Rattray Dark Fragrant

When I see all the reviews of this tobacco I can´t help to get the impression that DF is a 'love or hate it' tobacco.

Well, I definitley belong to the 'love it' group. Being a proponent of the natural tobacco taste I only like the subtle addition of taste, love it if there is some spiciness involved and prefer the taste of dried fruits. And that is what I find in DF! Furthermore you can find here the rare taste of licorice (I mean a 'natural' taste, not a chemial) and this combination makes DF - in my eyes - to be a very special and unique tobacco that I don`t want to miss anymore.

It burning characteristics are excellent and my tongue never raised a complaint. I prefer to smoke it in chimneys, loosely tamped

highly recommended - 4 stars!!!

To be honest, ADHD curiosity usually gnaws at my OCD psyche until I finally sample from tins of tobacco I’ve set aside to age. This means I’ve lots of tobacco stored away in jars, but there’s relatively little in the way of really old tobacco in sealed tins in my cellar. Though I sometimes stumble across something I’ve misplaced or forgotten about, I generally have to plump for an old tin from someone else. And this is how I came by the ancient tin of Dark Fragrant under review. Perth blended, it (rather, the idea of it) takes me back to my early days of pipe smoking, when I considered Perth blended Rattrays to be the ne plus ultra of pipe tobacco. Oddly enough, this old tin is the first Dark Fragrant I’ve ever smoked; so I guess this is Walter Mitty Waxes Nostalgic. Whatever; I have now handled and smoked The Stuff, and my recent impressions follow:

Rattray’s Dark Fragrant is a “different” (if not unique) kind of pipe tobacco, being basically a sort of VA/Per Cavendish that’s made from highly processed, long aged VA tobacco leaf, with some Perique thrown in and re-pressed and re-aged with it for good measure. These varietals plus long fermentation under pressure should mean “dark fruit”, and, indeed, this was part of the musty mix when I popped the tin, only the fruit was decidedly under musty black bread, including molasses and some anise. The tobacco is quite dark, also moist, and it is well broken into crumbling small, clotted bits and chunks of moldering, short ribbons. As ever, I started by plucking some DF straight from its tin and loosely loading it into a bowl. Well, I’ve smoked moister tobacco with no problems, but smoking this DF moist is for me an exercise in frustration, and it’s also a waste of this particular, well-aged tobacco. In fact, based on experience with ET’s Kingsbridge (a similar blend), I decided to set the DF aside (in a jar) for a few weeks. After that I began to work with it again, trying to keep it as fragrant through the smoke as it is off the match, also simply trying to keep it lit through a bowl! Finally getting it right, the good is, DF is indeed dark and fragrant, brown sugar and molasses sweet and deeply, naturally aromatic, freshly baked black bread, prunes, plum pudding, dark roast coffee, and semi-sweet, dark chocolate, with an anise chaser. It burns OK dry. The “bad”? Again, like some fine, old wines, it took a thoughtful while to get the best from it. Now it’s consistently deep, fragrant and rich, with tastes getting more concentrated and sour as a bowl progresses, even as the scents grow subtly more complex. Because of all this, IMO, DF is the antithesis of an all day smoke. Though there is no mention of Orientals in the TR blurb, I did notice the smoke is blue, which is a tell for the Eastern weed. Not saying Orientals are there, but there are also exotic “baking spices” in the smoke. Strength is medium, maybe a tick over. Tastes are medium toward full. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is the best of the smoke. It works best for me from my VA/Per pipes.

All in all, I strongly recommend Dark Fragrant, at least this aged version, but only to those who are willing to spend the time and effort to figure it out. For me, lucky guy with much of an ancient tin remaining, it is as good as anything I’ve ever smoked, and I plan to check in on it regularly, to be sure it doesn’t go south in its jar.

I must admit I had difficulty determining if this was going to truly be a Virginia blend (natural, no topping/casing) or an Aromatic (topping/casing; flavored) with a name including the word 'Fragrant', but after smoking the first half bowl I realize why the name is perfectly fitting for this richly aged Virginia/Perique blend. The Black Virginia Cavendish is a striking experience when opening the can; there's a cool blue/grey hue to the black leaf, but the scent is warm and rich - a hint of vinegar more akin with McClelland Virginias tells me this is a well-aged blend. It doesn't take much to open up in the pipe, and burns so cool it's almost hard to keep lit initially (user error I imagine!). Once stabilized, it continues to burn cool and even. Mild in body, but rich in flavor and scent. It leaves a pleasant, light grassy room note (hence the Fragrant) though it tastes more of rich earth and red wine, with a hint of peat (hence the Dark). I imagine the Perique is portioned on the heavier side to give it that punch of earthy flavor, mellowed out nicely by cool smoking Cavendish. It's a tantalizing experience, and while I'm familiar with Rattray's English blends (highly recommended for Latakia lovers), this is quickly making its way into my Virginia rotations. I'm even considering it as a blend suitable for breaking in new pipes dedicated to natural Virginias. I look forward to aging a few tins to see how the flavors marry with time.

This is mostly a dark stoved Va, probably from the same base as Rattray's Black Virginia, with a measure of Perique and some additional sweetener.

It has all the dried fruit aromas one would expect of a stoved Va and burns cool, slow and without bite. The Perique is always in evidence, adding plum like flavours and the characteristic pepperiness of Perique. The combination imo works very well. The casing or topping is sweet but unobtrusive.

Sometimes I wonder 'what is the point of this tobacco?' when I encounter something that while well made, adds nothing to what we already have. By contrast, this is one of those tobaccos that makes me think the world is a better place for it being around.

This blend was a very pleasant surprise for me. I actually purchased it by mistake, confusing it with Sweet Fragrant. When I opened the tin, I was disappointed by the aroma, which I can only describe as sour molasses (I can understand why a prior reviewer described the tin aroma as "sloes jam and vinegar"). The appearance is nothing special, being an almost uniform dark brown. On the plus side (for me), the tobacco is moist. The tobacco feels slightly, but not unpleasantly, tacky. I didn't dry it before lighting it. It took a bit longer to get a good charring light, but it stayed lit thereafter, with judicious tamping.

The surprise came when I took my first puff. This is an exceptionally smooth (no bite) and mild (no detectable nicotine for me) blend. It has a mild toasty sweet flavor which lasts from beginning to end. The sweetness is probably due (at least in part) to some form of sugar casing, but I can detect no flavored topping. Like another reviewer, I don't understand why this is called "Fragrant", which would seem to suggest an aromatic. Nonetheless, this is a top notch tobacco, which has a permanent place in my rotation. Highly recommended!

This is a blend that i would recommend to someone for his first experience with pipe smoking. An experienced smoker can find this blend very light or even boring. In my orders there is always a tin of DF. Usually I am smoking it when I want something light. Though at the end of each bowl, I always think "boh, finished already, I can have another one!!!" Meaning, although it is mild, it is very tasteful. Since I have not come across many blends for which I can say so, I think that this is a unique characteristic of Dark Fragrant. Higly recommended (unless you are pipe smoker for 50 years and a bit snob)

Ive had a few black stoved virginia blends over the years so I had a general expectation with Dark Fragrant but I was in for more than I realized.

This blend is nearly jet black with a few brown specs here and there. Tin aroma is caramel, sugar, raisins, prunes,and a little bit of that grassiness that bright VA has. It has a very stewed or "cooked" aroma to it.

First light to last puff, this blend is very consistent with notes of caramel, sugary bread and dark stewed fruits, a bright tang and tartness with a back drop of spice and a little earth from the perique. The closer to the bottom of the bowl, a powdery sweetness comes in. Burns cool and clean with no moisture.

I've had many bowls from this 100 g tin and everyone of them are consistent. Consistency is one of the main. Reasons I love black stoved virginia. The perique just helps add a little character. Since getting this tin. I have purchased more. This is and excellent daily smoke. It scratches that McClelland stoved virginia itch that the Sutliff 507s stoved virginia cant and with stronger flavor. I highly recommend.

Tin note of sugared Rasins and spiced bread. Tobacco is black and dark brown ribbon and course cut. Moisture content is good, tough some may need to dry it. Burns slow with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is mild to medium and mostly consistent, with complex notes of floral, toast, bread, spices, rich savory, sweet, wood, orange peel/zest, ripe dark plum, dry hay, acidic, mildly spicy, citrus, sugar covered Rasin, a tangy stewed fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Stoved Virginia Cavendish is leading with Perique providing minimal supporting. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is great.

I love this stuff. It's an english cavendish crumble cake (rough ribbon) with a pinch of perique and light maple/rum casing. It is a very rich but smooth and relaxing smoke. The flavor is toasty, nutty and of dried fruit.

Dark Fragrant is my number two smoke after old gowrie. This is an excellent blend of the best tobacco.