A SUITABLE PIPE TOBACCO FOR A WOMAN

Back in the seventies many manufacturers started producing tobacco mixtures with what can only be described as whore-house scents.
At that time it was virtually unthinkable that a well-bred woman would smoke a pipe in public, and such people were clearly not the intended audience for these noxious concoctions.
Their dissolute older brothers were.
There is something very unnatural about a cavendish that reeks of strawberries and coconut. It's Frankenleaf.

Unsurprisingly, such things appealed to men of questionable tastes.
As well as highly individualistic clothing choices.

Back then such people did not have tattoos or piercings, and the poor dears had to express themselves in a different vulgar fashion.

One of the selling points of these perfumed monstrosities was that they would not offend the gentler sex. It is more than likely that they offended so well that the anti-smoking movement was given a boost beyond all reason.
Even pipe-smokers like this blogger were almighty upset.
For years, whenever I smelled burnt cherries or chocolate vanilla and boiled nicotine exudate bubbling in the unclean brier of some macho degenerate half a block away, I was outraged, and resolved to give the hairy savage a piece of my mind. Of course my youthful indignation was tempered by the realization that it is useless to lecture such people, as it only makes them more convinced of their own irresistible sex appeal. They will puff up, and think to themselves "dang I must be studly....... because of this wonderful aroma of tropical fruits and nuts!"
It was usually a balding dweeb with a beer gut.
Pathetic, but let the man be.
He's got issues.
Idiot.


If a man shouldn't smoke crap, then a woman should not either.


A WOODSY SORT OF SMELL

In the early eighties I knew a woman whose taste in pipes and tobacco was beyond compare. One of her prizes was a Sasieni sandblast that made men swivel their heads when she entered the room. To my knowledge, she never ever smoked an aromatic therein, solamente full Latakia mixtures (Drucquer & Sons Blend 805 -- now no longer made). The fragrance was heady and sensual, and added more to her attraction than she could possible realize.
Because of her, all over Berkeley there are middle-aged men who still associate the smell of certain tobaccos with likable lovable women. Especially bespectacled brainiacs with a ready wit and impeccable taste.
She didn't drink, by the way. That wasn't her thing.
Good books, fine pipes, excellent tobaccos.
Absolutely ladylike. Well-bred.

Nice women should smoke nice tobacco. Leave the questionable fruity stuff for questionably fruity boys.

Go for smoky Latakia blends and good pressed Virginias. Perhaps something full and dark, or a robust British flake. Even a Burley mixture for solitude, and also if you have a fondness for corncobs.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with a corncob; properly cared-for these will last for years and yield an excellent smoke, especially if you stuff air-cured leaves in them. Burley and a cob are miraculous.

But under most circumstances, the well-bred young lady should probably tend toward fine tinned tobacco with a noticeable Latakia content, up to nearly half of the mixture. These inspire thoughtfulness and vibrancy, and abundantly reward the woman of good taste. Nothing adds to a good book as much as a nice long smoke, quietly by oneself, while any relatives or roommates who lack understanding are off gallivanting about elsewhere.
If you were to have a spot of sherry or a cup of oolong tea while thus engaged, that would be excellent too.


Looking around my own rather crowded living quarters, I can spot several tobaccos that would be utterly perfect.
Wilderness, Legends, Three Oaks - made by McClelland.
These are well-balanced full Latakia mixtures.
Over two hundred tins of G.L.Pease tobaccos, mostly somewhere in the Oriental spectrum, ranging from mild Latakia and Turkish content all the way up to Westminster, which is a lovely full mixture with a profoundly old-fashioned character, splendid with a strong cuppa.
Samuel Gawith and Germains are well-represented - again, full Orientals, additionally various lovely Virginia compounds.
A three year supply of Rattrays, mostly the Virginias, but also Accountants, Black Mallory, and Red Rapparee.
Several boxes filled with tins by Cornell & Diehl in Morganton; full Latakia, exotics, and Burley blends.
More boxes, containing various Dunhill tobaccos, nicely matured.
And of course numerous jars with my own blending experiments, the majority of which range from 20% Latakia to 42.5 percent. Given that I do not have access to the range of raw leaf that commercial blenders can command, I seldom go beyond the low forty range in my Oriental mixes.
My best blends are around one third Latakia or slightly more, and one of which I'm particularly fond is only in the low twenties. In all cases I rely on a good solid Virginia flake to give spirit to the blend; that is key.

After you've had one or two bowls, and before your housemates come home, air the place out a bit, and wash your face. If necessary, fry up some bacon to confuse their sense of smell.
Yes, you will still have an echo of a dark perfume.
But it will be mysterious and alluring.
Quite complimentary.
Enchanting.

A few good pipes, a selection of tobaccos, a favourite tea-cup, and a private place to smoke. That, and a book you cannot put down. Can you imagine anything nicer?

If your room overlooks a garden, open the window one summer evening and enjoy a bowl of flake in the twilight. It will be magical.


AFTER THOUGHT

Of course it is not a good idea to drink tea late at night, and while sherry or singlemalt are nice, you might not have them on hand.
And perhaps you do not drink alcohol.
In that case, I recommend a glass filled with equal measures of ginger ale and cold water, pepped-up with a squeeze of lime. The slight sweetness and the acid will prevent dry-mouth or minor discomfort on the tongue, and will also help bring out the flavours of the tobacco.

TOBACCO INDEX


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

VOYAGE OF THE GARBAGE SCOW

Sometimes this blogger comes across a bit of sterling prose that must be shared. Such as an incendiary review of a familiar product - one of such quality as to tempt no further personal exposure - that more than brings back memories of why precisely it is so unpleasant, nay evokes even a renewed revulsion in this blogger.

Bear in mind that it is an excellent product, much appreciated by generations of people with bad taste.
Some of whom, no doubt, have gender issues.

Here then, courtesy of a fellow pipe-mayven who sent it to me, is John Offerdahl's take on a certain well-known Dunhill blend.
It is more prolix than any of my own pithy and brevitous reviews of ghastly tobaccos.
Clearly John Offerdahl was traumatized. Severely.
One can only sympathize.


RECONSIDERING ROYAL YACHT
By John Offerdahl
April 7, 2012.

I reviewed this blend some years ago, but have revisited the blend recently. My opinion of it has changed! Here goes:

Upon opening, the eyes are teased with a relatively monochrome presentation of Virginia leaf. %adly, the eyes can't behold the presentation for long; the "aroma" coming from the tin sets them quickly to watering. Or perhaps it is the sight of the maggots dancing among the leaves....

To me, the tobacco is a bit too moist upon opening. This is a tobacco that needs open time to breathe and air. I suggest doing this in a remote area. When I tried to air my tin inside the house my wife complained that the stench filling the house was far, far worse than a dozen cat litter boxes. I didn't take my gas mask off long enough to verify her statement, but my dogs running from the room gave indication. Once dried to a more appropriate level, I resealed the tin for a bit.

And then came the loading. The ready-rubbed leaf begins to show a bit of coloration, with some lighter and some darker golds and browns. (Here, I should throw in the warning that it is best to handle Royal Yacht while wearing gloves, kind of like when handling Habenero peppers, though the damage done to bare fingers by Habeneros is nothing as painful as from RY!!!) Thus, gloves protecting my hands I carefully stuffed the tobacco into a favorite Dunhill bulldog (which, as it happens, is the only bulldog to ever bite my hand forloading it!).

With the false light came some pretty amazing flavor! I was immediately drawn back into a deep, long-forgotten memory of my childhood. As a boy, I spent summers in Northeast Iowa on my cousins' farm. They raised cows, hogs, sheep and chicken, and the amazing draw of flavors of pigsty and sheep intestine rolled through my pipe and took me back to those now lost days. I could almost see my "Uncle" (really a cousin, but the age of my mother so I called him "Uncle") sitting on that old Ford tractor, the wheels dripping with pig waste, staring down at me as I hauled a bucket of slop to feed the sows, and remember how he used to laugh and say, "So, how's the feedin' comin', City Boy?"

But this is not a tobacco to just sip, as I do with most Virginias. Rather, to appreciate the full experience of Royal Yacht it is necessary to inhale. I mean take draws like you did on that bong 30 years ago in college kind of inhale. Draw the smoke into your lungs like an almost drowned man finally getting his first gasp of fresh air after crawling out of a sinking submarine whose hull ruptured 300 feet below the surface!

And then, after exhaling, it happens:

My first vision was of Satan. He was sitting in a bright red seat of flames, somehow now where, moments before, had been the television, laughing his low, guttural laugh, and telling me that my soul was now his. "NO!", I screamed, as I drew in another puff of this notorious weed. He smiled, and almost immediately was replaced in my vision by 70 dancing, naked virgins. Yet the flesh was not for me - these hags were 80 year-old virgins, having attained their chaste status through years of overeating, not washing, farting, and being just plain hideous! I set the pipe aside, walked to the living room, and poured a double shot of bourbon in hopes of driving the witches away.

Oh, those *itches left all right. And this, sadly, encouraged me to again lift and light the pipe. Once more, the relatively cool stream of smoke drew through the airway and invaded my mouth. Though not hot or acidic, the smoke still somehow burned away about 2 layers of tissue on my tongue. I would liken the experience to drinking a freshly opened bottle of lye, though at least the lye has an acceptable flavor. And with this draw the witches were replaced by diahrettic flying gorillas circling my head, propelled in their flight by the jet propulsion caused by their condition. I watched them circle over me, faster and faster, until they suddenly began hitting me in the head. Their fists were hard as rocks. My head shook. My neck flopped like a broken rubber band. Finally, I was overcome with pain and fear and passed out.

When I awakened, the tobacco, my pipe, and the table on which I had set the pipe, had all burned to a fine, gray ash. I found no dottle at all, though I was a bit troubled by having to clean up the charred hag and gorilla bones.

Highly recommended for Haggis fans, Masochists, and Pipestud.


[SOURCE: http://www.smokersforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=105118 ]



AFTER THOUGHT

John's review is sufficiently revelatory (and utterly factual) that without a doubt, whole hordes of people with an unreasonable fondness for this dank putrid mess will come after him with pitchforks.
All eight (nota bene 8!) of them.
As well as Pipestud.
Who likes it.

I smoked it years ago. The words 'repulsive', 'nasty', 'horribly bad', 'bleah', and "good god what is that offensive skunk-ointment they sprayed on this?" came to mind. The underlying tobacco has no redeeming features other than a certain Netherlandish stringiness.
Which isn't enough.

But I had the presence of mind at that time to never put up what I really thought for all the world to see, not conceiving a need to rile up the venomous bastards that actually like this stuff.
From all accounts, they are inclined towards violent behaviour.
Vengeful, and probably undomesticated im gonzen.

I like a great many Dunhill tobaccos.
This is not one of them.


Thank you, John, for taking one for the team.
And luring the brutes out of hiding.
We now know who they are.
And are warned.

Ga'verdamme.


TOBACCO INDEX



UPDATE AS OF DECEMBER 11, 2012

Hi Pipestud. Howzit?
-----ATBOTH

==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

INTERNATIONAL TOBACCONIST CONSPIRACY

A correspondent who is newly posted to the barbaric hinterlands sent a plea that speaks volumes of the primitive hickville swamp-burg where he is in exile.

Well, actually, that is not quite correct.
It really indicates that he is seriously buckling down and working, rather than off gallivanting around town with the hot hot hot shiksas.
Oh, those zesty native girls. A hardship.

He asked "how does one order a 50g tin of Dunhill London Mixture via the intertubes?"

The question establishes three things.
He is spending much time at his desk with the books.
He is running out of stuff to smoke.
He has good taste.


"How does one order a 50g tin of Dunhill London Mixture via the intertubes?"


With an excess of faith.
That's how one orders London Mixture.
Seriously, good luck. It may no longer be available.

There are several stores that do business over the internet.
I have dealt with these two:

Cup O` Joes: http://www.cupojoes.com/

PipesandCigars.com: http://www.pipesandcigars.com/



ALTERNATIVES

In lieu of Dunhill London Mixture, you might like Cornell & Diehl's Red Odessa. It has less Turkish, but is a profoundly old-fashioned style English blend.
Of course there's also the GLPease stuff - Westminster comes to mind - but that may not be what you are looking for.
[I say this because I know that you have been exposed to much of the Dark Lord's domain. If it satisfied you, you would not need to consult me.]

Other good medium-range English mixtures with a Turkish overtone are Peterson's Old Dublin, Esoterica (actually Germain's) Margate, and J. F. Germain & Sons Latakia Mixture or King Charles Mixture.
All are deliciously degenerate.

There's also Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader - a perfect Balkan style blend, very old fashioned, nicely reeky. Bit of a broad cut, which makes it a little hard to get used to, but once you've got the rhythm of it, delightful.



ADVICE TO EVERYONE, NOT JUST TOBACCO MAIVENS

In regards to "read-testing" a blend before you buy it, tobacco reviews dot com (http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/browse_all.cfm) is a good resource, and can be very amusing, as a pipe smoker who realizes he just spent fifteen dollars on a tin of boggy sphagnum he would never touch again, even if it were the last tobacco on earth, becomes a very angry, very venomous, very eloquently foaming at the mouth critic. Such a man's review will spill out in lyric sputtering rage exactly how he feels about the heart-wrenching loss of fifteen bucks. The heavens will tremble, the earth will shake, and all the world will know of his agony, despair, and righteous indignation, by gum. He has been robbed, and he seeks justice!

Many of such reviews are seriously good reading.
You will really feel for the bereaved cheapskate.
Or resolve to rib him without mercy if ever you meet him.

==============================================

On a different note, I think I have succeeded in blending Arcadia. Arcadia is properly called the Craven A Mixture, which was formerly produced by Carrerras, and has long been unavailable.


ARCADIA

The writer J. M. Barrie was a customer of Carrerras at Wardour Street during the 1890s. His book 'My Lady Nicotine' mentions the Arcadia Mixture, which he later admitted was actually Craven A. With Barrie's approval Carrerras featured this in his advertising, thus cementing the association of Craven A with Arcadia - which Arthur Conan Doyle subsequently drove home in 'The Crooked Man': "Hum! You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days, then!" (Holmes to Watson upon entering the latter's bachelor digs).
[See: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Crooked_Man
From 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes', by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 1894.]


Arcadia was heavier on the Orientals than a regular English blend, though lighter on Latakia than you would assume. It had a range of Virginias for several different notes of flavour, and a touch of Kentucky ("Toasted Cavendish") to accentuate the Turkish.

Drucquer & Sons had a blend called Arcadia when I worked there in the seventies and eighties. It was quite good - very Oriental, though with a smidge too much Kentucky.
McClelland acquired a decades-old tin of the Craven A Mixture in the late nineties or early two-thousands, and analyzed it meticulously, eventually producing 'Arcadia' as part of their Sherlock Holmes series. It is decent, but it has that well-known McClelland characteristic, and to my mind far too heavy a Virginia taste.
Craig Tarler of Cornell & Diehl avers that his Yale Mixture is in fact the nearest approximation of the famous blend. I will gladly admit that I am fond of it, and will attest that it is a very fine product indeed.

But personally, I think they're all wrong. Of course.
What I have comes closest to Arcadia.

Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener.
Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener.
Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener.
Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener.
Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener. Neener neener neener.

TOBACCO INDEX


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

BLOWING SMOKE: DUNHILL DURBAR MIXTURE

One of the tobaccos which has disappeared from the American market, and probably everywhere else too, is Dunhill's Durbar Mixture. It was only available again for a few brief years, before being finally discontinued during the British-American Tobacco big temper tantrum of 2006, when B.A.T. picked a fight with the company to whom that they had farmed-out manufacture of the Dunhill blends.


Might as well make y'all jealous by mentioning that I have over eighty tins of it socked away. As far as Dunhill tobaccos are concerned, I won't be running out any time soon.



DURBAR MIXTURE

Made in the U.K. in association with Dunhill Tobacco of London
Hand Blended

Qua appearance, it is composed of small shreds in a range of browns. The tin aroma is very Oriental, with a slight hint of fermented sweetness. The taste proves the Turkish content, the sweetness suggests that there may be a touch of Perique in here as well. Whatever Latakia is present is restrained.
It is nicely unbalanced, rich and veering toward an excess of resinous Anatolian leaf (or is it Smyrna?), but not as depraved as the Presbyterian Mixture. Reminiscent of Balkan Sobranie, but sweeter, and less smoky. Definitely a product for the man who likes Orientals.

Think of a pretty young teenager in a light summer dress, all fresh and sparkly and soft.
But there is something else about her - she moves in a way that suggests maturity, and she's spending far too much time with the Wong boys..... Did she just smile at the younger one? Sweetie, I think it's time for a chaperone. And tell her to put on a cardigan - her lacy edgings are visible.

Contradictorily, if you like this mixture, you can't wait for summer to end. It is suited to Autumn. Last week it was much too warm in San Francisco, but yesterday and today have been foggy and considerably cooler. Even chilly enough to bring a blush to pretty golden cheeks.

In short, this tobacco is just about peachy.

TOBACCO INDEX


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

DUNHILL IS NOT DUNHILL

[Warning: This post is about tobacco. Which might not be your cup of tea. In which case it would be slightly pointless to read this, wouldn't it? But don't worry, the regular mix of activist indignation, amateurish Talmudic references, and zany food posts may return shortly.]


The Dunhill pipe tobaccos which we fondly remember from our misspent youths are not the same as the Dunhill pipe tobaccos which are available today.

[I’m using the editorial we, because I’m assuming that you, dear reader, also have a misspent youth during which you scrimped your meagre funds to purchase fine pipe tobaccos.]



DUNHILL, CARRERAS, ROTHMANS, AND THE ABORTION CLINIC OF BELFAST

Alfred Dunhill Ltd was bought by Carreras International in 1967. Rothmans bought Carreras in 1972. The Dunhill manufacturing plant was kept in operation until 1981, when Rothmans consolidated all their pipe tobacco manufacturing at the Belfast plant (formerly Murray Sons & Co., acquired by Carreras in 1953). Other than minor changes in sourcing tobaccos, and substitutions for specific tobaccos which had become unavailable or prohibitive, there had been almost no change whatsoever up to that point.

But by 1982 the Murray’s versions hit the market, and it was clear that any considerations of quality had been thrown out the door.

During the eighties and nineties a large portion of each tin consisted of twigs and crud, and buying a tin of Dunhill meant mounting frustration for the next few days, until, grumbling and swearing that one would NEVER buy that muck again, one chucked the contents of the tin into the garbage chute and switched to something palatable.

Even with far less twigs and crud it would not have been particularly worth smoking. Mediocre is as good a descriptive term as any....... though that may be an overestimation. The degree of desperation needed to improve the experience was hard to achieve.

The name 'Murray' does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling, instead more like feverish fits of shuddering ague.

[I started smoking fine Oriental blends in the seventies; it is the pre-Belfast Dunhill mixtures which I remember. They were very nice. But it should be noted that Dunhill themselves also introduced changes occasionally – the blends were not quite the same as they had been in the fifties and sixties, due to supply lines shifting and some ingredients becoming unavailable.]


BAT AND ORLIK

In 1999, Rothmans was bought by BAT (British American Tobacco), who closed down the Murray Sons & Co. factory and outsourced all pipe tobaccos to Denmark’s Orlik Tobacco AS.

That last was a considerable improvement – the sourcing of tobaccos was better, and quality control improved immensely.

Orlik did not produce the Dunhill mixtures as we remembered them. Syrian Latakia had been replaced by Cyprus leaf, and varietal Turkish types such as Yenidje, Samsoun, Izmir, and Djubec had largely been consolidated as 'Basma'.
But Orlik did produce mixtures labeled Dunhill that once again were worth smoking. Good stuff. Some darned good stuff.

Then in 2006 BAT and Orlik started going all Byzantine over the pipe tobacco brands, leading to diminished supplies of Dunhill. A few varieties were also discontinued – Aperatif, Elizabethan Mixture, and Standard Mixture Mild.
Three Year Matured and Light Flake also disappeared, though they may have been phased out earlier than the others. If Durbar Mixture is still being made, which I doubt, it is almost inevitable that it, too, will go the way of all flesh - none has been available in the Bay Area for half a year.



NOW

On February 20, 2007 British American Tobacco and Orlik Tobacco AS announced the sale of all pipe tobacco brands to Orlik, excepting Dunhill and Captain Black. What this means for the manufacture of the Dunhill mixtures remains to be seen, but as BAT is not geared towards boutique brands, it would not surprise me if they ended up selling the right to use the Dunhill name to some other company. Dunhill mixtures are now nearly impossible to find, however, and nobody seems to know when they will be available again. Or who will put them up.


---------------------------------------------------------

APPENDIX

My stockpile of Dunhill Pipe Tobaccos (as of July 25th., 2007):

London Mixture - 112 Tins.
Durbar - 83 Tins.
EMP - 82 Tins.
Standard-Medium - 81 Tins.
Standard-Mild - 15 Tins.
My Mixture 965 - 39 Tins.
Aperatif - 17 Tins.
Nightcap - 10 Tins.
Three Year Matured - 10 Tins.
Elizabethan Mixture - 13 Tins.
Light Flake - 3 Tins.

Four hundred and sixty six tins. Should last me nearly a decade.


London Mixture through Nightcap are English-style mixtures, meaning that they have Turkish and Latakia in addition to Virginias (also called 'Flue-cured'). London, Standard, and 965 are the medium-full range, Aperatif is heavy on the Turkish, Nightcap is about fifty percent Latakia augmented by Black Virginia and Cavendish.
Three year matured is a very fine Virginia whored up with of all things a berserk essence. Elizabethan is somewhat unremarkable. The light flake should be a medium Lakeland style aged press - but the last time I smoked any Dunhill flakes was in 1979, so who knows what is in those three tins.

TOBACCO INDEX


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

PIPE TOBACCO: SOME DUNHILL MIXTURES REVIEWED

.............................................................................................
LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU

The last years that I lived in the Netherlands are associated in my memory with tobaccos. First come the unsauced Dutch ribbon tobaccos, smelling of Maryland and hay, then gradually their fragrance fades before the English mixtures and the smoky reek of Syrian leaf. The smell of which revives intense memories.

I've mentioned Balkan Sobranie in a previous posting, and others have devoted much blog-space to describing that now vanished classic. Enough.

The other classic which everybody eventually discovers is Dunhill. Usually the discovery is entirely unexpected, often it brings a sudden ray of sunshine into one's life.


Perhaps you are waiting for a delayed train on a perron in Germany (Bad-Schinkenfressersburg, or Affengrab Am See), or wandering the streets of a village in Central Europe scarcely changed since the black death (Blink, on the river Gnar), whose only genetic diversity is inherited from the desperate soldiery of some invasion or other.
The natives look troglodytic and dull, the 'besichtigungswertige' church is a boring reiteration of a typical pattern, and the local wurst is worse than the wurst in the inbred settlement of down the road and yesterday - which was a regional specialty, you really must try it.

And everything smells delicately of cow.


You want to smoke.
There is nothing else to do in this dump.
You want to smoke.

You. Want. To. Smoke.


You've run out of the desiccated wombat pelt which the tobacconist in Grubeschickelsberg recommended (damned ape!). And you want to smoke.

You spy a window with the word 'Tabak' in flaking paint in the center of the glass. A remarkably intelligent native behind the counter recognizes immediately that you are from elsewhere (there being only two local facial-types, both repellent variants on vicious troll), and in a sincerely helpful manner (!) suggests a tin of 'toonheel'.

There is nothing else in his store that looks even remotely non-toxic, so you purchase. Once outside, you light up. And your entire outlook on life changes. My what remarkable villagers! They almost look human! And dammit, I think I'll stay an extra day! That wurst was most interesting, I think I'll have it for dinner again tonight. Life is good! Maybe I'll even learn a few phrases in the local grunt tongue.


THE TIME, THE PLACE, THE TOBACCONIST

For me that discovery came via the retired ex-colonial who ran a small smoke shop on the Eindhovensche Weg in Valkenswaard, three blocks before the Merensdreef crossing. Which was conveniently on my way to school. A very gentle man, soft-spoken, and knowledgeable. But as pipe-smokers were the least of his customers (in order of importance: cigars, dark rolling shag, Dutch cigarettes, foreign cigarettes, pipe-tobacco), there was always the chance that he would run out of a blend or mixture.

One day he did not have Balkan Sobranie (I was probably the only customer), and suggested Dunhill instead. Of which he had three types: Nightcap, My Mixture 965, and Standard Mixture Medium. I bought all three. For me it was a discovery of a greater magnitude than Columbus stumbling across the new world (bloody fool thought it was India).


In the fall of that year I often spent late afternoons and early evenings in the empty hall of Jeugdsociëteit Parsifal, quietly drinking tea, smoking, and enjoying the long moody twilight. The occasional bicyclist would battle past, fighting the bluster, dry leaves would scud along the gutters, and in the creeping darkness yellow lights would appear on both sides of the street.

The aroma of Latakia drifted out and perfumed the night.


In the following spring, with the return of warm weather, greens exploded. The countryside was enveloping, rich, fertile, moist - not sensual, as the adjectives suggest, but carnivorous and hungry. Under stands of trees were dark shadow zones, above them a metal sky that threatened rain and thunderstorms.

The light of Northern Europe is unique. Not golden, like California, but clear silver. Across the distances the silhouettes of settlements show like saw-tooth ridges on the horizon, church spires make pious rude gestures at the heavens. Verdant, wet, pungent.
The dead leaf-rot of the previous autumn and the fecund vernal pongue combine, the air becomes heavy with the land.

In the rain, Brabant is dense with odeur.


At late afternoon I would stop by a café terrace to have coffee, and enjoy the view of the church, through the rain, across the square. A book, a pipe, and the remarkable sensation of solitude though surrounded by a densely populated village.

It is odd that I so fondly remember that last year... Three people who meant much to me passed away, and things changed rapidly. At the end of summer I returned to the States.

That was in 1978.

I really miss the long, long twilight.

--- -- --- ----- --- -- ---

Now then, having wasted your time with that excursus into the bog of Brabant, let us proceed to the tobaccos.

I compared six Dunhill mixtures, of which five are Balkan blends, and one is entirely composed of American tobaccos. Dunhill products have usually been of high quality, though they have in the past farmed out the manufacture to some companies who stumbled. At present Dunhill tobaccos are again very good.
Like Balkan Sobranie, Dunhill 965 and the Standard Mixture Medium are the standards against which all other Balkan Blends are measured. Balkan Sobranie and Dunhill both used tobaccos that had been matured, and both brands tended to stress the Oriental (also called Turkish) component somewhat more than many American Tobacconist's blends, though for college-boys on a Latakia kick, Sobranie provided their black mixture and Dunhill had Nightcap.

I did not include Nightcap in this review.

The six tobaccos I compared are: Durbar Mixture, Early Morning Pipe, Elizabethan (this is the one without Turkish or Latakia), London Mixture, My Mixture #965, Standard Mixture Medium. All were smoked several times, in several different pipes. The reviews below are composites based on notes taken while smoking, and also after. My significant other's point of view has not been taken into account.


DURBAR MIXTURE
Appearance: Variegated light to dark brown, mostly toward dark. Crumbly ribbons, evidence of aging and fermentation.
Tin Aroma: Dry, Turkish. Richly Oriental
Taste: Oriental, perfumy. Turkish strongly evident. Fruity, but with scant sweetness and scant smokiness; there is little Latakia evident, if any present at all. As it progresses a Virginia undertone develops. I also suspect that there is a toasted Cavendish in the blend. Tastes sec.
Ash: Medium-grey, fine grit.

Heavy on the Turkish, though somewhat lacking in character.


EARLY MORNING PIPE
Appearance: Thin jaggedy ribbon; yellows, medium reddish browns and dark browns. Mostly reddish veering toward chocolate-like, not a pronounced contrast.
Tin Aroma: Mild aged flavour, veering towards Levantine. Slight smokiness.
Taste: Very balanced, slightly sweet, a rounded Oriental quality, profoundly tobacco-y.
Coffee friendly, tangy. Starts very good, becomes even better. A good balance between Virginia types, Latakia, and probably Perique. The Virginia component is not dominated by a heavy cured taste. Enjoyable to the end.
Ash: Medium grey, slightly uneven and irregular, rounded grit.

Very satisfying, with enough character to maintain interest.
Very highly recommended.


ELIZABETHAN MIXTURE
Appearance: Yellowish and medium browns, minor darks. Soft thin ribbon, the dark leaf showing evidence of the press.
Tin Aroma: Toasty Virginia, a suggestion of air-dried. Autumn plum and fruit smell.
Taste: Sweet, predominance of ribbon cut (not heavily pressed). Reminiscent of some of the old Dutch blends which have disappeared since the Dutch tobacco industry became a flavour-whore. And probably some Perique. Sharpens as it nears the bottom of the bowl.
Ash: Brittle, powdery. Medium grey, medium grit.

A soft casual smoke, but it does require attention. Enjoyable if smoked slow.


LONDON MIXTURE
Appearance: Ribbony dull browns and darks, touches of dull yellow. Evidence of ageing. Mottled.
Tin Aroma: Oriental, some Latakia. Turkish and fruity.
Taste: Turkish, Latakia, plum. Fragrant and sweet. Is there black Virginia? The perfume says yes. Develops a floral mouth taste, augmenting the Oriental tones. Tingly. Good nose, edge in back of mouth. Very enjoyable, smooth finish. There is a suggestion of something raw and sexual here.
Ash: Soft pale ash with a few crumbly bits.

Has great character.
Highly recommended.


MY MIXTURE 965
Appearance: Broad range from brights to blacks, soft ribbons to jaggedy rip. Slight reddish dominance.
Tin Aroma: Winey, smoky, fruity.
Taste: A tanginess of Yellow Virginia plus the fragrance of Latakia. Spicy, sweet. The impact of Turkish builds, but a slightly sharp undertone of ribbon Virginias remains. Sec, tip-centre of tongue. It is peppery. Burns well, slightly irregular. Tends towards hot near end.
Ash: Soft, irregular, and pale.

Acts better than it is.


STANDARD MIXTURE MEDIUM
Appearance: Red-browns and dark browns dominate, but there are also medium brown ribbons, a speckle of short yellows, and odd greenish fragments. Medium small ribbon mix.
Tin Aroma: Noticeable Latakia, hints of herb and plum. Raisins, cacao.
Taste: Richly Turkish, sec. An undertone of Cavendish and mature Virginias, perhaps a minute quantity of Perique (tingly note). Finishes quickly, smoothly. The Turkish definitely dominates.
Ash: Medium to pale grey, fine grit.

A good smoke. Very well based.
Highly recommended.


UPDATE:

BB1938 (re-release)
Medium Latakia mixture with Virginias. Not like the original, apparently, but a fish of its own kettle. Good product. Fruitiness and a hint of incense from the Virginias, lighter in dark tobacco than 965, but heavier than EMP.

DARK FLAKE (re-release)
Not at all like the dark flake I remember. I suspect K&K and Orlik decided to recycle Petersen & Sorensen's 'Tradition'. Immaterial. It is excellent, almost perfumy and incense-like, contemplative, and rewarding.
More delicate than you would expect.
Reverie inducing.

(MEDIUM) FLAKE
A classic product, very enjoyable, ethereal. Medium body. Smoke it slow! An elderly lawyer I used to know smokes only this, and has excellent taste in pipes. A violin maker used to break in all of his pipes with this.

ROYAL YACHT
Shade-grown Virginias, topping of plums (probably benzyl butyrate). An old classic which is highly peculiar. Some people have described it as sickening and headache inducing. But Pipestud in Texas likes it very much, and it was smoked by the Prince Consort, Simenon, and Prince Bernhard Von Lippe-Biesterfeld of the Netherlands, which are recommendations.
Medium-bodied.

YE OLDE SIGNE [re-release]
Solid Virginias, medium to full-bodied, enjoyable. If I smoke one bowl of this in a day I turn into a rather irritable and unpleasant person.

TOBACCO INDEX


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================