Smokers' Haven Select Mixture

The Virginia is a little earthy, grassy, toasty, and slightly sweet, and forms the base of the blend. The Cyprian latakia is light, adding a mild smokey, woody sweet quality. The mildly spicy, woody, dry and lightly sweet and sour Oriental plays a support role. Not sure about the very light topping, but it doesn't distract, though this blend doesn't have the depth it should have. Needs to dry a mite before smoking. Has a mild nic-hit. Won't bite or get harsh. Burns clean and cool, fairly smoothly at a reasonable pace with a consistent flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a short lived after taste. Can be an all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

I like Select Mixture. As of the date of this review I have tried all of the Smokers Haven (made by Germain) blends except OBB despite having nearly a pound of the latter in the cellar. I rank Select at number three to my tastes behind Krumble Kake and In B Tween mixture.

Select is light on the orientals but does provide a bit of tanginess that goes well with the predominate Virginia mixture. The Latakis is even lighter still as the smokiness is very faint. This blend reminds me a little of Squadron Leader, which is one of my favorites, so it is not surprising that I enjoyed this one as well.

A very moist mix of ribbons and shag, ranging from blonde to black. Tin aroma of orientals and Virginia with some added topping, and a smidge of latakia in the background, Syrian variety. Drier was better, but not too dry or this will turn to dust quickly.

The 20th Anniversary I smoked recently had a pretty heady alcohol topping, which is muted here but still noticeable with each puff. That diminishing elevated this blend over its cousin. This is a Virginia-forward oriental blend and it had a sweet and spicy quality but this is for those that prefer sweetness with an extra soft punch. Less of a crossover than 20th but also lighter tasting overall. Light but fairly rich - a combination I always find enjoyable. However, there are certain tobaccos who provide an experience that is difficult to quantify. This is one of them - just not much to say about it. Compared to some other SH blends, this one is kind of boring, but I think the point of this is to be an all-day type of thing, at least until the evening. Not very complex at all, as it never seemed to change its flavor. If a light-bodied but more medium flavored blend is something you're after, this is one to try. No more for me, but still a reasonably strong 3 stars.

Awhile back I reviewed some tins that would not move on my show tables and kept coming home. Select Mixture by Smokers' Haven is, unbelievably, one of them. I say unbelievably because every other tin of Smoker's Haven blends I've put out have moved quickly and do not come home with me. I've had this tin on my tables for the last five show seasons and, even in this year's frenzy of buying activity, it was still there by itself when the dust settled. I had to find out what was going on here and ripped it open to find a rather thin ribbon cut mixture of variegated tones from light tan to black and issuing a mild-to-medium English odor. This all seemed good to me and I wanted to light up right away. I couldn't do it as my tin of tobacco was sopping wet and had to be dried (not aired) out. I thought the blend looked familiar on opening and smoking it backed up my initial feeling that this looked like and, now, smoked like older versions of Balkan Sobranie Mixture. That can't be bad, can it? Add to this the blend's four star rating and its hard to understand our show buyers' reluctance. I enjoyed the blend and made some very good mixtures using it as a base. You add this all up and its hard not to give it the four star rating it deserves. A real head scratcher, though.

Made with the special touches that only Germain can produce, Select Mixture contains special well aged Virginia and puts that leaf at the forefront. They then added just enough of their world renoun ripe Orientals to produce spice and cool burning delight, and finished up with just enough Latakia to add zest and smokiness to the mixture. Another winner from Germain and Smoker's Haven!

Another from the BoB bombardment I recieved. Light English blend.

Not bad at all. The cut is ok, I wouldn't say great bc the shag portion of it is kind of long and can clump up while loading the pipe. Tin note is a bit smokey, and kind reminds me of a peaty kind of smoke like from a good scotch. Smoked nice and slow, easy to pack and light. Has a sweetness to it that pokes it's head up from time to time. Mellow taste, smokey and rich. More oriental forward than Latakia.

Probably not a good one for in the house if other people don't smoke English blends. Could be an all day smoke without burning out the taste buds. Good blend for a newer English smoker or someone who appreciates them more.

Update: 12/16/15 I finished off the rest of the jar I had today. I have decided this is worth another half a star, bringing it up to 3 1/2 total. Has a earthy richness to it I didn't appreciate fully before. Also, the strength is appropriate to be a good all day smoke. I say this bc I literally smoked this all day today haha.

SM is the lightest of smoker's Haven's Germain-made recreations of their original blends made by Sobraine of London. It is a very light English, with delicious Virginias. While there is the presence of both Orientals and some Latakia, the Virginias are dominate and give the mixture an overall naturally sweet flavor. SM is not familiar to many who love Our Best Blend and Exotique but it fills a place in my rotation, especially for the first pipe of the day. Recommended.

UPDATE 11/20 As I had hoped once left to dry out and age, this tobacco is MUCH better. I have to say up front that I am a huge fan of Oriental forward blends so the reduction in Turkish/Orientals, but with that said they are present and welcome in this smoke. The largest improvement in the smoke is the taming of the casing. I think it is a fruit flavored brandy and some chocolate, but that is a guess. It is still very strong in the jar note but it is almost unnoticeable in the smoke. Woody and slight lightly spicy from the Orientals, some earth and sweetness from the Virginia's and a hint of creosote and creaminess from the Latakia. This may be the largest improvement in a tobacco I have experience with a little age. 2 star upgrade

Another review that I will come back to after the tobacco has some time to age... Tin note is similar to SH 20th anniversary, but with less tobacco permeating nose. This is almost all topping. It is some type of liquor or liquors and it is very strong from a very fresh tin. I let this dry for an hour and then packed the pipe and let it sit for another 20 minutes. I then did some unlit pulls on the pipe and that is when I realized that the topping is either a chocolate liqueur or there is chocolate mixed in with a brandy. The topping more or less drowned this one out. I smoked 3 bowls of this and tapped out. My taste buds were coated with tobacco topping varnish and it was not very pleasant. The tobacco quality is first rate, like all things Germain, and my guess is that this tin is just too freshly made to be smoking. I only decided to write this review now in the hopes I may save someone the trouble and that they let their tin age 6 months or so before popping it open. There were some notes of sour from the Orientals and some sweetness from the VA's but the rest of the smoke was sweet topping, mostly chocolate but also an apple brandy, fruity/flowery flavor to it. Not my cup of tea as it stands now. I will revisit in a 6 months or so and see what blossoms.

Normally I like blends with large amounts of oriental or latakia. This is one of the lighter blends that I really enjoy. The sweetness from the virginia is at the forefront, with the orientals there for added support. The latakia is in the background and just barely noticeable. The dark pieces in mine (latakia) had tons of white and grey crystals on them. Yummy!

I really enjoy this, and because it is such a light smoke, I can enjoy bowlful after bowlful.

I like it!

One caveat: This is the wettest tobacco I've ever found in tin form. 10% of the weight was probably moisture (I'm exaggerating), but I did need to lay it out overnight before it was to my liking, and it is a ribbon cut!

I got a sample of this on a recent trip to Smoker's Haven in Columbus, and as their Our Best Blend is among my top 10 favorite tobaccos I thought I would give all of their proprietary blends a try. Select is touted as their lightest offering in the line.

Select Mixture is a wonderful tobacco for my first bowl of the day and this could certainly be an all day smoke. I have a deep love for English blends and Select Mixture fits the light English niche for me wonderfully. Highly recommended to those who enjoy Dunhill's BB1938 and Early Morning Pipe or Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader, as this has a similar level of both taste and quality.