G.Smith & Son's Old London Mixture Pipe Tobacco Reviews

An overall darkish brown, medium-cut mixture, composed of about 40% darker tobacco. In the tin, this medium-strength mixture has a rather sweet, nutty aroma that suggests the inclusion of a good quantity of high-quality Oriental and Virginia tobaccos. It is a rich-tasting English that bears some traits in common with McConnell's Oriental Mixture, but it's much less intense and invigourating, and it provides a much smoother smoke.

 

It is perhaps akin to Rattray's Accountant's Mixture, although lighter in flavour and body, in that it is not as dark-tasting as it may first appear and in that it succeeds in giving a rich English flavour without being heavy or cloying in terms of latakia taste. Although I generally find this to be not more than a medium-strength mixture, depending on my mood or the time of day, I have sometimes found it to be a bit fuller, especially at the outset of a smoke.

 

Being a smooth, medium-bodied smoke that is not overly strong, this would make an excellent all-day smoke for latakia and Oriental fans. Its flavour is not extremely contrasting, but one does pick up on the simultaneous variety of dark and light flavours, as well as the mixture of sweet, nutty and smoky aspects in the bouquet.

 

I like smoking this in an Oom Paul-style pipe so that my nose gets to smell some of the smoke that rolls off the top of the pipe. It leaves a fragrant, distinctively English, aroma in the room that most people would find quite agreeable. From start to finish, it's a very consistent smoke, with little flavour variation, other than perhaps getting a little bit hot toward the bottom of the pipe, thereby causing some diluting of taste.

 

It does burn quite well though and I find it easy to overheat it if I advertently begin to puff on it overzealously. Due to its pleasant flavour and good smoking qualities, I would definitely recommend this to someone wishing to experiment with English blends for the first time.

 

At the bottom of your pipe, you are left with a fine, grey ash. From G. Smith & Sons, 74 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0BG. Many thanks to Ron Blackner, who has a web page that you must visit, for the tin of this; it's rather difficult to come by here in North America.