Petersen & Sorensen Skipper Special Navy Cut Mellow Mixture

This stuff tastes like a sweaty armpit smells. It's disgusting. I couldn't detect any anise or licorice fragrance or flavor. Rather than toss it into the trash I combined it with some other tobacco I didn't like and smoked it in roll-your-own cigarette papers.

Found the aroma from the tin very pleasant. However that's about as pleasant as it got. No drying time needed but it wasn't overly dry. I am a fan of sutliff Mixture No. 79 but not This blend. Probably will mix it with something else later.

OK...got it. The not so subtle flavoring with this one is the same as is used in Heinrich's Strong Dark Kentucky...Anise (licorice). I've had that one in the past and liked it very much. It's rather hard to come by any longer as it comes in here and there and then is quickly sold out. It used to be issued by Orlik but under a slightly different name. Now Orlik makes it for Peter Heinrich's. This one (Skipper) is what I would call an aromatic as the flavoring masks the other tobacco flavors and was present all the way down the bowl. Others might disagree with that designation however. Given that the anise seems to me to be the major flavor of Skipper, I think jarring it tightly for even moderate term storage would be an excellent idea. Also, Heinrich's has a noticeable Dark Fired Kentucky presence as I recall, which Skipper lacks. But the broken flake presentation of Skipper allowed an easy light, an excellent burn, cool smoking and no moisture in the large and deep bowl of the giant Boswell Poker in which I tested it. Time and further testing will reveal if the above impressions hold true.

All in all I would definitely recommend this blend. It appears to use quality tobacco, was designed with a deft hand as the flavors are at just the right level for me, and should appeal to a broad range of smokers looking for a change of pace and a more flavored presentation than straight VA blends. Tried it on a whim and glad I did. Kudos.

First off, I'm not sure if the tin was supposed to be sealed, but mine was not. The tobacco was therefore somewhat dried out, and needed to be rehydrated.

I was afraid this might be an overly-sweet amromatic, but it was not really sweet at all. This might be best described as an Oriental aromatic. Whatever Burley or Virginia might be present were well hidden, and this smoked very much like a Cavendish lightly flavored with Orientals. Whatever casings were present either enhanced or imitated the Orientals. Cavendish blends tend to burn too hot for my tastes and this did as well, but really didn't bite. Since I know there are many tobaccos out there I would rate a 4, the question arises would I rebuy this particular tobacco, assuming my tastes don't change much more. In this case, the answer is no.

The Orientals offer earth, wood, some vegetation, floralness, light spice, herbs, light buttery sweetness, and sourness as they take the lead. The nutty, earthy, woody burleys are a step or two above being a condiment. The unsweetened black cavendish tames some rough edges as a condiment. The Virginias provide a fair amount of tart and tangy citrus, grass, bread, mild sugar, vegetation, earth, wood, light, tangy dark fruit, and touches of spice and floralness. They form the base of the blend. The anise topping moderately sublimates the tobaccos. The strength and nic-hit are a step past the center of mild to medium. The taste barely hits the medium mark. Burns cool and clean at reasonable rate with a very consistent sweet and sour, floral, lightly spicy flavor. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant after taste. The room note is a tad stronger. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks