Robert McConnell Special London Mature

(3.39)
A natural ready rubbed dark Virginia with a nut like bouquet.

Details

Brand Robert McConnell
Blended By Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. KG
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Straight Virginia
Contents Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ready Rubbed
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country Germany
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Extremely Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.39 / 4
9

7

2

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 18 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 10, 2012 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant
This is one of the Robert McConnell tobaccos that I keep returning to, with or without hiatus. The base is red-bronze VAs, with a hint of Red VA Cavendish (not black Cavendish) in a cross between broken flake and ribbon texture.

This works best in a small to medium briar bowl, and smokes fine without relighting; the burn is smooth and cool, and the taste is refreshing. There is a notable top dressing, which I liken to citrus and honey, meshing well with the VAs for what I call a 'fairy cake' taste, and a pleasing aroma for your company.

Nevertheless, the top dressing is there; if you are a purist, you may not enjoy this straight-away, but I took to it quickly, although I was somewhat misled by the name. I originally procured some years back expecting an English, and was shocked and disappointed, but quickly overcame this with an appreciation for what it is, rather than how it's named.

The flavour and intensity build as you enjoy a bowl, but if you use too large a pipe, you may get more than you desired. I find that it has a bit of a kick, and makes a good evening smoke to relax, or a pick-me-up in the morning, and works well as an after-supper delight.

It is also an excellent sweetener for refreshing a soured pipe. Many a pipe that has become too 'ashy' for me has recovered quickly after building a slight cake with this blend.

I believe it to have a twinge of Red VA Cavendish, adding to the sweetness without ever being dominant, like a whisper in the dark. Otherwise, the Red VA base is predominant, and the coppery qualities of that leaf are shadowed and muted by the confection-like aromas that it produces.

This is another of my regular-rotation blends, and despite the fact that it is dressed, you may find it a quite appealing addition to your cellar. Aging here, is not required, and a green tin smokes as well as two-year, which I presume is due to the topping and Red VA Cavendish. I have had a four-year that was just about the same as a fresh tin, so cellaring is neither mandatory, nor really beneficial, unless you stow it for a decade or more, in which case, it will likely mature further, but may become softer in the process.

As I enjoy the Nicotine hit, I prefer it fresh.

I do not find it apt for a clay, as there is little moisture to absorb, and the cut makes it burn too hot in that type of material. Briar is the best bet here, and a medium-sized bowl seems to best suit this cut and texture.

Overall, it is a pleasant, anytime smoke, with enough of a kick to keep you alert and is complex-enough to keep it interesting; the flavour builds in strength as you smoke it, and it is also a delightful blending base. I often mix a bit of it with some bright VA and Syrian leaf for a complex English, however as it is only available in a tin and not in bulk, this becomes a costly process.

if this was available as a bulk, I would use it as a primary component in some mixtures.
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 04, 2012 Mild Extremely Mild Mild Pleasant
Fully rubbed out deep-brown color with a tin note of nuts and cherries. I hope I got past that when I smoked it, and indeed I did not taste any such thing. 🙂 The room note was pleasant and I got a lot of compliments, sniffers citing everything from chocolate to fruit to various scented candles. Unfortunately, the taste ran the gamut of overly mild to rough and it didn't produce a lot of flavor. As possibly one of McConnell's entries into the aromatic realm, it succeeds on some levels. It's a very dry smoking, heavily scented blend with a very mild flavor. Those around the smoker will surely approve.

Unfortunately, the flavor borders on flat, when it's not being rough. This tasted like a burley when it hit the halfway point and clearly did not appreciate being "oversmoked". Light sipping revealed this to be a rather lightweight aromatic but one that does not produce any appreciable wetness in the pipe heel. I did not finish the tin but I am going to try some blending experiments with it to try and get some more flavor from it. Recommended to those who enjoy very light tasting but hugely scented blends.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 21, 2011 Mild Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
What a pleasant surprise!

I have tried numerous Virginia blends over the years without much enjoyment. They are either too cigarette-like or taste like burning grass clippings.

A few matured Virginias have been promising (the best being Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake)so I have continued searching for a blend that would be an occasional diversion from my usual English blends.

I had a tin of Special London Mature on the shelf for several years, being leary of yet another disappointment, let alone a flavored one!

I find this to be quite enjoyable. The tobacco is either a coarse ribbon or a thoroughly broken flake. It does have a somewhat chocolate cherry note in the tin, quite pleasant but not at all evident in the smoke.

Instead there is a warm slightly nutty and quite satisfying flavor, medium bodied and not too heavy with nicotine.

In the cool autumn we are having this is proving to be the tobacco equivalent of comfort food.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 11, 2002 Extremely Mild Extremely Mild Very Mild Pleasant
Like many English/Scottish tobacco houses, McConnell´s name is now a German enterprise. How has this affected the original taste of the house blends is difficult to tell. Judging by the Cohlhacs & Kopp rendering of Rattray´s tobaccos (by the way, it is the same house that now produces McConnells?), it seems some of the Continental versions tend to follow the traditional processes and produce something very similar to the ?real thing?. Though I have never tried this particular tobacco before (i.e, the original McConnell version), I must say it is a wonderful, smooth matured Virginia, with a very subtle nut topping that virtually disappears by the first third of the bowl, leaving a very mild and velvety flavour, a kind of lighter version of the bygone Sobraine?s Virginia Reserve.

It should be noted that the actual name of this weed, according to the tin, is Special London Mature (fine cut tobacco). The tin depicts a mid XIXth Century street scene (it could be London, Copenhagen, or Edinburgh for that matter), very much in concordance with the type of illustrations one finds in other McConnell, Radford or even Larsen tins. Dickens, anyone?

Dark and medium brown broken flake, the aroma in the tin is very fresh and enticing (I wouldn?t bet this is something the traditional British pipe smoker actually appreciates), not entirely sweet, but fruity, nutty and woodsy. I don?t find it necessary to further break apart the broken flake, but pack it as it is right into the bowl. It lights quite easily and burns cool and slowly. I have smoked this in a well seasoned Savinelli Roma bent apple (a pipe that has only known Virginian tobaccos), and was instantly gratified by a non biting, very mild tobacco. It does seem to lack some personality and body, but as a mid-afternoon smoke it is excellent. The room aroma is very civilised (not at all an aromatic in the artificial sense of the word), and my wife is always greatly impressed by the discreet elegance of the aroma (she is now a non cigarette smoker). All in all, a very nice and mellow smoke, light and easy, that can equally be enjoyed by both, aromatic and non aromatic smokers, especially if looking for a change of pace.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 16, 2002 Medium None Detected Medium Very Pleasant
Now this is a nice blend! I have smoked multiple bowls of this stuff all in one sitting, which is a bit unusual for me. It has just the right amount of everything a pipe smoker could want, and I really think you will enjoy it.

This one has character. It is lighter in flavor than many all Virginia blends and doesn't fatigue the palate. The Virginia leaf is exquisite, and the blend packs well and smokes easily. Just a really nice all-Virginia tobacco.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 16, 2002 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
The can actually says SPECIAL LONDON MATURE, not "mixture". This is not a BLEND at all, of course: it contains only ONE kind of tobacco (mahoganny Virginia) and to compare it to an English mixture with Latakia is a bit like comparing Charlotte Russe to kippers: pointless and mindless.

In our dumbed-down world, use of language not being what it once might have been, certain labels are applied with little reflection or discrimination. "London", "English Breakfast Tea", "Russian Caravan"??what do these things mean, other than a merchant's little hookline to the semi-educated? It's a bit like giving Spanish onion to somebody who wanted Spanish fly.

When the late Mr Alfred Dunhill of London, U.K., titled an English mixture with Latakia his "London Mix", he was suggesting something recognisable and accepted, as well as capitalising on the centrality of the British capital to Englishry in tobacco-blending?a marketable centrality, to be sure.

But what do Herren Kohlhaas & Kopp mean by "London Mature"? How would that be different, say, from..."Cincinnati Mature", or..."Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Mature" or "Düsseldorf Mature"? What is so recognisably and acceptedly "London" about mahoganny-coloured Virginia tobacco in a can?

Whatever these enterprising German gentlemen with perhaps something like a working knowledge of English may have meant, they have certainly managed to juggle reality for the Confused, insinuating their humble little mahoganny Virginia in with some of the oldest and best known and recognisable English blends, with which it has nothing whatever in common. Proof that you need only mention apples in order to sell oranges to idiots.

And how IS this little mahoganny Virginia, say you? Perfectly amiable, though not exactly memorable.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 03, 2013 Mild Mild to Medium Mild Pleasant to Tolerable
This may not be the same blend as it was ten years ago.

On the 50g tin just purchased in Germany and produced in March of 2013 the description says "made from ripe Virginia leaf from Africa and Brasil as well as oriental tobaccoes from Greece and Turkey. A sweet blend, rich in aroma and flavor." It gives no information as to the cut of the tobacco. However the K&K website says "Dark, spicy, hand-rubbed Virginia flake," and indicates that it has a top flavor of chocolate. The picture of the tin adds "fine cut tobacco" under the name. The picture on the smokingpipes.com site says "rough cut pipe tobacco," where the contents are described as "a natural ready rubbed dark Virginia with a nut like bouquet."

So what is it? If I have an opportunity to ask the people from K&K, I will post the information. If aromatics are your thing, this may be just the smoke for you, but for this smoker hoping for ripe Va. leaf with orientals from Greece and Turkey, it is a disappointment: a non-descript and undistinguished melange obscured by the topping. In deference to the positive responses below: two stars.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 03, 2007 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
A very nice Virginia blend with a slight taste of what I would describe as nutty blend of pecans. London Mixture packs quite easily, and I have had no problems in keeping it lit.

This tobacco stays quite flavorful & mild quite close to the last 1/3 of the bowl, and displays a nice steel ash at the bottom. Unlike other blends this does not leave residue within your pipe bowl, nor does it leave a bad scent in the bowl either.

The room note to this is very mild & pleasant, as my fiancee can attest to. She describes it as "the scent of the woods in the fall".

On a side note this tobacco goes very well with a cup of coffee.

All in all, I would heartily recommend this blend to long time VA lovers or to someone new to VA blends.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 08, 2009 Mild Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Special London Mature came in the pictured 50grms tin, the inner packing is a (stained) wax paper lining.

K&K declares this to be a blend of dark and aromatic (wurziger) virginia flake mildly topped with chocolate. Whichever the topping is, IMHO this is not imparting anything so heavily, it just adds a "colour" to the blend.

My tin was waiting cellared a couple of years or so.

Unlike Red Virginia, the cut is quite rough. I have felt a further rubbing-out unnecessary, just rolled some tobacco into a ball and loaded in the pipe.

After the charring light (SLM is easy to start), the smoke is mild and a just bit stingy with a pleasant citrusy note over a substantially nutty aroma. It soon does compact into a thick smoke with nice volume. Nutty/salty is the combination I would say about the aroma. The smoke is remarkably refreshing and never hot nor aggressive.

The strength is mild with occasional reinforcements. The body does never reach the medium mark.

In some way I'm noticing a comparison with Olsen's B93, or thinking to a milder and more fresh brother of Rattray's Old Gowrie.

I'm frankly satisfied with SLM, and will store a couple of tins for aging.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 03, 2009 Mild Mild Mild Very Pleasant
Opening the tin I stiffened with fright: my nostrils were invaded by the smell of chocolate-covered cherry brandy, I was afraid of facing a heavily flavored tobacco! After airy tobacco, I loaded my pipe and fortunately the original topping has almost vanished, in effect the flavoring of this tobacco is rather cloying but fortunately it is very ethereal (especially the smell of cherry liqueur) so vanishes lighting the pipe and letting emerge the elegant structure of this blend. SL is a mild tobacco in any sense: mildly chocolately, mildly tangy, mildly nutty, slightly bitter-sweet-salty-spicy and a bit yeasty. Surely this blend is not composed of only Virginia but is present some Burley and/or Cavendish (not only for aroma, taste and flavor but also for the good body despite low nicotine), SL offer a smoke smooth and sufficiently cool, no bite to the tongue and only a few relights, for me is a very suitable tobacco for this season and recommended for beginners too.
2 people found this review helpful.
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