Wellauer & Co Wellauer's English Blend

For those in a hurry: I hardly managed to smoke one bowl. The rest of the tin went into the garbage bin. Tastes like card board with some undefined, unpleasant flavor added.

Wellauer is a Swiss company, but it's mixtures are produced in Germany by Planta. I bought a tin in the Wellauer shop, St. Gallen, Switzerland. Tin design differs from the one in Germany, but I assume it is the same mixture. Apart from the Wellauaer Dunhill copies, where I doubt that these are produced by Planta, my experience with Wellauer blends was very mixed, the Balkan Mixture has been the only blend turning out as a positive surprise. I wanted to try the English blend, since the ingredients sound promising. Well, after cracking the lid, the mixture came optically across very unattractive, very rough cut in a plastic bag. The odor emerging from the tin was even worse. Not at all what I expected - aroma of an English Mixture - but some heavy, dull aroma, reminding be of Wellauers First Choice (certainly not mine). After leaving the tin open for a couple of hours, the intensity decreased a bit, but I still failed to detect the typical smells of the claimed ingredients. Smoking the stuff was quite unpleasant for me, the flavoring was always present, true tobacco aromas did not evolve. My first and last try, and it is very rare for me to give a mixture not a second chance. My conclusion: if your idea of an English blend is nurtured by Dunhill, Samuel Gawith, GLP, ..., AVOID THIS BLEND BY ALL MEANS.

It was an old aluminium foil pouch, which I found alongwith one of First Choice.

The tobacco was dry but not excessively so. The cut was on the coarse side, I could not call it ribbon, nor ready rubbed. Something like pressed cube. The pouch note was very strange, somethingmusty and alcoholic, I would say anise.

Easy enough to light, it burned substantially cool. But regarding the flavour, oh... no ... it was empty, muddied, None tobacco flavour did shine, a simply undistinguished blend with some Latakia in the rear. And, the worst, irrespectively of the pace it scorched my palate. Something chemically wrong with my body.

Something to forget. Sorry.

It remembered me so much of the Brebbia no. 7

I picked up an old tin of Wellauer’s English Blend about a year ago. I am guessing it is 15 to 20 years old, but that is just a guess. In the tin, there is the scent of a topping that I would best describe as “fruity.” The tobacco is a chopped ribbon. In the pipe it smokes of a typical medium to full English with the Orientals and Latakia leading the way. There’s some sweetness from the Virginias but I had a difficult time distinguishing it from what I perceive to be the topping. The Perique has adds a very light pepper quality to the blend. The reason why it has taken me months to get through this tin is that I find the first half of each bowl somewhat tasty, but as each bowl progresses, the later stages become muddled and somewhat flat and at times even bitter leaving me with an unpleasant aftertaste. I finally gave up about two thirds way though the tin. In fairness, this may have been better in its youth, but that’s just a hopeful guess.

Wow! This is far and away the worst tobacco I've ever stuck in a pipe! When you open the pouch you're greeted with a strong and offensive odor which reminds me of warm beer past it's experation date cooking in the sun!The presentation is horrible both in it's cheezy packaging and the tobacco's own clumpy little mounds of brights and darks.The flavor was putrid as well and it's casing stayed right with me right to the bitter end of the bowl!This stuff makes Erinmore and Royal Yacht look palatable! Pass this by and run the other way! SIMPLY AWFUL!!! prep 10-7-05

* * * * UPDATE * * * * I realized what the topping is on this vile tobacco! Cheap Champagne! It smells so strongly of it that I can't believe this was'nt apparet to me quicker.I have four full 50g pouches of this stuff that I'd love to trade someone who appreciates it more than I....

It is difficult to obtain Wellauer's English Blend. And, it is not worth the effort. I was able to procure the 50g pouch--a poor presentation in itself. The cut of the tobacco is like miniature corn flakes. There is a mild, foul casing in the smell that does not improve when smoked. This is harsh, disgusting stuff. Do not waste the effort or the funds on this rubbish.

Maybe I picked up the wrong pouch, but this tobacco seemed almost too young to be smoked. The smell in the pouch was of fresh grass, earthy, raw; and the same during the smoke. It's no smoky at all, nothing like any english blend smoked before, and I didn't like it.

Update September, 12, 2005:

this is the pouch: http://www.bollitopipe.it/bollito/custom/images/tabacchi/Wellauer/wellenglishblend.jpg