Rattray Jocks Mixture

A mild blend that improves as it breaths. Basically a Virginia with a touch of Cavendish and Latakia that both hide in the background. If I didn't know better, I'd think it had some Perique as this has that Perique pepper spice.

I would like more strength and complexity to get this to 4 stars but the spice provides enough interest to be an all day mild smoke. A top note was present during the initial opening of the tin, but that quickly faded after about a week of breathing, a nice easy ribbon cut to work with.

Reminds me most of Sutliff's Court of St. James or a smoother H&H Louisiana Red ( both with Perique)

Update: Well, I’ve been too enthusiastic with this one at first. After a second attempt with a 100 gr. tin I’d say it gets somewhat acrid and chemical, when dries. Two stars

What a pleasant surprise! My tin was fresh (bought in december), none the less my impressions are very similar to those described by SteelCowboy which has smoked a long aged one. Jocks is a thousand miles away from a generic Va/Lat : not the usual grassy-peaty bomb but a well balanced mix of mature Virginias and a pinch of spicy-smoky Latakia along with a quality Black Cavendish which adds sweetness and roundness; flavors of good tobacco with a sort of BBQ sauce twist. A pleasure from the top to the bottom of the bowl, enjoyable at every time of the day.

Rattray's is a brand I really need to explore more, since this, believe it or not, is only the second blend by them I've tried after Professional Mixture, which I liked a bit better than this. I will give it three stars, because the quality seems to be there in this year 2000 tin, but I don't find anything in it to really make it stand out or excite me. I reckon I'll finish the now jarred tin eventually (this is probably my 7th or so pipe of it in four months), but I doubt I'll be reaching for that jar all that often.

Reason? Not really sure I can pin it down. Maybe it's the overload of black cavendish and not enough aged Virginia taste, or perhaps the difficult to detect Latakia: I actually like light Latakia blends quite often, but I also like to know it's there usually, without having to be informed of its presence!

It's a good blend for a lazy morning on a day off, drinking lots of strong, black, yet unremarkably roasted coffee, which nevertheless does the trick as a day-starter, going through my list of tobaccos I haven't reviewed...

When that "to be reviewed" list starts to get long, I generally go for the easier ones first. This tobacco, then, for me, is easy and easygoing, but not knocking my socks off, though as with so many blends, I'm sure there are those who love it.

Me? I just like it, yet have too many tobaccos in my collection that I like quite a bit more. Again, seems a quality blend, and I think the problem is more that it's just not quite my thing stylistically.

Another totally insipid light English/Scottish mixture from Rattray: this brand is so weird... While Red Rapparee and Black Mallory are very good and tasty, their other Latakia blends are so bland and devoid of taste that I wonder how they could survive for such a long time... This one has not the heavier oriental overtones of 3 Noggins nor the sweetish touch of Highland Targe, and is a light, tolerable, smoke. But if you are looking for Latakia... look elsewhere! You can find just a hint of Virginia taste if you smoke slowly (there's lots of bright broken flake here)... but then you'd find much higher satisfaction from a Rattray Virginia blend (Marlin Flake in primis). Oh, well, at least it's drier than other Rattray's offerings, and can be smoked straight from the can... but it also bites significantly, which is weird for a Rattray.

I originally received a small sample of this blend with a tobacco order. I was absolutely floored by this blend and immediately ordered a tin from the company that gave me the sample. (See, it does work!). After receiving the tin, I opened it a loaded up a bowl. This was no where near as good as the sample. I have since tried the blend in different pipes, packs and stages of aging/humidity to no affect. I will base this review on a mixture of both experiences. I think it is possible that my sample was from the bulk source rather than a tin. I will have to order some bulk Jock's to find out.

Visual: Lots of greasy black ribbon cut with peices of brown to black broken flake mixed it. it looks sticky in the tin.

Texture: It is sticky! this stuff has so much humectant that I could probably leave it open for two months and it would still not be dry! I don't recall my sample feeling like this.

Pack / Pipe: I usually found myself rubbing this blend out to seperate the broken flake peices and to "unclod" the tobacco. I then pressed some of the blend into a number of shallow pipes, (ie: Israeli Alpha 1/4 bent apple, a Comoy Rockroot Pot, an Ascorti 1/8 bent squash etc...) The tobacco does not lend itself to my usual trickle tampp method of loading, so a light hand needed to be used to have a successful smoke.

Lighting / Burn: This stuff often took 3-4 matches to get going, and seemed to go out within 5 - 10 puffs. However after the first relight, it often smoked to the bottom needed one or no additional matches.

1st 3rd: After getting the tobacco lit, I am rewarded with a sweet and somewhat tangy smoke that has just an afterthought of Latakia taste. I picked up a lot more of the Latakia taste when I smelled the smoke rolling out of the bowl. This tobacco is in no hurry to fnd the bottom of the bowl, so I had to make sure not to rush my tamping.

2nd 3rd: The tobacco is burning nicely now, and tends to get the bowl a bit warm, however, it is not really burning my tongue. Any tongue irritation is from the humdifying chemical applied to the tobacco. Once again this is a slow burning tobacco.

Final 3rd: The ash on top of the burning tobacco is loose and rolls around the top of the cherry. The final third still has some sweetness and that tang. (The tang is not necessarily VA tang, and again may have something to do with the humectant)

Notes: I will hesitate to order this as a tinned blend again. Hopefully my bulk order in the future will prove to be the same as my original sample experience. If it is, then I will smoke Jocks Mixture regularly. Until then...

Stogie rating of: 5 Fair Fonsecas

This is a blend that is spicy in a way that lingers on my lips, but doesn't bite my tongue. It should be smoked slowly and deliberately. It would be easy to forget you were smoking it if you were wraped up in reading or some other pursuit, and would miss out on the subtleties of this light pleasant blend. There are several different Virginias somewhere behind the Latakia and Cavendish, and they poke their heads out occasionally throughout the bowl to make sure you haven't forgotten about them, but the overall strength of the blend does not waver much, and it doesn't suddenly go through the roof at the end of the bowl, like with many blends. However, it does develop a bit of an 'ashy' taste in the second half of the bowl, even without tamping or lighting to mix ash in with the tobacco. I enjoy this blend with both a cup of pekoe tea, or a single malt scotch, both of which seem to round out the flavors in the blend nicely.

Immediately upon opening the tin, you are hit with the aroma of high quality leaf. You just know it when you smell it! I wasn't disappointed by the smoke, but I wasn't blown away by Jocks Mixture either. The Virginias are woody forward with some grassy notes lingering in the background. No nonsense great tasting Virginias. The quality of the leaf is very apparent.

It was the Latakia left a little to be desired. This was even more apparent to me after lighting up a different blend immediately after that had a more flavourful Latakia component in equal proportion. I would have appreciated a more herbaceous Latakia that could have added a little more complexity to this blend.

I also found that this blend smoked a little too hot even though I wasn't puffing it quickly. I put my pipe down to rest and it kept heating before taking several minutes to cool off. This is definitely a blend for a patient smoker. All in all, I have to give this a 2.5 rounded up to a 3, on the account of the heat. Rattray never seems to skimp on quality so it doesn't deserve lower than that, but this blend left a little to be desired.

K&K is a vexing pipe tobacco manufacturer. On the one hand they make some of the finest tobaccos imo. Their stoved Virginias are superb, and their Va blends are also top notch. But I cannot fathom for the life of me what is going on with their labelling. Either they have some real quality control issues or they invent whatever the hell they please for their product descriptions.

My tin of Jock's for example contains no latakia. What it does have is perique. Which is bonkers because I couldn't find perique in my Marlin Flake either. 'Hand Blended' it says on the tin. Perhaps K&K need to move the different black leaf tobaccos further apart in the blending room. Maybe whoever was responsible for blending the batch I received was in training for Oktoberfest.

So I can't say that my tin, which is most certainly labelled 'Jock's Mixture' is actually supposed to be that. So take some caution with my review: it may not properly indicate what Jock's is supposed to be.

What has been in my pipe and is in my pipe as I type, is definitely without Latakia. It is VaPer of sorts. I cannot say whether the sweetness is Cavendish derived (a visual inspection shows only the one type of dark leaf in my tin, and it is unflavoured and vaguely sweet) or whether the Va is naturally sweet or some sweetener has been added. But gently sweet it is.

There is a decent amount of plum and pepper and spice, particularly towards the end of the bowl. All in all it's a very good smoke, a strong 3 bordering on 4 stars if it were not completely different to what was expected, indeed promised, by the product description. As it is I have to give it a 2.

This is from a ten year old tin (jarred) I dug out recently. My thoughts concur with DK and a few others. This is a mixture that I've taken for granted for quite some time. After digging this old jar out, I'm very surprised at the complex flavours. Virginia, Black Cavendish ( Virginia Cavendish), a dash of Latakia, and what ever else makes for a very tasty smoke. Nic lovers and those who seek tremendous flavours need not apply. This is truly a wonderful mixture for those contemplating smokes at the end of the day over a wee dram or three. A simple pleasure that I'll return to again and again. Bet on it.