Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Erinmore Mixture

This is another I purchased due to reading so much about it on here. The reviews seemed to be mixed so I thought I'd assuage my curiosity and give it a go.

The smell on opening the packet really increased my anticipation, a good waft of currant bun greeted my nostrils as I dived in. The packing and lighting were sensibly easy, so far so good. Once again, the currant bun flavour appeared along with a good hint of citrus, quite nice I thought, especially when hints of pineapple popped up occasionally. Sadly though, there is something rough about this, something I can't quite put my finger on this, something that hits the back of the throat and the roof of the mouth. It's almost like they've made the perfect hot cross bun and garnished it with sandpaper.

So there we go nice flavour with more than a hint of rough. I'm not sure if it's a case of it being made with floor sweepings from some good tobaccos or added a very good casing to some bad ones. I think I can understand why a lot of people like this one, there is a good flavour in here. However, for me I can only quote the venerable James May "It's like they came up with the recipe for a perfect shepherds pie and then made it with dog meat!".

Maybe I'm overdoned, by smoking pipe tobaccoes, for all these years, but I have been disappointed trying Enrimore Mixture... Cracking the tin, after two years of cellaring, I found this blend humid yet; sniffing, I got very little aroma, yes, there is some citrus inside and some tobacco sent, but too light... I emptied all tobacco on a white clean sheet of paper, to get fresh air and loose some humidity; after 1/4 of an hour, I put it back to it's tin and left it closed for three days, to be reconditionated by it's own --as I always do with new tin and packs, I open first time--. Color of the blend is light and all those screcks of black cavendish I can't see, except some very rare... Anyway, the blend, during smoking, doesn't bite tongue at all. After some difficulty to make it burn --lighted more than three times-- it started smoking regularly, without put out, but in the end of the bowl left some dump dottle, I had to scrap away, all times, even when that 100gr. tin ended nearly dry. I didn't get any sattisfation smoking it, neither before or during. I have to notice it isn't a decise blend in aroma or taste, neither in nic-hit, for this reason is highly recommended to newbies, being an easy smoking stuff, without any tongue biting, nor high nicotine tobacco. I won't buy another one, this isn't a blend for me and maybe neither for old date puffies...

ERINMORE MIXTURE (EM) and Erinmore Flake (EF) have some similarities, but actually they are two completely distinct blends with a lot of differences. Here I want to speak about the differences between these two peculiar blends, from the point of view of Erinmore Mixture compared to Erinmore Flake. Similarities: first of all they have the same base Virginia and Burley. Secondly, both are flavored blends. Thirdly they have a common fruity note. And here I stop. Now the differences that are many more. Above all the cut: EF is, as the name suggests, a classic flake. EM is a ribbon cut, very similar to a loose cut. Secondly the recipe: EM contains Black Cavendish and it is more aromatic than EF because it is employed a cased Black Cavendish. Thirdly the flavoring: EM is not only fruity. It has also a slightly Lakeland flavoring that is not present in EF (I never detected it). Overall the flavoring is mild in EF while in EM is stronger. Fourth the strength: EF is stronger than EM. In EF there is a greater nicotinic “boost”. Fifth and last the tobacco taste: EF has a real tobacco taste that EM doesn’t have. In conclusion, EF is more natural, more spicy while EM is sweeter, more aromatic. Again, EF is a Virginia/Burley mixture slightly flavored with the tobacco taste in a leading role while EM is a flavored blend, a classic aromatic mixture. In my opinion and in my personal rating system (from 1 to 10) for Erinmore Mixture my score is 7 and two stars (9 and three stars for Erinmore Flake - see review).

This is the second tin that I smoke, the first one was opened as soon as I received it (still in 2020).

The first tin I didn't think was something remarcable, a blend of virginias without much expression, I don't remember having identified the burley and the black cavendish was very shy. If I had only bought one tin I'd probably not buy this tobacco anymore.

However, the second can (time the of registration of this review)… What a delicious tobacco! These two years of aging left the tobacco much tastier, the burley is more present in the pipe but it is mellow, it does not dominate the rest of the flavors. The black cavendish sweetens the smoking very well and the presence of the bright virginias produces a very good pleasure throughout the smoking session.

In the opened tin aroma the pineapple is very perceptible, very reminiscent of citrus fruits and citrus candies. In the smoke I notice notes of red fruits, prunes, raspberry, dry acid fruits, it has a very present sweetness.

Very light burn, a slow burn that burns cold, without gurgling whatsoever.

EDIT: a few days later the marvelous aroma vanished off, and now it's just a plain smoke, the pinapple is subtle. Nice smoke, but not a great one.

I bought this tin and stated smoking it in August of 2014. From reading reviews, I knew it didn't fit the mold of typical aromatic flavors like vanilla, cherry or whiskey etc... I guessed it was an old school aro like Samuel Gawaith Gousemoor or Perretti Nbo-Name, both of which reeked like old lady perfume but became actually quite pleasurable after smoking. The blend was sour with tongue bite from the start. Rarely do I find a blend un-smokable but this was it. I tried airing out some tobacco to make the casings less concentrated but it was still unpleasant. The blend had a sour taste I couldn't put my finger on. In October 2014, I put the tin in a jar in my cellar and ...forgot about it. Now, SIX YEARS LATER, during the Covid crisis, I rediscovered the half tin and I still don't like it though it is more smoke-able. Time has lessened the pungency of the casing. Aromatics are famous for not changing, or getting better with age and this is one of them. The intervening years have at least lessened the casing and tongue bite but there is still a little sting. The flavor is that of burnt Cavendish and a dull, sour flavor. Not that great. Strange stuff. I have one unopened tin that will stay that way! Lastly, I don't give one star because I think that is too subjective.

Erinmore Mixture is confusing to me, as I imagine it has been confusing to many people. Erinmore Flake and Erinmore Ready Rubbed are among the most respected tobaccos to come out of the Irish blending tradition. Using some of the finest Virginia mixtures, they would augment and heighten the wondrous complexities of the tobacco with a secret essence that perfectly balanced sweetness and fragrance: just the sort of blend that I always love. Those, however, are not Erinmore Mixture.

With Erinmore Mixture, just as with all Erinmore tobaccos, we have that same magical sauce waiting to make the blend bloom with old-world charm. Instead of the quality Virginia which Murray Sons have always seemed to understand was the best choice for such situations, a blend of various lower quality Virginias, what appears to be Burley, and a fair amount of black Cavendish make up the base of this scented mixture. Why the thought that this was a good idea, I cannot say.

The pleasant and at times even delicious characteristics of all of the Erinmore series come through at the outset, as well as at various intervals throughout the bowl. Erinmore Mixture can just as soon give way the spoiled fruit flavor of poor quality Cavendish or the bile bitterness of bad burley or the scorching heat of bright Virginia that has not been carefully handled in blending. What's more, it smokes quite wet more often than not. In short, Erinmore Mixture has so many of the drawbacks that are to be found from those notoriously low quality bulk aromatics that so many unsuspecting neophytes fall pray to. I can imagine Murray Sons & Co. falling under the assumption that this is where the pipe tobacco market was going and decided that they had to make their own version of it. When your original offerings were as fine as those in the Erinmore line, though, there is nothing wrong with living in the past.

Regards,

A. Morley Jaques

It is known around the world that that the Irish have a great sense of humour. What is perhaps misunderstood is the nature of that humour. As an outsider, you are never sure when an Irishman is putting you on. Not anything malicious, just something to keep you on your toes. For instance, a major English contractor was accepting tenders on a contract to build a tunnel under the English Channel. Among the many serious bids was found a handwritten note from Murphy and Son, Belfast, which read "one hundred pounds". When the officials in charge of the project asked how Murphy expected to build a tunnel under the English Channel for one hundered pounds, he told them "Well, you've got me on one side, see, with a shovel, and you've got me son on the other side, see, and him with a shovel, and we start to dig, see, and that's how we do it." Intrigued, one official asked Murphy what would happen if they didn't happen to meet in the middle. "Well," said Murphy, bursting with pride, "then you'd get two tunnels for the price of one!"

We can thank the Irish for that little bit of a joke, but it pales in comparison to the that greatest of all Irish jokes, Erinmore Mixture. It's a great set up. That bit about the world's premier tobacco growing regions, two monks or something who covet the "formula", and - this is the kicker - the pineapple! C'mon, nothing's funnier than a pineapple! Does it taste like pineapple? Is it only used as an outmoded symbol of quality? Is it actually a grenade? I haven't even loaded the bowl and this stuff is already hilarious!

The pouch aroma certainly suggests comedy. Comedy, or the perfume on the forty-seven year old biddy who tried to pick you up the local pub the night before. It's not a bad smell, maybe not one you would have sought out, but not entirely bad. I was given a pouch by a friend who bought it on the advice of another friend (you know how jokes go around), so it had already been opened, and did not seem goopy. As of this writing, uh, telling it feels pretty dry.

Upon lighting, the joke turns rather crude and therefore you may not want to tell it to your better pipes, but save it for those simple working stiffs known as "corncobs", or other such disposable rubbish. At first the punchline shocked me very much. It had fruity overtones that no Christian man should enjoy, and was cruder than I had expected. I suppose a real man can handle it's harshness, but ladies may take issue.

The thing is, it's become some sort of guilty pleasure, telling this joke. I mean, I don't go around telling it every day, as that would get very tiresome indeed. I sometimes get to where I have forgotten it completely, but then, sooner or later it comes lurking around the corner of my memory/humidor, and I once again marvel at it's strange composition. It's not Shakespear. It's not even Dickens. It's more like one of those filthy 8-tracks of truck driver humour. And I laugh. Then I LAUGH! It reminds me of the time at dinner when my grandfather dropped his Players Navy Cut cigarette in the fruit cocktail! Then I cough. I cough on the joke's harsher points and try to put it out of my head completely. But alas! It's no use because at some point, while fumbling through my tobaccos it will come to me again and I will be powerless to stop it. Then, someday it will leave my mind completely, and only the strong essense of it's memory will linger on, year after year. Until then, every time I fall under the spell of it's mirth I will remember, no matter how hard I convulse at it's absurdity, somewhere, two Irishmen who share a secret are laughing harder than me.

I really hoped it would be better. but don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's bad. perhaps for my taste it is a very flat tobacco. Virginia very present both in the can and in the smoke. I wouldn't consider it an aromatic tobacco, black cavendish is barely perceived the same as burley. However, it does not displease. Few nuances, it burns well although it generates quite a bit of heat. In short, it is a tobacco without much of anything in my opinion. maybe for when you want to smoke a pipe without any specific taste. I will hope that as the days go by and the contact with the environment perhaps it will give me some fruity and herbal nuances that they mention but I don't feel them anywhere.

The first thing that needs to be said about Erinmore Mixture is that it isn't a ready rubbed version of the flake. Nor was the Murray's version from many years ago. Perfume aficionados like to talk of 'flankers' when a product is introduced next to a long standing successful product and which contains similar notes but offers points of difference. Erinmore Mixture is a flanker to the Flake. It has additional fruit notes, less of the licorice of the flake, and more bright tobaccos. There is a small percentage of black leaf which may or may not be black cavendish, I would guess a lot less that 10%, so any talk of BC being a significant component is nonsense.

It is fairly sweet, has a reasonably pleasant room note, is a touch acidic or tart in the mouth, and is of medium strength. Would get cloying if you smoked more than a bowl or so a day of it, so probably suits the occasional pipe smoker; which probably points to its reason for existing in the first place.