Dunhill My Mixture BB1938 Baby's Bottom

When I went to snatch the Durbar tin produced in 2014 (which costed 12,75€ back then compared to 13,60€ now...) from a small tobacconist around my corner, I had some spare money for another tin. It was either stocking up on Early Morning, but the tins were from 2017 or a tin BB1938 from 2015...no doubt I grabbed the BB1938!

Virginia and Latakia.. no Oriental.. may sound a bit boring for some - for me it did too - and this is far from being complex.... but it's just really tasty! BB1938 reminds me a lot of a tad stronger Early Morning Pipe without the Turkish leaf. They're like brothers in some way: BB1938 being the older and bolder, stronger big brother that's not as sophisticated, who uses his muscles as weapons; EMP being the sophisticated, more complex, yet rather powerless younger brother. BB1938 is the football-team guy; EMP is the smart as hell nerd with glasses. They both share a toasty/toasted aroma in the tobacco, which I LOVE!

Whilst EMP is ethereal, BB1938 is rather salty. The Virginias form a wonderful base for the moderately added Latakia to shine. Smoky, salty, leathery, with sweet and refreshing citrus & fruit undertones from the Virginias. A bit creamy as well. Monochromatic, but surely not boring! A pleasing and calming, straight-forward smoke for those moments you want a simple, yet tasteful and rich smoke! Again 3,5 stars for me, but I'll give it 4 as this is personal preference.

IF one of the two should be considered "smooth as a baby bottom" it would be EMP for me , surely BB1938 has some pleasant rougher aroma (in a good sense) and a little boldness to it - don't get that wrong, it's a "medium smoke", yet spicy and hearty!

OK, so this is a good combination of Virginia tobacco and latakia, but leaning more onto the virginia side of the argument than that of the latakia's. I like it as it is complex enough to be wanting to be sipped slowly, but if you loose track of it, you can still rely on the latakia leaf to get you back into the business. And the virginia leaf they use is quite good, actually. "Citrusy" and "earthy" are words that come to mind. I cannot compare notes with the old mixture as I have never tried it before, but this new release seems to be quite good in its own right.

I purchased a tin of BB1938 soon after it was made available in Italy. It is a mixture of Virginia and Latakia, with the latter with a dominant role. It packs and burns well, the cut is the typical ribbon cut by Dunhill, which I like very much. It's recommended for a carefree smoke, not for meditative ones, in my opinion. Anyway, recommended.

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.