Peterson Elizabethan Mixture

Presentation: It is always a pleasure opening a brand new tin of Dunhill. It is the elegance of the tin art and design, gently opening the decorative white tobacco paper, taking your first breath of the high quality tobacco that is hidden underneath, the anticipation of your first puff, and soothing calmness of your mind afterwards; the very foundation of pipe smoking. Elizabethan Mixture lives up to the Dunhill name.

Upon opening the tin, my first breath of the tin was an earthly, yet sweet aroma, with a hint of hazelnut, honey, molasses, and a ‘sweet bread’ smell from a Sunday morning bakery. I must have spent a good 5-10 minutes attempting to detect its components and enjoying the aroma.

Taste: Perfect to smoke the second you open the tin, lacks the moisture. An immediate, fresh taste of plums from the dark Virginias and the noticeable Perique were the first things I perceived. Then it is followed by the rich, somewhat creamy, dark earthly aroma embodied with the taste of fresh sweet bread and figs, but isn’t too sweet, no not at all. Difficult to describe, since I would consider it to be rather complex, it is more about the overall experience with this one.

Afterthoughts: I recommend smoking this on a brisk, Autumn night, while reading Patrick O'Brian’s “Far Side of the World”, watching “Master and Commander”, or other tales of the high seas or Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps admiring some fine art from the Renaissance or reading some English literature as well. Yes, sounds like a good night indeed. Just relax, slowly enjoy your pipe, and appreciate the many gifts of Western Civilization.

I highly recommend this blend!high quality tobacco,easy to pack and light,burning nicelly as all dunhill blends!.the virginias are dominant and very pleasan!it's a bit stronger than royal yacht(my favorite).

UPDATE 9/10/13

Picked up a tin of the new Orlik version. The tin note was very close to the original but with less of the perique aroma. As for the smoking, the balance that was the hallmark of this fine blend is diminished. The sweetness provided by the lemon virginia is almost MIA and this, oddly enough, makes it seem like there is less perique. The Murrays wasn't loaded with this condiment but it was very noticeable, and it's much less so here. The darker VA taste is at the forefront, up and down the bowl. It's still a good tobacco but it's not Elizabethan... at least not as I remember a fresh tin to be, and certainly not like an aged tin of Murrays. I think I'll pass on this one. It's good but it doesn't bring anything special to the table.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 3/24/09

This one would be in my constant rotation - if I could find it!

Elizabethan is a blend that is well balanced... mild but very flavorful, not overdone on perique but enough there to notice, sweet but not cloying. This is one of what I call "genius blends". It's not my favorite because of its subdued and balanced nature - it doesn't scream "excitement". But its one of those blends I find myself going back to time after time when the hype of this or that new blend is overwhelming. Light and dark virginias play off one another with a whisper of perique in the background of the taste buds that becomes a wonderful room filling aroma of quality leaf. Balance is what this one is all about, and the balance smacks of absolute genius.

If you can find some, buy it. Hopefully some U.S distributor will pick this up soon!

By god, I love this blend. From the very first tin of it that I had and through the many that have elapsed my opinion of it has never varied. It is simply perfect and I do not think that the fact of my being a Shakespearian should be assumed to evoke a bias. This is said to be of the character of blends that were being packed into clays during the days when Will walked the earth(it's a shame, really, that it does not seem likely that the Bard was an enthusiast of the pipe in the days of its infancy). As far as I am concerned, if this was the smoking fare of those days of yore, then they might as well have just stoped there. Nothing that has come after holds a candle to Elizbethan.

From its perfect ribbon cut that will burn well but never hot, to its seemingly simple components that put to shame all of the presumed wizzardry of today's tobacco mavens, here is a blend that would, hands down, be my desert island choice--that and a pouch of the Prince.

What so greatly stands out for me in Elizabethan is the hearty portion of bright Virginia with golden and what seems like red to back it. Bright is most often assumed best not unleashed on the world without Latakia or Turkish to accompany it. I have never thought so and greatly enjoy the sooty herbalness of it as expressed here with only the slightest ammount of Perique to prop it up.

Well, that's done. I think it's time that I order another pound.



Regards,

A. Morley Jaques

I was quite honestly disappointed with this blend. I found it to be a somewhat grassy, slightly sweet, middle of the road VAPer. You may accuse me of sacrilege but I actually preferred the Sutliff Match Elizabethan. Peterson's Elizabethan simply tastes too young - it doesn't yet have the full body of the component virginias nor much in the way of figgy tartness or peppery spice from the perique. There are plenty of bulk blends which do the job far cheaper, so personally I'll just stock up on those instead. Two and a half stars, because it isn't terrible. I just expected something more.

As I suspected it would from my first bowl, this blend really grew on me. It has a way to do this to many pipers. I’d say it’s mostly all around medium with a medium full taste. I smoke heavy hitter nicotine blends and this is not one of them. But nic- wise there’s a little more than most average blends. Smooth, bite free, and smoky. Natural tobacco tastes. Bread and nuts. Develops deep notes to become chocolatey. Definitely an easy to smoke and enjoy vaper.

Once out of the tin for a day or two the profile becomes much more pleasant and that original antique like off note goes away and turns into a deep chocolate essence. Ccrreeaammyy ! Not very peppery. Although at first I was looking for more spice, I now love it for exactly how it is. Absolutely see why this is a favorite of many. Easily an all day smoke, and as a matter of fact , I have been liking it so much, I seem to pack two in a row ! It’s very easy on the palate, good aftertaste, and it’s satisfying , but it’s not tiring. Good stuff! This could possibly become my favorite, and that’s after 15 years of smoking everything under the sun! 4 stars !

Summary: perhaps the best Va/Per ever created.

Virginia-Perique mixtures prove among the most popular and challenging, merging the alternately spicy and wine-like Perique with the zesty and tangy sizzle of bright Virginias (remember "Pop Rocks" when you were a kid?). Dunhill handles this by conditioning the Virginias expertly, both with pressing and some kind of faint honey-like topping that complements the native flavor of the leaf so well that you can barely detect it. Into this goes just enough Perique to give the leaf its famous fruity zing, kicking up the strength a half-notch as it does, and when these Virginias caramelize the Perique both takes a more dominant role (whip me, darling) and brings out its inner peppery, surly richness, making the Virginia mix taste more like an exotic molasses. Lightly seasoned with PG, this leaf burns easily and leaves a honey barbecue flavor in the mouth, suggesting that there might be a tad of Burley or dark fired leaf hiding in the bowl. With breath-smoking, this mixture has zero bite, smokes down to clotted light grey ash, and could be easily smoked all day without zonking you with nicotine or turning your mouth to human leather.

Well this is certainly one to produce wildly differing reviews! Mine is a new tin of current production, and even though I was hesitant about it because of the Perique (which can taste like a mixture of dung and pepper at times) this one was quite a treat. The Perique is either of a superior quality, or it is so skilfully blended so as not to ruin everything else. I found this to be mild and with a prefect balance of flavours; the Perique adding excitement to the VA, but not ever even suggesting that it was going to blow your head off. Very clever balance, IMO.

I'm an almost exclusive Virginia/perique smoker... for reviewing purposes, this may give me a slight bias towards certain styles of va/per... I have to say, from my perspective Elizabethan is good but not great... it's kind of bland, in fact at times, for me... not to say it isn't a quality smoke... you do get everything you would expect... hay, figs, spice, touch of vinegar maybe... all nice notes.. it just really doesn't blow my mind as I was expecting it to from reviews. I like it.. but I don't love it.. slightly hollow in my opinion.. maybe I also have a bias towards flakes vs ribbon.. I like a little extra flavor punch which may come from the processing. I also suspect about 5 years of aging would improve this a great deal- so that's my plan... 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 cause it is quality tobacco.

Afterthought... there is something very upfront and nearly cigarish about the tin I bought.. not a criticism necessarily.. but I'd like to revisit this one when I pop the next tin in about 5 years... I bet it will be more subdued and gorgeous .. I know that seems contradictory to my review- but I feel that true flavor has subtlety and nuance..when I say hollow I mean it's big but lacking in someting.. needs age in my opinion

Update.. given this several chances.. high quality, but as others have said- kinda flat.. deducting a star.. some people love it.. not for me.