Rattray Black Mallory

Update2: Ok, I've learned to appreciate it. I've had a tin of this in the office for the last few weeks and have been smoking a bowl or two a day. It's actually pretty nice, a solid medium English/Scottish, no sweetness at all, just this background tinnitus like hum of seawater and a just a straightforward middling latakia hit. Worth a try if you want a no-nonsense English/Scottish. And despite my earlier reservations, there's a significant difference to the very mild 7 Reserve. I wouldn't rush and and restock on this, but that's only because there are so many similar mixtures out there to try.

Update: Immediately after writing this review just I went and smoked a bowl of BM. To be honest, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. There is flavour present, it's not that salty and it burns well.

Indistinguishable from 7 Reserve for me, looks, smells and tastes pretty much the same, which was disappointing as I was hoping for a bit more flavour/strength from this one. Strangely salty in the mouth, a bit like oysterized seawater, maybe it's just me. Comes in a 100g pot so I guess I might learn to love it, or at least appreciate it.

I find this to be a very pleasant English smoke. As others have stated I find it to be a much more refined version of RR. I like the proportion of latakia that is used in this blend and its' slow steady burning qualities. The flavor runs consisitent the length of the smoke with a slight noticable increase in strength in the latter half. What I do miss that RR seems to satisfy for me is an "edginess" in taste. It is not so smooth as to be boring, rather, for myself it is almost a zoning out effect. Sort of, "Well isn't that nice," type of experience. Overall a nice smoke that I will turn to once in a while.

Having just sampled Margate recently, I find it difficult not to compare the two. The Latakia in BM is more in the background. It's not as smooth as Margate, the sharpness of the Virginia's sneak through more in BM. BM's a good English blend and should satisfy those, like me, who are into such blends. A solid 3 stars for me.

Keep on Piping!

The name and the tin are beautiful. The mixture is also refined and sweet. I like it better on medium sized to small pipes and on cloudy weather.

Not a bad English but not my favorite. Depending on the pipe, it would shine though. Sometimes a nice Kingsford charcoal briquette taste would dominate...but not all the time. Worth a try.

Soli Deo gloria!

This is a tobacco perfect for a hot summer evening. I enjoy it when I am going to smoke multiple bowls, especially when smoking food out in the back yard. The tin smell is of soured ketchup, but once lit the smell is that of grilled sweet corn. My buddy thinks it smells like model plane fuel (and he likes it lol,) I have no idea what he is talking about on this one. The flavor is very mild. It is a very cool, smooth smoking tobacco, and it is fairly simple in flavors. Virginias on the light, but after that it is just a mild mixture of everything but the latakia. The latakia only comes through in the mouth feel. It has a sweet, wheat like quality, and a slight tartness towards the end. I actually detect a slight burley character even though it is not listed in the ingredients. I find that I enjoyed it exponentially more the first week or so of smoking it but after that I started wanting something more. Still, I will have this on hand every summer.

A good presentation of a mild-medium English.It combines 3 of my favorite tobacs..i.e.virginia, latakia & orientals.With the addition of Black Cavendish, along with the virginia, a sweetness is added to the taste.I find no individual tobac to dominate this blend but instead a rich & creamy well rounded taste with NO bite. If you have been wanting to rest those aromatics of yours for a while this is a good entry into English Blends.Time to go burn some briar.

Best full-English blend (cavendish/latakia) I've ever smoked. Nice flavour, burns well. The closest blend to an aromatic I can enjoy.

Appearance is a dark brown rough ribbon. Tin smells medium sweet, very light smoke, a bit musty. Tastes lightly sweet, dry, and lightly smoky.

Black Mallory is based on Red Rapparee, with the addition of more latakia. Rattray said "While it looks heavy, it pleases the eye, surprises the palate, and tastes fragrant and sweet". It does taste lightly sweet, but there are dry notes that take away from the sweetness. It almost rates a medium-to-strong for strength, like Red Rapparee. Black Mallory is of the same high quality, but I prefer Red Rapparee for its deeper and less dry smoke.