As I said, this one is interesting. Just a batch of bright virginias mixed with a toasted cavendish, and yet a perceived oriental presence. I taste a bit of incense-like flavor and this blend has a fair bit of complexity. It even has some cigarette-like quality when overpuffed. There's even a scent of some exotic-but-light middle eastern leaf. This seems spicier than it should be, based on the actual components, so I'm not sure how they accomplish this unless they use some African VA's. The flavor itself is light but assertive, and it reminds me of McClellands Black Shag in that regard, as well their Royal Cajun series. This tobacco is better than 3 stars but the high cost brings my recommendation down a bit. Try this if you want something decidedly different and interesting.

The confusion surrounding the inclusion of Latakia (similar to Presbyterian) is understandable. In the tin, this is a dark mixture, with black leaf approaching well over fifty percent. It looks very much like an English blend, until you light it up and note the very neutral, non offensive nature of the smoke. Provost has a spiciness to it, and yet the description makes no mention of Oriental leaf. I recently opened up a tin of McConnell's "Oriental," and I find that the two have similar profiles in taste, strength, and looks. That blend is also quite dark in the tin, with a limited expression of Latakia.

As it is, Provost is rather boring and indistinct. I wouldn't quite go with medium on this, it's a little milder, to my tastes. The roomnote is quite nice, it has that toasted marshmallow scent that one often associates with aromatics like Captain Black. There's just not enough here to keep me coming back for more, and as I work my way through the last few bowls of my tin, I've grown fatigued. I have this feeling, like there's a quarter tin of Lemon Meringue pie left in the fridge, and I have to finish it off. It's not my favorite, or worst flavor, I'm simply averse, but looking at the thing sitting in the fridge annoys me.

A note on the tin art...

I loved the original packaging of Provost, and looked forward to the wonderful, bright reddish/orange tones of the Fox label. Some pay no attention to packaging, but I admit, I am more compelled to buy a blend that looks beautiful on the outside. My tin arrived with a generic white label and green print. There was a nasty sticker attached to the bottom, which I promptly removed, to absolute horror upon what it revealed--an anti smoking blurb common to the European market (where it was manufactured) that somehow destroyed the allure. I grabbed an old Sharpie and gave it coat after coat, which served no purpose in ending the madness of these anti tobacco forces. I'd like to grab that Sharpie and write nasty warning phrases on their foreheads. So I plopped the contents into a mason jar and tossed the tin. Oh well.

It seems a little moist a first, but I think that is the nature of this blend. Drying didn't seem to help much. This one tastes great, and is very very unique. a nice dark flavor that pairs nicely with coffee.

The reviews of blends we dislike and blends we love are easy to write. Provost Mixture presents more difficulty. This blend is between a like and a love. One might expect a Virginia and Cavendish blend to be simple, but Provost Mixture is more complex than you might imagine. On opening the tin I get a slight whiff of something similar to Esoterica's Margate- a savoury smell, something akin to a soy and fish sauce, perhaps even Roman garum. It does need a little drying time out of the tin. The first part of the bowl may lead one to think this is boring, but press on. Lovely notes emerge, and Provost is medium strength as the smoke progresses.

Update: The tin, (stash in a mason jar) I was smoking was 2003. I just came from the porch where I had another pipeful of Provost. Smoked this in a large Canadian James Upshall. I will take back the sun cured leaf, I don't think it's there. This blend will really fool many because it tastes so...english. It's a very refined Virginia flue cure (bright) that with the cavendish just works like no other I've tried. Four stars and wish I could give it five.

Another note, my tin has a different label than the one shown, It has a very plain one of those EU type labels with the huge health warning taking up half the label. It has no blend description other than, “Fine Smoking Mixture”. (I guess that’s because they had to squeeze all the rest of the label text into the top half, above the huge legal health warning.)

Upon lighting I caught only the slightest hint of the out-of-place sweetness from the light casing I had noticed in the tin aroma. Mostly what I tasted was the lovely sweet & tart Bright Virginia leaf. Whatever else is in the blend, it seems to spotlight and cool down the sugary, spicy, delicious, bright leaf.

I like it, I love Virginia tobacco, and I really enjoyed this stuff. It’s not as complex as one might hope, but still good. Smooth, sweet and cool. However, the price is too high. It’s pretty good, but there are too many better tobaccos out there with lower prices.

I give it 3 stars.

Light & golden Virginias, fine-to-medium ribbon, intermingled with very dark/quasi black unsweetened Black Cavendish in short ready-rubbed form.

At the first charring puffs one wonders if this is a mild EM… I understand who smells Latakia for sure… also some spicy notes of Orientals. Piquant to the nose, does this have Perique ? I’m pretty confused.

The flavour is not sweet at all, nor bitter to the committed smoker. The BC is the main player. Saying it better: everything in this blend is about this spectactul unsweetened BC, offering a wide share of flavours which are very difficult to describe (smoky, spicy, malty, woody), over a neutral base of semi-sweet Virginias probably of African origin. Right or wrong, this BC proves to be of the K&K family, something like the Black Virginia (or the one used in Dark Fragrant) on steroids, very very much more complex.

Provost grows as the bowl progresses, both in strength & body. At mid-bowl the initial sharp edges leave place to a pleasant piquancy, and some increased sweetness. The piquancy disappears to the nose too, and I’m finding myself trying to inhale through the nostrils a quasi-EM aroma. My Dunhill 3110 Tanshell shows all her good qualities with this blend. The second part of the bowl is very rewarding: all the fatures of Provost are in a perfect balance, an exhilarating citrusy note builds gradually up. Strength never exceed the medium mark.

No gurgle, no tongue bite, no insanely hot pipe. Just the palate slightly scorched due to a bit overly enthusiastic puffing.

Like all the K&K produced blends, Provost needs long idle time in the unsealed tin before use, as it came semi-wet.

Four shining stars, no doubt !

I'm no exception. I don't know what to call this aside from a Cav/Va.

Pure Va smokers won't love this. I don't love this. But I like it a lot, and it has a role in my rotation. After I've had a bowl or two of Va in a day, and I want a change of pace, this is exactly what I want. There's good Va flavor, and also something dark and earthy.

Tasty, cool and easy to smoke. It's just the sort of tobacco I love.

I've not been smoking pipes long enough to really understand what makes this a great blend. All I know is that it is phenomenal. I highly recommend trying at least one tin sometime in your life.

Fortunately I added it by chance in my last order. Provost requires sober smoking so that you can enjoy its magnificent natural taste. Virginia and Black Cavendish add a very nice sweetness. The baked Black Cavendish causes the feeling that there is Latakia in the mixture.

NO THERE IS NO LATAKIA IN THE MIXTURE.

The initial roughness goes away gradually. After the second half of the bowl, and especially towards the end, the whole mixture acquires the perfect proportion. It is not a cool tobacco (the tobacco is quite moist in Tin and it requires drying).

It is not spicy, not sweet, and just perfect for my palate-roof!

Upon opening the tin I was hit by a heady, full-bodied aroma of raisin and rum. My initial impression, on smoking the first pipeful, was exactly that: a delightful raisiny-rum flavour, which burned with almost indolent slowness and a very satisfactory evenness, right down to the ash - I don't think I've ever smoked anything that went as slowly and evenly. Further pipefuls made me realise better the pleasant and authoritative Virginia fullness in the mix. I'm not usually a great fan of Virginia, but in this mix one can properly appreciate the qualities of that tobacco. I must say that I don't detect the Latakia that others have mentioned, and there's no reason why Fox shouldn't mention Latakia if it is in the mix. They only mention Cavendish and Virginia.I should add that there is absolutely no 'bite', even at the end of the smoke. I had my first three pipefuls of this mixture without cleaning my pipe at any stage, and even by the end of the third pipeful there was still no bite - if there was any Latakia in this mix, I would surely have got some 'bite.'

The mix seems an absolute 50/50 of Cavendish and Virginia. The Virginia is a dark gold, and whatever type of black Cavendish we have here, it is not too sweet. There is nothing cloying about this mix. There is a rich, full aroma from the smoke, and my only complaint is that it doesn't linger long enough! Surprisingly, it seems to mostly clear from the room fairly quickly, like a quiet aristocrat whose company you have very much enjoyed but who modestly declines to impose his presence on you.

I will update this in future days, but my initial impressions are very favourable indeed: an outstanding smoke, a real pleasure, and it must surely be as good a candidate as any for that elusive 'staple' mix which one feels one should always have near to hand. It would be an insult to give this anything less than four stars.

Update: following day: I noted last night that, although most of the aroma seems to dissipate rather quickly, as noted above, there is an underlying pleasant raisiny aroma which lingers faintly for much longer than most tobaccos; in fact it was detectable throughout the night and into this morning.

Yes, there are woody and spicy elements in this mixture which make one think there must be some oriental involvement - but so far I am convinced that they come from the Virginia, or rather its particular reaction with the Cavendish. Very odd, in the sense that this mix is utterly unlike James Baker's Sunday's Fantasy, which is undeniably a straight 50/50 mix of Cavendish and Virginia. But it can be seen that the two tobaccos in the latter mix are very different in the way they have been processed - that's evident from sight alone.

Today, the woody and leathery elements in the aroma, mentioned by others, have started to come more to the fore. I am even more impressed by the richness of this tobacco experience. One starts to have more than an inkling, one starts to have an impression of what was in the mind of Madden when he came up with this mix - his consciousness comes through to one, just as the consciousness of a writer transmits itself to one's own consciousness through the medium of his words. The richness and complexity about this mix, including an undoubted element of mystery, which others have touched on, is starting to impress itself quite deeply on day two. Madden was a true connoisseur,with a knowledge of tobacco which one can't begin to aspire to.

Doubtless, the Provost of Trinity Dublin was a Classics scholar, as Classics was the leading academic discipline of the time. I am beginning to feel as if I can magically conjugate amiable Greek verbs, despite having not the slightest knowledge of that noble ancient language.

Update: having now finished my second tin, and having also smoked a couple of pouches of UK High Street proprietaries, a tin of Dorisco and of Bankers in the meantime, I can state that Provost is without doubt going to be my staple of choice for the foreseeable future. I just don't want a day to pass without my experiencing the raisin sweetness and the mellowness of this marvellous mixture.

I would also like to reiterate that I have never experienced the slightest 'bite' from this mixture.