Tom Eltang Mixture

I got a few samples of this blend in recent orders that I placed with SmokingPipes. The pouch note is very reminiscent of Briar Fox, sort of a sour, fermented, fresh mowed lawn and manure kind of smell. The flavor is definitely burley driven. It’s earthy, woody, somewhat bitter and altogether not too spicy or complex. Tom Eltang Mixture is a very enjoyable concoction with a natural tasting flair. Most blends with this much burley gives me a good case of tongue bite, but this one does not. Any bite is tempered nicely by the sweet Virginia's, which add to the richness of the burley flavor without de-emphasizing it. There’s just a hint of perique here. However, its attributes are almost unnoticeable and I personally would prefer just a little more.

High quality tobacco with good burley flavor, no harshness, no bite. What's not to like here?

Recommended.

Tom Eltang - Mixture.

From my friend Gentleman Zombie, thanks Franck!

It's a well broken flake, just a touch heavier than a straight ribbon blend. There's next to nothing in the way of an aroma: uncased tobacco. The moisture's good but I'm unsure as to how long Franck's had the seal ofF the tin. Either way, it's good to go!

The smoke tastes a lot closer to a straight Burley, than anything else. There's a smattering of Virginia, but I can't taste any Perique. A bowl of Mixture burns well, giving a comfy smoke: cool, no bite, and it's of medium thickness.

The nicotine's medium, and the room-note's pleasant to tolerable.

A nice and simple smoke, thanks Franck, recommended.

Three stars.

This is the tobacco I take to the bar at *Shangri-la* because when I’m smoking in public (see note below) want to focus on enjoying the atmosphere and conversation not babysit a high maintenance tobacco: 1. Easy to pack and stays lit, smokes to the bottom, 2. Relatively slow burner so doesn’t require frequent pipe refilling, 3. medium strength flavor that doesn’t retreat with the drinks but doesn’t challenge them either. The virginias make more of an impression than the burleys, but that may just be my palate/ physiology. In short, a clean no-nonsense smoking medium strength tobacco. (I live in China so still have freedom to smoke in public spaces, sorry to all you living under anti-smoking nanny-fascism forcing you to retreat to the caves and deserts when you want to enjoy a tobacco).

I was given a half ounce sample of this gratis from Smokingpipes.com when it first came out. I knew nothing of the blend when I had my first bowl of it, but it did not take me long to recognize this as something produced by C&D.

A VaBurPer, with the emphasis on the Bur, that has a slight flavoring added to it. It is a familiar recipe amongst the pantheon of C&D blends. I have tried many of these and have generally liked them all, some better than others. To my palette this is one of the better ones. It is burley forward with a lighter touch of perique than say OJK or Haunted Bookshop.

The use of perique is enough to combat any tongue problems though as this is just a nice easy cool smoking blend. It is almost more a high quality codger burley to my tastes than a complicated VaPer variation. I will likely buy more of this one. It didn't blow me away, but it was just a nice pleasant smoke.

I received a small sample of this from Smokingpipes.com with a recent order. Mostly medium brown in appearance with a mild tobacco smell. No top dressing or casing detected. The broken flake was easy to load and it lit without difficulty, staying lit til the bowl's end. I referenced three other tobaccos this reminded me of as listed under "similar blends." The main difference is that Mixture is not as strong as those three. My first bowl was enjoyable and I noted similarities to the other three while smoking. My second bowl was very Perique forward and off-putting for me. I never really cared for the peppery taste of Perique in my tobacco. It did not bite nor smoke hot. No moisture was produced during the smoke either. If it wasn't for the Perique (at least in the amount used), I would rate this higher. The other leaf used added to a very rich tobacco flavor, but was overshadowed by "Mistress P" I'm afraid. Flavorful like JKP but without harshness. Full tasting like Germain's BF but sweeter. Peppery like Kingfisher. Very competently produced with excellent leaf, and although doubtful that it will become more than an "on the whim" type of smoke for me, I do give it a solid recommendation. There you have it fellow pipers!

I got this as a half ounce sample from smokingpipes.com when I got 2 tins of S.G. St. James Flake. I'll admit, I thought it was an English bc it is called mixture. I looked it up within smokingpipes after I chose it for my sample. I love Va/pers so it work out well for me. I decided to tear into this one before I got into the St. James Flake, and I'm happy I did so.

In the little baggy I recieved is a well broken flake, easy to pack and mostly brown and yellow in color. Some that has broken off has allowed for some wider cut ribbon to be present. I see some bits of darker leaf, probably the perique. The note in the bag is mostly Va, and the perique is not ketchupy but more of a hint of raisin.

I went with a looser pack with a bit rubbed out on top for kindling the first time on basis of personal logic, and it worked quite well. Fresh as it was, the flake bit opened up and filled the pipe nicely. On the charr, it gave me a nice taste of black pepper, and not the normal sourness I get from fresh c&d perique blends. The burley seems to be balancing out the perique a bit.

It burns nice and cool in the cob I'm using, and has little bite to it. I'm guessing the mixture is not as high in sugar as some others of this nature. It has an excellent balance between the different tobaccos used in my opinion. It reminds me a lot of exhausted rooster, except maybe it's a. It more balanced. It seems to be less perique forward, and have a bit sweeter of a taste to it. It takes a few delights for me to through the bowl, but I'm normally typing or reading when I smoke so it may just be me. The flavor remains pretty constant throughout the smoke, and the flavor only picks up a bit towards the last quarter. Not a huge dose of nicotine for my tolerance either, so it could be an all day smoke for some.

All in all, I would say well done. Tom eltang is very new to the tobacco world as a blender and choosing c&d to handle their business was a good idea. For an initial offering of Va/per it shows remarkable promise. It may be worth cellaring some of this for aging to see how it does. This would be great for beginners or most Va/per smokers as it is very easy to smoke and is very tasty in general. I will most likely buy more of this both for now and some to tuck away for a year or so.

About six weeks ago I purchased a box of pipe tobaccos from a seller in Chicago. He informed me that I would find that five or six would be opened and sampled. One of those tins was Tom Eltang Mixture. Half full and somewhat drier than when new, it was still smokeable and I filled a medium apple and lit up. The mixture smoked softer than other VaPerBurs I have smoked and it had a noticeable top note that I could not identify. The top third of the bowl was enjoyable in a top of the bell-shaped curve type of way. The middle third was somewhat more toned down and the bottom third was unremarkable. Just as I was contemplating a two-star review, I spied a bowl-sized pile of my English blend du jour off to my left. I divided it in half and mixed one half with an equal amount of TEM and-pow! Now, this was more like it and the two mixtures danced and sang right through the bowl. This caused an elevation to three stars right away. However, I share a characteristic with reviewer Pipestud. We both like for our pipe blends to slap us around a bit and Tom Eltang Mixture is more akin to your aunt Zelda patting you on the cheek and saying "What a nice boy".

Wow I really enjoyed my tin of TE Mixture. It reminded me of Haunted Bookshop but with the strength taken down two notches and less harsh. I totally agree with the lawn / manure tin note (in a good way). The Perique is just below spicy and is at the level I prefer as it adds a plummy taste throughout the bowl until the end where it picks up strength but never overwhelms. The broken flake presentation allowed the blend to be stuffed and smoked cool or rubbed out to a thin shag, also I think pressing these blends before they are broken adds artificial ageing which since C&D tobacco's sometimes have a Green taste eliminates this. I will be trying the other blends in this series!

This is a .5 oz sample given by smokingpipes.com. I have to say it was rather enjoyable. The VA's are sweet but not overly so. I get some citrus and hay notes here and there. The burley is there too adding some earthy, nutty notes here and there maybe a hint of cocoa which I find in burley that is of good quality. The Perique is peppery but I get no note of plum or dried fruit which seems odd. The pepper is very present especially on the retro-hale. I also get notes of coffee and a slight but ever so slight bitterness too (again much like coffee). Overall, the base notes seem much like Night Train with less perique and no (thankfully IMO) cavendish. I cannot help but wonder if the tobaccos used are not similar but in different quantity and no cavendish. This is a very good blend and one that started to grow on me. I would love it see it in bulk. It is sure to be someones favorite.