Rattray Red Rapparee

A Rapparee was an Irish (not Scottish!) highwayman. I have no idea what a Red Rapparee was (or is). But Red Rapparee pipe tobacco is the flagship blend of Rattray's of Scotland. Rattray's has not been produced in Scotland for many decades and now comes from Kohlhase Kopp and Company in Germany.

In the tin RR comes as a fairly fine short ribbon of varied colors--dark, tan, and light. A base of not particularly sweet Virginia and unsweetened dark Cavendish is enhanced with Turkish/oriental and latakia. The manufacturers assure you that this is a "luxurious quantity" of latakia. It isn't. The latakia lurks in the background of the taste.

The Turkish/oriental is absolutely front and center. The relatively small latakia component allows the room note to be pleasant enough as not to annoy any but the most persnickety of non smokers.

Before burning to a dry, white ash, the mixture exhibits some variance in taste. The orientals are always present. The Virginia/Cavendish varies in intensity. The latakia also varies from clearly perceptible to barely perceptible.

Some veteran pipe smokers grouse that Red Rapparee is a far different tobacco now that it is produced out of Scotland. Although I was a pipe smoker in that era, I never smoked the Scottish version. I have smoked the English produced version that predates the current manufacturer. I detect no great difference between the two that I have smoked. I find this to be a pleasant and rewarding smoke, worthy of full attention while consuming a slow burning pipe full.

I was walking and browsing my local pipe shop one day and saw a tin of Red Rapparee on the shelf and based on all the good stuff I had heard about it recently I decided to give it a try. I always look up tobacco reviews when I get a new tin of anything so I was pleased to find that this was a Scottish Mixture, which means it is Virginia forward, which is what I love about Draquer and Son's Blaorgowrie. I've heard it said that Scottish mixtures are VA forward, English Mixtures are Latakia forward, and Balkans are Oriental forward and that is the definition I mostly accept. The world of Latakia is broad and doesn't always stick to standard definitions.

The tin is very old timey and simple. There isn't much of a tin description either. When I first opened my tin I found a nice ribbon cut tobacco with a good mix of blacks and browns. The tobacco came moist enough for my liking without being drowned. The tin note smells of sweet, hay-like Virginias, tangy, herbal Orientals, and soft, leathery and smokey Latakia. It has a very nice aroma to it. This blend is easy to pack, and easy to light. It keeps its light fairly well.

The smell transfers into the taste in some very appealing ways. The Virginias are up front giving me a delicate sweetness, citrus, and grassiness. The Orientals follow, with herbal, floral, and incense notes. The application of Latakia is light but effective, adding smoked leather, and creaminess to the experience. Sweet and herbal, grassy and smokey, a good example of what a Scottish Mixture can be.

The taste is a medium. There isn't anything here that wants to overpower you. The strength is a solid medium, great for a cool or a warm day. This tastes lovely in a large bowled pipe. The room note is typical of an English blend, but it sort of reminds me of the smell of Presbyterian Mixture.

Nice balance between the Orientals and the Virginias with the Latakia in a supporting role providing some depth. Flavors are quite rich and spicy with ample sweetness. A nice, enjoyable medium bodied smoke.

RATTRAYS RED RAPPAREE 50g round tin.

Popping open the 50g round tin,the tin note is slightly reminicent of 'Punchbowle' a sort of smokey/light creosote with a fermented mango sour fruit pickle.

Appearance of tin contents is a tan/gingery brown for the main, with some bright lemon flecks,dark brown flecks,and the odd small broken flake traces. Mainly a fine ribbon short cut/rough cut.

Inhaling through the as yet unlit pipe for a guess taste, i get a dryish, woody oak sherry barrel, tangy-tan tobacco clue,which tastes like a serious medium weight tobacco, not dissimular to Petersons Irish Oak at this point actually.(I had been trying a new tin of Irish Oak just before this trial).

Lighting up i immediately get a slight herby onions from the oriental/or turkish within.No applied aromatic properties are in this,it seems like a strait natural tobacco and the fruity tin aroma may just be an accidental scent of the natural ingredients.

The strength picks up after the first 1/4"inch of combustion to deliver a vegetable soup tang akin to minestrone,,,swede?,,leek?,,vegetable stock?,, winter vegetables? which have maintained their natural raw rooty earthy mineral soil/tannin tangyness...

Comparisons at this point are somewhere between Dunhill LONDON MIXTURE,Robert McConnels's 'The Original ORIENTAL',but not quite as smokey or herbaceous(at this point).

Quite fullish taste,it doesn't taste airy,empty or gappy where i need to argue with it,or want to fill a taste gap,but light enough like an approachable soup compared to a full bloating vegetable stew(alegorically speaking of course).

I can't say i am blown away, but that doesn't mean anything is wrong,its just that the more brands i smoke,i feel i have met this one before and that it exists within certain quintessential discovered pillars i am already familiar with,and doesn't for me on this occasion offer any real new novelty.

Its a sensible smoke actually and what it says is interesting but not unique in this stage of my smoking exploration, but confirms like a 3rd oppinion of what i already think i know regarding what "Oriental" means as a type of pipe tobacco. When i rest the pipe for a moment i get a slight raw white cabbage finish in my mouth. It tastes mature and well fermented,age cured and leathery.

The nicotine maybe stronger here and obove medium(i have already been caning some Irish Oak before this test and am already nicotine filled,i suddenly got that warning cough which i don't think comes from Red Rapparee alone,but it has enough power here to be a finisher if i dont watch out!).

Without checking the ingredients my guess is Oriental/or Turkish with darker aged mature Virginia's,some earthy Burley body in the background which keeps the other dynamic duo in check and cools things down.

No bite,although it gets tangy in an onion/garlicy way. Yeasty-ish with sage and onion (paxo stuffing mix)... Being simular to a few contempories i already have ,its something i will reach for when i am in the general mood for an oriental like it,or when one or the other brands due to some hypothetical, unfathomable, atmospheric conditions (or just contempt from familiarity from overuse) is not delivering any novelty factor.

I am one who does like to do side by side test smokes of simulars for a comparible 'variations on a theme' in identical pipes.

Red Rapparee is not an underdog in anyway,just not a front man;its sort of enigmatic,reserved,smooth,quiet,mysterious,private, but with a full presence of pensive content like a silent teacher. (yet i could probably say that of my other oriental blends really).. It seems up there with the best of them..

Savoury is a better word,and that tannin tangyness;think of the tang of blue stilton cheese minus the cheese factor,slightly astringent,maybe a challenge but not unpleasant,earthy and real. Onion soup,salted butter,it melts in the mouth like a knob of warm butter. Truffle?

After pipe ;it leaves a memory in your mouth akin to having eaten a tangy salad of onions,spring onions,radish, that is felt and fades over a couple of hours.A complimentary food would be a ploughmans lunch(can't think of a drink really but jamesons scotch blended whisky has a certain tang factor).

Bubble and squeek,Irish colcannon,butter fried cabbage and herbs-it comes accross as a vegetarian smoke.It has a slight soap factor ala 'Wrights coal tar soap'which is the baccy and not an applied lakeland-esque essence, or result of curing with burned fragrence woods,its just an accident of natural occurance.

Just checking 'Tobacco Reviews.Com' for a compared oppinion, i know now why i chose this tin to try,its because of the 'red virginia and oriental' curiosity. This contains cavendish but its not really tasted, and this baccy is not really that sweet.The cavendish within is probably not a particularly sweet type, and may explain why i thought i was tasting burley in the mix. Oriental leaf is apparently unsmoked latakia anyway, so it might explain why there was a slight familier smokey association when sniffing in the tin.

I have tasted red virginia in Petersons Sherlock Holmes before and i think of sweet floral red onions. I wanted tangy and got tangy.

Its nearest taste competitors in my rotation are 'Dunhill London Mixture' and 'Robert McConnel ORIENTAL'. I have jarred this tin already in a kilner jar because i have no idea at this point how long i will take to smoke it (i have about 50 baccies on the go at the moment and am doing pipe and baccy combination trials to find the best mates.)

UPDATE;2ND DAY Comparison Trial 3x Vintage Duncan Delta pipes side by side test, with Red Rapparee, Robert McConnel ORIENTAL, Dunhill London Mixture. The short story:-

'Red Rapparee' is more salty buttery smooth than 'Oriental'.

'London Mixture' is a milder, smoother operator; 'London Mixture' feels slightly milder than the others and implies a slight touch of the smokey latakia in a condimental ghost sence,possibly due to the milder virgina or lesser quantity oriental baccy in the mix so that the spice factor seems augmented in the overal balance.

'Oriental' and 'Red Rapperee' have more of the herb garden factor with Oriental having the more significant herbal bias.

All three are within a gnats cock of eachother when smoked side by side in near identical condition pipes as a standard TBH, and could on a different day taste like one another.

So ;strengths of nuance differentiation:-

London mixture;- more spicey. Oriental;-more herbacious. Red Rapparee;- more salted buttery.

All three have that slight 'wrights coal tar soap' taste but are not smokey in a bonfire latakia sence,more closer to the grilled herbs taste.

I can't be arsed to pick a winner because they are equal substitutes in my mouth and either satisfy the oriental urge.

I would easily buy Red Rapparee again if i ran out,more for the red virginia than anything,even though its more imagined than tasted probably,and doesn't taste much different overal compared to my other Orientals already. It burns quite cool and slower than average. Creats a bit of wet in the moisture trap which needs wiping out a couple of times a session which might creat gurgle in a conventional briar maybe (if you don't pre dry it before smoking).But it smokes ok and dry in this pipe and down to a completely burned fluffy ash.

Worth 3 Stars ,its up there with other good medium orientals.

Red Raparee is undoubtedly a great tobacco, albeit a bit powerful. Very pungent, its Latakia/Oriental components tend to overwhelm the Virginias, which IMO barely touch the flavour registers. Visually the tobacco is very attractive, and it is easy to pack and light. However once you take a couple of puffs it snaps at your taste buds, producing quite an hypnotic effect. In a way it has the same density of the old Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture, but it is less sweet and rounded. To me it tasted at times almost salty as well as sweet and sour, with a very penetrating tanginess, similar to certain Chinese dishes from the Shezuan region. Strong and potent, it is a smoke that demands all your attention, and I find it advisable to be seated---and with a full stomach---when smoking it.

The aroma of Red Raparee really got me into trouble with the LSW, who has never liked the scent of Latakia mixtures, but found this one completely unbearable (I was propelled out of the house in order to finish the bowl, for not even the opened windows, which I invoked as a palliative, seemed to be enough to dissipate the smell). It took ages to finish that bowl, and by the end of it I felt transfixed. My taste buds, my palate, my clothes and hair were all suffused with one of the strongest Latakia/Oriental smells I can remember, which lasted for days! I do not know if Rattray?s use a particular type of Syrian Latakia, or if they also use the Cyprian variety, but boy is this stuff ?heavy? (in the 60?s sense of the term). Compared to RR, My Mixture 965 seems a medium tobacco and Squadron Leader, pale.

All in all, a very peculiar smoke, full of flavours and complexity, which is very enjoyable for Latakia/Oriental smokers, but should be approached carefully and IMO smoked only from time to time.

maybe the first English type blend I smoked in recent years as my palate developed. called a Scottish blend. really good stuff and I keep several tins of various sizes in the cellar. even though I have moved on from this I still come back from time to time for a bit of change. others have given an accurate description. just a really top-notch smoke.

Can't believe this has no flavoring added, I sense distinctly a ginger-like topping throughout each bowl; not that I dislike it, it serves instead to distinguish this tobacco among the crowded class of english mixtures, and the quality of the leaf used is excellent, as always with Rattray's. So it won't probably replace my favorite english blends in my normal rotation, but I think I will revisit it from time to time...

I'll just go ahead and say straight off the bat that this is a very, very nice blend. Earthy, warm, and packed full of flavor. The Latakia is present (Cyprus Latakia, I'm guessing - Syrian tends to be sweeter), the Orientals are present, and the Virginia gives a nice sweet backbone to the blend. Never burns hot, never bites. A very well behaved mixture.

Tin note is earthy and sweet, and the moisture out of the tin is absolutely perfect. Lighting and maintaining is also easy as can be. Light, tamp, light, then forget about it.

It's one of those blends that you can just enjoy without thinking about it too much. However, if you want to focus on it, there are plenty of subtle nuances you can pick up.

Very enjoyable tobacco indeed, I'd buy it again. Not quite enough oomph for me, but still very, very enjoyable, high quality tobacco.

I struggled between 2 and 3 stars on this, but deferred to 3 due to the quality of the leaf and perhaps a bias on behalf of myself with respect to Rattray.

I had always assumed this was a standard Scottish/Latakia mixture and was surprised to see that it did not contain Latakia, or perhaps a small amount as some contend. It does taste somewhat smoky to me, but that may be due to the oriental varietals used. Whichever orientals are used, the combination tended to run the blend a little dry and sour to my tastes, but at times there were zesty citrus notes that I found enjoyable. Overall of the 100g, I can't say I had too many bowls that were great.

RR is not a go to tobacco for me and I doubt I will ever repurchase it; however, it is quality balkan with shifting flavor profiles that keep it interesting. Anyway, I am not sure how helpful this will be to anyone but myself but it is my two cents.