ennerdale seems to be a pale shadow of itself. The Broken Flake 7 seems to be well, broken. The older batches I have seem to have an abundance of Lakeland sauce whilst the current crop just seems to be a little on the light side, almost as if we are suffering from Lakeland sauce shrinkflation. The twist and ropes seem to be the same since they seem to be impossible to mess up and with the exception of Black XXX seem to be uniformly unchanged. The unscented plugs seems to be alright and Bosun's Plug seems to be unchanged and so far seems to have escaped the Lakeland 'shrinkflation' that has effected all the other rose geranium scented tobaccos. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

 

[georged]

SG has an account here and occasionally drops by. "Straight from the horse's mouth" info is as good as it gets.

Is there's any way to ring their phone (so to speak)?

 

[mingc]

I am not sure if it is me but has anyone noticed the change in the Sam Gawith current output. The Ennerdale seems to be a pale shadow of itself. The Broken Flake 7 seems to be well, broken. The older batches I have seem to have an abundance of Lakeland sauce whilst the current crop just seems to be a little on the light side, almost as if we are suffering from Lakeland sauce shrinkflation. The twist and ropes seem to be the same since they seem to be impossible to mess up and with the exception of Black XXX seem to be uniformly unchanged. The unscented plugs seems to be alright and Bosun's Plug seems to be unchanged and so far seems to have escaped the Lakeland 'shrinkflation' that has effected all the other rose geranium scented tobaccos. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

Ennerdale, Broken Flake No. 7, Bosun are all GHs so the SG versions would necessarily have tasted different.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

I still enjoy Coniston and Ennerdale, also Brown Scented and others. They aren't as "saucy" as previous renditions I've had/tried. Still quality flakes that I enjoy smoking though

 

[jdb67]

About to find out as UPS just delivered 15 tins of Best Brown Flake and they are dated 2022. Wish me luck.

 

[jdb67]

Ennerdale, Broken Flake No. 7, Bosun are all GHs so the SG versions would necessarily have tasted different.

good call there mingc. SG and GH are like England vs Wales in my book.

 

[Chasing Embers]

good call there mingc. SG and GH are like England vs Wales in my book.

Last I heard it was the same facility.


Yep, the Lakeland glory days are over. Pease's Stonehenge is more heavily flavored than Ennerdale now.

 

[condorlover1]

@Chasing Embers : I thought so too. I also thought they were the same facility. I had heard that some of the workers had retired or headed off to new gig due to changes in management. This was third hand tap room gossip so YMMV.

 

[Terry Lennox]

I am a fan of the SG English blends (Squadron Leader and Skiff Mixture) but all my tins are at least 7 years old so I can't speak to what fresh tins are like today.

 

[craig61a]

Gawith Hoggarth is a member on this forum, and a few others.

To wit, Samuel Gawith doesn’t have a member account, and doesn’t discuss their business here, or on other forums. They (GH & SG) are operated as separate entities and share the same building.

This has been discussed ad nauseum here and on other forums.

As far as availability, GH ships what is ordered by Laudisi. SG is still distributed by Kretek as far as I know.

GH has stated that the production remains as it always was.

Alas, the conspiracy theories still pop up every few months here and on other forums. I think GH is tired of responding to the myriad conspiracy theories.

Myself, I have a sufficient backlog of older GH and SG blends. I have stuff as recent as 2019-2020, which is stashed in my cellar and I don’t expect to get around to it until 2034. If I’m not totally in the throes of Alzheimer’s, I may or may not remember if it was as good as the older stuff I have…

 

[georged]

If I’m not totally in the throes of Alzheimer’s, I may or may not remember if it was as good as the older stuff I have…

Now that's some serious positive thinking ju jitsu, right there...

The pipe version of only having to own a single DVD.

 

[craig61a]

Now that's some serious positive thinking ju jitsu, right there...

The pipe version of only having to own a single DVD.

Nice thing about Alzheimer’s - you meet new people every day…

 

[jdb67]

Interesting info. Happy to be educated on this. So does BBF and/or SJF have a true GH counterpart then?

 

[ofafeather]

Yes, they have repeatedly stated that there has been no change in the sauce l bell but many of us have repeatedly noticed that new versions are barely flavored. That said, they are still great blends but not the same.

 

[craig61a]

Yes, they have repeatedly stated that there has been no change in the sauce l bell but many of us have repeatedly noticed that new versions are barely flavored. That said, they are still great blends but not the same.

 

[jpberg]

I would really like all the folks who are disappointed with the current stuff to quit buying it.

 

[VDL_Piper]

I would really like all the folks who are disappointed with the current stuff to quit buying it.

Me too!

 

[Chasing Embers]

I would really like all the folks who are disappointed with the current stuff to quit buying it.

Me too!

Already have here, it's not Lakeland anymore. It would be like everybody's favorite English blends being replaced with no latakia and still being called the same blend. What's funny is that 3-4 years ago smokers wouldn't admit they smoked Lakelands and the bags, boxes, and tins remained online for months. Glad I stocked up then, especially on Rich Dark Honeydew.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Already have here, it's not Lakeland anymore. It would be like everybody's favorite English blends being replaced with no latakia and still being called the same blend. What's funny is that 3-4 years ago smokers wouldn't admit they smoked Lakelands and the bags, boxes, and tins remained online for months. Glad I stocked up then, especially on Rich Dark Honeydew.

I guess there is a reason they have been able to stay in business for a couple of hundred years or so. I’m glad we have never had trouble sourcing these blends in Oz and I’ve been lucky enough to cellar deep.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I guess there is a reason they have been able to stay in business for a couple of hundred years or so. I’m glad we have never had trouble sourcing these blends in Oz and I’ve been lucky enough to cellar deep.

They were amazing for the longest time but who knows what they've been thinking for the last couple of years.