Stanwell Melange

The tin note is a fantastic apricot, peach smell. The ribbon cut tobacco was just a little wet, but was easy to pack and light. The tin note translates directly into a wonderful room note that I cannot imagine anyone not liking.

The tobacco itself is of high quality and offers a mild, slightly nutty, slightly sweet taste. Unlike some other aromatics, this one burns nice an cool, allowing you to really relax while smoking this.

This is probably the best aromatic I have smoked so far.

Update..... I allowed my tongue to heal after smoking Mac baren blends, lol...and tried this again, To my suprise it is quite tasty ! Sweet with an aroma more like hickory nut than apricot. In fact it tastes and has an aroma like an ultra premium version of Middletons Hickory ! I wish Hickory was this good. This is very nice, fruity and smooth, no bite. Its nice and soft and full of flavor and it lasts long. I was smoking Peterson's deluxe blend all day and was suprised to see how slow and cool this is, delicious ! It required a few relights but tobacco tastes better to me when moist rather than dry. When tobacco is dry it tends to be harsh and rancid, this is delightful ! One medium sized bowl lasted me an hour and 15 min.! Just a LaRocca due egg bent. I up this to 4 stars today thanks to my tongue being replenished ! Try this you won't be sorry, yum !!! I may make this my go to tobacco !

PS. This tobacco has some kick ! I'm an ex cigarette smoker and I get a nicotine Buzz from this. This has the kick of a medium English! Anything with Burley is going to have more nicotine than a latakia blend. I upped the strength t o medium because I have other mild medium blends and this has more punch ! Not a bad thing but if your a beginner start with a smaller bowl or smoke it a little slower, it will get you .

I can't get enough of this blend, I can't wait to try the Kir and Apple ! I think this is the best tobacco I've ever smoked, the perfect aromatic ! Finally, I've found nirvana !

I like Melange for it's unique apricot cheesecake flavor. But there are some drawbacks...

Extreme ghosting of the PIPE (pleasant though). Hot burning tobacco with occasional flare up. Flavor fades substantially after tin is opened. High sugar content makes for a messy pipe.

What I do with Melange....

Mix Melange with Black Cavendish for an interesting but easier smoking experience.

Layer Melange under Virginia for a milder yet sweet smoke.

Open the can and smell Melange when there isn't any dessert around.

A tobacco smokers aromatic. Nice coconut, vanilla, fruity smell in the tin, yet the casings/flavoring are not heavy and the blend is not goopy. The mix has a predominantly tan/brown color from the burley, virginias and orientals. The balck cavendish is mixed in with a light hand; just a smattering of BC throughout.

The smoke is very pleasant and enjoyable. Slightly sweet taste, maybe a litle nuttiness from the burley. The aromatic casings/flavoring don't overpower the smooth virginas and orientals. Nice kind-of-salty finish to each puff.

This blend is very competitive with some of the equally excellent "big name" aromatics I've tried over the years. An excellent aromatic and a very pleasant surprise, especially for the price.

I think I just found the perfect aromatic! I am usually a VaPer, burley smoker but I enjoy aromatics a few time a week for a change. But this one, WOW! It does not bite! It has a full, creamy, apricot taste that is not overwhelming. It lights on the first light and STAYS lit all the way down. It burns to a fine ash with no moisture or goo or dottle in the bottom of the pipe. The casing flavor stays all the way to the bottom. And it is delicious leaving a very pleasant taste on the palette. In fact in 39 years of pipe smoking, this is the first aromatic that I wanted another bowl full after the first one was barely tapped out. In fact, I had a third. A neighbor came up to my deck where I was enjoying it this afternoon who normally does not like my pipe smoke and asked what I was smoking. He said it smelled wonderful. It does have a great room note. Out of the tin, it is a mixed color blend running from light brown up to a black in a ribbon, and rough cut mix. It is perfect in moisture right out of the tin, no goopiness, no stickiness at all, loose and easy to load in the pipe. This is the perfect smoke for new smokers, for experienced smokers wanting a change of pace or those that like aromatics but don't like tongue bite. I experienced none, and I tried to make it do so. I highly recommend this blend and an added bonus is that it is not expensive and easily found. It is made by Orlik which makes Golden Slices one of my favorites for Stanwell. So it is a quality tobacco. It uses a base of VA, some burley, Orientals, and black Cavendish.

Decided to christen my new Stanwell Vario with some pipe weed of the same name. The 50g tin has a classy look about it. Upon opening, your nostrils are overwhelmed with the scents of citrus and apricot. Definitely a nice tobacco to smoke during the warmer months here in New England with its fruity aroma.

I don't think this blend requires much drying but I am reviewing it a year after opening it originally and it's still fine. Burns nice and evenly with no need to relight after getting it started. The taste is very sweet to me with the flavor of the apricot coming through strongly. The burley acts as a nice base, imparting a bit of its nutty disposition into the mix. Unlike most aromatics, I find the flavor stays pretty consistent with the Melange throughout the bowl. The oriental and VA peak a little bit in and out during the later half of the bowl adding a little bit of spiciness to the fruit.

Overall, a very enjoyable aromatic if that's your thing (which it is for me). I would certainly recommend this to new pipe smokers that want to enjoy sweetness without the bite. Also, quite light in the nicotine department. Stanwell Melange is a spicy apricot tobacco ripe for summer smoking in your backyard and quite enjoyable with a little bit of brandy as well.

Another quality product from Stanwell. Aromatic puffers will delight in the fruity and sweet flavor in the smoke that is too light to "ghost" your fine briars.

I found the cut a little difficult to manage, but despite the added ingredients, it did stay lit well. It leaves your palate feeling fresh and back to back bowls can be enjoyed without worry of getting nipped.

In the world of aromatics this one is a keeper. (IMO, of course).

This is one fine aromatic. There are many aromatics out there, but not too many that also have Orientals in them. Some, but not a lot. This one does and it's what also really separates it from the pack.

First off, when you open the tin, you are greeted by that wonderful apricot-like scent that is used for the fruit flavoring here. It's delicious all on it's own. The leaves are also a nice mixture of colors, adding to the intrigue of this blend. But again, what separates this blend from the others is the addition of the Orientals. In this case, they aren't spicy. Maybe a little sour or tang to compliment the sweetness of the apricot flavoring, but what I really like about them is that they also add a real nuttiness to the blend. You hear that a lot, "it's nutty", but in this case, it really is and has an almost cashew like feel and taste to it. However you particularly perceive it, it's great and very different.

It's also one that is really a crowd pleaser. When I used to smoke in the car, I remember one day going through a drive-thru in the morning for some breakfast. The cashier leaned out of the window to tell me how nice this smelled. When I got to work, the receptionist who usually grimaced when I came in after smoking some other tasty blends said, "now this one I like!" I laughed. Finally, I was sitting on a bench smoking this and a guy walked over to me and said he could smell it from a block away and wanted to follow it. OK, that was weird and a bit creepy, but who can blame him? It does smell good!

Now, it does remind me of Orlik's Mellow Mixture. They both have that similar scent in the tin, but Mellow Mixture lacks the Orientals and the sour and nuttiness that this one also brings to the pipe.

Not much nicotine to speak of in this one, but it is by far one of my favorite aromatics out there, if not my number one. It's tantalizing.

My only negative with it is that I find myself having to relight it more often than normal. Probably just me. I will also say that it benefits from being fluffed out and aired out in a pint jar for a few days. When you open the tin, the ribbons are tightly packed. Air it out and the smoke is smoother and fuller.

Get out and try it.

Enjoy!

Some pipe smokers, when reviewing aromatics, complain about not being able to taste tobacco under the casing. I think differently: if I want to taste Virginia, then I smoke Capstan , if I want to taste Latakia, then I smoke Commonwealth, but if I smoke aromatics then I want to taste fruit, vanilla, chocolate. Stanwell Melange is all this: an amazing tin smell, which fully translates to the smoking taste, overall an excellent aromatic. It’s a shame that it isn’t available here in Italy.

Tremendous taste! Such a thick, luscious smoke! Took a while to aquire as I am from the UK but my perseverance was rewarded! I'm not going to give you poncy simlilaritys to orchards of apricots blablabla, just the simple fact that what you smell in the tin is uncannily accurate to what you will taste in your mouth!

I have to admit to liking this blend, which gets a bad rap from many reviewers and forum posters. It has the most exquisite tin note of apricots and cream. Divine. With the understanding that aromatics rarely taste like their tin note, I'll give this one points for room note and being an excellent choice when the occasion calls for an aromatic. Beware- it has a tendency to ghost a pipe. No worries as I have dedicated a Foreverstemmed cob. In-laws are therefore pleased when I select this blend around the holidays for indoor smoking. You can choose much worse. I just wish Stanwell would come out with some kind of candy that tasted as this tin smells. When smoked Very slowly, this is an excellent, flavorful aromatic. Puffed hard, this will bite.

Update 10/2013: This blend really benefits from being mixed 50/50 with a blend like Carter Hall or, even better, Mac Baren Burley London Blend. Smooths it out and increases the smokability while preserving the unique aroma.

Stanwell are well known for making high quality aromatics and, in my opinion, this is by far their best blend. Indeed, the apricot is there and, if you smoke this one slowly, the flavor will be almost perfect. Doesn't heat the pipe and doesn't bite the tongue, even if you smoke the pipe without a filter. The room note is fantastic, the most pleasant of all Stanwell tobaccos. Everyone around you will love it and will bring you only compliments. This is definitely something I will buy again. Highly recommended for aromatic lovers, and even latakia smokers might give this a try.

Stanwell - Melange.

I don't know why it's labelled Broken Flake, it's clearly a mid-size ribbon. The majority of the blend's light, and medium browns, with only a small amount of black. A sniff of the tin makes for no confusing what this has been flavoured with. Although it smells strongly aromatic the moisture's just right.

Onto the smoke: not bad, I'm a little surprised I like it! The apricot pushes the vanilla aside, easily, especially for the initial part of a bowl. It's not that the vanilla's absent, it's just nowhere near as heavy. To be fair, as a bowl's smoked it gains more recognition, seeming much surer of itself toward the end. The apricot keeps the tobacco flavours quite repressed, making for a smoke where it's difficult to decipher the constituents from one another. The burn from it's good, giving a bite-free smoke.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

I couldn't have this in the slot for my afternoon aromatic, but it's a good enough smoke for three stars:

Recommended.

I bought this because it sounded interesting. The tin smell is definately apricot but with the tobacco still coming through. I did have trouble with keeping it burning initially so I set it out to dry for a few hours. That seemed to fix that issue. It lights up easily with plenty of smoke. The apricot is subtle in the smoke but there. Gentler smoking makes the fruit more pronounced but I tend to puff too much for that. The bowl got quite hot so I had to force myself to slow down, which is against my nature.. I think. The flavor eventually goes away and leaves an uninteresting tobacco smoke that is not bad.

I have smoked 4 or 5 bowls of this over the last few weeks. I kinda forget about what it was like, fill up a pipe and then go "oh yeah". This is a good blend and I will probably keep a tin around so that I can keep going back to it. I think they hit the mark of what they were blending for. It just doesn't make 4 stars for me.

Upon opening and first touch. moist. You'll need dry it out a bit before your first bowl. Upon lighting, the smell is on par with the taste. The taste gets slightly sweeter as you get nearer to the bowl. I have went to acquire this blend after reading all the reviews. I was able to finally understand the praise this tobacco was getting after smoking it numerous times. I would recommend it to any beginner as; it doesn't burn too hot , due the initial high moisture content per unit area of tobacco; taste amazing, you can really taste the apricot element of this blend ; and finally the price, it is priced at $5 in Malaysia.

I purchased this tin because a friend of mine who only smokes aros considered it his favorite. When I first opened the tin I was blasted by a pleasant tin note of Apricot, but when I smoked it, I found the topping to be too overwhelming for my tastes. I set this aside for about a year and came back to it.

While the topping was still quite strong, it seemed to have settled quite a bit and the smoke was much more pleasant this time around. As to what the underlying leaf is, it is pretty much irrelevant since you will not taste it. This one is all about the topping. Apricot is the obvious and dominating flavor. I also picked up peach and was pleased to see a few others have as well.

This topping is pretty pleasant to my tastes and it will hang through to the end of the bowl. This, IMO, is a mark of a great aromatic. How one will view this will depend on one's taste. If you like this topping as I did, you will love this blend.

This, my friends, is one fine tobacco! This is a perfect example of a high-end aromatic. The tin note is of sweet apricots, honey, and vanilla. For a second my brain was actually confused: was it tobacco or dessert? After packing a bowl straight from the tin and lighting it, I was greeted by a rush of apricots and vanilla. The smoke was cool all the way through the bowl, and I have yet to have this blend bite me. The room note is amazing as well, and lingers for some time afterward without being overpowering. It has a noticeable amount of nicotine in it, even though I have a huge tolerance to nicotine in general (cig smoker). It is everything that I have been searching for in an aromatic, and definitely one that I will always keep in my rotation. Do yourself a favor and grab a tin or two, and enjoy!

Excellent aromatic, right humidity, so you can light it up upon opening the pouch! Burns to the end smoothly, doesn't heat the pipe, no tongue bites at all. I wish though it had a bit more “body” Light it up, close your eyes and you are in the middle of an apricot orchard! Highly recommended!

I don't smoke a lot of aromatics but I do enjoy the good ones. This one rates right at the top. Packs ok, a little moist but not goopy, amazing room note, no bite, fruity yet with a sound tobacco taste. Is there a pipe tobacco group of Aromatic English blends? If so, this would be one of the pack leaders. My plan is to keep this on hand, cellar some for aging and find a pipe to devote to this blend. Not because it ghosts but because I don't want anything to ghost it. My angel wife gives this one two thumbs up.