Peterson My Mixture 965

This was my first English blend,and my first WOW moment w a pipe.

When I bought this I knew not what latikia was. I new not what an English blend was. I only knew that dunhill was a seven letter word for quality.

I was shocked at the pungent smell wafting around in the car. I sealed it up cursed myself for waisting 15$ and it lived on my book case as a reminder of what curiosity did to a cat.

Fast forward 3 weeks or so and you'll find me a bit tipsy, out of cigs and feeling adventurous."huh it's not nearly as punishing to my senses, has a sweet smell to it, along w a bit of musty leather and something reminiscent of a camel cigarette.

The predominant aroma (besides lat) is musty sweet, as where I find Old Dublin smokey w a vibrant, tangy, VA,, super sweet smell. I feel 965 makes a stance, while Old Dub is riding the fence/middle of the road eng. But done exceptionally well.

From the first puff I WAS A CHANGED MAN. It was smokey and sweet like a good Scotch, had a tasty leathery quality and my wife didn't mind the room note. It was velvety and cool. I actually noticed a creamyness to it. Lots of low-key sweetness that melded beautifully w the acrid smokeyness, I didn't really know how iconic it was, but could still tell classic and dunhill wasn't just hype. After that I went balls out for rich strong tobacco. I dove head first into such blends as, Squadron leader, Irish flake, old dark fired, birds eyes flake, Peterson perfect plug. There was a WHOLE world of tobacco to get lost in and I was just taking my first steps on the journey. I remember my fist 965 as well as any other very memorable firsts in a person's life. I found out that if your smoking a bowl and your already contemplating where and when the next will be, then you know it's a 5 star bell-ringer, not many blends have showed this quality of character to me in 10 years . This is a high water mark for tobacco, and even after being turned to shadows of their former glory, can still be a bench mark.

Read to the end. I updated in September 2022 with a Murray tin review!

Original review from 27-06-2019:

I’ve waited some time to decide to review this blend, because after all, we’re talking about a legendary blend. The famous 965, included in the so-called Tobacco Hall of Fame, and a kind of trademark to Dunhill.

MM 965 and Nightcap, such appreciated blends, so renowned that they intimidate me when it comes to making reviews. I don’t want to write profanities, I don’t want people to look at me in strange ways, to be considered a heretic. But screw it! Lets give it a try!

My 965 tin is almost 2 years old, which means that the initial taste changed. I don’t know how much it changed, but usually when it comes to latakia that’s how things go. Latakia doesn’t age well like virginia. It gets lighter, smoother. So, what taste it has now can be different from what I could’ve tasted 2 years ago, when it was fresh. I’d say it’s important to take this detail into consideration.

As always, lets begin with.. the beginning. First time I opened the tin I took the tobacco to smell and touch and took notes of what I felt. The tobacco had a leathery and fruity smell, the humidity was medium. After I opened the tin, I’ve put it in a hermetic jar to keep it’s humidity and taste. In other words, I can still smell and taste it the same now, after two months since opening it (i have too many tobaccos opened). The smell is really pleasant. The humidity however is too much to be smoked directly from the tin/jar, so I usually take out for a bowl and leave it out 10 minutes to dry. I personally don’t understand people who leave the tobacco to dry 30 minutes/1 hour, especially if it’s not an aro, because you’re not taking it out of water and if you leave it to dry too much it will crumble between your fingers and it will start getting too hot in the pipe, so I don’t know how much you can enjoy it like that. But after all, it’s personal preference. I prefer it slightly dry.

The cut is a very well executed ribbon, easy to pack, it’s neither too long or too short. It has a dark color, from dark yellow to black pieces which dominate.

Lets light it up! It lights up very easy, and the taste gradually starts to make its presence felt. It is a subtle taste of latakia, which plays with the oriental. Wait, let me inspect...

... ok, i’m back. I don’t know how, but I quickly came close to the middle of the bowl. Maybe it burns too fast, although I didn’t puff fast. But this also means your pipe wont go out and it will continue burning without needing to relight every 5 minutes. Burns well, doesn’t bite, doesn’t get hot, doesn’t fade or go out. So this is very good.

How about the taste? It is described as being full bodied, but it appears to me as being a bit shy, so I’d say it’s rather medium bodied (full bodied for me would be Nightcap or Asthon’s Artisan’s Blend). The taste is very pleasant, although it’s far from being a latakia bomb. It has a balanced taste. At some smokes you feel more latakia, at others you feel more turkish. But, it can also be due to the age, the latakia losing its power. If I would smoke this blend and I would chew some leather gloves, I would feel the same taste, plus a slight note of smoked wood, and on the background a creamy sweetness.

Is it tasty? It is! Is it strong? So and so. Would I buy another tin? Yes! And I don’t usually buy more tins of the same kind, because I want to try as many tobaccos as I can, but I only buy again those that I really like. This would be one of them.

I’d describe it as a blend complex in aromas, which can be understood and appreciated at its real value by pipers with experience, who have the ability to discover the subtleties of a blend that doesn’t hit you with a direct and monotone aroma.

It is a blend that asks for attention in order to really enjoy it, it’s not the type you would smoke while driving or doing something else. It’s a smoke for the evening or the night, in peace and quiet, with a whisky and, why not, a tea. Yes, it is a refined tobacco for ‘real gentlemans’, not for corn cob while driving the tractor (no offense to cob smokers or tractor drivers! I smoke from cobs too)

The room note, I would say it’s ok, it’s not a stinky latakia blend (although I love the latakia smell and taste). I’d say it’s tolerable for the people around, and for me it’s very pleasant.

Unfortunately, the taste doesn’t stay long after you finished smoking. I like the tobaccos that leave an after-smoke taste. But that’s not a real problem, it makes you want more.

UPDATE September 2022: Review for Murray era (1985-1986 tin, meaning 37 or 36 years old)

I’ve hit a jackpot! While browsing some Romanian antiques groups on Facebook, I stumbled upon a tin of Erinmore from the Murray era. I asked the seller if the tin is full, but she said she doesn’t know, but she will come back with an answer. Later that day, she told me that it still has some tobacco left, and that she has another tin for sale. I asked her to give me pictures of that other tin. To my surprise, it was a 1985-1986 tin of Dunhill My Mixture 965. I asked her again if the tin is empty, she said she doesn’t know, because she can’t open it. The next day I got a message from her telling me that her brother in law came and showed her how to open the tin. The opened the tin and saw that the tin is full. I decided to buy them right away, and in a few hours I was at her house, inspecting the tobacco. There was absolutely no mold on neither of them, but they were very, very dry. Came home, rehydrated them and now I’m reviewing them. Oh, and I want to specify that I spent $61 on both tins!

Alright, so here we have this piece of history. A tin of Murray’s era MM 965, full, with no mold. I have the same emotions with this tin like I’ve had with the first MM965 that I reviewed back in 2019. This is an iconic blend! I must be precise at every note I take while reviewing this. This is exciting!

Alright! So... Tin note! The simplest way to put it is that the tin note is excellent. Sweet and smoky with lots of leather notes. The distinct Dunhill leather smell that I keep mentioning in my reviews.

The ribbons are black, brown and dark gold with lots of sugar crystals. The cut is smaller than the usual Dunhill cut. Like I said, the tobacco was very dry, but I managed to get it to a good humidity using a hydrostone with filtered and boiled water. Now it’s perfect, ready to go in the pipe.

Now lets get to the most important part. Taste! First thing that I got is some spice. It is still smoky, after 36-37 years! Leathery and spicy. After a few smokes the spice goes away and some woody notes come, like cedar. The leathery notes are not as strong as in London Mixture or Standard Mixture which I had from Orlik’s Dunhilll, but still it tastes like when you bite a leather glove. The virginia can be detected but it’s not the sweet type, it has more hay notes. Cavendish.. I don’t know. I don’t really detect it. And I don’t even know if it had Cavendish in the 80s tins. It probably had. But it might be the one that joins all the flavors. Someone wrote here somewhere that he finds some notes of grapes. I must agree. It has something similar to black grapes. Maybe that would be the Cavendish.

Reading my initial review while I was smoking my pipe I discovered that everything I wrote about the Orlik version is very-very similar to what I’m smoking right now.

I’ve let the pipe sit for about 10 minutes, and when I lit it up the taste got more pronounced. The leathery taste was more pronounced, the smokiness was more pronounced, the spice, the woody notes. As you progress, if you let the pipe sit it will become smoother and smoother and the taste more pronounced. When I first light it up it’s more spicy, but after that it becomes smoother.

By the end of the tin I noticed that the spiciness was almost gone, leaving a smooth, smoky and leathery taste.

This is a top quality medium bodied, medium strength blend that you can really really enjoy, it’s like an all day smoke, but especially it’s a great smoke for the morning when you’re having your coffee. It’s a balanced blend, balanced in taste. Like I said, medium bodied, medium strength, medium flavor.

One downside to this is that it seems to burn fast. It doesn’t get hot at all, but I always manage to finish a bowl too fast. Same thing happened with the Orlik 965 I had. I don’t know why. But this also means that you can use only one match to light up your pipe and keep it lit until the end.

Delivers e thick smoke, the room note being very specific to Dunhill blends, just like the leathery taste is specific to Dunhill blends. It has an incense smell like no other english blends. Many english blends are foul smelling, but these are actually exactly like church frankincense.

All in all, great blend. Maybe in 2019 I didn’t really know how to appreciate this blend, but now it goes into my favorites list.

Now I’ll be looking for the Peterson version.

Great stuff!

P.S.: Also review on the spot here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQVwLgehnQ

Awesome tobacco with incredibly rich progression of flavour! Must have tobacco in your cellar.

1/3 of a bowl smokes like any other well balanced english blend with some alcohol and healing herbs notes.

2/3 of a bowl: your thoughts start to sink in a spicy veil of smoke.

3/3 of a bowl: the notes of rum, biscuit and some vanilla come to the fore. What a beautiful ending! I bought a second tin of My Mixture 965 right after the first bowl

P.S. TRY THIS WITH CORN COB PIPES! I dont know why but my briar pipe didnt give me such a range of flavors.

Hey, Mr. Fabulous Itself, Mister 965.

I don't know if it's worth saying something. I don't know if this blend maybe the best in the world, but I do know this is where a lot of mixtures wanna go, but never reach to.

Nutty, nutty, cheesey, always silky. Never ever bites. Never ever gets harsh or something. Balanced and sweet by the way. I hope they never put this classic out of production, cause this is real tobacco happyness.

If I smoke it on the morning, or on a rainy Sunday afternoon, it always transports me on a trip thru Orient pleasures, still standing on the sweet side. I have several tins cellared in my jars and it never suffers but ages slowly increasing its sweetness.

If They only made this flake cut...

Highly recommended mixture.

I found this to be a very mellow blend. Latakia is taking a backseat with this tabac. Not much spicy or sweet flavors. It is a mild and mellow blend because of the dominant cavendish. This doesn't make it sweet, it simply mutes the full bodied nature of the orientals and woodsy Latakia, making it medium bodied. It doesn't stand out as complicated, but it is refined and smooth. The aroma is semi-woodsy and cigarette like. All in all a great blend that is very easy on the palate, making it an all day blend.

I just finished my second tin of this blend and have ordered more. Come to find out I really like Scottish blends. They have just a slight sweetness to them that a proper English does not. This being due to the addition of cavendish, I think. I bought this bc it knocked my socks off when I smelled it in a jar at a tobacco shop. I said to the lady who owns it, "this smells really good". She replied it was the most expensive they carried in bulk there. I bought one of the tins she had in stock, it had a pretty good layer of dust on it. I think it must have been aged a good amount of time bc it was better than what I have received since.

Any way, on to my review. Fresh tins smell spicy sweet, and really do smell of leather. A bit smokey too.The cut is a good ribbon, some a bit crumpled, which I believe lends to its fantastic burning properties. It looks very pleasant in its tin, the colors are all fairy close in shade to one another. This is one I just like to smell when I open it for a bit. It bears some resemblances to nightcap, in quality, burn character and strength. But its flavor seems to be more balanced and it is sweeter.

It packs very well and I have not had any draw issues to date. It takes to the flame readily and burns even and cool without much need to relight, properly tamped of course. I've tried it in small and large bowls and it burns cooperatively regardless. The taste is rich off the draw, and maintains its flavor profile throughout the bowl. It does change slightly in the end, it sort of gathers it's strength and pushes forward the sweetness towards the last quarter. It burns fairly dry as well and doesn't leave much ash or oily residue in the pipe.

I would recommend this one to most pipe smokers. To the new ones, it is worth starting out properly. To the seasoned, you owe it yourself in your exploration of the English/ Scottish world. It is a worthy blend and a fine representation of what this art is supposed to be about. Rich, pure and un tampered with. I gave it a highly recommended, and I stand by it. For what my opinion is worth to you anyway.

Another of those samples given to me.....awesome blend. Typical English with the just right balance of Viriginia, Latakia & Oriental. The smell from the tin not nearly as pronounced as when you start smoking this, although the Latakia was clear. In the pipe, a well balanced blend full of flavours.... smokynes from a camp fire or fireplace, antique goods, mouldy, and then that hint of orientalness.

http://youtu.be/a4cRMHZ7v94

I have tried many, many tobaccos, especially of the English variety, which has always been my preferred type of tobacco. For whatever reason, of all the English blends I have tried, this remains by far my favourite. It has been, is, and I suspect will be for a long time, my daily smoke. It has the ideal nicotine level for me to enter into a very focused contemplative mode, especially helpful in the afternoon when I am trying to keep writing, researching, etc. And yet it is also good for just relaxing and enjoying. Although I will continue to try other British blends... and I feel like I've tried almost all of the good ones... this remains my favourite. It think the secret is the right blend of latakia and cavendish in the mix... for me these make the flavour pop more than in other blends I've tried, admitting that there is probably something particular to what I look for and enjoy in a British blend. I have come to prefer the quality of bulk buying it to the tin because I don't have to wait for the bulk tobacco to dry at all.

A perfectly blended, well rounded English blend. The blend is very reminiscent of Early Morning Pipe but slightly fuller, bolder, and smooth. I lend this to the excellent use of cavandish. Normally I steer clear of anything containing cavandish but when I saw a Dunhill english with cavandish i had to try it. I was very pleased. It rounds off the blend and adds a little something special.