When, a few days later, I opened the tin I was greeted with a sweet, slightly spicy aroma which I found very pleasing indeed. I filled my bowl, lit it and felt quite underwhelmed; really not much flavour at all and other reviewer's descriptions of it as 'flat' seems quite apt. Frankly, it was possibly part of the reason I didn't really smoke another pipe of anything for nearly two years. At that point though, I felt like it again and went out to buy some other tobaccos and enjoyed these immensely. Eventually, I thought I would give the Blue Mixture another go; it was just sitting there anyway and surely it couldn't be all that dull.

No, it wasn't dull. I actually enjoyed it fabulously. It's mild, yes and it's true that it does not pack a huge amount of flavour, but at this point, it actually worked for me. I bought another two tins and upon opening one, drying the tobacco a bit, smoked another deeply disappointing bowl of the stuff. I really couldn't figure it out; I dried the tobacco a bit more, to the point that it had the same level as my old tin which had sat in the drawer for two years, and still it was dull and dreary. I put away both tins.

A year later, having run out of other tobaccos, I turned to it simply because that was what I had and there it was again; lovely, smooth, tasty and very, very pleasant. I'm no expert on what happens to tobacco, either sealed in the tin, nor in an opened tin stored away, but opening the tin and letting it sit, seems to do wonders for Blue Mixture. I even opened the second (unopened tin) to check that it wasn't just my imagination or fluctuations in my taste preferences, and the newly opened tin was as flat and boring as I had expected.

I suppose I'm most inclined to give this blend 3.5 stars, but as I cannot, 3 it is. It's a mild mixture that will offend the noses of no-one around you (my wife's favourite) - it is quite mild on N although it does have some but despite its mildness, actually has quite a bit of flavour . . . after having been opened for about 12-18 months.

In the tin the aroma is fruity and pleasant. Smoking it in a large bowl allows the aroma to expand. Some aromatic tend to give their flavour on the beginning of the smoke and then faint away. With this one the flavour grows in the middle of the smoke, with a discreet vanilla aroma.

Not a full aromatic but a nice one so my not is higher than those given by previous reviewers.

It smokes cool and tends to become slighly gurgly towards the end. The strength seems to increase slightly when smoked in a larger bowl but does not develop any complexity.

If you are looking for smoke that smells great but does not demand anything from your taste buds, than this will do nicely.

I'll say this for it, it certainly IS cool smoking.

Even when I was improperly packing my bowl during my first attempts it still burned with little 'hot tongue' and smoked easily.

But overall I'd throw it out if I weren't so cheap. Really.

I mean the aromatics are almost undetectable and the underlying tobacco is so mild I get little taste from it either.

The next step down in mildness would be to just not smoke at all.

Like I said, I'm a novice here. But of the six blends I've exposed myself to over the past month this was hands down the most disappointing.

In the tin this blend smells lightly of dried figs and a touch of brown sugar. The room note is mainly Virginia with a slight added sweetness. People who love tobacco will find the room note very pleasant, others will find it tolerable.

The taste is extremely light. The best taste description I can come up with is light Virginia combined with bland herbs, a small sprinkle of pepper and just the tiniest tad of sweetness.

My guess is that pipers who prefer medium to full tasting tobaccos will find this blend far too bland. Pipers who prefer mild tobaccos will probably enjoy this blend when in the mood for a very gentle tobacco that is not heavily cased.

The first few bowls were very enjoyable, but this tobacco dries very quickly and if you don't smoke on a regular basis, you will find it gets worse as it 'matures'.

I would only recommend it to beginners of pipe smoking.

Upon opening said tin, you're greeted with a sweet, caramel like aroma. This blend is heavy on the Black Cavendish so yes it's smooth but, it doesn't really taste of anything in particular. It's sweet, smooth and.. pretty much tasteless. I don't really see any point in smoking this, unless you really like mediocre aromatics.

I would advise to use it in a dedicated aromatic pipe as it will leave a ghost behind which of course, isn't recommended.

Don't know how to end this review. While not bad, not really anywhere near good, either. Try it if you're.. extremely bored I guess.

A delicious aroma will greet you on opening. An aroma, which even after a good few bowlfuls, remains unidentifiable. A sweet, fruity fragrance is the closest I can get.

It's ready rubbed, with a few cut plugs dotted around here and there. Gives a few options at loading time. Still being a bit of a noob round here I just stuff it all in, rather than breaking down into smaller bits. Whether that is right or wrong I'm not sure, but it works for me !

It behaves itself in the bowl, few relights, with a slow burning nature. Occasional tongue bite if smoked too hard too near the bottom of the bowl. No complaints have been received from either Mrs PW or the ingrates so I assume 'what is says on the tin' is accurate.

It's an intersting slighly sweet smoke well worth bringing into your rotation if you are an aromatrics smoker. Me, I'm off for another bowl to see if I can finally nail down this taste.