Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Erinmore Mixture

Yes, Erinmore Mixture is a "wet" smoke, but in a good pipe (I use Peterson small bowl pipes) it does not smoke hot. As far as the aroma is concerned, my wife (a non-smoker) finds it agreeable, and many people who smoke cigarettes have commented upon the aroma when we gather in the outside smoking areas in UK pubs.

I smoked roll-your-own cigarettes until I was 25 then switched to a pipe as I am a cricketer and I was getting out of breath on my bowling run-up. Erinmore has a sufficient nicotine hit to be the ideal tobacco for the person who wants to change from cigarettes to pipes.

Erinmore Mixture is a good, all-day smoke; it is not aggressive, does not dull the taste buds if smoked before breakfast. The taste is not spoiled if used with a filter pipe such as a Savanelli (I have 3 Savanellis and good pipes they are).

It is not the aristocrat of pipe tobaccos; I reserve that honour for Troost Black Cavendish; it is, however, a fine, often under-rated tobacco. It has lost a degree of its richness since the Danes started blending it; what I do is to keep a small quantity of loose Black Cavendish in a snuff tin in my pouch, and I add this to my pipe towards the evening when a more aromatic and stronger-tasting smoke is required.

Finally; it is essential, at least in my view; to change pipes daily when smoking Erinmore Mixture. This kills the wetness.

This is my all time favorite Virginia tobacco, Erinmore Mixture is not an aromatic ( in fact,you can call it whatever you want ) but this is an Erinmore, it tastes Erinmore and it smells Erinmore, it has a special flavor that is very similar to... Erinmore.

it is unique, and superior to ANY other modern Virginia out there.

I recently got a very old large ( 7 ounce? ) tin of this from a fellow pipesmoker for $8. He swore he would "never smoke this foul weed again" and said he would throw it in the trash if I did not want it. He only smoked one bowl, so I thought it was a good deal. Now, when I opened the tin, sugar crystals coated the tobacco, and, as always for me, I am always excited by this. I love the flake version of Erinmore, and now, I love this. Smoked in a Group 3 sized pipe, this is a great smoke. Yes, as one previous reviewer said, it does leave your mouth kind of dry afterwards, but I find this to be a very rewarding smoke. I filled a large mason jar with this and promptly put it into my tobacco collection. Highly Recommended!!

*UPDATE 5/22/07* Just recently ordered two tins of the "new" version. All I can say is "What Happened??!!"...Sour and bitey right out of the tin. I let it air dry out for a day on a sheet of newspaper, and this helped. But, I am still not finding the full and satisfying smoke of the previous well aged tin reviewed earlier. I kept one 3.5 ounce tin sealed, and I am hoping that aging does the trick. Still a good smoke, and I will be overly generous and leave my four star rating...for now...I will follow up later.

Not doing very well this one, so let me tell you: I've been a pipe smoker for 35 years and I know my way around good tobaccos when I see them. I avoid aromatics like the plague and couldn't smoke EM when it was manufactured by Murray & Sons in Belfast; I was able to ocassionally tolerate the flake. I only recently tried this because blending has now gone to Orlik (and that possibly means that Stockkeby handle the blending and distribution). I now cannot tolerate the flake, which is completely overpowered by the casing, but find EM altogether a more subtle and rewarding smoke - the casing has completely changed and once contained a tonquin aspect that is no longer there - this substantially changes the dynamics for me. This is not mild - it packs a nicotine punch and although it is cased, it is not overpowering and the sweetness is not sickly as are many aromatics. This does burn cool and burns to a light white ash; however, it does vary in moisture content and must be dried - and dried well. I find complete removal from the tin and spread out on a newspaper for at least 24 hours substantially transforms this tobacco into something very pleasant to smoke - light enough as an all day smoke and equally rewarding in the evening with a good nicotine slap (rather than a punch).

I feel this tobacco, unusually, fills the centre ground that sits between a full aromatic on one hand and a non-aromatic blend on the other. Frankly, I am astonished that since my first tin, I've ordered an additional ten tins - this is most unusual for me because casings will usually send me over the edge - I am to all intents and purposes a VAPER man, but this has awoken another dimension.

If this smarts the tongue, then you've packed it improperly - it's light enough to burn easy and shouldn't be pushed - any tobacco will bite under such conditions.

It works for me because it's nothing like the original!

This is an old friend.

Admittedly, the friend in question may well be having a mid-life crisis and changed somewhat over the last thirty years but still, recognisably, that old friend.

Things change, rarely for the better; that which we knew last year, fades and passes. The modern incarnation of Erinmore has lost some of the pouch note , it’s lost some of the fruitiness of the smoke. It’s still there but it’s not as pronounced.

Old Grandad used to let me smell his tobacco pouch, if I’d been a good lad, and Erinmore was the one I loved to smell the most. It was rich in fruitiness - some say pineapple but who really knows.

I would sit and listen to his stories from the war, while blue and grey plumes of Erinmore would drift up to the ceiling; disturbed by Grandad’s hand chopping through the curling smoke, this way and that way, demonstrating the skill of the Spitfire pilot, chasing down the Luftwaffe through the clouds.

All memories now but what memories they are.

If Grandad couldn’t get Erinmore flake, then he’d buy the mixture - quite regularly he’d mix some up with some Condor, on a bit of newspaper, but I’ve tried it and it doesn’t taste the same; maybe the news print has changed or something?

I would sit with him as he did this, showing me how to tease the tobacco apart and stroke it with my fingers to get it all mixed up.

He used to roll this into what he called a “wad” - a really tight ball, about the size of a 20 pence piece. This “wad” was introduced to his old Zulu pipe, a spill was lit and then that smell.

I digress - apologies.

Still a cool burning smoke but, in my humble opinion, somewhat altered. More subtle than it used to be but definitely one of the more palatable OTC blends in England.

Good for a beginner because of it’s availability and because of the way it won’t bite, no matter how roughly treated - like the faithful, old family dog.

Everyone should try it but I miss the old stuff.

I love it, typical of a lot of the good classics, when you first pop the the you think, "what are they all taking about?". By the end you know why it is a classic. There really is nothing else like it. I get rich fruit tea cake from it. I go for it when my regular flakes, aro's or english's don't beckon. And then it always hits the spot. Just picked up the flake version, and I know I am going to love it too.

This is one of those blends that you either love or hate. It's that simple. I've smoked both the mixture and the flake for the past 22 yrs. In all those years I have found nothing like it. I've found this smokes best in a small bowl.

This is one of my favorite tobaccos. I needed a few tries to learn how to smoke it slowly and steadily to enjoy it's taste without burning my tongue, but I'm glad I didn't stop trying. I smoke this blend from a medium sized Capitol with balsa wood filter alone or in a group of friends and no one complained about it's aroma yet. If you are a lover of not too aromatised blends then you have to give it a try.

I left the pipe aside for about 10 yeers or so, for various reasons. Since autumn 2009 I picked up pipe smoking again and awarded myself with a new pipe and some new tobaccoes. I bought a 50g tin of this as my first tobacco at my local tobacconist in Belgium for a very resonnable price of 5,90 Euros.

The tin looked fairly new (no production date mentioned)and is produced in Denmark by the Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Upon opening the tin i noticed beautiful yellow golden thin ribbon cut Virginia tobacco, with here and there some dark brown and black speckles. The aroma was a very strong but inviting mixture of raisins and especially apricots. The tobacco was densely packed in the tin and fairly moist, so i let it dry out for a few hours every time i smoked it.

The tobacco packs easily. I never got any tongue bite or dottle, and I smoked it fairly fast. It burns cool to a light grey ash.

The taste is citrus and grassy, like a young Virginia. I would recommend is as a summer or morning smoke. A very high quality and affordable tobacco for people who like young and fruity Virginia blends. The taste and tin aroma gets better as it is exposed to some air and has time to dry out a bit.

I will defenitely buy more of this.