Dan Tobacco The Mellow Mallard

First I must preface my comments by stating that I have had the opportunity to go through a bit of this tobacco. The tins description says its an aromatic-well to me its not. What I find in this is a straight forward rich and delicious Virginia Tobacco. Upon opening the tin a nice waft of pure Virginias enters the nose. I detected no casings in that smell. At a glance its a ready rubbed tobacco-nice goldens and dark flue cured ribbons and broken cake. I crimped some together to note the moisture content in this recent tin is spot on. So I placed some on a paper towel to dry briefly until it did not clump when pinched. Loaded the pipe and the charring light was grand as the first thing I got was a nice sweet mellow yet natural flavor of the tobacco. As I relit and continued the tobacco behaved nicely and slow easy puffs yielded a nice sweet tone right down to the bottom. At times there were subtle notes of sweetness that reminded me of a birthdaycake or cookie. It is noted that this is subtle and most likely the natural aged tobacco sweetness. All along while this is going on the lemon, grassy hay tones also are coming through--not too strong and not too weak for this Virginia tobacco lover. It is important to note that for those who do not like Virginias in general or find them bland--well you want to move on to another tobacco. That will leave plenty of this great stuff for me--ha-ha. Anyhow the room note also exhibits the sweetness of the tobacco and as I finished the pipe and dumped the pipe I had a nice gray-white to darker ash. I will also state that for those who fear the Virginia burn from pushing these types of tobaccos by puffing a little hard--well first off--don't do that it will destroy the natural flavors going on and will result in that dreaded burn. Over all--I usually keep this in my rotation as I love just straight ol' Virginia tobaccos and this is a great one offered up from Dan Tobacco.

Dan Tobacco - The Mellow Mallard.

Because of the funky name and word Aromatic printed on the tin I'd wrongly assumed this was to be a heavily cased, overly false, smoke, with very little, if any, natural nuances. Wrong. I'd also expected a presentation synonymous of every other sweet aromatic: black, sticky, wet, ribbons. Also wrong.

It's a coarse broken flake, which is a fairly dark brown in colour, the moisture's good, and the aroma's a naturally sweet Virginia one.

The smoke. It's rich, fairly sweet, tangy, Virginia. There's just enough citrus sharpness to keep things fresh, but in no way does this flavour lead. Similarly, there's a vegetative note, but it doesn't give overly sharp, monopolizing, zealous, grassiness, instead a milder hay note emanates. After half a bowl a doughiness becomes more of a certain flavour, and confirms this as a four star blend. On the whole I find the flavour not as sharp as many Virginias, not as heavy as some are, but a dead-on middle weight. I get no problem with the heat or speed of the burn, and it doesn't bite me.

Nicotine: quite mild. Room-note: pleasant.

The Mellow Mallard gets an easy four star rating from me:

Highly recommended.

Mellow Mallard consists of ready-rubbed broken Virginia flakes of mostly darkish brown color. Tin note is subtle and natural – no added flavors detected. The aromas are on the bready/yeasty side of the Virginia spectrum. There are some fruity notes as well like orange rind coming from the tobacco only. Moisture is a little above medium, you can smoke it as it is, but I prefer to dry for a few minutes. I also rub out a little more the portion I am about to smoke.

The tobacco lights easily and behaves well without producing any particular tongue bite and no harshness. Strength and nicotine are just around medium and mouthfeel rather smooth for a Virginia. The flavor is bready as expected and completely natural. It is quite sweet in a honeyed way but not overtly so. There are some bitter and yeasty elements (not in a bad way) that balance the sweetness. Does not produce a cornucopia of flavors but that is something to be expected from a straight Virginia. It does not have a wow factor as some Virginias do (FVF, or 5100 both of them more obviously cased though) but it is a solid good quite rich and full bodied natural Virginia.

It is quite good on its own but for me it really sings when I add a little Oriental leaf for condiment. So it’s good on its own but can also serve as a basis for blending. No other Virginia comes to my mind as similar – maybe Gawith’s Best Brown Flake – so I fully recommend Mellow Mallard as a unique variation on the Virginia theme. Room note is quite tolerable, not cigaretty at all.

Virginia lovers and beginners should consider Mellow Mallard. It is everything but a lame duck.

This ready rubbed straight mix of Virginias has no added flavors according to Dan Tobacco, thus matured in a way to give the impression or feel to be an aromatic or at least close. This is executed extremely well here. I was surprised not to find Black Cavendish in there when I first smoked it.

It is smooth and mild to your tongue, without the slight tickle/piquant edge most Virginias have. The taste remains full and pleasantly fragrant, naturally sweet with some spicy and subtle earthy tones. In the last quarter of the bowl I also get some impressions of grass and hey, very soothing. Could also be called “easy peasy lemon squeezy (mellow bright VA in the press)”.

I always keep a tin at hand for it is perfect to reset my taste buds or even clean out pipes form crossovers. IMO this is best smoked rather fresh, aging (2 yrs) didn’t do anything to it that I was able to perceive.

This is tobacco. Not tobacco with other flavors added. It has that wonderful natural taste that makes smoking a pipe the pleasure that it is. I am usually a Virginia smoker with an occasional Latakia blend here and there. The Mellow Mallard is a literally a mellow tobacco that is easy to smoke with no bite. It stays lit and burns well without even having to think about it. Smoking slowly brings out the best flavor and the most mellow part of the smoke. It is possible to smoke it faster and get a more profound and spicy flavor but there are many other tobaccos that can do that without having to smoke hard. I did not notice a difference between char, mid bowl and bottom of the bowl. It stayed mellow and relatively light throughout the smoke. Definitely something I could smoke all day. Highly recommended for those that love natural, on the light side tobacco with a real tobacco taste.

I am NOT a Virginia smoker, I smoke English and Balkan blends. However, I smoke Virginia tobacco when I'm breaking in a new pipe or when I have non-smoking company. Opening the tin is always a highlight; the glorious scent of raisins always makes me smile. Just like all Virginia tobaccos also require this one time and patience; impatience and absence of mind are punished immediately. Otherwise MM is a smooth, tasty, mild tobacco that tastes good; sweet and fruity (I personally feel mostly dry fruits) with a little spice. A little hay / grass and acidity is noticeable as in all V-tobaccos. My wife can stand this blend without any comments or remarks. I always have Mellow Mallard at home and always will have.

UPDATE 02/08/2010: Coincidence! I just read the review by Taki and today I just opened my second tin always purchased at the same tobacconist who confirmed that my first tin was a remnant of an order in April 2008. This fresh tobacco is similar to the first, just a little wet and just a little less smooth and flavorful. I confirm that a few months of seasoning enhances all its qualities, not at all a bad thing! TMM is growing on me, I up rate it to 4 stars.

UPDATE 11/30/2009: I found this additional informations on the web site of a retailer: "... Ready rubbed flake composed of bright and brown Virginias from Zambia. Natural aromatic without flavoring"

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I bought this tobacco by chance: I came from a tobacco store to look for other tobacco products that were not available at this dealer, so looking at the various tobacco exposed in one corner of the shelf I noticed a single tin of this blend. Instinctively, I thought it was a remaining balance and I remember reading a good review here I bought The Mellow Mallard. At home, my intuition has proved well founded: opening the tin the tobacco was almost dry (IMHO I think that this tin is more than two years old ...) with a very soft and gentle aroma of figs, and hay, no doubt: classic Virginia absolutely natural. The cut is a thin ready rubbed probably made from a soft pressed cake, at the touch has an elasticity slightly woody almost looks like a Cavendish but this is due to dryness, luckily the scent and color tell another story: anything chocolate / hazel nor faded-washed color, only pure and REAL tobacco. TMM promises little but keeps everything: easy and stable ignition, strength mild, no gurgle, no bite to the tongue, no surprises about taste only good Virginia and nothing else completely unflavored and one-dimensional with the classic tanginess and a bit sharpy,sweet but not too sweet, it can somewhat remember Rattray's Brown Clunee but much more mature, refined and sincere, never sour nor bitter. Personally I could give four stars to this product but this affects my personal taste, objectively not a masterpiece but an enjoyable all-day, very solid three stars. My congratulations and my thanks to Gunnar for his review without which I would have lost this tobacco that I think (IMHO) is really underestimated, what a pity! ..... I went with TMM with a glass of sumptuous Sciacchetrà Cinqueterre, nothing less for give a little justice to this tobacco.

Age at smoking: one month to seven months.

*In Ropp Etudiant*:

First 10 mins:Citrusy - lemon and cream as you would get from having a mild lemon tart, grassy, mildly sweet

Retrohale: Zesty and very mildly tangy but very smooth.

10-20 mins: slightly spicy, citrusy, slight combination of hay, wood & earth. A slight after-taste of cigarette on the palate but not obstrusive. Retrohale: slightly more spicy with citrus notes

20+ mins: cirtusy, sweet, woody, creamy

Retrohale: zesty and peperry Left little moisture and small dottle

*In MM Rob Roy*:

First 10 mins: Citrusy- orange rind, some hay Retrohale: Zesty with some spicyness

10-20 mins: citrusy, zesty and tangy, subtle hay notes, mild sweetness Retrohale: spicy and peperry with some citrusy notes

20+ mins: same as 10-20 mins

Retrohale: packs a fair bit of pepper with citrusy notes

This baccy did not bite or had any harshness. I enjoyed this blend more in the cob than the briar. I believe this blend will only get better with age. Overall 3.5/4

A darker brown virginia ready-rubbed flake much cooler on the palate than a typical virginia. Somewhat similar to the Hamboger Veermaster with a common underlying sweet flavor possibly tonka/coumarin but less so. The tin aroma is reminiscent of oolong tea, figs, brown sugar, malt, oxidized bruised apple and honey. Along with the milder dark sweet flavors a bit of toast can present itself. All in all, just fantastic stuff of the highest recommendation; An all time favorite.

Update: Despite being described as no added flavor, I have come to find out it is cased among other things with fig. It seems obvious in retrospect. Not so natural but who cares. Many if not most European matured virginia blends are cased/flavored that I have come across. The older thicker tin version was superior but the current normal size 50 gram tin is still a really good tobacco.