Dunhill My Mixture BB1938 Baby's Bottom

Oh, Dunhill, where art thou? 🙂

Boy, I really didn’t expect this blend to be so good! Many people told me it’s similar to EMP, that it’s mild, and that made me avoid it a bit (EMP wasn’t so bad, just not really my type). But as a Dunhill fan, I couldn’t just leave it there and not try it. I’m so glad I got my hands on this one!

Right now, I’m going to review a European tin, from 4 December 2017 (almost 3 years old). I have another European tin from 9 April 2016 which I will also review and will modify this review then. 🙂

Why did I mention it’s an European tin? Because I’ve noticed the difference between the tobaccos from Europe and those from US. They are indeed, different. Not much, but still different. Those from the US always have a ‘vinegar’ smell and taste, while the EU tins don’t. It’s been confirmed by many people, including a friend who worked many years at Smokingpipes. That doesn’t mean the EU tins are better, or the US tins are better. Just different. I thought this is important to mention (even if I mentioned it in detail in my review for Dunhill Nightcap, where I compared the tins).

So. The EMP and 965 debate. Yes, it is true, BB1938 is somewhere in between, but in my case, I think it’s more similar to 965 and I will explain why.

But, first things first!

Excellent tin note, latakia is in the front but it doesn’t hit you hard. It’s actually an amazing incense smell, not super smoky.

The classic Dunhill cut as always, maybe a bit shorter, but still great. You can tell just by looking at the tobacco that it’s very well balanced, the latakia is just enough to satisfy your taste, and the virginia, well, even if I don’t really love red virginia, this time it pairs very nice with the latakia. Also, it has an excellent moisture level!

Lights up very, very easy and stays lit. Actually, this is one of the best ‘burners’ I’ve met. You just light it up and smokes perfectly, doesn’t go out, doesn’t burn, doesn’t bite, doesn’t get the pipe hot. It smokes cool/chill. Perfect!

Taste, flavor... well, you’ll have a lot of it! First time I tried it, it was love at first puff!

The latakia is very silky and sweet, just a bit smoky, which reminds me of Margate’s latakia.

The balance between the virginia and the latakia is indeed perfect. It reminds me of 965. In case you find it a bit spicy and think it’s perique, it is not. It is the taste of red virginia, which some people are not very friendly with, not many people tolerate it, but in this case it’s actually really good.

It’s very very tasty and elegant. It’s balanced, it’s complex but not very complex like you’d have to look for any particular taste, it just goes, you light it up and you simply enjoy it. It’s not something that hits you, it can only hit you with the real pleasure of pipe smoking.

As you get smoking, you start noticing some campfire smoky notes, some oak wood notes. It’s amazing. And it still keeps it’s sweetness somehow. It’s smoky and sweet, at times a bit harsh from the red virginia but it keeps a perfect balance.

I’m amazed by this blend. On my favorite list!

Well, the re-release did not last long before Dunhill got out of the pipe tobacco business. I bought a nice stash of the heavy hitters, when I heard about Dunhill going by the wayside such as EMP, 965, Nightcap and Elizabethan but to the best of my memory I never bought this one as I heard reviews that it was okay, mediocre at best. I always wanted to try it and a friend of mine at the pipe club likes the Liz so I swapped him a tin for BB1938. He also brought some in a jar which I tried. Mildly sweet tin (jar) note and smoked a little bit stronger than I assumed it would by the name. As the description says this has Latakia and Virginia. A really good smoke, the Lat for me was mild which is okay. A good tobacco and lucky I have a tin to enjoy later. Whether is really is as smooth as a baby’s bottom you decide providing you can get a tin out there in the ether.

Pleasantly surprised to be confronted with something that was for me a new Dunhill mixture, but I see from the reviews that it is a re-issued classic.

On opening the tin I was met with a woody aroma, latakia mildly noticeable as a top note.

Lit up well, burns nicely, not too fast, and very good aroma. So often one can't smell what one's smoking, though of course everyone around you can.

Have had quite a few bowlfuls now, and this is an agreeable mixture which I will definitely be revisiting, unlike Durbar and Aperitif, the other two re-issues mentioned on this page, neither of which I liked at all.

I thought that BB1938 might be too strong, but it isn't. Can go 3 or 4 bowlfuls without having to use a pipe cleaner.

Others have written much better reviews, but anyway I can definitely join in with the general chorus of approval.

P.S: The cheapo Italian briar I used has been my preferred one for some months, since I purchased it in Canterbury (England). Seems to smoke better than my much more expensive Petersen meerschaum, Stanwell freehand, Portland straight grain, and other such pricey, well-known makes.

I'm one of the old codgers among us that actually smoked the original blend, as it was offered by Dunhill. Around 1990, in one of my many trips into the wilds of Ohio and all surrounding states to garner old stock pipe blends, I chanced upon someone who had six tins - four 4oz and two 2oz tins and I promptly bought them. I opened one of the 2oz tins to smoke and this is what I remember finding: a uniformly mahogany red brown tobacco in either a medium ribbon cut or a mix of broken flake and medium ribbon cut. It had a mildly English aroma and smoked as a lighter style medium English. It smoked rather soft and seemed well aged - I'm going to guess these tins were circa 1970 to 1975 era. The blend was enjoyable enough, though I didn't think it to be anything special at that time. This is identical to how I feel about the current Dunhill revival blend. The new version is lighter and browner in color because it lacks the 15 to 20 years of maturing that I saw in the original version. It smokes in the same range of strength as the original and I agree with the several reviewers who feel that it is related to both Early Morning Pipe and 965. I agree with them, as well, that it occupies a position smack in the middle of their range. To me this is a classic three star blend and I would have rated the original the same - I recommend that it gets smoked and enjoyed by all of us.

50g Tin. Its a medium mild English, a kind of creamy salted butter and fresh baked french stick bread taste, with some Cyprian latakia which adds some mild Marmite savoury yeastyness. It has the definite Dunhill character which says more than my above description. Dunhill Englishes have a certain Dunhill fine taste that seems to be there whatever version you smoke. When new there is a feint floral honeysuckle pheremonic ambergris mustyness. Years on in the jar this has faded. There is not much to describe because it is quite simple, its like ready salted plain crisps. It has some similarity with Presbyterian Mixture except with the added dignity that BB1938 does not bite the tongue and has no newspaper and chip shop vinegar undertone. Similar to Dunhill London Mixture in many ways also but without the OXO beef that made that one brilliant to my tastes. BB1938 makes itself then a quality salty and sometimes white peppery savoury virginia. I dont get in this the citrus that happens with other virginias, this has a leathery dry ready salted crisps taste, its earthy vegetal and not fruity, there is no real sweetness here..

Its not exciting, but is a satisfactory all day savoury tobacco, easy on the taste. No bite,no gunk,no chemicals,burns cool,tastes consistent down the bowl,burns to a fine fluffy ash,stays lit. It is a very well behaved inoffensive no brainer tobacco that doesnt demand attention. My description can only suggest so much, it is a Dunhill like Dunhill's are.. Worth 3 stars***

Dunhill- BB 1938

I’ve had this mixture about as long as I have been smoking a pipe although it aged a bit in the tin, I began the pipe smoking lifestyle just as Dunhill was leaving pipe tobacco, was fortunate enough to grab a few tins of this blend.

This is not an overly complex blend at all, Latakia, Virginia and maybe a little oriental leaf. What it lacks in complexity of the blend it makes up for in flavor, the Latakia and Virginia’s are even matched.

I enjoy this as a change of pace smoke, and had a few bowls on the drive home the other night. It was nice to re-visit and I have to admit I missed the taste of a english with the sweetness of the Virginia’s mixed together.

Whereas lots of English blends put toppings of other flavors in the blends, why not just get a good rd Virginia like this blend and it will sweeten it up, and taste better.

Hopefully this blend returns in the future, although I never thought of this one as a high seller it is good and rated 3.3 out of 4 stars.

An interesting tobacco, I never got round to trying it when Dunhill tobaccos were still in production, but recently cracked open a tin. The tin aroma was promising, but the first couple of smokes a little disappointing. I've discovered that it behaves very differently in different pipes, and have now had some very enjoyable smokes of it.

So, first impressions on opening the tin are good: the expected neat ribbon cut (none of the broken flake mentioned in very old catalogue descriptions), mix of tans, browns and latakia. The aroma that comes up from the tin is full, with malt and bread, plenty of latakia campfire smoke and some hints of yeast and leaf mould.

Moisture content from the tin is perfect. Being composed mostly of Virginias and fairly thin cut, it invites the flame and stays lit without bother. The flavour initially is almost absent! This really surprised me after the aroma in the tin, which was quite full. It does build as the bowl progresses, and reveals toast, tea, and biscuit with a background charcoal smokiness of Latakia that never becomes as forthright as it smelt in the tin.

It rarely offers much complexity. At seemingly random moments, which by no means occurred every time I smoked it, a delicious yeasty sweet smokiness would appear, and really grab my attention - but just as quickly would recede and the flavour settle back down to being a mild English mixture. These moments aside it remains a "background" smoke that doesn't demand too much attention. Good for a morning smoke, or as a mild English mixture to enjoy in the hotter weather.

As to the differences in various pipes, first I smoked it in a very large Jambo Meerschaum bent billiard, the flavour was very underwhelming and never really gathered any pace, and it actually gurgled a little despite seemingly ideal moisture content from the tin. I've had more success in briars, its very nice in a Peterson Aran bulldog, and also in a Peterson Rhodesian 9mm filter pipe, both with and without a balsa filter, which didn't seem to subtract anything from the flavour. Finally, I tried it in a colossal Nording freehand, a pipe I usually find gets quite hot in use: it was actually lovely as a very long relaxing smoke, and the flavour was good.

Bottom line: nice mild English mixture composed of a simple blend of high quality ingredients. Slightly particular about which pipe it's smoked in. For a blend in a similar theme but rather richer tasting, I suggest Sam Gawiths Commonwealth Mixture.

This blend - in it's current incarnation at any rate - isn't the overwhelming favorite of our small world; nor is it long for this world. My review at this point just seems...late. Ah, but I'm not recommending this mixture for its magnificent flavor - though it does have that. I'm not recommending it for creamy smoothness - though there's spadesful of that, too. I recommend this blend for one beautiful facet: tin note. If ever there was any curiousity on your part as to what a beautiful red virginia could - indeed, should - smell, just crack open a tin of this heavenly concoction. Sure, you think, the latakia will just overwhelm the dainty virginias and overwhelm them with smoke and old leather. To which I would likely say, just try it. A three-year-old tin recently opened gave me a moment of olfactory nirvana - the bready (sourdough, perhaps?) richness, the magnificent aroma from the tin is perfection. Sure, I'm going to smoke every crumb of this tin. It smokes as beautifully as it smells, after all, with a creaminess rarely so perfectly expressed, with an underlying sweetness that seems to complement the latakia to make this a smoke that employs more of your taste buds than most mixtures out there. But first I'm going to open this tin another time or three and just smell it.

Another try it before it may disappear Dunhill purchase. This was an odd one. It had Dunhill's familiar English Latikia "charcoal" aroma, but was applied to a Virginia base. It wasn't a pairing I was expecting.

The cut was nicely shredded, with some soft moisture, and packed well out of a fresh tin, albeit a bit tightly. The Latikia was the main player (a plus for me), but the Virginia hay flavor did develop once lit. The smoke was fairly mild on the tongue, but was quite deep and full in flavor.

Aging your Baby's Bottom might is likely recommended, as I found each bowl better than the last, once I opened the tin and it aired out over the weeks.

This could appeal to a Virginia fan who wants some spice added to the mix, or an English fan who is getting burned out on the full force of fireplace ashes.