| Having recently gained access to the various blends under the Robert McConnell name, I obviously had to buy this one, given its tin description.
The 100 g tin is of the dreaded baked-beans style, but for Mixture-style leaf that is acceptable. Opening the tin, I get a good waft of both sweetness (BC) and savoury smokiness (Latakia); the VA is a bit lost in that double onslaught (but it will make itself felt later on).
The colours are about equal amounts of black and yellow, with a touch of grey-ish Orient in there. The cut is to the standard of most english mixtures, so stuffing is easy, as is lighting.
The smoke starts out with an astonishing amount of sweetness; not really what I had expected of a blend that is advertised as a perfection of English; it feels more like a Scottish Mixture during the first third or so. But then the Latakia and the VA kick in, giving a deep, smoky sweetness that makes this a really good blend for the English-style smoker; a bit of a cross-over between English and Scottish.
I like it enough to recommend; I tend to sip a dram or two of a peaty Scottish Single Malt to go along, preferrably something from Islay or the Orkneys.
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