Smokers' Haven 20th Anniversary Mixture

Smoker's Haven started in 1940 and this blend came out in 1960. That is the year I started smoking a pipe in earnest and by the early to mid sixties I was smoking this blend. At that time it was tinned by Sobranie Ltd. and it was a rock solid medium English. Somewhere around 1980 the J.F. Germaine Co. began making the blend. This iteration, although not totally the equivalent of the Sobranie version, was a very good tobacco with a finer cut. The current production tin I bought and opened was quite damp - too damp to smoke outright and required two days of airing out. When lit, it smoked with a high register and, due to it's very narrow ribbon cut, burned rather quickly and I found myself becoming somewhat bored after two or three bowls. So, its not a bad blend but I doubt I'll be hoarding the current version. However, I have enough confidence to recommend it and give it three stars. I still have in my possession a Sobranie era two ounce tin which we reviewers ought to get together somehow and smoke so that you can see what this blend was in the old days.

11/17/14 - I rarely alter my reviews on this site and have never done so to lower the rating of a blend I have reviewed...until now. I have continued to smoke this blend straight out of the tin and this is my current opinion of it - boring! I tried using it as an ingredient in microblending , but it just doesn't do much of anything when I do.

I am reviewing a 2019 tin of this old blend. I will come back and review this when it has some age on it, this is straight off the boat and one of the fresher blends I have reviewed. I am sure age will change this up. Tin note: Wow, this was a weird one. It was very wet when I opened it and I attribute that to the freshness. There is some kind of liquor topping (apple/pear brandy? Absinthe?) But it is strong and it mixes with the Latakia to smell like...band aids. Yes the plastic strips for ouchies. Oddly enough I came to like it, kind of how one enjoys the smell of their own...well you get the point. This is young and the topping makes this very wet and need of some major dry time. It retains the top note and once dried is easy to pack and light. The Orientals and Latakia struggle for dominance in this and the give and take makes for an interesting smoke. The sour and spicy Orientals and the sweet, creamy Latakia are both enhanced by the topping, I am pretty sure this is a flavored brandy, but it enhances the sweetness of the Latakia and the Virginia's and it also seems to add to the spicy and sour notes of the Orientals. That is a pretty complementary topping. Germain tobacco's all seem to have age and a distinctive old world character, this is no exception but it is the "youngest" old tasting blend I have experienced from this blender. I am willing to bet this will age beautifully. I will pop another tin in a year and see what is what. Another good blend from the Germain family.