Dan Tobacco The Mellow Mallard

Aged virginias blends are tempting for virginia lovers as they offer the other side of taste and pleasure.once the tin breaks an aroma consisted of citruses,grass,dark fruits and sour notes comes out.the bright and brown broken flakes need no further rubbing and the moisture is perfect to light at once with several relights needed afterwards.while burning you instantly realize the complexity of this blend.citruses,dark fruits,grasses lots of sweet earthy notes and some tea notes.the flavours combine well each other though some harsh and very sour spots are detected with no tongue bite.burns slow and hot to total ash with sour aftertaste.the room note is bareable and the nicotine level medium.creates a worthy amount of moisture at the end of the bowl and the filter.not an all day smoke.generally this is a worthy blend with some weak spots.

For me, it's a broken flake, not ribbon. And a beautiful broken flake!

Also, not an "aromatic" in the sense of having artificial flavors added, but in being a tobacco full of delicious, natural aromas.

Is a very good virginia, that burns perfectly and had a great taste, and delicious after taste. And as a gift a very nice tin art, how can someone not like that sympathetic mallard?

Still, although everything is nice, there's nothing outstanding, so "recommended" fits the bill. Try it if you can, but if you can't, there's others so good like this out there.

Wonderful cool and dry Virginia. The taste is wondrous and the bite is inexistent. I taste citrus notes and some sweetness. There's bread notes and, halfway through the bowl, it becomes very creamy.. like silk in the tongue.

Ages very well. Room note is a light tobacco smell, almost cigaretty..

One of the real under the radar gems in the pipe tobacco world. Im not always a fan of Dan Tobacco (i think the aromatics are over the top sweet) but the non aromatics are always of high quality. This one is special though. If you love virginia then go out and get a tin of this. Its maybe the most interesting non flake Virginia on the market. Full bodied taste and no bite, if smoked slow anyway. Smokes easy and the composition of Virginias is rather unique. Reminds me a bit of Rattrays Black Virginia (which is full of cavendish) but this has more punch. Some McClellands resemble this a bit I suppose and Butera's matured ribbon. Good nic hit, too. The taste isn't really sweet, but more savory and even a tad smokey. But it is straight virginia. No casing I can taste....depsite the weird label calling it aromatic.

Citrusy, lightly tangy and more grassy than hay, the licorice casing/topping comes and goes during the smoke. Well behaved, dependable for a mild to medium Virginia, I regret the addition of licorice for an otherwise good tobacco. It reminds me of Astley's No.109 Medium Flake somehow with the same casing/topping shortcoming but with a citrus/grass flavor profile instead of the honey sweet/raisin one.

Virginia lover

Preamble: coming again on Sasquatch’s comment on the term “aromatic” … oh yes, my friend ! This tobacco is actually aromatic ! It’s not “flavoured”, instead.

The Mellow Mallard was shortly imported in Italy, some years ago. I grabbed five tins and smoked over the years. This is the third of five, seasoned approximately five years. Time has made good to this blend of Virginias.

As other reviewers have accurately pointed, this is not sweet, or better it’s faintly sweet. It has nevertheless very good qualities: doesn’t burn hot, doesn’t bite, has a appropriate dose of Vitamin N, it’s very clean and dry. The flavour is “vegetal” with lemony, bready and woody notes.

The closest comparison I find to be with SG’s Golden Glow, but this is more mature. I like it, not to the extent of four stars. I don’t think the years to come will improve that much, but I will let the last couple sleeping.

Founded it by accident in a small shop out town and bought it immediatly. I was very pleased by it, is a good mixture and, even if was an old tin, the tobacco was still smokeable.

Well, I was surprised not to see a single review of the Mellow Mallard, so this will be my first review.

I must say, this is not a lame duck! It is a nice and natural broken VA flake of medium strength, but it smokes very smooth and cool and, surprising for a flake of this strength, without any tongue bite.

This is a good one for breaking in a new pipe. Anyway you should smoke it in a very clean pipe to be able to detect the subtle aromas.

All in all an average, good VA flake, but nothing special. If you'd like to experience natural VA taste but are afraid of tongue bite, this one might be worth a try for you.

The description on the Dan website indicates that they "have carefully fermented a quantity of unbelievably palatable and aroma-rich, sweet Virgina from Zambia by pressing until the optimal ripeness was achieved." And goes on to say, "This tobacco is good enought to get by completely without additional flavorings." Now that last statement alone is enough to make any fan of Virginias sit up and take notice, including this one. And indeed there are no top-flavorings detectable. I can't judge whether this applies to casing (or casings), but there was no indication of any that I could find. That alone really makes me want to like this one, and if it is truly uncased, this must be one of the very few out there! Virginias are tough and that is a gutsy thing for a producer to do. And if that is the case (uncased), it's well worth our attention. How else are we going to get to know about Virginias?

It has been thoroughly rubbed out, which means it is a mixture of short and broken ribbons that are surprisingly dry (good!) and tend to crumble to, well, crumbs by the end of the tin. (Buy the smaller tin!) This is all very convincing.

In the pipe it starts off very lightly, not with sweetness but with tannic tanginess. Other qualities elude this smoker for about the first third of the bowl until a sweetness begins to emerge with a bit of floral fruitiness which hits its peak at about mid-bowl. Until this occurs I always have to ask myself if this is really something I want to smoke. It is not particularly enjoyable, but then... the tannins subside as the fruity sweetness becomes more and more apparent. This sweetness thens give way to a delicious earthiness which gains in depth and strength until the end of the bowl. It is in the last third of the bowl that this tobacco shows what it can do. And, yes, there is some nicotine here, as slowly becomes apparent.

Kudos to DTM for this one! Will I smoke this often? No, but I am very grateful to the manufacturers for this lesson in Virginas. This is one instructive smoke, and it burns very well without producing much moisture, leaving the mouth feeling dry and clean with a slightly herbal earthiness lingering on. What started off as a light, tannic, nondescript smoke, becomes substantial and robust; an honest, no- nonsense smoke, that is all about the development in the pipe.

Summary: Has lots of wonderful qualities, but is too much trouble for what it gives back.

If you want to learn about Virginias, this is a must! If not, better steer clear. Two stars, since it really is not for everyone. Four stars for anyone looking to learn more about Virginias. I wish there were more tobaccoes out there without, or with this few, additional flavorings. Recommended.