Peterson Standard Mixture

Nightcap light! This blend has a bit more sweetness from the virginias, but sacrifices taste in all the other spectrums. I think it would be a good alternative for those who wish that nightcap was a little lighter so they could smoke it all day. Alas, I would rather just smoke nightcap less frequently and not sacrifice the taste.

I will confess my personal bias: I don't really like the virginias used in SM. It is the same robust virginia taste that is also at the base of Durbar (but with more orientals added), Nightcap (with perique added) and Royal Yacht (with plum flavouring). I don't like this robust taste because it is too dominant, too strong and constantly on the verge of turning harsch (unless you smoke gently). And it also has a kind of citrus (?) tone that does not appeal to me.

It is not evident what is supposed to be "standard" in SM. It is probably meant to be standard only by the measure of the various Dunhill blends, but it is not a standard english. In fact, if you are looking for a traditional english you should go for London Mixture instead, which is an excellent english (but a bit stout and strong).

In taste, SM is closer to Durbar than to London Mixture, but with a more balanced blend of the latakia and orientals and in comparative terms it is more mellow. But the virginias are nevertheless at the basis as the dominant player in this blend. If you like the robust and strong virgina used in these Dunhill blends, congratulations. But if not you will probably not appreciate this blend. So don't be tricked into taking SM to be a standard english, because in my opinion it is not. But if you enjoy a robust tasting tobacco, with a more "standard" balance of orientals and latakia you will probably be able to enjoy SM. It has a very rich smoke and the burning qualities are good. But I think it smokes better if packed loose (perhaps drying it out a bit so that it keeps lit).

I realize this is a good quality tobacco. But for my personal taste this is only a 2 star blend. I would say that in SM the virginia taste is full but the english taste is only medium or mild (in contrast to London Mixture where you get a more traditional full english taste).

This orlik version is very balanced,discrete Latakia,sweet turkish(I think some Izmir and Black Sea leave) and first class american Virginia.Really is good,but I prefer London Mixture to enjoy a almost perfect english and Early Morning for the toasted Va.It doesn´t lack of flavour but perhaps in my very humble opinion it lacks of personality.Absolutely nothing to do with the SMM 20 years ago.

After reading some very favorable reviews here, I was a bit disappointed when I smoked my first bowl of Standard Mix. It did bite a little, and was not as rounded as I expected from an English blend. However, I like a bit of Latakia, and I did not think I noticed any here.

I think I should follow Don Jefe's advice and let it breath for a month or so before smoking the second bowl. I shall update the review then.

This is one of the new recently re-released tins. The reason it's only getting two stars is because the quality of tobacco was REALLY poor. It may just have been a bad tin, but there was an unacceptable amount of stem/twigs in my tin. Real floor sweepings stuff brushed up at the end of the day it was.

A quality control epic fail.......

Not that this is too bad a smoke. It's actually a steady medium English, and I do vaguely remember smoking Murray's version of this blend in early 2002, but cannot remember that much about it.

Much prefer Old Dublin, MM965, LB, EMP, Presbyterian over this.

Just opened a Murray era tin, too moist to smoke without drying a bit first.

Taste: honest tobacco, but with a slight heaviness i don't like.

I love Standard Mixture Mellow/Mild, but Medium after having tried several tins of Murray and Orlik I won't buy again.

This is the Orlik Standard Mixture. It's a medium strength English mixture with a mild flavor and is an all day smoke. It's got a nice taste to it and the cut is a fine ribbon. Moisture level is fine, not too damp like many blends. It packs easily and lights without any difficulty. The flavor improves as you smoke down to the middle of the bowl. At the start it is overly reluctant. By the bottom of the bowl it is a bit sour. Over all it is a decent blend and I would not hesitate to give it a passing grade, but not a recommendation because the competition is too stiff. Stick with your faves and try this one out of curiosity. You might put it on your list of blends to buy. You can take mine I'll stay with the ones that brought me to the dance.

In my opinion this is one of the few Dunhill tobaccos that might approach the original in the transition from Murray to Orlik. I only wish I could say the same for 965, and the other wonderful Dunhill blends. I smoked quite a bit of this when it was blended by Murray and found it excellent. My latest smoked tin was 2 years old, but it was indeed from Orlik as it was stamped made in the EU. It wasn't awful.

This was always an all day smoke for me and I found it perfectly balanced with just the right strength and complexity. What I have always loved and appreciated in this blend is that one doesn't get an overload of oriental leaf, which is so common in many English blends. In regards to the quality of leaf and smoking characteristics SMM reminded me of 965.

The previous reviewer says SMM is discontinued, but I am unable to confirm that statement, and I hope not. I do however see that Standard Mixture Mild has indeed been discontinued.

I did not like this mixture very much, but i think it is a nice tin of tobacco. It packed and burned well; nice volume of smoke too. Personally I like just less dominance of the latakia so this was not really for me. If you like the Latakia then you will like this.