Rattray 7 Reserve

7 Reserve is, quite simply, a mild English blend suitable for all day puffing as the descriptive states. Personally, I do not find much similarity at all between 7 Reserve and Red Rapparee, which is much stronger and frankly, a little harsh according to my taste buds.

I like more strength than 7 Reserve offers (and, more flavor,) but I certainly would suggest this tobacco to anyone who enjoys Latakia in small doses.

One final thought, I smoked some 10 year old 7 Reserve a few months ago and then some from a fresh tin a few weeks ago. I noticed a tremendous amount of difference in the moisture content. The recent vintage was practically dripping wet while the moisture content was perfect in the older stuff.

The dry, mildly buttery sweet, mildly sour, woody, earthy, Orientals take a little of the lead over the smoky, woody, musty sweet Cyprian latakia. The grassy/hay-like, citrusy Virginia also has a touch of dark fruit, and has a fermented quality to it as it competes with the latakia for the secondary spot. The brown sugary black cavendish works to smooth out the blend, and is mostly a condiment. The strength level just passes being mild while the taste is a little closer to the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is mild. Won’t bite or get harsh, and has few rough notes. Burns slightly warm and clean at a moderate pace with a fairly consistent, well balanced flavor from start to finish. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and needs an average number of relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste. It’s designed to be an all day smoke, but it suffers from lack of depth even in the genre of mild English blends.

-JimInks

Appearance: A mostly light and medium mixture, with a small amount of dark leaf present. The cut is mixed ribbon and random pieces.

Aroma: Lots of Virginia base, with a moderate amount of Turkish and just a little Latakia The aroma seems to be primarily that of Virgnias, with a smaller amount of condiments.

Packing: Packs easily in most pipes, group 3 and up.

Lighting: Lights easily, this seems to be true of most Rattray Oriental blends today.

Initial flavor: The Va comes across first, but not too assertively. The Turkish adds a fair amount of flavor soon after, and the Latakia stays slightly in the background..

Mid-bowl: A classic Mild English/Oriental blend. I would classify it as considerably milder than medium (3.5 or 4 on a scale of 10,), but a gentle beguiling flavor. No gurgles noted. The Va, Turkish and Latakia continue to be the key players.

Finish: Well behaved right to the end, leaves a gray ash and nothing else.

Summary: Considerably lighter than Red Raparee, somewhat lighter than #3 Noggins. Also somewhat heavier than Dunhill Sd. Mild. A very good first pipe, or an all-day smoke in warm and/or humid weather.

This is the first Rattray's tobacco I'm smoking. Took over a year for me to gather a courage to open this tin. Nice ribbon cut, mostly light but with some dark pieces in the mix. The tin aroma is an interesting one, I smell mostly tar like scent with some hay aroma.

Packs very easily. I used standard 3 layer method.

Lighting is not a problem. But the pipe goes out very frequently. Smokes quite hot. Don't know what's the reason behind it, maybe cavendish or the packing is too loose. Moisture level seems just right. Even when puffing slowly, this tobacco just burns hot.

To me this feels like kind of a bland english mixture. Virginias are somewhat subdued, orientals are there but more in the background. They come out a bit after half of the bowl is finished. Overally the taste is a bit ash-like. Room note is somewhat tolerable.

Wouldn't call this an all day smoke, but it would work for an introduction to a novice english tobacco smoker. Of course you cannot rate objectively by smoking just one tin so take this review with a grain of salt.

I would say this is a strange tobacco. In theory this is a milder version of Red Raparee, designed for the constant and not the intermittent smoker. In fact it is the exact opposite of G.L. Pease?s Renaissance. I tried it some years ago, when looking for a change of pace from the Latakia based mixtures I usually smoked (London Mixture/965/Balkan Sobranie Original).

The tobacco is indeed very good, savoury, piquant and easy to smoke. It comes ribbon cut, but it doesn't exactly follow the usual composition of an English blend. There is of course Latakia and Virginia, but the stronger accent is on the Turkish. The Virginias used are of a very tame nature, and the Latakia (Syrian I believe) is very discreetly applied.

Though I did like its flavour and its burning rate, the overall structure of the mixture seemed to me a bit on the dry side, making it rather harsh at the end. I found it had a somewhat astringent effect: it produced an itchy feeling on the palate and it made me very thirsty (a perfect excuse to wash the flavour down with one or two pints of Murphy's!). I also felt it lacked the roundness and depth of other English mixtures, as if something was missing. As a result, I never really felt satisfied with its flavour, wishing for more but at the same time weary of its desiccating effects. Not really an elegant and refined smoke, and IMO definitely not an all day smoke. An interesting Oriental experience, but would not classify it amongst the best English mixtures.

This blend has a good deep scent in the tin and it packs and burns very well. upon lighting it was very mild and a bit bland initially. However, as others have said, once you've smoked the first quarter or so, the blend starts to build body and the orientals kick in and add some nice spice. I found it a bit lighter on the Lat than I was expecting and it never really hit the spot for me as regards a full bodied flavour, but as a mild English(ish) blend for an everyday smoke it's a perfectly good bowlful.

Rattray - 7 Reserve.

One of my first reviews where I decided I can do better!

A finely cut ribbon, that looks to be of a good hydration, with nothing remarkable about the tin-note. I've smoked a few tins of this over the years and noticed every one of them has had a seal that practically needed a crow-bar to break it!

7 Reserve would make an enjoyable all day smoke for many, or a good introduction English, I recon. I find the Orientals louder than the rest of the leaves, the Latakia tastes quite mild, and the black Cavendish is easily the lightest addition. The Virginia gives body, and a slight sweetness, but nothing too demonstrative. The smoke feels a little too warm, and this reduces the rating. Oh, and it's also a bit of a biter.

The room-note's alright, and the nicotine's mild to medium.

My first review was glowing, but my taste has changed since then; I like an English to have more 'guts'. This tastes a bit too placid compared to what I favour. I'm not denying the fact it's well blended, but it's not one for me.

Two stars.

Tin- art: Simple, uncluttered. Very appealing to me - To put this in perspective: I don't like the tin art of Red Rapparee one bit...

Tinnote: after heaving been opened for 2 months, pleasantly sweet, dark, earthy.

Presentation: nice, short ribboncut, mainly dark brown and lots of black, with specks of light brown.

Easy to light; producing lots of smoke, very satisfying.

Taste: nice mellow and mainly a soft smoke but surprisingly a little bit harsh on the tongue...(although the tin had been opened for 2 months, moisture was perfect now)

All in all a pleasant smoke but my tongue prefers Dunhill SM Mellow.

The description "all day smoke" is right on the spot. Easy to smoke all day cos you won't notice if your pipe lit or not. It is hard to believe 7 Reserve has the same ingredients as Red Rapparee but in different ratios though it smokes all cavendish to me. Should have rated "not recommended" but giving it "somewhat recommended" because it makes a solid base for blending latakia.