Peterson My Mixture 965

Pouch Aroma: Rich, smoky and leathery, this tobacco is touted as 'the finest smoking mixture in the world' by Dunhill. I don't know about that, but between the Latakia and Orientals in it I can sniff my jar for a while before I get around to lighting up. It has a dark sweetness from the brown Cavendishes and lighter Macedonian, and a woody, leathery smell from the some of the choicest Latakia I have ever experienced.

Appearance: This is a finely-cut tobacco consisting of medium to short ribbons varying evenly in color from golden-brown to black with some birdseye stems with an interesting woody texture.

Packing and Lighting: The cut of 965 makes it easy to drizzle pinches into my Jobey 'Asti' Canadian for filling, yet it doesn't seem to clog the airhole or pack too tightly. Drawing through the unlit pipe yields a nice leathery flavor - this is another tobacco that I'll sometimes put in a pipe for dinner in a non-smoking environment as I can 'use' the pipe unlit and get a nice flavor.

The first match raises a small crown and brings up a dusky sweetness which transmutes almost immediately into a full nutty taste and a semi-sweet aroma which mirrors that in the pouch. A few puffs and a light tamp later a re-light tames the sweetness even more and the smoke becomes reminiscent of burning autumn leaves (which I miss sorely since the Environmental Protection Agency banned the practice) and distant fireplaces in a cool autumn evening.

This is a mixture that is medium in strength and definately FULL of flavor. There are many nuances - burning hardwood, old leather, musty books and faint hints of exotic spices - this is one of the most rewarding smokes for an inveterate English lover like myself. I never allow myself to run out; if I had to pick only ONE tobacco to smoke for the rest of my life I have to say that this would be the one.

Exposition: As the bowl burns on it increases in strength and the flavor becomes slightly more unified. The neat thing is that what it unifies /into/ seems to change with my moods and which pipe I smoke it in. My Jobey emphasizes the nutty and leathery flavors, whereas my Italian pipes bring out the musky sweetness of the Cavendish and Macedonian. In my Tinskys, it is pure campfire heaven.

This is an easy blend to smoke hot, both due to the cut and the fact that I keep mine rather on the dry side. Taking my time, though, produces just enough warmth and moisture to bring out the flavor and my pipe never gets more than warm to the touch. Also, I have never been bitten by this at all. The room aroma is heavy and natural and seems unwanted my most non-smokers indoors. Outdoors, I get many compliments - it makes people wistful as they remember some wonderful night by the fireplace or a special camping trip.

The Story: Midway down the bowl a sharpness appears; far from unpleasant, this shows up as a tickle on the palate and a spicy flavor that I (when I first tried it) mimics incipient bite. But no! Stop puffing for a minute and it fades gently, leaving only a pleasant aftertaste.

The flavor changes very little as the bowl is smoked, only increasing slightly in heaviness and sharpness. This is so gradual that I find it barely noticeable unless I put the pipe down for a short while and come back to it. The aroma hardly changes, and the sidestream smoke from the bowl remains sweet and nutty - if I had an Oom-Paul, I'd reserve it for this.

Denoument: The end is approaching and there is still no sign of sour, bitter or ashy taste. Relights become a bit more frequent but not because of any moisture - I don't dump the ashes at all as there is very little produced and I like to coat the bowl with them (by shaking the pipe with a cleaner in it and the bowl covered with my thumb) and I think this also helps it burn cooler. I don't mind, since the relights just blast me with the flavor all over again anyway, and the burn is so even that this process produces the kind of thin hard cake I like best. I break all of my pipes in with this or McClelland's 2015 (a Virginia/Perique flake), which has the same effect.

Actually, the only way I can tell that the bowl is done is either the draw becomes too easy (no resistance from ashes) or I can't get it to stay lit. The flavor is still pleasant and there is no bitter dottle, which is a problem I have with aromatics.

Pros: Just re-read the above paragraphs, as I think I have effused quite enough on the virtues of this, my favorite English mixture 🙂

Cons: The room aroma is too heavy for most non-pipers, and the flavor and strength can be a bit much for those not accustomed to heavy English blends.

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia takes a little of the lead, and is aided by the Oriental/Turkish in regard to the smokey, woodsy quality of the blend. The spice, floralness, herbalness and dryness from the Orientals is lightly moderate. The Virginias are tart and tangy citrusy and grassy with a little wood, earth, and tangy dark fruit in a support role. The brown cavendish amplifies the sweetness, and adds a slight sugariness. The various elements are all noticeable, and work well together as the well balanced blend it is. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. Won't bite, or get harsh. Burns cool and clean at moderate pace with a very consistent, slightly creamy, mildly sweet and rather savory flavor. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and stronger room note. This can be more than a once a day smoke, even with its strength as it won't knock you off your feet. The Murrays' version was a little more complex than this incarnation.

-JimInks

I waited to review this, my absolute favorite latakia-based blend, until I had smoked a tin of the Orlik era tobacco. The Murray era blend was an absolute classic. This is very nearly as good, and I think a bit more aging of the tin could bring it neck-and-neck.

The description above tells a lot. It's a nice spicy, sweet, rich, nutty mixture that smokes cool as long as you don't overdo the puffing. It bursts open on your tongue with the first draw and the spicy sweetness stays with you throughout the bowl. I find this to be an extremely complex and refined tobacco and it is still my favorite English blend. It's full bodied without being overly strong, as Nightcap is. GREAT after dinner smoke, but I've found I can enjoy this at any time of the day, although as a committed VaPer smoker, two bowls of this in any one day is plenty. And single malt lovers, this goes great with a dram of Highland Park or Lagavulin, although I found it clashed with Talisker.

No confirmed pipe smoker that enjoys latakia should miss this blend. Truly a classic.

The quintessential English Blend, together with London Mixture. This is another tobacco that I would choose if I could smoke only one blend for the rest of my life.

The reasons? Well, it is a perfect mix. Very full, rather strong, but never aggressive: I like strong tastes, but while I love Nightcap, I think that 965 is much more suited for all-day smoking. It never tickles the throat or bites the tongue, regardless of how you smoke it. Just a bit in the nose, maybe, but it's an otherwise well-rounded mixture.

What shocks me is that this doesn't come at the expense of taste: this is one of the tastiest tobbaccos I have ever tried. Every mouthful of smoke gives you an almost culinary sense of fullness, as if you were eating some delightful "lasagne". It really makes you crave for more and more, never tiring: I find it perfect as appetizer, or after dinner, or in every other moment of the day. This is a tobacco that simply makes you love the taste of... tobacco! That burnt-wood, exotic taste that I have always been looking for in a tobacco...

I am a guy who loves to try different tobaccos to change tastes, but I feel that My Mixture 965 is a blend that MUST always be present in my collection, because it never grows tiresome. And it should serve as a warning to all "aromatic fans": don't try and go looking for taste in those boring and syrupy cherry-vanilla-fruit tobaccos... There's twice the taste in this and in London Mixture than in ANY aromatic, and it is a TRUE taste, the taste of real tobacco...

I also tend to recommend it to beginners: in my opinion, it is a much better choice than the usual drugstore tobaccos, or than the ultra-classic Early Morning Pipe. I began smoking a pipe with EMP, and I was a bit disappointed. And don't fear that it might be TOO tasty: it never goes over the top, and it is much more straightforward (which doesn't mean it lacks in subtlety) than my other beloved: Nightcap. Nightcap is even fuller and tastier, but it might be TOO spicy and "grand" for someone. 965 has also the advantage of releasing its taste from the start and keeping it very stable for the rest of the bowl, while Nightcap evolves and changes: nice for experienced smokers, but a bit disconcerting for someone else.

Packs easily, burns well (leaving a dry light grey ash), doesn't require a great smoking technique, tastes great. What else could you want?

A recommendation if you like this tobacco: as I said it is very similar to Dunhill London Mixture, but in my opinion it is less sweet and "licorice" tasting, verging on a "salty" tone instead. Probably due to the reduced amount of Virginia? You may want to try both, anyway.

Curious note: Many say that this kind of English blend (heavy on Latakia) can be unplesant to wives around you. To my surprise, this is a tobacco that my wife LOVES to smell when I smoke it! She hates aromatics, or "sweet" tobaccos: she prefers the room note of english blends, especially London Mixture and 965! Her sister, too, once asked me if she could try to take a puff out of my pipe when I was smoking this kind of tobacco! She, too, loved the smell of it (and she isn't even a cigarette smoker)! So it seems to be only a matter of taste... It has a strong room note, but someone may like it very much (and my cigarette smoking friends LOVE it).

UPDATE February 2004: After a couple of years and some tins more, I can say that this tobacco suffers from batch variations. Some tins can be great, while others can be nauseating, with a taste that is sweetish and spicy but in the wrong way, or because of a weak undistinct taste. Recently, it has become almost impossible to find a good tin... Not a very subtle tobacco, though, even when you get the good tin, and it probably has become stronger in nicotine while becoming generally worse in taste. I prefer London Mixture by a long shot, now. The rating reflects the average between the old 965 (****) and the new one (**).

UPDATE 2012: Ok, downgrading the rating AGAIN. While I enjoyed the recent Orlik versions of London Mixture (a bit thin, but fragrant and very balanced), Standard Mixture (not as juicy as it used to be, but still very... "standard") and even Early Morning Pipe (never my favourite, and still heavier than what the name would suggest, but very complex ad intriguingly oriental), this one is a BIG disappointment. Flat, carboardy, cigarettish. Not exactly offensive, and probably lighter in nicotine than the last Murray versions, but boooooring! Some slight harshness, too. Here and there a hint of the old greatness and of Dunhill's trademark style, but otherwise it's a miss.

I like 965 because although it is an English, the latakia does not overwhelm the palate. There is enough latakia to certainly satisfy latakia lovers, but it is subdued enough to be enjoyed by those of us who don't want our palates overwhelmed by the stuff.

This tobacco is elegant and burns to a dry, white ash. You can puff as fast as you like because the blend is so cool, tongue bite is not a worry. Because 965 is strong, you will not be firing up multiple bowls of this stuff. It is not for everyday consumption either. At least not for me. I will smoke a tin over a week's time and then take a 6 month break before heeding it's call again. Enjoy this classic!

This epitomises the phrase "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone". 965 was Dunhill's signature blend for years.

Somehow, 965 manages to marry good quality virginias with the sweetness of cavendish and spicy latakia tobaccos to create a very palatable smoke of good strength. The smoke never bit, neither did it show any bitterness. Just a great mixture of sweetness and savoury, cavendish and latakia.

Smoking it now, the tin has been opened for six months, and I am down to the last couple of bowls. It really is an exceptional smoke. The strength has been lost slightly, and the powerful latakia mellowed with time outside the tin. The tin was aged at least 5 years when I opened it, and I really feel like I am smoking the remainders of something very very special. Luckily I have a few more tins in cellar, but when they're gone, they'll be gone for good.

An update to this review. I have just opened a tin of the EU production, and it is still a fine smoke. Sweet, smokey, spicy - fully of flavour. There is no bite and the flavour remains consistant down to the dottle. There may be differences between this and the UK produced tobacco, but I cannot tell. It is certainly still head and shoulders above most other blends of this ilk I have tried. With 5 years of age, it should become a very fine smoke indeed!

What can I say about this blend that has not already been said. There are some reviews with which I agree and others which I do not. However, there are some things that I can point out in brief that will hopefully help others who have not tried this blend to know whether or not they should give it a try. 1) If you prefer English blends but have never tried My Mixture 965, then you absolutely need to try it. I trust that you will not be disappointed 2) If you do not typically like latakia-based blends but are open to trying one that should really be the be-all-end-all litmus test of whether you like a properly composed english blend, then this could be it. If you do not like this blend at least a little, you probably will not ever like English blends 3) If you love English blends and have been wondering which one is the absolute best value in bulk, then look no further. You can purchase this blend by the tin, and if you only smoke casually and infrequently (less than once a week), the tin may be the best route to go for you. However, if you are a daily smoker or smoke more than once a day and are looking for the best bang for the buck in an English (I have found it on sale for around $30 U.S for a pound), here's your blend. It is around $45 for 16 Ozs at pipesandcigars.com, but I have purchased it there for less on sale.

The tobacco packs very nicely and should not clog or restrict air flow even when packed tightly. It smells like any good english should smell - like leather, fresh cut wood, peppery spices, and real quality tobacco. It lights fairly easily when fresh out of the tin or bag, but it will light even easier once it has dried out a little. It does not have an propylene glycol added, so it will dry out if you do not take care to keep it seeled. In bulk, I have considererd keeping a little humidifier on the bottom top of the jar (distilled water only), but have not needed to yet - as I smoke through it quickly enough to not have the need. If you do this, remember to open the jar from time to time if you are not smoking frequently in order to prevent over humidification or mold. I must so, IT GETS BETTER WITH AGE!!!! I recommend aging in a well-sealed jar.

It tastes the way a good english should taste. It tastes like a combination of high-grade (non-sutliffy) pipe tobacco, quality cigar, smoky-peaty (think Islay scotch), and a good qualtiy dunhill cigaratte - I actually typed that and was not even thinking about the fact that this is also a dunhill product, although it is a coincidence.

It burns very evenly and will not require relighting with proper tamping. In fact, it leaves very, very little ash in the bowl. You will know when it is done and ready to dump because it just gets to a point where there is nothing left to burn.

I notice from time to time that my clothes smell a little more like I have been smoking a cigarette than pipe tobacco from time to time, although not nearly as pungent. The smoke is typically not pleasant to non-smokers, but then again, for whom and why are you smoking the tobacco in the first place.

A few other important points are:

1) the tobacco burns failry cool - you will not get tongue bite (this is not some syrup infused Sutliff tobacco made from tobacco scraps and chemicals), and the bowl should not get too hot if you smoke it properly (and have properly borken in your briar) 2) As far as I am aware, I have not smoked the 965 from the previous manufacturer. I believe that I have only ever smoked the Orlik version. Please keep that in mind when reading my review, as many others have pointed out some disappointment with the Orlik blend compared to the previous verision (Murray I believe that I have read).

If I told that I could only smoke one pipe tobacco for the rest of my (if it was just one tobacco then it would be cuban seed nicaraguan that was handrolled by one of Don Pepin's finest and most likely had a Tatuaje label on it), then that pipe tobacco would most likely be My Mixture 965 - although SG Squadron Leader,MacBaren Navy Flake and a few others would defintely need to duke it out first.

Umm.... Yes.

I really do love 965. I've smelled it from bulk bag and tiny tin, old and new. Yes, the newer production lacked the huge amounts of Latakia from back in the day, and they've remedied that somewhat. I also found that the first thing this requires upon purchase is to empty the entire contents into a Mason jar (you're shocked, I know) and leave it in your basement for about 2 months to marry and meld. But once that's done......

Something about 965 just sets it as the baseline English blend. The Latakias are pungent and musty and loamy. There's almost a figgy note in some of the older blends. It's rich in the nose. It's like smelling beef gravy. You can already hear your wife b*tching and you haven't even packed your pipe yet. Get a big one. If you're going to suffer her complaining, you may as well earn the scorn. I prefer this in a monstrously huge Don Carlos that has a bowl about the size of a film canister.

Oh, how wonderful. Right out of the gate in third gear with latakia. Huge volumnious clouds of latakia. Does it stay lit? God I hope not, I want any excuse to fire it some more and get more of these billowing air pockets swirling around me. Birds drop dead from the sky and mosquitos run for the hills. Children hold their noses and wave their tiny hands in impotent disgust. Wives' faces implode in derision. Who cares? This is a great, great blend. And now that I'm about 1/3 of the way through the bowl, I actually do notice it's a blend. There's other stuff happening here. Orientals, virginias, not brassy or tart but enough to lift the whole mix and keep it up off the deck. But make no mistake, the Latakia is the fat lady singing in this play, and she will not be denied.

Some will say this deserves a worthy beverage, like a stout. Somehow, I disagree. I'd think a beer (such as the Greek import "Athenian") or even a fine tea would be what you'd want, to cleanse the palate. But I don't have time for such nonsense, I'm too busy enjoying this stuff.

Just barely this side of overly full, you could smoke this one with some regularity before your tongue cried for mercy (or variety.) It truly is the quintessential English blend, and you won't often go wrong in comparing other newcomers to it.

Just make sure it gets some quality time (6-8 weeks) in the bell jar first, or your flavors will be all disparate and unpleasing.

Open the tin, and 3 dominant scents welcome you: sweetness, smokiness and a vinegary sourness (from successful fermentation). Nice and rather powerful scent, but not one to instantly fall in love with. As always, scent and smoking are different animals.

A typical Scottish Mixture, indeed, and a Hall of Fame mixture, too. For many pipe lovers it might be the best Scottish Mixture ever. I remember 965 quite differently in several aspects when I smoked it in the early 80’s. But I don’t want to get into this.

The Virginias and the English Cavendish, as a courting couple, form the body of this mixture. The bright and obvious sweetness lies unequivocally in the Macedonia Bright (a sweet Oriental). The darker, more settled sweetness, as well as the discreet nutty, creamy taste, originate from English Cavendish, not from Burley, as it normally does. To my knowledge, there is no Burley at all in this mixture. The Orientals (other than Macedonia Bright) provide and enhance the natural tobacco aromas and add some spice to this blend. Latakia is there, as in all Scottish Mixtures, on a small scale though, just to provide a decent woody, leathery smokiness.

Overall, an excellent all-day mixture, although it might be too dominant on the diverse sweetness for the dedicated English, Balkan and Latakia smoker.

Last but not least, like all Scottish mixtures, this mixture has the quality of a “transition mixture” for Danish smokers who want to become English smokers. Try it.

965 is about harmony of the constituent tobaccos. There are certainly bigger "Lat bombs" out there. There are definitely sweeter English/Cavendish blends. There are more oriental-forward mixtures. But few blends present the harmony and balance of 965, from tin note through the final sip. I suppose that's why there are so many reviews of this classic blend, a must-try for every serious piper.

While not predominately a smoker of English blends, this is on the top shelf of those I would reach for: a classic of the style, on par with what Dunhill Flake is to Virginias - the best? Debatable. A classic? Indisputable.

Highly recommended.