Appearance: Black and Gold. A 50-50 mixture of bright golden and blackish strands with a small amount of green-gold and pale brown leaf in a thick-cut ribbon, fully rubbed out.

Aroma: Apricots, figs, honey, grape leaves, stewed plums, strawberry jam, and smoke -- sweet and fragrant.

Taste: A bit of tongue nip. A very mild, round-cornered English blend. Gentle smoking, smooth. Well-demarcated components. A bit austere. Figs, smoke, plum sauce, spice cake, walnut oil, crusty white bread, spice cake.

Comparisons: Similar to Dunhill's Early Morning Pipe but without the sweetness or melding of flavors. Similar to Dunhill's My Mixture No. 965, except not nearly as strong or complex.

Bottom Line: A smooth-smoking, extremely mild smoky English blend. Quite decent. Fans of Early Morning Pipe and 965, who seek a less sweet, less imposing smoke will be charmed by Tree Mixture.

The unskilled pipester would be able to decipher all notes very easily, and that is what makes this blend both unusual and interesting.

However, as the nicotine lover I am, Tree Mixture could not satisfy me; that is why Tree Mixture only receives 2 stars.

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

Aroma: Again, typical English aroma. The aroma is a good Virginia base with plenty of Cyprian Latakia and a lesser amount of Oriental leaf.

Packing: The blend packs easily into any pipe with no particular care required.

Lighting: Lights easily, but not too quickly. The usual two matches will get it going nicely

Initial flavor: The Latakia jumps right up in your face at the top of the bowl. The Virginias become apparent almost immediately, lending a nice sweetness to the leathery smokiness. The Orientals are in the background, easy to miss at first. Nonetheless, a nice flavor at the start.

Mid-bowl: Now it starts to show some better balance with the Orientals lending a spicy note. This varies as you smoke through the mid-bowl, giving you some complexity and layering of flavor. Not very complex, just enough to avoid being monochromatic.

Finish: Just a bit stronger at the end, leaving a fine medium gray ash. It usually smokes dry right to the end for me, very little tendency to gurgle.

Summary: A nice enough English blend, which I will return to periodically, but not too soon,nor too often.

Appearance: Ribbons of mohagany and darker leaf.

Tin Aroma: Delicious, with the oriental and latakia dominating. There is a slight wine, prune aroma too from the fermenting process in the tin.

Packing: Easy, with moisture perfect out of the tin.

Lighting: Easy, two to three lights.

Initial Flavor:Like a Balkan "light" with the oriental leaf in the forefront.

Mid bowl: More interplay between the latakia and oriental. The Va is starting to come out.

Bottom of Bowl: This is where I liked this blend the most. There develops a nice Va sweetness with a nice smoky background.

End: No goop, dry grey ash, with a light dusting in the bowl.

Overall: This blend was inconsistent and was sensitive to pipe size. It seemed to smoke better in group 4 pipes and worked best for me in a Geppetto Poker. I suppose if you like to wrestle with your tobac, you might like this. As for me, there are too many other blends that surpass this style of blend.

Rating: 3 out of 5 points. Enjoy...

My problem with Tree is that it is a little harsh on my throat, which makes it hard to smoke the pipe straight through without setting it aside for a while. Too bad, bacause it is a different and interesting blend.

I found that it took a couple of weeks with the tin covered, but unlocked, for the tobacco to dry to the correct smoking point. This should be smoked on the drier side, in my view.

This is a marvelous tobacco if you like oriental blends.

William Serad of Pipes and Tobaccos said this blend is rich, rich, rich. It's true. He wasn't kidding. It is a english oriental (or even balkan blend) with a good dose of latakia. More richness that Butera's devine Pelican blend. It's richer than some of the Dunhill line, e.g., Early Morning, London, Standard; is as rich as Fox's Provost, Dunhill's 965, etc., but not as heavy as a full balkan or a real strong english like Dunhill's Nightcap. So a very rich, full, delicious natural taste, but not quite as heavy as you would think a blend would have to be to produce that experience. It is close to balkan in strength though. No bite to me.

No trouble in moisture content, packing, keeping lit, or consistency in rich oriental flavor. Not hot, as the latakia keeps it cool.

I recommend this for the full english oriental smoker. This has the extra oriental kick many good english blends lack. A step up in strength from Pelican or Esoterica's Penzance and at least two from Germain's King Charles. A no nonsense smoke, especially good for outdoors.