Rattray Black Mallory

Said by Rattray's to be similar in composition to RR. I find this one to be fuller, sweeter, and smoother than RR. Some have mentioned a cavendish component. I am not able to accurately identify some tobaccos by sight, but suspect this has a sweetened cavendish element to it. It has an underlying sweetness to me that just seems to be too much to be natural. I have no problems with packing or burning qualities in fairly large bowls, and the room note is excellent for an English style tobacco. I continue to smoke RR for it's added "edginess", but I smoke this one quite a bit too. Highly recommended for English style smokers.

Revised 05-17-2005

This is a high quality English/Balkan blended from Rattray's that really didn't do much for me at first, but after trying several aged 50g. tins, I have been pleasantly surprised. Upon opening the tin you are greeted by mostly dark medium-cut ribbon leaf. The tin aroma is mostly Cyprian latakia with the Orientals close behind and the Virginia way in the background. The quality of the leaf is apparent, packing and lighting are easy. Flavor is medium to full English all the way down the bowl with some sweetness from the VA popping in and out. I have to say, that the flavor seems much better from the 50g. tins than fromm the 100g. tins. Why that is, I don't know, but after smoking several pounds of this blend, I only buy the 50g. tins now. Definitely in the top 10 of English blends.

Black Mallory is particularly moist and will survive in a glass jar without humidification for a very long time.

The tin I am reviewing has been smoked and reviewed for about a year. The burning and taste qualities have changed substantially over that time. My tin has gone from fairly hot, edgy and acrid to a well-behaved, smooth blend.

This is a nicely balanced mixture. It appeals to me when Oriental and Latakia flavors are craved in the context of mild, stoved Virginia leaf (Cavendish and possibly cased lightly).

This is sweeter than Red Rapparee and less biting. One bowl of RR does my tongue in for the day. Black Mallory also seems to be a bit more Latakia forward, whereas RR puts the Orientals to the bow.

It vaguely resembles 965, but with lower notes and deeper flavors. Pack the first two layers in your pipe a little loose, lest this compact and render gentle puffing fruitless. Puff hard for a sore tongue.

Rattray, as a line, seems to use the best leaf available with admirable skill.

Let me preface by saying I'm a latakia freak. I eat Penzance and Old Ironsides right out of the can. Can one have too much latakia in their diet? This blend is dominated by it, but not overwhelmed. When I need a break from my normal intake of that smokey goodness, I will hit my VA flakes and work my way back into my normal intake of latakia. This blend is ideal for that second to last step towards my usual balkan and krumble cake diet.

I enjoy that little hint of spice all the way through and the toasted cavendish works well with the turkish leaf. It's a quality blend that merits a try. As mentioned before, it is more refined than RR. I prefer BM over RR simply because of the latakia content (go figure).

This used to be one of my staples in a 30 year smoking life. It's essentially a medium English, but with that distintive spice that the virginia Rattray uses. Some might find that spice, tang, or whatever not to their taste, and like some of the reviewers have noted, it can be a bit too "steamy" out of a fresh can. I still smoke it once in a while, but gravitated towards heavier perique blends, but anyone who likes English mixes should try this one at least once.

I must agree with Rocket's assertion above, "the only kinship to Red Rapparee is that they both happen to be Englishes". (And they are both blended by Kohlhaase & Kopp.) Black Mallory is no Red Rapparee. I prefer Red Rapparee by a fair degree. Black Mallory is well-behaved, indeed to a fault. By contrast, RR has a virginia tanginess that has gone missing in BM.

This being said, BM is a good medium English smoke. If I had to smoke one or the other all day, it would clearly be BM. However, I generally only smoke Englishes towards the end of the day, and prefer one with more latakia punch than Black Mallory provides. (Gee, maybe I have a latakia dependency problem...) I will still keep some BM around, however, for a change of pace. So many Englishes, so little time...

I am something of a lover of english type blends, and I purchased this because it was spoken well of by other lovers of english blends that I have met. In most respects it is a good solid english type tobacco. It has a fair amount of Latakia, a good rich taste, and burns fairly easily. However, it does have one drawback. It seems that no matter how slowly or carefully I smoke it, there is always a noticeable amount of steam in the smoke. This has happened at almost all levels of moisture, until I dried some out completely, and then slowly remosturized it myself over a period of a few weeks. Now, I don't mind fiddling with a tobacco this much, but some folks would be put off by it. However, I seem to be in the minority when it comes to the steam flavor of the blend, as most people I ask about it have never noticed it. Other than that drawback, and an occasional bowl of it refusing to stay lit no matter how carefully it is packed, I enjoy it, and will probably buy more of it in the future, though I don't rush out to buy more whenever a tin gets half empty, like I do with some english type blends.

The scent from a freshly opened tin with about 5 or 6 years of age is a mild sweet and sour: soy sauce and sugar. The taste from the charring light follows suit, and then the cavendish makes its presence known with a hint of brown sugar. The orientals provide what complexity there is, sour and savory and nose-tingling. Through the retrohale comes a slight and subtle minerality, as of wet stone or petrichor, and a hint of nuts. It takes me a bit to put my finger on the nut flavor— the nearest I can come is “salted pistachio”.

As I smoke, the spice remains the dominant element. I can feel it on my tongue and in my throat. No new flavors introduce themselves, but the existing flavors weave in and out, varying in intensity. Not too much change in nicotine strength either— I call this the mild side of medium.

It reminds me of Dunhill My Mixture 965, maybe a shade milder. Certainly not as oriental-forward . The Dunhill smokes a little cooler and slower, and is a little more cohesive, but I find I like the pizazz of Black Mallory better. It does exactly what I expect a Scottish blend to do: build on the basic profile of an English and throw in a little extra complexity and flavor. Burned quite fast, clean ash, a slight aftertaste of that petrichor.

Both the quickness of the burn and the mildness of the nicotine make this a prime candidate for an all-day smoke. An English-like smoke with a little something extra for interest.

Well, the tobacco starts off a bit peppery, the Cavendish as the basis of the tobacco is omnipresent. The Latakia is unfortunately underrepresented. BM is not as well balanced as the Red Rapparee, actually not comparable because the Red Rapparee is based in Virginia. The Red Rapparee is also clearly superior in complexity and depth. I was hoping that the BM would have a good load of Latakia, but unfortunately I was disappointed.