Fribourg & Treyer Golden Mixture

(3.26)
A choice blend of golden Virginia tobaccos.

Details

Brand Fribourg & Treyer
Blended By Kohlhase & Kopp
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Straight Virginia
Contents Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country Germany
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.26 / 4
16

14

3

2

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 16 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 13, 2002 Extremely Mild Extremely Mild Very Mild Very Pleasant
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.
19 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 17, 2016 Very Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
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.
Pipe Used: Levent Meerschaum Claw
PurchasedFrom: The Danish Pipe Shop
Age When Smoked: New
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 04, 2005 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
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.
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 13, 2015 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
**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...
PurchasedFrom: SmokingPipes.com
Age When Smoked: ?
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 23, 2017 Mild Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
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.
Pipe Used: various dedicated VA briars
PurchasedFrom: 4noggins
Age When Smoked: straight from the tin, also jarred
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 15, 2016 Medium Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
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.
PurchasedFrom: 4noggins
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 24, 2012 Very Mild Very Mild Very Mild Pleasant
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.
Pipe Used: Chacom billiard; Dr Plumb bulldog
PurchasedFrom: Tranter's of Oxford
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 14, 2018 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
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.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 09, 2010 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
This tobacco should be recommended for no other reason than the great Philosopher Bertrand Russell smoked it for over 70 years.

That connection was the reason I ordered a couple of tins from the United States.

As to what I have made of it- a very stable tobacco, nothing objectionable, easy going and with a pleasant hint of citrus, in smell and clarity of flavour.

When I opened the tin it reminded me somewhat of the first tobacco I ever bought and smoked which was Peterson's Sherlock Holmes. It is not as strong, and certainly lacks the glorius orange flavour, but it is as easy to pack and appears to stay alight without any problem what so ever.

This tobacco is to be recommended to new pipe smokers and those who want a mainstay tobacco. If it is good enough for Earl Russell it is good enough for us.

As a final note, I am curious as to anyone knows where one can order it in the United Kingdom or in Europe. It appears a tad silly to order tins of it from the United States when it is made or at least packed in Germany. It is even more tedious because it used to be sold in tobacconists of the makers name in Oxford, Cambridge and London.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 25, 2009 Mild Mild Mild Unnoticeable
This review might be colored by nostalgia and the fact that i owe this blend a favor - big time.

This is the very blend that took me off cigarettes. For many years i smoked Marlboros and Bali Red alongside my pipes. The problem was that I didn't want to smoke my pipe in the morning - I just did not feel like it, but my body craved nicotine nevertheless..

A friend said to me: This is the ultimate "out of the bed-blend", so I gave it a shot in a chalk pipe, to get the rough feel of a cigarette, and it worked.

Now I smoke several other blends in the morning, (in a pipe of course) and Golden Mixture is now better in the evenings, in a briar with a cup of coffee.

Quality leaf, with a light topping - it, somehow, tastes more exclusive than some of its similar blends, and MUCH better than Astley's Elizabethan, which is the closest to this blend; at least of what I have tried before.

Excellent

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark
4 people found this review helpful.
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