Rattray Black Mallory

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...

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.

It came ready to smoke, but I gave it 30 minutes air as well. This is my second 50 gram tin of BM.

The tin note is dominated by the Latakia, and the appearance of the ribbon cut mirrors that. Predominantly dark tobaccos, certainly darker than Red Rapparee, its Rattray's sibling. It lit well, and only needed one relight near the end of the bowl. A little tamping helped it along. Not over generous with its smoke initially, this changed as the bowl wore on.

Scottish mixtures are my preferred blends, that is Latakia/Orientals/Virginias with the addition of some English style Cavendish. You might say that makes me biased but I have recently reviewed Charatan's Four Leaf, and St James Park by Robert McConnell and marked them down despite their falling into the same Scottish category. The Latakia and Orientals are forward, particularly the Latakia, with the sweetness of the Virginias and the smoothing effect of the Cavendish very much in the background.

It is a rich, smoky, smooth experience, burning cool without any hint of bite. It is less spicy/complex than Red Rapparee but stronger in nicotine without being anything to be afraid of. It burns down to ash without any dottle, all in all a very satisfactory smoke, without asking as many questions of your palate as does RR. IMHO you can't smoke the same blend all the time, otherwise you forget what makes it special, familiarity breeds contempt etc etc so BM will take its place in my rotation. I won't smoke it every day but it will get a weekly airing at least. The only blend I smoke every day is Red Rapparee.

If you are coming into English/Scottish mixtures from VaBurs I would recommend BM, if you're coming from VaPers then Red Rapparee would probably be a better option. I would not recommend this to smokers of aromatics who want to try their first taste of Latakia, something like Early Morning Pipe might be more suitable. I award it 3 stars, but would give it an extra half star above that if it were possible.

This is the tobacco that helped increase my understanding of the different types of leaf in a blend. I found that in Black Mallory, the Virginians and Orientals take the center stage, with Latakia playing a supporting role and the Black Cav. barely noticeable.

I wouldn't call this a Full English; not enough Latakia for that, but rather a milder Medium blend. As far as the smoking of Black Mallory goes, it's very smooth and you can tell the sweetness of the Orientals, as they really tame the Virginians in this mix. The spice of the Latikia is present, but isn't overwhelming in any way.

The smoke is a bit thinner than I like, and doesn't have the creaminess that I enjoy with a fuller Latakia blend. However, this is a personal preference only. The smoke is enjoyable and I found the sweetness of the Orientals really plays out well. In fact, the oddity of the Orientals (in that this is my first mixture that had them) threw me off for a few bowls. I couldn't tell what it was that I was smoking at first.

I think this is a blend for those who would like to experience what an English mixture is. It seems a bit more on the Oriental side than the Latakia, and produces a smooth, sweet smoke with a hint of spice.

I've found through smoking this and other mixtures that I enjoy LOTS of Latakia and that Orientals tame the smoke down too much for me. It's still a great blend for smoking, despite my personal preference. I'd recommend others give it a try. It certainly has a large following and a great reputation.

It is pretty obvious from reading the reviews here that either people have really, really different palates (quite possible) or this blend has changed its character of the past few years (another VERY likely possibility). This review is of a the bulk blend.

Is it an English tobacco? I think so - it tastes only of Virginias, Latakia and maybe some Orientals. I cannot detect much in the way of casings - MAYBE there is a smidgen of Cavendish in this, but it's merely a pinch. The Latakia is used sparingly, but is definitely there.

Is it a "full' English? No. Its a mild-tasting blend. You actually can taste food after smoking this tobacco. The Virginias seem more predominant than in a typical English-style perhaps. It reminds me a little bit of GLP Blackpoint - only without the Perique, sweeter and with more nicotine.

This could be good morning smoke or even an all-day English for some. I would second the opinion here that BM would also be appropriate for aromatic smokers moving to English since it does have SLIGHT sweetness to it.

It won't have you waning on about its complexity but BM is well blended, tasty, easy to smoke without biting and won't dominate your taste buds for the rest of the day/evening with the lingering flavor of Latakia.

Black Mallory! I've smoked the bulk version only, so I suspect it's different than the tin version, but anyhow, I shall review all the same.

Black Mallory sure wears its name good: it's very black! Not much golden or brown leaves in there. Strong smell of Latakia, as a matter of fact, pretty much the only smell I could detect. Almost addictive... Nice long cut with some short cut leaves.

Filling is easy, lighting takes a bit but when it's started, it's all latakia, strong, robust, with a wooden -leather sort of touch.

As this was my first venture in the full english ( I'd say, this was about 12 years ago, lads), I made sure to be able to keep up by fixing myself some martinis. It worked, the smoke mellowed down after a while.

Strong tasting 'till the end, leaves a nice gray, dry ash. I bought a couple more pouches after but never really came back to it on a regular basis. i wouldn't recommend it as a morning smoke...

But still, a nice bakkie, when you want a real kick!

I found Rattray's Black Mallory to be a fine blend for those who like a Latakia blend, in moderation. Latakaniacs will most likely find this blend a bit lacking, but, for those who enjoy a slightly more medium to medium-strong English blend, and for we who occasionally shift from smoking predominantly Virginias and Virginia/Periques to English and Balkan blends, often in Autumn, and sometime crave a taste of the East, Black Mallory is a very nice mix, and has become one of those staples, along with Cornell & Diehl's Star of the East, (a stoved red Virginia, Turkish blend with 50% Cyprian Latakia), I keep in the back of the pantry for this purpose.

It is a little deceptive in presentation. Its Oriental bent is obvious upon opening the tin, but the bright browns with the black strands and the aroma from the tin seem to suggest a milder English than it actually is.

During the first bowl, the Cyprian Latakia seemed to strengthen through the bowl, but never overpowered. The second and third bowls revealed its character more homogeneously through the bowl as compared to the first. While the Orientals never overwhelm the Virginia, they subtly give it a fuller body, and certainly don't hide, offering a nice Eastern spice. The flavour notes don't quite resolve into a chord, rather giving it an interesting arpeggiated profile.

Although the flavours seem to keep their distinct notes, they are all in the same key, offering a nice complexity, and the blend is a full, smooth, interesting English smoke.

I found the fully rubbed out chopped and ribbon cut easy to pack, and smoked from the tin more easily than a lot of strong English blends; smooth with a light Virginia sweetness, though not at all cloying, and remained cool and dry throughout. Not having tried its sibling blend, Rattray's Red Rapparee, I can't offer any comparisons, but I enjoy the Mallory well enough to want to try the Rapparee. It does remind me of a slightly fuller, more English version of Sobranie Balkan, or a lighter C&D Star of the East.

All in all, a fine smoke for those times when one wants a stronger flavour that doesn't force itself upon one, but will still make itself known, now and again. Very nice for a rainy afternoon with a book or enjoying the remains of the day on the veranda, and a great 'early in the day' pipe for the confirmed Latakia lover.

I quite like the blend, and intend to put some away. I have a feeling that allowing the Virginia to age a bit will add a new note to the mix, and I'd be interested to see if the blend marries more fully, to resolve the flavour notes. I feel Rattrays Black Mallory could be an even smoother, full bodied medium-strong English with, possibly, a finer character after aging a year or three.

Thus far, I have been impressed with the quality and smokeability of the blends chosen for review by the Royal Society. I haven't disliked a single choice, and I find that this month's selection is no exception. This is an excellent, flavorful, sweet English-style tobacco with a decent amount of Latakia. The smoke is satisfying without being overly heavy or full, and the burning properties are very good. On opening the tin, I perceive a sweet, slightly sharp aroma, balanced by the leathery note of a medium Latakia blend. The sweetness comes across as natural rather than artificially added, and I can detect no topping or casing. In appearance, the blend is approximately 1/2 black, with the remaining leaf a varied mixture of dark, medium, and light browns that is fairly attractive in appearance. The cut is medium in length, with a few unrubbed flakes mixed in here and there. The moisture level is mainly on the low side, very similar to that of GL Pease tobaccos. Packing is easy and the tobacco takes fire readily, burning to a very fine, clean white ash. Through the bowl, an average number of relights are needed. I first sampled this blend in a large Stanwell Kingsway apple. In the first third of the bowl, the taste is as varied as the aroma. There is a nice, mild sweetness that mixes well with the Latakia and other tobacco notes; no one flavor is dominant. The complexity is decent, not outstanding but far from boring. This is a fairly full smoke, medium in darkness and richness with just the slightest hint of spice. There is some bite at the start, nothing major but enough to require a certain cautiousness on the part of the smoker. I find I am especially susceptible to this, since I want to smoke quickly and get more of the excellent flavor onto my palate. In the second 1/3, the flavor is still sweet and good. There is some increased complexity, and the smoke remains a bit on the full, rich side. There is increased maturity, with the sweetness not quite as "brittle", and I find this part more enjoyable than the first. The early bite appears to have vanished, and there have thus far been no moisture problems. In the final third of the bowl, there is somewhat less sweetness present, making the leathery Latakia darker and more obvious. The spice note is also slightly stronger, and the overall complexity has continued to increase and mature. The "sour" note that I find often present in high-quality Latakia blends has just shown itself, and provides a good ending to a very nice bowl of tobacco. The smoke remains bite-free, though there are some minor moisture problems at this point. A single pipe cleaner takes care of these, however, and the bottom of the bowl burns clean and dry. Overall, I found this an excellent medium Latakia/English mixture. After my third bowl of this, I placed an order for another two tins. I would rate this as less full than Raven's Wing or Penzance, and not quite as sweet as Frog Morton. It is a decently complex, high-quality blend that I find best as an all-day or hot weather smoke. If you enjoy English tobaccos, by all means try out this one!