Samuel Gawith, Gawith & Hoggarth merger rumour

Apparently reported by Glynn Quelch of GQ Tobaccos in UK on Facebook: “I can confirm that SG & GH are bringing all production back into one place. The 2 brands will still exist and use their own tobacco, staff and machinery. So from a customers point of view there will be no difference. The only change will be for retailers etc.” They better leave my Samuel Gawith snuffs alone!

I just read about this elsewhere. Someone said that the SG moves to the more modern GH facilities and the old SG mill will become a museum. Hopefully this doesn’t affect the good quality of either firms.

SG and Viking are my brands. I haven’t liked any GH I’ve ever tried. This does not bode well.

I may try GH if they use SG tins.

It’s like a war has ended. I Hope together they can continue Kendal tradition. Good luck to both.

@basement_shaman Are you aware that the GH tubs are screw top? I’ve always thought they were good containers, and being plastic no rust issues.

@hoffwell sg tins are vacuum sealed for freshness/moisture though and since most of their best snuffs are moist/coarse it really makes a difference. Never had any rust issues with 'em either.

@Hoffwell, yes I think their screw tops are defective and inefficient ; They screw off and get spilled all over my other snuff when I my order arrived [happened more than once]. Also the tia maria was stale and flavorless . On a following order I had instructed MrSnuff CS to tape my Irish D shut, and still disappointed when it arrived half empty. I had not tried their sneeze boxes. I decant all my snuff anyhow so no worries of rust. When you pay 40 shipping on 100 worth product it should arrive it top condition. I had giving up hope on GH.

Most of the GH snuffs I’ve received in screw-top tubs has been dry as dust.

I only hope for one thing: that the sum of brains from both companies will make them standardize their containers on the following manner: 25 “gram” containers from the current SG line, 10 “grams” containers of the McChrystals’/ Wilsons’ tin kind, bulk offers available, inspired by Toque. If they ever read this forums, there’s no doubt they should arrive to the conclusion that the current small containers (the dreaded “sneeze boxes”) must be dropped as soon as possible: they’re for oily snuffs, not for water based snuffs, and have been a deterring factor for many to ever try some of their offers. Other than that, I’m with Salmiak: good luck to both (and I hope the change of facilities does not alter the quality of the SG line!).

Mama had a sneeze box. Daddy couldn’t sleep at night. It’ll be a shame if Samuel Gawith move, and change their processes. I do wonder if the quality of their snuff comes from the old fashioned technology they’re using - it must be more ‘hands-on’ than modern methods. When I visited the place a few years ago the scent as you went through the door was wonderful, a mix of snuff and pipe tobacco plus all those years of it’s production that seemed to ahve seeped into the fabric of the building. Though it’ll be nice if it continues as a museum that scent will no doubt slowly dissipate, and probably disappear faster as they’ll most likely feel the urge to tart the place up to be visitor friendly.

There is a post over at pipes magazine about the merger. http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-news/gawiths-one-big-happy-family-again-after-150-years-merger-confirmed/ I’m holding out hope that GH’s snuff improves. It doesn’t make sense that SG would deliberately make their snuff worse.

I’m going to invest in a lot of SG/Viking bulk just in case.

Quote from the article in Gravel’s link: We honestly need more room for both companies and we’re are with the same mind, we know we can work very well together, so the machinery is going and the men are going and the raw leaf is also going. There will be no layoffs or consolidation of employees. As far as the brand is concerned - the only difference is it will be made under a different roof. The men and machines will be the same. Could you elaborate on the rumor that you will be doing a museum at one of the facilities? We are leaving the Kendal Brown house. What will happen after that is it will be turned into a snuff museum where people will be able to come and see the machinery working and see how snuff is made. The other location they will be making all the tobacco and snuff of course. Unless GH is also moving I can’t work out how they’ll get more room from having two companies in a building which previously housed one. The other bit that puzzled me is, if the machinery is moving, what machinery will remain to see in operation?

Well they probably have more than just the one machine to make snuff. Maybe they leave the shitty one behind. As for moving all into one building maybe, they have too much room in the one already? I dunno.

I think the GH building is big enough for both of them.

I like to see a St.James/Bobs flake emerge