Fribourg & Treyer Golden Mixture

I never cease to be amazed at how subjective taste is when it comes to reviewing tobacco blends. My pipe club recently had F&T's Golden Mixture at it's tobacco bar. I had a bowl and was totally delighted despite the fact that the strength is much milder than what I normally gravitate toward.

Golden Mixture burned smooth and cool. In fact, the majority of the puffers in my club said one bowl was just not enough. I can understand why. It lacks punch for veteran smokers who crave a little more muscle in their smokes.

Golden Mixture packs well enough, but was too moist for my tastes, and required a bit of drying. Whereas most "quality" Virginia tobaccos provide layers of flavor as you work your way down the bowl, Golden Mixture remained the same from top to bottom. Different? You bet. I've never smoked anything quite like it.

If you have been in mourning ever since the passing of Elephant & Castle, and their all-Virginia blend "The Roanoke" in particular, be of good cheer: F&T's Golden Mixture _is_ the Roanoke. It is the Ken McConnell blend that McConnell himself replicated for E&C at a time when the original Golden Mixture was not being made. Well, E&C is has been gone these 14 years since Ken McConnell's retirement (alas!), but Golden Mixture is back. Although it is no longer London-made, I am happy to report it has made the transition to Germany with all its qualities intact.

I can actually remember opening my first tin of Roanoke in 1983, being enchanted by its golden ribbons, and finding it so sweet I wondered if it wasn't flavored with honey. Golden Blend makes exactly the same impression. At the start it is light and sweet -- quite possibly the sweetest natural Virginia you will ever taste. The second half of the bowl deepens the flavor to a robust finish. It burns cool and reasonably bite free, but it burns extremely fast.

I recently compared Golden Mixture to a 15-year-old tin of Roanoke; the Roanoke's ribbons were darker, as happens with aging, and possessed a depth and intensity of flavor that comes with age. But other than these improvements, there is no question that these are virtually the same blend. Elephant & Castle is no more, but the Roanoke lives! Now if only Golden Mixture had E&C's wonderful gold-foil label...

Fribourg & Treyer - Golden Mixture.

This really took my by surprise! I had no idea I'd enjoy it as much as I do.

If I'm honest, I wasn't impressed when I removed the lid from the tin; that revealed a very tightly compacted, damp tobacco. Trying to find some good points I poked about in it and found a decent Virginia smell and judging by the slight build of the ribbons I assumed it would give a good burn once it'd had time to dry; it did!

The flavour of the smoke is a typical Virginia one. If you enjoy the simple citrus/grass taste of this leaf I doubt you'd feel let down by this. There is a slight background note of something sweet but nothing that suggests any kind of topping has been used.

This is one of the milder Virginia's that I can think of. Nicotine lovers; step away!

The room note is nothing capricious; lemony, hay like and grassy. On the major plus side it creates hardly any smoke in the room. This, is, the perfect smoke for a cold day when there's no chance of being able to open the window without freezing to death!

This is a wonderful straight Virginia. It's nothing like I expected.

Highly recommended.

The various golden Virginias provide some grass and hay, mild tart and tangy citrus (orange), plenty of tart lemon, a couple drops of honey, and very slight sugar, floral and acidic notes. The strength and nic-hit are very mild, while the taste is mild. Won’t bite, and I experienced no harshness, and hardly any rough edges. Even though the tobacco is a little moist in the tin, it needs no dry time, though it does burn a little fast and fairly cool. The gentle, refined flavor is very consistent from start to finish. Hardly leaves any dampness in the bowl. Requires few relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. An easy going all day, one dimensional, comfortable smoke that won’t wear out its welcome. Would make a good starter blend for light Virginias. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

In the tin, this has very little aroma other than that of tobacco. My first bowl was right from a freshly opened tin. The tobacco did not appear to be too moist, so what the heck. I gave it a pretty snug pack because the cut is a fine ribbon. It is a little sharpish at the match, not unusual for a Virginia. But it settles down quickly. This is my kind of tobacco. It is natually, sweet, mild and mellow with no bite. It has a pleasant, light Virginia flavor. Even with a firm pack it burns a bit fast, but not hot. There are subtle little flavor changes as the burn moves down the bowl, and the Virginia flavor deepens somewhat. The quality of the tobacco is extraordinary. I cannot decide if a sweetener has been added to this tobacco. It is so sweet and tasty that you might conclude that something must have been added. Yet the smoke is so mild, friendly and biteless that you might decide it must be all natural. If there has been a sweetener added, it was done by a wizard. These F&T tobaccos are first rate. Most highly recommended. Paddy.

**5/20/15 This is an update after smoking half the tin in the past week. I am really loving Golden Mixture not only in the morning but as an all day smoke. This is the only all Lemon Virginia blend that I can puff on with reckless abandon and not get my mouth and tongue destroyed. Its obvious after trying to understand why this is always out of stock. I only wish that I got to try Elephant & Castle's blends before that company went belly up since this mixture is heavenly!! It's great blended 25% GB with 75% C&D Shandygaff!**

Just as Jakob described, GM is a perfect morning smoke, non offending, mild to medium un topped golden Virginia that is cut fine enough that packing is effortless in any size bowl, in fact it does resemble RYO cig tobacco (just in appearance) but the flavor, oh the flavor is just magical. It's so simple and yet changes flavors as you make your way down the bowl. I can see how this could be an all day smoke for the veteran but beginners should stay away (IMHO) since GM can be stoked into losing all flavor at the very least and made into a raging blast furnace equal to that of Virginia #1 or Plumcake at it's worst but for the experienced smoker the taste of fresh hay, lemon rind, tangy citrus flavor, reminiscent of tangerines, somewhere between Dunhill Flake's lemony and Orlik Golden Sliced orangey flavors. Nicotine is relatively mild but perfect for the first bowl of the day. This is the Virginia equivalent of Early Morning Pipe and should have been named "Early Morning Golden Mixture". Great stuff but very hard to find...

Though I differ with Bertrand Russell in philosophical terms, I share his esteem for F&T’s Golden Mixture. This is an archetypal VA that delivers a singular rendition of what a “light” VA might be. In the tin, slight ribbons are almost RYO-style. The tobaccos range from golden to light/medium brown. I imagine from smoking it that there are both flue and air cured varietals in the mix, lemons and browns. Tin note is sweet wheat with very faint citrus. It looks like this stuff will light easily and burn fast, and it does. If you want it to last, you’ll need a taller bowl. As for the smoke, while many light VAs fail to deliver past the match, GM is a noteworthy exception. It is soft and blissfully fragrant at the match, with hay that’s just dry, meadow grasses and treacle, adding faint citrus and the barest traces of anise and lingon berries as it is smoked down, along with a deniable breath of tonquin. There is also just enough sparkle from spices that remind me vaguely of those found in Semois; pretty fancy for straight VAs. I get plenty of smoke when I light it up at tin moisture. Yes, GM is “light”, and I’m OK with it. I don’t pull for more flavor, and it never gets too hot for me. With this blend, you can play with the tableau by switching pipes, if you enjoy that sort of thing. I do, at times, and I have not hit a bad iteration yet. YMMV, of course. Strength is mild. Tastes build from mild to nearly medium. Room note is pleasant. Tend it well to avoid ash and the aftertaste is a sweet, lingering best-of-the-smoke.

IMO, F&T’s Golden Mixture is a delicious, interesting classic. The only way I can understand why it’s not more popular is to ass-u-me few have smoked it. I just hope F&T sell enough of it to keep it in production, and I hope they never change it.

The favorite tobacco of Bertrand Russell. And one of my favorites. Honestly, its just delicious. Ribbon cut Virginia, with some VERY subtle casing....just a tiny touch but its there. Burns cool...smooth, and tastes fantastic. It wont overpower you, the nic hit is moderate, but the taste is very clear and strong. And consistent. Underrated IMHO.

addendum. Returning to this blend I am struck with just good it is. Linear and not as complex as some virginia flakes, but certainly very very tasty. Also should NOT be called a starter. Bertrand Russell smoked it for fifty years. And anyway, it s a bit of an insult and not really accurate.

You can no longer buy this in the UK; I used to smoke it it years ago, for the same reason as the previous reviewer: it was Bertrand Russell's lifelong favourite. Gawith & Hoggarth's Broken Scotch Cake is to my mind enough like GM to be a satisfactory sub: see my review of BSC. Also it's a bit like a classier version of Ogden's Gold Block. GM is not for the lover of strong flavours. It's so bland and mild that I suspect a lot of people would quickly get bored with it, and there's always a temptation to puff hard, and so get burnt, to try to get something more positive out of it. Those are the downsides, but, on the basis of my own tastes, I'm happy to recommend it. It's a civilised, undemanding all-day smoke. Availability is the problem, though.

Sometimes simplicity can be very rewarding.. I avoided trying Golden Mixture for years because it sounded dull.. it sounded like a plain light virginia.. and after trying it.. yes it is a plain light virginia.. what I didn't expect was that I would love it.. and it isn't one dimensional.. there are slight shifts and pops.. and an absolutely lovely aroma (at least for the smoker).. it is absolutely right down the middle in terms of flavor.. but these pops I speak of, while not complete changes in profile are just little subtle undertones.. it's like when you are eating a cracker that is lightly salted and every so often you hit a grain of salt and the flavor takes on an abrupt dimension.. I get hay.. maybe grain.. possibly mellow citrus.. nothing sharp.. this is one of the best mellow smokes I've tried.. it is bread and butter.. it is an all day and any day smoke.