Yesterday I received a package of goodies from Pipes and Cigars which included a couple of pipe stands (fish in this photo + chief headdress), leather pipe case, plenty of pipe tobacco plus a couple of other things. I knew I wanted to try another tin and Samuel Gawith's Skiff Mixture was what I chose. I really wanted to try this one first because a co-worker of mine has it but hasn't smoked it yet. It's been about a month now and he still hasn't smoked it so I thought I'd order it and taste it myself. This English blend has Virginia, Turkish, Latakia, and Oriental tobaccos in a ribbon cut form. When I opened the tin for a sniff test I could automatically smell the Latakia which produces the BBQ smoke pit/campfire aroma that I love. Once I grabbed a few pinches I could feel the moisture in the tobacco and thought that I really should let it dry out a bit before smoking a bowl, but I chose not to. Bad move. I packed my Savinelli Oscar Dry 127 "Second" pipe (refurbished by Ric Farrah), lit it with my IM Corona Old Boy, and tamped it with my Plateau Briar Tamper (Aaron Strange craftwork) and repeated the lighting/tamping process for some time. It was difficult to keep lit and it produced light smoke because of the moisture in the tobacco. It was an okay smoke but I decided to "prep" another pinch or two for the next morning so that I could give it a fair shot. Well the next morning came and I went through the motions and what a difference in drying the tobacco made! It produced full but mild smoke with a creamy, sweet meat flavor on the tongue which was very nice. I've had a couple of tobaccos that produced similar "creamy" coats on the palate which is very nice if you ask me :) So overall, what I'll take from this is to let any moist tobacco dry out a bit to give it a chance to shine like this Sammy-G blend called Skiff Mixture!
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