Peterson Old Dublin

A good, often-overlooked middle of the road English blend. Much heavier on the Virginias than on the Latakia, but I rarely had an issue with it biting. A solid, reasonably priced, all-day blend, though not the one you find yourself reaching for when you want a really nice meditative or relaxing-at-the-end-of-the-day smoke.

Some compare this with 965. In my opinion these tobacco's are completly different, however there is some likeness. I think that is the Latakia. OD is more "full" than 965 I think. Lights well, burns good and I love the smell of it. My wife does not like the smell very much. She does like 965! So she also smells the difference. I like this tobacco very much!

Finally after a bomb and a near miss, a Peterson blend I really like. This is a good medium-strength English blend with a nice toasty zing to it. Compared to the Dunhill blends, the quality of the leaf is similar, with a similar ribbon cut and similar presentation, tightly packed in a ruffly wax-paper cup inside the tin. It also has similar burning characteristics. The coloration is your standard English looking mixture of light Virginia leaf, medium olive-brown Oriental, and the black strands of Latakia and in this case some black cavendish. Whereas the Dunhill blends often tend toward the slightly tangy-- perhaps due to their particular Oriental component, or perhaps because of some lemon in the Virginias--- Peterson?s Old Dublin is more on the nutty, toasty side, slightly sweet but also peppery. The smoke is not perhaps as full-bodied as, say, Dunhill?s London Mixture, and towards the bottom of the bowl the taste does get a little bitter and ashy (though this may depend on the quality of the pipe in which it's smoked), but all in all it?s a nice quality midrange English blend that?s got no major strikes against it. I?ve had better English blends, but if I had only one tobacco I wouldn?t be put off if Old Dublin were it. Good with a pint of my favorite Irish beer, Guiness Pub Draft (either on tap or from the can).

A lighter Latakia blend, thoroughly enjoyable, particularly if its too hot a day for a fuller English mixture to be enjoyable. The tin aroma is a campfire smokiness, with a spicy note, very pleasant. It lights easily has an enjoyable, quite complex flavour, all of the ingredients are carefully balanced, and the aroma is light and spicy. It contains a bit more virginia than most tobaccos of this sort, which aids lighting and gives it a pleasant background sweetness. It may be a little on the moist side when new, but allowing it to air for a while cures this, and allows it to burn very completely, leaving a fine white ash. I would recommend this to pipesmokers keen to try out an English mixture, as it is not as overwhelming as some of its relatives, but displays all the complexities that these blends can have.

--------- Update 2023 --------

I've recently smoked a tin of this of the STG blending, to compare with Rattrays Red Lion. Back in 2004 when I first reviewed this I was relatively inexperienced, but had presumably recently discovered Nightcap, hence thinking this was "light". Nearly 20 years on and a great selection of truly mild English mixtures (eg Rattrays Professional, Robert Lewis Wingfield) later, perhaps I'm better able to place this in the lineup - a little ahead of medium, with an emphasis on Latakia ahead of Orientals and a treacley sweetness from the Cavendish. The blender has changed, and maybe the Red Lion is closer to the Old Dublin I was smoking in 2004, but both sit beyond medium to my tastes. Does Old Dublin contain a flavouring? I believe it since its stated on the blenders website, but I wouldn't know if I hadn't been told.

By comparison with My Mixture 965 (a good benchmark tobacco) I find Old Dublin to be slightly smokier with Latakia, while it's "yeasty" aroma in the tin is more subdued. 965 seems to contain more Orientals, is sweet without being treacley, has a more nutty flavour and is perhaps more bang on "medium". I prefer 965.

Very nice blend. Very noticeable progression through the bowl of a natural sweetness of a nutty earth toned quality. Extraordinary finish of the last third of the bowl. Very well rounded flavors...good blending of tobaccos. The Latakia does not dominate(like a guitar soloist gone awry) as in many Latakia themed blends. All the flavors begin and end well making a harmonious unique statement on the palate that sets this blend apart as an excellent tobacco creation. I find this a good, all day smoke. Not too heavy and with a unique,high quality tase experience to offer.

I've triend this for awhile now in a variety of large and small pipes and must say that I like all aspects of this tobacco. The color spans the spectrum from light brown to black ... it is fairly well chopped up which makes pipe loading easy, yet it does not burn excessively hot ... the tin aroma is great with a nice dose of Latakia coming through the sweeter Black Cavendish and Orientals ... it burns well and does not contain excessive moisture ... and it leaves me with a very pleasent aftertaste.

Old Dublin is an even mixture of light and dark ribbons for the most part of the tobaccos listed in the discription. It seems to be slightly musty smelling on opening the tin. It chars up easily enough, but the top taste is not too exciting. None of the tobaccos stand out at this point. OD does produce a fair amount of smoke, but not so much as something like Balkan Sasieni, or some of the other English blends. Around mid bowl the stuff hands you a little more flavor. At this point I can taste the Latakia, with a hint of the Basma and Golden Virgina coming through. I can even get a slight bit of a cigar like taste for some reason, but nothing so pronounced as Billy Budd or Old Joe Krantz. By the bottom all things improve greatly. The sweetness of Virgina and Basma amke their presence known, and Old Dublin settles down to a delightfully nice smoke. I'd like to see more of this throughout the bowl. However, the great taste at the bottom saves this tobacco from being discarded. OD can serve as a nice early day pipe because it is reasonably mild. I've found that two consecutive bowls are a wonderful experience that is difficult for any competition. But, many other English blends give me a more resolute experience in just one bowl. My Mixture 965 is one that comes to mind for that. I will continue to buy this stuff because it can serve me as an all day smoke if I want to, or something to finish the day if I want to smoke more than one bowl of it.

I find this to be a somewhat good middle of the road english blend. It smokes fairly cool and even. The problem I have with this blend is that it just does not stand out to me with all of the other realy good english blends that I've had. While not bad, it is not a blend im going to smoke when I have what I consider much better english blends available to me. Worth a try though.

This was one of me first real english blends, and I'm glad that it was. Tis a fine smoke by all accounts, just the right amount of lovely latakia for this Irish lad. Smokes full and clean to the bottom of the bowl and leaves a satisfied smile on me face. Most of me favorite Scottish/English blends will draw scorn from me wife(the fine Irish lass that she is), but not OD! This is me favorite tobacco from me friends at Peterson. Highly recommended.