J. F. Germain & Son Eighteen Twenty

Preface: I have been smoking Dunhill Standard Mixture Medium for near-on 30 years, believing that it has no equal anywhere on earth. But it is gone now, and so I begin a quest for my Holy Grail: A substitute to replace the standard on which all English tobaccos are based:

1820 is an English tobacco with a slight emphasis on Orientals. Other reviews stating a blend where nothing "jumps out" and a monochromatic experience are largely correct. The first 1/3 of the bowl is best, where it is actually quite good. But working down the Orientals begin to assert a mild harshness while at the same time the Virginias fail to achieve their inherent richness. The tobacco is properly moist, with a perfect burn. Not a great English for English fans, Balkan fans might miss complexity. It does have an "interesting" flavoring or casing, which I find neither good nor off-putting. Perhaps it grows on one with time.

I bought a tin of this today, the first I have purchased of this blend since 2001. It is differs quite a bit from the blend of six years ago. Some of the differences are pleasant; others, less-so.

Most, if not all, of the differences might be the result of aging in the tin. The tobaccos were much darker than I remember, the indefinable casing less noticeable upon opening, the paper wrapping had turned uniformly brown.

As to the tobacco itself, there is nothing here to write home about; it is merely a passably respectable English blend with distinctly Oriental character, a mellow tobacco. "Mellow" is an adjective that cuts both ways; it is laudable when applied to a well-aged Single Malt Scotch; applied to Olivia Newton John...it is synonymous with "uninspired."

Let us say that 1820 is the Olivia Newton John of Germain's line. For the money, one can do quite a bit better...King Charles or any of Germain's Esoterica Line have it all over 1820...hands down.

I picked this up on a trip to England recently. I was told by the chap behind the counter that this is Germains answer to Penzance, which I love. Turns out the flake version is the answer to Penzance but sadly they didn't have any. I've given this a few tries and it just doesn't sing for me the way Penzance or even Margate does.

The cut is similar to Margate in that it's ultra fine shag. The moisture is just right and it's very easy to pack and smoke. The quality of the leaf is excellent just as I find all Germains leaf to be. It's pleasant enough smoking, mild and mellow but it lacks the character and depth of it's Esoterica contemporaries. Rather than making the different leaves shines at different times throughout the bowl, it's just monochromatic. It would be an ok tobacco to smoke if you couldn't find anything better but luckily there are much better out there.

1820 - Beautiful sticker on a similar tin that Samuel Gawith uses for SL and Commonwealth Mixture. Anyway...what we have here is a truly mild English blend that though comes rather moist stays lit. Though the Latakia is tasted its a balanced doesage of it. This might be an ok blend for those looking to break into English blends although I recommed Frog Morton On The Town for that. Nevertheless a really quality smoke. This tin will be reserved for smoking when I am doing yard work and the such. Nothing too special here.

Notes: My review is based on an older tin, dating from 1985, so please take this into consideration when reading. Smoked in various pipes, I found this best in my Castello apple.

Appearance: A heterogeneous medium to thick cut ribbon of light golden to darker brown with a few black strands thrown in. All in all a very pleasing multi-tonal blend of tobacco leaves.

Aroma: In the tin it is mildly sweet, smelling strikingly of freshly made oatmeal and brown sugar. Gentle and honeyed with just a hint of allspice, it promises to give a gentle contemplative and relaxing smoke.

Taste: 1820 lit quite easily with a single match; I was immediately struck by how hotly this burned, despite an appropriate moisture content. The flavor is surprisingly different from what the aroma might lead you to expect. There is a very subtle and pleasing flavor of oatmeal which lurks in the background of this blend, loosely unifying its flavor pastiche. It may be that fresher tins present a more seamless picture, as older tins like this sometimes begin to lose cohesion after a few decades.

Nevertheless, I found the oatmeal flavor more prominent in the aftertaste rather than in the smoking itself. After I had finished a bowl, I was surprised to find the flavor of oatmeal upon my palate lingering. This leads me to believe it has to do with the Oriental leaf, as these have a tendency to pervade the gums and lips with their flavors, affecting the flavors of everything else you taste during the remainder of the day. For this reason, I would not recommend 1820 as a bowl to start off your day.

The Virginia flavor is largely diminished and subdued in this blend and it is not at all sweet to my perception. It burns hot however and rather harshly. I did not detect any inordinate amount of tongue or throat irritation with this blend ? rather the flavor is harsh and crude, as one might expect from a rougher cut tobacco, for example. Instead, the predominant flavor is that of the latakia, although this is not overbearing in any sense of the word. More plainly said, this blend seems to have little if any flavor, and what little flavor it does have is that of smoke and charcoal with a hint of cloves and allspice.

If this were a smoother smoking mixture, it would be a very mild and relaxing smoke; but as it stands after several bowlfuls, I find it has remained steadfastly harsh to the point of getting in the way of the flavor. As a result, 1820 tends to paint a relatively simplistic, uncomplicated picture, uniform from the start to the finish of the bowl. There is little dottle and slightly less that the average amount of pipe gurgle, easily remedied by a few passes with the pipe cleaner. A gentler mixture which has similar flavors but is a bit more reflective owing to the lack of harshness is indeed Carol Burns? ?Pipemaker?s Choice? from Pipeworks and Wilke.

Bottom Line: If you are looking for a plain, old-fashioned extremely mild-flavored blend with a whisper of Latakia and Oriental in it, and don?t mind a harsh burning smoke in the mouth and throat, this may be the blend for you.