Charatan Curzon Mixture

Since the manufacturer states that this blend is a kind of response to the discontinuation of Dunhill Durbar, it is impossible to write a review without making the references to the "original source". Especially since Durbar is one of my favorite blends.

Appearance: the 50 gram tin, vacuum-sealed early last year, contains a blend of tobaccos, sliced with a fine, but somewhat sloppy ribbon. There are scraps of oriental tobacco leaves in the mix, and the latakia occasionally has stems. The tobacco is light and puffy - 50 grams of the blend is packed tightly enough in a standard tin. The humidity of the mixture is ideal - the mixture doesn't need to be dried, but interesting - it hardly gets any drier after an hour in the air.

Flavor: mild, relatively complex, but much closer to English Dunhill blends than to Oriental blends. Latakia is very mild, but, however, brighter in flavor: with its small amount, you can quite clearly smell the notes of cured leather and a slight scent of tar, but the peat is almost absent. Virginia is also brighter, it has herbal and even citrus notes, and the woody ones are a bit more subdued. The manufacturer was a bit stingy with orientals, their notes are simpler - there are some paprika and allspice, but spicy sweet and sourish aroma of badjan is missing, and to say nothing of slightly sweet and spicy cinnamon and walnut.

Taste: Oriental, with its bouquet of spices, woody note and a slight acidity in the taste, of course, lead the way, but they are well-supported by Virginia. The spices themselves are simple enough - the base is dominated by allspice, so that at first you get the impression that a little perique is added to the mix. On the other hand, the acidity quickly recedes into the background, while in Durbar, it is clearly noticeable almost to the middle of the pipe. In addition, the blend almost lacks the astringent, bitter walnut note that is also present in the original. It was replaced by the announced tannin notes that have a slightly different flavor and taste profile. Virginia adds a slight fruity sweetness and an even lighter herbal note, but here it stands out a bit more, although it remains in the background of the oriental. The blend, as a whole, is initially slightly sweeter than the Durbar, but, the sweetness fades quite quickly, and it forces me to suggest its infused origins. The latakia in the taste bouquet is subdued to the point of giving just a bit of leather and wood smoke. The way the flavor forms into one bouquet with a bias toward spicy and woody notes is less rapid, and the overall taste is a bit harsh - apparently influenced by the freshness of the tobacco. By the end of the pipe, the spice fades and the wood intensifies. In bents, by the way, the woody notes raise up faster. The blend at rest smokes cool and dry, but requires some attention to the pace of smoking, it begins to tingle the tongue when accelerated. The tobacco burns into a light gray dust and leaves no moisture in the pipe. The strength of the tobacco is medium, in a very large pipe a slight nicotine hit is possible. The aftertaste is soft, woody, slightly sweet, persistent.

The smoke from the tobacco is quite persistent, having a slight smell of sandalwood, tannin and a mixture of peppers.

What's the bottom line? This is a good, quality blend that is at a crossroads between mild English and Oriental. The orientals in it are simple, and the Virginia flavor and taste pulls a focus away from orientals. So… No miracle happened. The Dunhill Durbar that left us remains unreachable. In any case, I have a few more tins of Curzon, and I will definitely check what will happen to this blend after a few years.