It is a little deceptive in presentation. Its Oriental bent is obvious upon opening the tin, but the bright browns with the black strands and the aroma from the tin seem to suggest a milder English than it actually is.

During the first bowl, the Cyprian Latakia seemed to strengthen through the bowl, but never overpowered. The second and third bowls revealed its character more homogeneously through the bowl as compared to the first. While the Orientals never overwhelm the Virginia, they subtly give it a fuller body, and certainly don't hide, offering a nice Eastern spice. The flavour notes don't quite resolve into a chord, rather giving it an interesting arpeggiated profile.

Although the flavours seem to keep their distinct notes, they are all in the same key, offering a nice complexity, and the blend is a full, smooth, interesting English smoke.

I found the fully rubbed out chopped and ribbon cut easy to pack, and smoked from the tin more easily than a lot of strong English blends; smooth with a light Virginia sweetness, though not at all cloying, and remained cool and dry throughout. Not having tried its sibling blend, Rattray's Red Rapparee, I can't offer any comparisons, but I enjoy the Mallory well enough to want to try the Rapparee. It does remind me of a slightly fuller, more English version of Sobranie Balkan, or a lighter C&D Star of the East.

All in all, a fine smoke for those times when one wants a stronger flavour that doesn't force itself upon one, but will still make itself known, now and again. Very nice for a rainy afternoon with a book or enjoying the remains of the day on the veranda, and a great 'early in the day' pipe for the confirmed Latakia lover.

I quite like the blend, and intend to put some away. I have a feeling that allowing the Virginia to age a bit will add a new note to the mix, and I'd be interested to see if the blend marries more fully, to resolve the flavour notes. I feel Rattrays Black Mallory could be an even smoother, full bodied medium-strong English with, possibly, a finer character after aging a year or three.

The intensity of the flavor is pretty comparable to Frog Morton, in my opinion. But the Virginia adds a savory, sweet dimension that offsets the smokier Orientals quite well.

My tin is several years old and has dried out almost too much, but burns better than ever. Drying it out makes all the difference.

It's a great choice for a mostly Virginia smoker who occasionally wants a taste of something more English. I suppose you could consider it a "gateway" blend for learning to enjoy the classic English stuff.

The cavendish is apparently toasted, and is scrumptious, without being cloyingly sweet. Although this is a fairly potent blend, I find it to be very relaxing and completely satisfying. It is a little heavy for the warm weather months, but it is pure heaven when the weather turns cool.

This is the third blend from Rattray I have tried, and the quality is impeccable. A fine tobacco.

With that said the tin I own is probably four years old. When I opened it four years ago I was not really impressed with this blend so I put it away to age some. I recently "reconstituted" the blend using deionized water and wish I had read the reviews prior to doing this. Needless to say I'm still not impressed.

I began by smoking this like I would any English/Latakia blend and found a fair amount of tongue bite. In addition, I am in agreement with most of the reviews here, mostly with the two stars or less ratings. I don?t even get a nicotine rush from this blend like I would from most Dunhill blends.

What prompted me to write this is a comment made in comparison to Dunhill?s Standard Medium. This blend isn?t close to the same league as Standard Medium. Black Mallory is harsh, unrefined, dare I say one-dimensional as compared to any Dunhill blend. Heck even Dunhill?s Standard Mild has more punch and MUCH better smoking qualities.

With that said, after reading the other reviews of this blend I can find this tolerable if I take my time to smoke it SLOWLY, I?m in my early 30s (always on the go) and unfortunately usually do not have the time to doctor a pipe as much as this blend requires.

To wrap this up, there are so many quality English/Latakia blends out there it is just a waste of time to buy this blend. If I?m going to offend the olfactory senses of the non-smoking public I?d rather do it with a Dunhill (Standard Series Blends), McCranie?s (Old Syrian), Samuel Gawith (Perfection or Squadron Leader), Cornell & Diehl or McClelland (25th Anniversary or Frog Morton Series) blend.

It lights with ease, and burns just as well, evenly and fairly slow, right to the bottom. The flavour is full, spicy, with a pleasant smokiness well backed up by the orientals. The flavour gets richer toward the bottom of the bowl, and the sell is wonderful, especiallly whenm smoking out of doors in the crisp winter air.

Where RR is a smoke for the autumn, this is a tobacco well suited to winter, the cold air brings out the best flavor and aroma. I cant think of many things more pleasurable than smoking this while walking home from the pub through the snow covered Hertfordshire countryside. Strongly reccomended to lovers of Latakia.

Meerschaum Man Smoking an Altinok Smooth Canadian

Is this named after the mountaineer?

Three of five stars

Like most of Rattray's offerings, this blend is unique and pleasing. It reminds me of a stronger Highland Targe (yet another great Rattray mixture).

It may just be me, but the tin nose of the "English" genre of Rattray blends has a consistent signature smell, not unlike the way McClelland's tins do. While McClelland's tins smell something like ketchup (or whatever), Rattray tins smell like some kind of Malt to me. I wonder if you smell the same thing?

Either way, Rattray blends are subtle and they pack and burn wonderfully right out of the can. But please, don't smoke Rattray's "English" blends if you are looking for a Latakia "knock out", because that's not the point here. Not at all. The point is balance and quality - two attributes sorely missing from a lot of contemporary English blends out there.

Use a little patience and time with this and other Rattray's blends - there's a lot to learn from them.

This is a high quality English/Balkan blended from Rattray's that really didn't do much for me at first, but after trying several aged 50g. tins, I have been pleasantly surprised. Upon opening the tin you are greeted by mostly dark medium-cut ribbon leaf. The tin aroma is mostly Cyprian latakia with the Orientals close behind and the Virginia way in the background. The quality of the leaf is apparent, packing and lighting are easy. Flavor is medium to full English all the way down the bowl with some sweetness from the VA popping in and out. I have to say, that the flavor seems much better from the 50g. tins than fromm the 100g. tins. Why that is, I don't know, but after smoking several pounds of this blend, I only buy the 50g. tins now. Definitely in the top 10 of English blends.

Black Mallory is much more "English" in its demeanor nobly bland. It's a lovely old English smoke alright, but I find it kind of staid. One might as well be smoking Dunhill Standard Medium, you know?