Rattray Professional Mixture

Appearance: A mostly light and medium mixture, with a small amount of dark leaf present. The cut is mixed ribbon and random pieces.

Aroma: Lots of Virginia base, with a moderate amount of Turkish and just a little Latakia The aroma seems to be primarily that of Virgnias, with a smaller amount of condiments.

Packing: Packs easily in most pipes, group 3 and up.

Lighting: Lights easily, this seems to be true of most Rattray Oriental blends today.

Initial flavor: The Va comes across first, but not too assertively. The Turkish adds just a bit of flavor soon after, and the Latakia stays far in the background..

Mid-bowl: A classic Mild English/Oriental blend. I would classify it as considerably milder than medium 3 or 3.5 on a scale of 10,), but a gentle beguiling flavor. No gurgles noted. The Va continues to be the key player, the Turkish and Latakia are smaller parts.

Finish: Well behaved right to the end, leaves a gray ash and nothing else.

Summary: Somewhat lighter than 7 Reserve, also slightly lighter than Dunhill Std. Mild. A very good first pipe, or an all-day smoke in warm and/or humid weather

Professional Mixture misses on a lot of levels for me. Professional Mixture seems to try to please too many tastes without mastering any of them. I agree with Claudius Stradivarius that PM is very similar to Accountant's also by Rattray. Professional Mixture is really a Virginia blend with a hint of Latakia. As an English blend it lacks Latakia. As a Virginia blend, the combination of Virginia's doesn't stand up to other Virginia blends on the market. As a Virginia/Oriental blend it lacks enough Oriental to win my heart. In the end it's just plain boring. It reminds me of Number 7 Reserve, another blend by Rattray that is also simply bland. I did have the chance to smoke a tin of the original Rattray Professional Mixture from Scotland recently. It was somewhat better and nice to see what the original blender had in mind when making this blend, keeping in mind that the age of the tin had changed the blend a bit. But in that case, while better, it didn't warrant the additional cost. I gave Professional Mixture two stars because it may be a nice entry level Virginia blend or an introductory very light English blend.

A fruity tin aroma, and the appearance (mostly light strands) leds me to believe this may be a bit sweeter and brighter than Rattrays other offerings. Packs and lights easily, and burns evenly throughout the bowl. However, this blend is LIGHT. So light in fact, that I find myself puffing too hard, hoping for a fuller taste. I suppose this could be a decent all-day smoke for an ex-cigarette smoker, as the nicotine content is noticeable. I personally like to mix this into other tobaccos with more flavor, to add some nicotine punch to them. It is a shame that this blend is so close to being flat, because I sense some of the ingredients and qualities that make blends like Celebrated Sovereign and Arcadia stellar, but the mix here is anemic, and it just doesn't stack up. There is nothing wrong with this blend, and as I said earlier, I smoke a good bit of it, albeit mixed into other blends. The problem is that it doesn't have any particular qualities that stand out. It could easily be a staple tobacco for those folks that just want to smoke all day, and can't be bothered to appreciate the 'blend du jour.'

I've smoked on and off this mixture (probably somewhere in the vicinity of 5 or 6 100 gms. tins), but I haven't had it in a long time. I believe this is a very reliable smoke: nothing spectacular, but very comfortable, light, with an intriguing interpay of sweet-sour and bitter.

The presence of Rattray's excellent Vriginias is there, which accounts for that "raisins, dates & port" aroma that Muddler reports. The Latakia (could it be Syrian?) is very subdued and "silent", but does provide that toasty-bitter backround, and the Orientals provides de tasty sourness.

However, I do find this mixture to be on the light side. For my palate is difficult to grasp the full flavor, so I tend to over puff, which inevitably leads to a hot pipe and a bitten tongue. Smoke this one with care, and it will probably reward you with an elegant, though somewhat muted, smoke.

I wouldn't go out of my way to get hold of this mixture. But it's good to know it's still out there. A nice, quiet smoke from Rattrays, always good for those seeking a natural tobacco experience.

A friend of mine gave me a generous sample of this along with the tin as he jars his tobacco. From the yellowed appearance of the plastic lid this looks like it has some age on it. I cannot remember where or when he bought it. I have had this for several weeks and just now got around to trying it the other day. The tin note has a nice “clean” smell to it along with and this is a poor choice of words “minty fragrance”. Obviously, there is no mint topping but this does not have the typical Latakia smoky smell to it. Maybe it is from the Orientals or Black Cavendish. One other reviewer described it as a perfume note. This was definitely lacking in the Latakia department. Other adjectives from reviewers are boring, subdued, mild, spicy, bitter, …… This one is okay but another one that I believe is really not sure what it wants to be when it grows up.

Update: 7/3/21, I rarely if ever change my ratings because that would open up a Pandora’s Box as time and tastes evolve. I had some of this still left in the tin and wanted to finish it off. This morning, I smoked a bowl and thought, okay, mild but not too bad and decided to read some reviews. When I saw mine, I thought it must be a typo as I do not recall rating this a one star. I stand by most of my review from smoking out of the newly opened tin but have decided to bump it up one star and with a few months of open air so to speak it is not bad. As for the rest of my ratings they can stay as is. It is all subjective anyway.

This blend just did not catch my attention. The leaf and quality of this blend is very high as are all of the other Rattrays blends. It burns fairly cool and even and has a fair room note. The flavor is very light and in my opinion uninteresting. I have to many blends that I realy appreciate to keep this in any kind of rotation. I may come back to this one in a couple of years just to see if my opinion changes.

Not as refined as the other Rattray's,like Accountant's, and not as strong as the powerful Black Mallory, despite the fact that it is quite as dark as the other ones.

A tendency to the harsh side, as if the components don't mix as good together...

Under all reserve, though, because I smoked the bulk version. of course, as soon as I buy the tin version, I will update.