Fribourg & Treyer Golden Mixture

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

Golden to light brown ribbon cut - almost a shag. Tin aroma of hay with some spice underneath. On the non-descript side. I dried this out just a bit for best results. Not too dry... just a hair drier than tin moisture.

Nice, enjoyable flavors that mirrored the tin aroma... sweet hay with a bit of spice. Reminded me a bit of Dunhill Light Flake without the huge burst of flavor. That was this one's downfall for me. It was just too light and devoid of any real depth. If this is E&C's Roanoke recipe, the Virginias have really deteriorated in quality, as this had none of Roanoke's intense depth, nor it's strength of flavor (I smoked a bowl of Roanoke to be sure, and the flavor difference is not all aging). This was light and airy with just a bit of spice... very inoffensive but offering little in the way of pizzazz. With F&T's CVP out there, this one kept making me think "there are probably WAY too many tobacco blends in existence, who needs this one?", Bertrand Russell notwithstanding. It has its fans, obviously (and detractors!) and I am neither. I finished the tin but was mostly bored. I mixed a bit of this with stoved VA with nice results, however. 3 stars but I could have gone to 2 and felt good about it.

The flavors in Golden Mixture are top notch: good citrus flavor on the retro-inhale, a nice hay flavor, and malty/bready. It even has a slight top-note that I seem to agree with. This blend blows Mac Baren's Virginia No. 1 out of the water for flavor and lack of tongue bite. Oh, any Virginia will bite you, but Golden Mixture is very well-bahaved. It smokes cool, as long as you pay attention and don't tug on it really hard.

My problem is that I love straight Virginia blends, but they seem to have little body. I end up smoking a whole bowl of Virginias (and I really enjoy them), but it feels that, after I'm done, I haven't really smoked anything. I guess what I really want is a blend that has the strength of a Virginia-Burley and the flavor of a straight Virginia.

I'm having a tough time rating this. As a Virginia shag-cut, it's top-notch and it has plenty of flavor to keep me interested. It can get a bit muddled and ashy at the end of the bowl, but that;s really a problem with most tobaccos. It's well-deserving of four stars, but i'm not sure that I will buy it again. I'll call it a 3.5 with the possibility of gong up to a full four. I may get a craving for it and order it again. Who knows.

A very good quality mild virginia, as one would expect from F&T. A very fine cut tobacco, almost the consistency of cigarette tobacco (without wishing to be cruel or derogatory).

As has been noted, an excellent first pipe of the day. Although I myself might prefer a little more taste, of something, almost anything.

This is a nice easy going virginia, smooth and mild, well behaved, but not terribly exciting, this is the first F&T that does not have me looking forward to the next pipe. However, this is one F&T that has me going back to it time and time again when I'm just looking for an inoffensive smoke after a hard day. A good tobacco when I want a smoke while I look over my open tins (and while I'm trying very very hard not to open any more).

I had a large sample of this from Mssrs Davidoff & Co in Madison Ave, who stock all the Fribourg & Treyer blends.

I largely concur with the review above, except to say that it burnt quite cool for me, to a degree surprising for so golden a Virginia. It is very mild and smooth, neither distracting nor boring. A peaceful smoke.

This is the kind of golden Virginia that is often used in "honeydew" aromatics. This one, however, is wholly un-cased, and smokes clean as a whistle. Very pleasant.

This tobacco comes in a 50 gram tin and is a beautiful yellow golden brown. It comes fairly dry and didn't require any airing out whatsoever prior to smoking. No detectable flavoring in either the tin or in the pipe. Tin aroma and room note is pretty much non-descript and is all natural. Lights easily and burns fairly rapidly on it's own.

Compares favorably to Mac Baren's Va#1, Butera's Golden Cake, G&H Broken Scotch Cake, Gawith's Med Va, and Lanes's Golden Danish Slices. It's a pretty close cousin to the Broken Scotch Cake - but with a twist. It's somewhat drier than most tinned tobaccos and burns very well right out of the gate. I also think it would be a great mixer with some of the darker tobaccos...and/or possibly with a straight red to spice it up. Now that I got sort of a handle on it, I'll try some experiments.

Golden Mixture is somewhat simple and easy to understand. Either you like it or you don't. It's one of those almost monochromatic tobaccos such as Larsen's Old Belt or Red Ribbon or #5100 or Edgeworth - simple, but somehow manages to keep from being boring. It's relatively light in taste compared to most golden based blends, but may be a good alternative for those who like a golden's smoky / tangy sweetness, but are put off by it's ferocious tendancy to bite.

This tobacco is for intermediate pike smokers or those who have mastered the basics. Beginners should find this blend either taste like hot air or scalds their tongue. The strength is not likely to satisfy the veteran smoker in any other conditions but high heat and humidity. When a lighter all natural tobacco is craved in warmer weather, Golden Mixture fits the bill nicely. Recommended!

It’s a good bright Virginia. Not the best one but absolutely a good one. Sweet, some citrus note, herbaceous, hay and straw notes… not the best in evolution, but easy to load and easy to smoke anywhere and in any time. Perfect tobacco in hot summer days and, imho, for beginners and for thoses who wonna start with Virginias

Fine ribbon cut, almost a shag, with pronounced aroma of orange marmalade. First few minutes are quite tasty, almost like a lightly flavored honey-tinged Golden Cavendish, then the sweetness subsides to a good quality, smooth and mild Virginia taste which leaves an ambient aroma somewhat akin to French brioche.

There are never any harsh notes, or tastes of RYO cigarette, which is always my worry with shag cut Golden Virginias. When fresh I got barn straw, brioche, and every once in a while a hit of spicy white pepper on the retrohale. After a few months in a mason jar there is now some noticeable orange liqueur, along with hay, and some slight honey notes.

Does burn a bit fast because of the cut, but never to the point of tongue bite. I did however tire of its overall mildness and lack of depth, but admittedly I typically enjoy bolder blends.

Interestingly, and by odd coincidence, I happened to pop a tin of McConnell's Scottish Cake the same day I opened the F&T Golden Mixture, and they both share the same unusual, and unmistakable aroma of sweet oranges. Since they are both made by the same producer, with UPC codes only one number different, and share the same type of Virginia as a foundation, I found the taste experience between them about 90% the same, despite the different cuts and burn characteristics (the McConnell much slower burning). Because unprocessed Virginias are not usually this overtly orange flavored I thought at first that some orange peel may have been added to the casing solution (not unheard of) though the fact that this "flavor" burns off after about 15 minutes would seem to indicate a subtle topping was used rather than flavors derived from casing.

Very bright (golden) Virginia Ribbon Cut and pleasant Virginia smell in tin. Good stuffing and smoking conditions, burns rather fast. Moisture more or less ok, on the damper side, though.

This straight Virginia blend offers a lot of citrus, plenty of natural tobacco taste and sweetness, bread/yeast and hay/grass notes. It’s not a revelation or deep digging. I cannot make out any flavouring, casing or topping. A delicious straight Virginia on the mild side.