James Fox Provost Mixture

Good stuff! I discovered this tobacco a few years ago and fell in love with it. I don't know why it is not more popular than it appears to be. Smooth, rich tobacco flavor with a hint of spice to it. It's an all day smoke for me and one I never seem to tire of. Pairs great with a morning cup of black coffee or tea but is just as good with an ice cold beer on the front porch watching the sun set. Wonderful daily smoke!

I've read where they've said (whoever "they" are) that you should smoke X oz. of a blend before reviewing it. And sometimes it might indeed take a couple tins to get a good handle on a blend. BUT then there are other blends, where half way through the first bowl, you think, "Oh yeah, this one's a keeper". Well ,for me this is one of those blends.

Now, I have smoked a bowl of Provost mixture every night for the past week , usually as the last bowl of the night. Tonight I smoked two in a row. I do not hesitate to award this blend a four-star rating. Every time I smoke a bowl of this, I think, "My God this is good tobacco".

This one is kind of a chamaeleon of sorts... apparently it is just virgina + cavendished virginia, but on the first bowl I thought I tasted a perique-y taste like a va/p. Tonight I got the essence of latakia that others have mentioned, then later it gave way to a more oriental-y type taste. Also, I find notes of cocoa and raisins throughout. This seems more of a sipping tobacco, for although it has yet to bite me, the bowl gets pretty hot if I start to chug it...yet strangely, the smoke does not ever seem to get too hot or harsh...FWIW I have been smoking this in a deep but narrow, thick walled bowl, and let it air out for 30 to 60 mins. before firing. If I had been in charge of naming this blend, I'd have called it "Rico Suave". Lmao. No kidding.

I'm very impressed that this blend was created from nothing more than virginia tobaccos, bright and black. Generally I dock half a star when I feel the blend may be a little too ahh pricey but this time price doesn't deter me in the least, it was worth every cent IMHO. Good good stuff. Highly recommended.

A most excellent blend that seems to fool many of us.The toastyness of the Virginia Cavendish along with, I suspect some Virginia Sun cured (which by the way is also called "oriental") and grown in Virginia as well as Greece and Turkey, give this blend a mistique! Hearty and out front, delicious with a rounded balance and flavour. After one pipeful you'll want another right behind it!

Update: The tin, (stash in a mason jar) I was smoking was 2003. I just came from the porch where I had another pipeful of Provost. Smoked this in a large Canadian James Upshall. I will take back the sun cured leaf, I don't think it's there. This blend will really fool many because it tastes so...english. It's a very refined Virginia flue cure (bright) that with the cavendish just works like no other I've tried. Four stars and wish I could give it five.

At the opening of the tin, Provost greets you with a very dry scent, something very “regular”, faintly sweet/sourish & smoky.

Light & golden Virginias, fine-to-medium ribbon, intermingled with very dark/quasi black unsweetened Black Cavendish in short ready-rubbed form.

At the first charring puffs one wonders if this is a mild EM… I understand who smells Latakia for sure… also some spicy notes of Orientals. Piquant to the nose, does this have Perique ? I'm pretty confused.

The flavour is not sweet at all, nor bitter to the committed smoker. The BC is the main player. Saying it better: everything in this blend is about this spectactul unsweetened BC, offering a wide share of flavours which are very difficult to describe (smoky, spicy, malty, woody), over a neutral base of semi-sweet Virginias probably of African origin. Right or wrong, this BC proves to be of the K&K family, something like the Black Virginia (or the one used in Dark Fragrant) on steroids, very very much more complex.

Provost grows as the bowl progresses, both in strength & body. At mid-bowl the initial sharp edges leave place to a pleasant piquancy, and some increased sweetness. The piquancy disappears to the nose too, and I'm finding myself trying to inhale through the nostrils a quasi-EM aroma. My Dunhill 3110 Tanshell shows all her good qualities with this blend. The second part of the bowl is very rewarding: all the fatures of Provost are in a perfect balance, an exhilarating citrusy note builds gradually up. Strength never exceed the medium mark.

No gurgle, no tongue bite, no insanely hot pipe. Just the palate slightly scorched due to a bit overly enthusiastic puffing.

Like all the K&K produced blends, Provost needs long idle time in the unsealed tin before use, as it came semi-wet.

Four shining stars, no doubt !

This is a firm favourite of mine. It's a tasty and reliable English blend. Some may say it has no latakia. But there is definitely something latakia flavoured in it!

Tasty, cool and easy to smoke. It's just the sort of tobacco I love.

I just happened to pick up a tin while I was getting some cleaners. I hopped in my car and loaded up a cob I use for testing new blends. I didn't even make it home before I called the tobacconist and had them hold the rest of the stock for me.

I've not been smoking pipes long enough to really understand what makes this a great blend. All I know is that it is phenomenal. I highly recommend trying at least one tin sometime in your life.

My next big tobacco with the BALD HEADED TEACHER 4noggins!

Fortunately I added it by chance in my last order. Provost requires sober smoking so that you can enjoy its magnificent natural taste. Virginia and Black Cavendish add a very nice sweetness. The baked Black Cavendish causes the feeling that there is Latakia in the mixture.

NO THERE IS NO LATAKIA IN THE MIXTURE.

The initial roughness goes away gradually. After the second half of the bowl, and especially towards the end, the whole mixture acquires the perfect proportion. It is not a cool tobacco (the tobacco is quite moist in Tin and it requires drying).

It is not spicy, not sweet, and just perfect for my palate-roof!

I'm on a bit of a "cavendish" adventure/journey/trek. Cavendish...the elusive "Keyser Söze" of the tobacco world. Is it cased..is it not? what is it...who is it???? 965 was the first port on the journey, Provost was the second and I'm afraid I disembarked and am stuck on this blend. I love this stuff and love the descriptions below spanning several years. I'm not sure I've read such a wide range of descriptions seemingly including about every tobacco there is. I will say this....read all the worthy descriptions below...and please do try a tin at least! I'm becoming a fan of cavendish, (whatever you are), blends.

a quick note to say how much I am enjoying this tobacco. My other favourite is Dorisco so this is another success from the Fox stable. In Dublin Fox's and Petersons have shops virtually beside each other. Peterson have great pipes (Fox's have a pretty good selection too) but the Fox brand tobacco is streets ahead in my opinion. I have yet to find a Peterson tobacco I like but so far have yet to dislike a Fox tobacco. Being relatively new to pipes I cannot comment with accuracy as to the type of leaf etc but if this is an English/Oriental then that is what I like. The room note is a bit strong for my taste but the cool smoke you get from this tobacco is well worth it. A very helpful assistant in Fox's called David in Dublin recommended Provost as his smoke of choice. I can only thank him. Service is a bit eratic in Fox's ranging from superb to a bit grumpy but their tobacco is well worth it. Amazingly they did not know about this website in the shop. They do now. So far the second best tobacco I have ever had after Dorisco, ranking equal second with Bob's Chocolate flake (the only aromatic I like so far)

Update - 9/03/09 - I mix this with Fox's Aromatic (another recommendation by David in Fox's Dublin) and again can only t hank him. I had found Provost slightly high in nicotine for me but mixed with the aromatic (which is very subtle) it is a wonderful mellow smoke - top notch.