A & C Petersen Caledonian Melange No.10 Highland Cream

Considered on the specific department of aromatics, Caledonian Highland Cream is a prime quality blend. It is marvellously flavoured with vanilla-toffee-whisky notes on a confectionary way (in the good sense of the term), despite this casing is liberally applied it seems possess a sort of “transparent” virtue so you can detect the taste of the underlying good tobaccos, the whole effect is a sensation of great pleasure with a smoke able to caress your uvula and fill your nose with a superior aroma. Christmas is near, make a gift to your relatives and friends smoking this mastery product close them.

Had high hopes for this one I have to admit, based on reviews both here and other web sites. The packaging also looks very classic and classy. Opening the tin I was already slightly apprehensive; the rather nicely orange/brown melange had quite a few stems and veins mixed in, and tin note was surprisingly fruity for a whisky-flavoured tobacco, with notes of apricot and citrus peel. For the smoking experience, I would classify this in the Danish style. While the flavour is pleasant all through the bowl, it is very mild and straight forward. At best I get a nice round sweetness with notes of caramel and apricot seeds, at worst just steam... The tobacco also gave off quite a lot of humidity; I had my first drink in years! Despite this it did burn nice and easy all the way to the heel, leaving dark, almost black, ashes with little to no dottle. Had the flavour been stronger and more complex I would've rated this higher. If you're into mild-ish, easy tobaccos give this a go, for me it didn't do much.

Aromatic lovers will probably greatly enjoy this. I just had to try it because I heard it has a tobacco taste despite all the sweetness (Vanilla extract in a can!)

If I were desperate, I'd finish the tin. But, because my local tobacco club has a tobacco bar and members are invited to share their bounty, this one will be my offering for the month. I had the tin for several years but now that I've sampled the contents, I'm willing to let it go.

Quality leaf all the way and not hard to keep lit at all. I'm glad I smoked it in my Kaywoodie reserved for aromatics because the odor and taste will probably stay with the pipe longer than I'll stay on planet earth.

Now then, where's a spoon? After a whiff of this stuff in the tin, I'm thinking anything that smells that good surely must be edible.

Excellent Tobacco,of the Highest Quality Ingredients...If U like C+Diel,Pease,McClnds...U won't B disapointed! Nowadays most Tobacco Mfg's Rely on"Casing+Flovoring"2make a Mixture Palatable...Because they don't have Good-Core-Ingredients...This is not the Case,with A+C Peterson or the 3other mentioned in my Review. Have smoked a pipe for Almost 30Yrs+tried Literally 100-150Tin Mixtures alone. If U can find ANY..A+C Peterson Tin Mix's..BUY ALL that U can afford!.. I opened an A+C Scottish-Mixture from the 1960's(It was amazing!!) **With All Changes Happening Within The European-Union;the List of Tobacco+Tob.Related Products are getting More Restrictive(INTO-North America)...If You find Tob-Treasures..BUY THEM While U Still CAN!**

One of the rare Caledonian offerings still available with 421. This mixture is IMMENSELY cased with Irish cream. Despite being a top quality tobacco it remains too cased for my liking.

I have liked this offering less than the other Caledonian varieties.

The casing was too much for my liking and it bit.

This tobacco has a special place in my heart because it was the very first pipe tobacco ever had. However, I never finished the tin, and that is not because I didn't like pipe smoking.

After quickly discovering a whole world of different types of tobacco and flavourings, the candy-like flavour of Caledonian seemed less appealing and frankly not worth the price of tobacco. You can just suck on a Werthers Original to get a lot more flavour and no risk of cancer. Also, the underlying tobacco flavours are so mild that a more seasoned pipe smoker may struggle to get any form of satisfaction from it. My dislike is not just because I generally don't prefer aromatics, because I do in fact enjoy several blends that rely on flavouring. I am also not necessarily negative to uncomplicated and one-dimensional tobaccos. My conclusion is that CM No. 10 is simply not that great.

That being said, there is nothing harsh or ugly about the blend, and no chance of tongue bite. The flavouring is in and of itself pleasant and no different from what you would expect from a classic whisky aromatic. This is a Danish style aromatic, which is not sticky and soggy like American syrup-drenched aromatics. That is a plus.

I would say that it might be a good place to start as a completely new pipe smoker, as it did the job for me. But I actually think that it makes more sense for beginners to go for something with more oomph, so that they don't end up puffing like a steam engine to get any taste out of the tobacco. I had to learn to slow down as I discovered other types of blends.

If you like the description of this blend, don't let me put you off. But consider trying Solani Red Label instead, as it is better at doing virtually the same job as CM No. 10.

Yet another tobacco with a British title that isn't available in Britain. It's daft, it really is.

A very pleasant tin fragrance, but nothing outstanding. It's a well pressed, soft and moist Danish. With this tobacco-addled tongue I can only detect a little of of the 'Scottish highland cream whiskey' at the outset. The rest of this blend is just typical Danish really and if you don't care for Danish concoctions then you won't like this either.

I can't see anything much that sets it apart from the others of this type. At just over 10 euros this is certainly good value for a blend you can smoke all day week in week out, although that would get boring eventually.

I'd liken this to the better quality Danish blends, particularly Davidoff (here we go again). Thic could pass as any of their more expensive mixtures - Red or Green, without being too sickly like some of Larson's best.

Not one to purchase time and again, a middle range Danish blend.

Melange number 10 eh ? Wonder what numbers 2 to 9 taste like ?

my first tin tobacco i smoked.its creamy rich and very god

Highland Cream is a smooth, mild, aromatic blend, very much in the Danish tradition. There's quality leaf here, and the aroma is creamy, deep, sweet in a milky-chocolate sort of way, more similar to Bailey's (the liquor) than to other blends cased with Scotch (i.e.: A&C Peterson's own Highland MALT, with which Highland CREAM should not be confused, Radford's Old Scotch or Davidoff`'s Scottish Mixture).

I believe it is a mild smoke, but the density of the casing gives the impression of a fuller strength (that is, a medium smoke). It is not cloying or sticky. Room aroma is pretty nice, homey. There's really not much in the way of excitement, nor does it induce a deep, contemplative smoke. I find more the kind of smoke others enjoy, a "conversational" tobacco if you will.

As to the above description, I think they got it confused with another blend from the same company: Premier Crú. Similar to Caledonian Green, but less sweet and slightly more potent, Premier Crú does present the classic English tobacco composition of Virginia, very tamed Latakia and Orientals, and a dash of Périque.

So, don't be misled. Highland Cream is NOT an English style tobacco, and it's NO alternative to Dunhill's EMP. But if you are looking for a creamy, slow burning aromatic, this might just be the ticket.