Peretti St. James Mixture

Presentation is broken ribbon, almost an “OTC cut” of medium to light browns. Like any Peretti product, St James Mixture arrives at the perfect moisture level to smoke immediately. Both char and true lights are somewhat flat, and perhaps this was more a function of my packing of this slightly awkward cut, but a few good tamps and some slow sipping coaxed out spicy, peppery Perique framed by what I found to be some one-dimensional Virginia’s.

This blend burned hot and fast for me with peppery Perique the dominant flavor throughout. Now of course I love Perique, but with so many incredible blends out there, St James Mixture takes one and a half stars for not standing out in a crowded and diverse field of rich, flavorful and complex Va/Per blends. The half is for those rare birds that like to get slapped in the face with the peppery side of Perique without any other enjoyable flavors to get in the way.

Somewhat boring with a poor cut, hot, and a bit ashy, the only Peretti blend I’ve tried that I can’t recommend. I haven’t had tongue bite in years, but this blend managed it (likely a function of me sipping too frequently trying to find the flavor beyond pepper). If you want a Peretti Va/Per, London Flake is a vastly superior blend.