Tobaccos Gawith, Hoggarth & Co. - Kendal Mixed

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2015-03-22		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

I've been trying to find more of this for years. I last smoked some when I first ordered it from smokingpipes.com seven or eight years ago. It was a small order and I immediately followed-up with a larger order after smoking it. A very nice smoke but not at all in the category of Half and Half or even other split Virgnia/Burley blends. This one had a lakeland flavor tat, I guess, may have been natural, but I sure thought it was after market, as it were. Sweet and satisfying with every puff. Cool burning and plenty of Lady-N. I also like the very fine, almost shag cut, which made it easy to pack and smoke. After reading over my notes on this one all i can say is, I want more!

Pipestud

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-09-21		Medium	None Detected	Full	Very Pleasant

Kendal Mixed is sometimes billed as a shag-cut tobacco, though I'd argue extremely fine is more accurate. When I think shag, I think Three Castles or Dark Birdseye ... even Drum. You know, strings and threads. In any case, it's a lovely smoke.

You'll see some bright in there, some honey-colored/light-brown stuff, and some very dark leaf (fire cured). The smell is out of this world. The fire-cured weed is a nice contrast in appearance and scent to the other components and offers the spicy, woody, and very slightly herbal notes you may detect in other fire-cured Lakeland tobaccos. The flavor is all natural. This is tobacco, tobacco, and tobacco.

As with a majority of Lakeland offerings, you get a savory sweetness rather than the tangy, aggressive zing of some mixtures (particularly VAs from McClelland). The brights and browns offer rustic flavors and smells -- very tasty without becoming too grassy or like cilantro. The dark portion is the leaf you'd find in Dark Birdseye or Dark Flake. It's there both to the nose and palate, but certainly not in the majority. There is, however, plenty to satisfy without sacrificing the harmony of the blend or distracting the smoker with blasts of nicotine.

I packed this stuff in with some pressure, and I believe the key is to produce a log of sorts that fills the bowl snugly from heel to rim in one packing. Going in thirds or packing too lightly -- in other words, leaving gaps of any measure in the bowl -- can interrupt the continuity of the blend's flavor or cause the tobacco to burn too quickly. I can smoke an entire bowl on one match. I also suggest dumping some ash as the tobacco burns down. Tamping down too much fine ash can choke the ember, though you may want to leave a slightly layer to keep the burn rate steady.

In summary, you get all-natural tobacco of the highest quality, an easy burning smoke, enough depth of flavor (complexity) to be very interesting and inviting from start to finish, good mouthfeel and stout body, and a generous taste of all the best tobaccos Gawith Hoggarth & Co. has to offer in a single mixture.

10 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2076)	2015-05-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Gawith Hoggarth - Kendal's Mixed.

This really is a very straight forward tobacco. The taste is simple, I don't get any subtle undertones or extra flavours. I get a full Virginia/Burley taste and that's all. From the pouch I get the first sign of the simplicity that's about to follow. A basic Va-Bur aroma. The blend has a good water amount. I never really know what to expect with G'H' blends as in my experience they all vary, right from sodden to bone dry. At least we know what to expect with Sam G' blends as they're all soaked to the core! It takes to the flame with the utmost ease and once lit it gives me a simple treat! I know a few people compere this to cigarette tobacco but to my palate it tastes quite a bit more nutty than one of those does. A similarity I do notice in comparison to a cigarette is the speed of the burn, it is the consummate 'quick smoke break' blend. It gives me no bite whatsoever, not even a nibble! I find the nicotine to be mild to medium, not too mild but a true nicotine lover would maybe need to take a big puff. The room note sits well with me. It isn't too much but it has a good nuttiness to it and doesn't swamp the room with smoke. As I mentioned earlier it burns fast however a better point with the burn is that it does so effectively. There is no dottle at the end of my pipe!

I think that this would make a perfect blend to begin our hobby with. It really is so simple and for that reason I doubt it could offend hardly anyone! Four stars.

Pipe Used: Peterson Golden Supreme Meerschaum P-Lip

Age When Smoked: 1 month

Purchased From: G.Q Tobaccos

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Smoke_Ring (158)	2013-07-24		Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

Kendal Mixture;

Star Rating = 3.85;

Rating Scores - 10 is the Best and 0 is the Worst;

Pouch Note = 10;

Room Note = 10;

Flavor = 10;

Bite = 10;

Burn = 10;

After Taste = 9;

Raw Score = 59;

Rated Percentage = 98%;

Comment = Very Smooth, Very Mild, Mellow, nice Full Body Flavor, faint After Taste on Finish.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Effluvinator (60)	2007-12-24		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Although I enjoy the Kendal Kentucky and the Dark Birdseye, I find this a bit too "cigarettish." It has a much lighter color than its stronger siblings. Bag aroma is also much sharper and lighter. There is a quite tangy VA taste with but a little of the darker presence found in the other two. I don't detect any sweetness. It's better if I mix in some of the Dark Birdseye to pump it up a bit and I suspect it would be good combined with the Kendal Dark Shag, but I have none on hand. It's not terrible but I doubt I will buy more after I have finished my 2 oz. If you have found the Kendal Kentucky to be a bit too much and are looking for something lighter, this could be for you. I just feel it is a lot lighter--too much so for my taste.

EDIT 2018. Reading this again and looking at the picture I am convinced I was sent Kendal Gold. I obtained another quantity of the Mixture and this time around I obtained that for which I had so long sought. This is a great morning smoke; after breakfast or in my case, FOR breakfast. Adequate nicotine, not overwhelming in taste or strength, a good eye-opener. I do like this; not as much as Kendal Kentucky, but it's worth keeping on hand. Upgraded to 3 stars.

Pipe Used: Cobs, briars, The Pipe

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smokingpipes

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cajomu (80)	2018-02-07		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

GH&C Kendal Mixture is an excellent VaBur. The burleys are the star but the Virginias play an important role, balancing the nuttiness and earthiness of the former with sweetness and grassiness. It's a fairly strong tobacco but easily handled as long as it is smoked slowly. The aroma of the unlit tobacco is of dark fired leaf, though this does not translate to the smoke. The moisture level as delivered is perfect.

Being a shag, it lights easily but does require frequent relights (I pack shags fairly tightly to slow down the burn rate). As the smoke progresses, the burleys become increasingly earthy in flavor. The sweetness of the Virginias is more noticeable toward the end of the smoke. I did not detect any Lakeland essence, however, toward the end of the bowl, I was reminded of the floralness of orientals (although it apparently contains none).

Smoked slowly, KM is intriguingly complex tobacco and one that burley lovers should enjoy.

UPDATE: After two years of cellaring, this tobacco has become a great deal better. It is much sweeter, presumably due to the maturing of the Virginias. So I've upped my. rating to "highly recommended."

Pipe Used: Various briars

Age When Smoked: Recently purchased.

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipeologist (27)	2016-04-01		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Burns way too fast .Whoosh and it's gone in 10 minutes.Nice,plain ordinary shag.Easy to fill,but a little boring for me.Tastes like my first cigarette

That big Lakeland thin doesn't come in to the frame.Not that I miss it.Will give it an avoidance from now on

Pipe Used: Dunhill

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Gq

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2016-02-23		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Kendal Mixed in the bag has a light Lakeland style scent that doesn’t crowd out the tobacco. I found this to be true in the pipe as well. A super fine cut makes this simple to pack and smoke. It’s very straightforward in flavor without much change in taste throughout the bowl. The balance between the Burley and Virginia’s is perfect although the Burley flavor comes through a little more for me with some slight nuttiness. There is no bite, but be aware, this stuff burns quickly unless properly packed and can smoke hot if not using the proper cadence. There’s some nicotine here, but not a lot as I find it slightly more than mild to medium. All in all, a pretty simple, no frills blend.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrDyson (148)	2014-08-30		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is a really top-notch smoke. It reminds me a bit of the ready-rubbed version of Capstan that you can get in the UK, but it has an extra bite added to the Virginia sweetness by the Burley. It's even more reminiscent of a long-gone UK tobacco called St Julien (I wonder if anyone remembers that?). It's tasty, full-bodied, mild, consistent and (I think) completely uncased, or as completely as it's possible for a tobacco to be. For such a fine-cut, it burns remarkably slowly, and it doesn’t bite at all, as long as you don’t rush it. Pack it tight and smoke it slow and you’re in for a treat. My brother-in-law uses it to make roll-ups, but it's just about perfect in a pipe. The room note isn’t anything to rejoice about, but, apart from that, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It would make the ideal all-day smoke if you're an all-day smoker. It would also be a good introduction to pipe smoking for anyone wanting to make the change from cigarettes.

Pipe Used: Peterson billiard; Hardcastle billiard

Age When Smoked: New, straight from the shop

Purchased From: Durham Pipe and Tobacco Shop

Similar Blends: Capstan Ready-Rubbed (the UK version of Capstan), but with added Burley.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2015-10-31		Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

Hmmm... Sometimes there are discrepancies from retailer to retailer with the naming of a blend. I'm reviewing "Kendal Mixture" from 4Noggins. It is a shag cut, so I'm putting it here.

In my sample, I detect nothing other than tobacco. Strong tobacco. Once in awhile, it can bring me to the point of having nic-ups. To my taste, the cigar-like note provided by fire-cured leaf dominates, it reminded me somewhat of French tobacco in that regard. Not quite my cup of tea, but the world can always do with a well made blend of natural tobaccos.

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: 4Noggins

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jorge Soler (202)	2015-07-18		Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Yes, this is one of the Kendal's, and it shows in your smoke right from the outset. They sell this mixture as a blending tobacco, but the Kendal essence is spoiling it for that particular purpose in my personal opinion. I am not trying to imply this tobacco is not good enough, but that you would have expected a blending tobacco to be more neutral in order to marry well with other tobaccos. Having said that, Kendal's Mixed seems to be a good smoke even though I am not overtly excited about it. The appearance is borderline with shag tobacco, so it burns quite evenly in your bowl. As you approach your mid bowl the flavour changes considerably. The Kendal essence becomes less apparent and something of a Burley undertone sort of flares up. It has earthy undertones and a sweet dimension that comes and goes as you progress with your smoke. I guess I will have to have a few more bowls to get a better appreciation of it, but my first impressions are good.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Virginia lover (218)	2013-04-25		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Shag cut that burns fast, like smoking cigarettes in a pipe. Very light and ordinary flavor, a below average, monochromatic tasting, Virginia. There is some extremely mild topping, licorice maybe, that does not transfer into the smoke.

Virginia lover

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	scootertrash (10)	2004-08-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I bought a 2 oz sample of Kendall Mixed and liked it. By appearance it seems to be a mix of mostly light virginia & burley with a small amount of dark fired tobacco. The cut is a very stringy shag, with absolutely no stems. I like it. It packs easily. The flavor is TOBACCO. Reminds me of a high quality roll your own cigarette tobacco (something like "DRUM" only much better) in appearance, smell & taste. KB smokes cool & dry to the bottom of the bowl with a very consistant flavor. I found KM to be a delightfull change of pace tobacco. I'll be buying more of this. Based on the quality of this tobacco, I think I will sample some of the other shag cuts Gawith,Hoggarth has to offer.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JaWiBr (453)	2023-03-21		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Bag states, "A classic blend of the highest quality bright and dark fired Virginias." A little research stated its roughly a 50/50 mix of bright and dark fired Va's.

Package note of barbeque and peaty vegetation. Tobacco is a shag cut of yellowish light brown, brown and a little dark brown. Moisture content is ok. Most pipe smokers will want to dry this out a bit. Burns moderately fast with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of peaty vegetation, bread, floral, slightly tangy, sweet woody, mild oak smoke, sugar, sweet grass, mildly savory, spices, mildly herbal, mildly bitter, earth, a semi-sweet hay background note, and a peppery retro. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Pipe Used: Peterson Bard Rusticated 221 Fishtail

Age When Smoked: 5 months

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hrhf (38)	2021-03-08		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a fine option from GH. I’m a fan of these folks anyway, and this blend, sold as KENDAL MIXED by many popular online retailers here in the states, does nothing to lessen my opinion of Gawith Hoggarth.

What we have here is several different GH offerings all in one tasty blend. There’s a solid base provided by the Kendal Dark. I suspect there’s a dash of Kendal Kentucky. Enough Kendal Gold to keep everyone playing nice. And maybe one more thing in there. I’m not sure. I can definitely detect the dark and gold.

Anyway, whatever it is, it works. For me, it works best in smaller bowls. The way I smoke, with larger bowls of this particular blend, everything tends to become murky after the halfway point.

In a smaller bowl, like the more petite system pipes, everything remains much more pleasant and interesting start to finish. Although I do find that, as things progress, the darker, bolder varietals tend to become dominant. Maybe a little too dominant for me.

So this blend gets a solid three stars from this reviewer. But, for my own purposes, I think I’d prefer blending my own version of this... probably going a good bit heavier on the gold, for the sake of a more pleasant latter portion of every bowl.

Pipe Used: Various; works best with smaller bowls

Age When Smoked: Fresh stock

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HauntedMyst (22)	2020-03-11		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This looks like cigarette tobacco. It smells like cigarette tobacco. It's neither. Its a wonderful mix of Virginia's and Dark Fired's. It smokes smooth and rich. Not as rich as their ropes but don't expect it to be a light tobacco based on it's appearance. It packs the Vitamin N so caution if you are sensitive to that. Good on its own, this also makes a great tobacco for mixing into blends that need a tobacco boost. People have said it burns fast. It's the SR-71 Blackbird of tobacco, gone before you know it.

Pipe Used: Upshall Billiard

Age When Smoked: Fresh from the store

Purchased From: Mars Cigar

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Huskies4 (7)	2013-07-27		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

For virginia this tobacco is not very sweet, instead it tastes flat, like a drugstore tobacco of lesser quality. Kendal's Mixed is one of my least favorite from Gawith & Hoggarth. The flavor is straight tobacco, that I do like, but the shag cut is "roll your own" tobacco and the taste comes through as such. This offering would have been much better had it been a plug like Triple Play.

This tobacco is better than a 2 star blend, but falls short of Gawith & Hoggarts usual 4 star status. I can comfortably give this 3 stars and recommend it to friends who are Gawith & Hoggarth fans.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	thesmoggypipester (76)	2012-12-31		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Before i start this is also known as kendal northstar, sold in 12.5, 25, and 50g packets from a local newsagent in my town.

This was originally sold to me as a ryo, opening the packet not so, this is a shag cut pipe tobacco.

Opening the packet one can be forgiven that there is no scent at all coming from the pouch, but once you dig deep there is delicate aromas coming up from the pouch a fresh virginia and burley scent, this is a pure straight up unscented uncased virginia burley mixture. quite moist out of the pouch, this does need some drying time, as packing straight out the pouch can just leave a plug of tobacco that is impossible to get lit and stay lit. If drying isnt your thing this needs to be packed looser than normal. It does take a bit of a certain knack to pack it correctly, i find it smokes best, slightly dried in a falcon pipe with billiard bowl. Lighting up and progressing through the smoke, the tastes are delicate but enjoyable, nice lemony citrus tastes, along with a slight spice and nuttyness from the burley. Again a certain knack is needed as to regards with smoking pace, if you try to rush this it will bite hard, but with the right smoking pace (i found slow, gentle sips of my pipe got the best from this mixture) this can be a very enjoyable experience for someone who is looking for a straight up unscented unflavoured mixture. Although this isnt my normal go to type of blend, i do enjoy this mixture from time to time, and the price is very reasonable as well. I have had bad experiences with shag cuts before but this has turned my oppinion, a good qaulity shag cut tobacco can be just as enjoyable as any other good pipe tobacco. A solid three star rating from me.

Update 31st may 2015 Hello all im upping my rating for this tobacco too four stars for a few reasons. I bought a pack today and the cut looks to be a touch wider and also there seems to be a more substantial amount of darker leaf. Moisture in pack is also reduced which gives it big plus points as you can pack in your pipe straight. This is quite a complex smoke and one id recommend highly for more established smokers and virginia lovers. The flavours are subtle but delicious zesty freshness of virginia with a little bite and then a more nutty flavour from the darker leaf. Its not something id recommend for new smokers as the flavours are subtle and this will bite big time if you rush this type of blend. But for a leisurely and surprisingly strong smoke for those who can appreciate a good tobacco this is a must.

Similar Blends: Imperial tobaccos route 66.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-08-22		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

I'm not sure what makes this Mixed, but I suspect I'd like the components more than this blend. Kendal Kentucky is a favorite, as is Dark Flake (and shag and thick cut). This is a good tobacco, reasonably interesting flavor, easy to keep lit due to the shag cut, requires careful packing to ensure a reasonable burn rate. I like it, but don't love it. Worth trying if you like other GH tobaccos but are looking for something a bit more straightforward.

Nobody has rated this review yet.