I called up Iwan Rie's ....the best pipe tobacco store I have never been to, and was in need of my English blend of the the last 13 years....Sam Gawith's Skiff Mixture. Sold out ...and didn't know when they could get it . The guy on the phone recommended I try one of their house blends called "Proper English". Nice name,right up my alley, but I am always a bit nervous with house blends...I don't know why...am I brand name queen ? i said what the heck and I ordered 8oz. of it so I could give it a few weeks of smoking it . Some blends grow with you over time and I wanted to give this one a fair shake. I also ordered a Macbarren navy blend that I used to smoke a long time ago. This is what I got out of my first day smoking "Proper English"
The cut is a thin and fine choppy ribbon cut. Not the long Dunhill ribbon cuts from 965 . A bit dry ...so I humidified it for a few hours to give it a bit of spring. The description says "Old Belt Virginians,Orientals and a Heavy Portion of Latakia". I see a lot of Latakia but smoking it it seems very mello on the Lat. It is not as heavy a Samuel Gawith's Commonwealth. I think this one is a nod to Dunhill's classic 965 . Boy do I miss that one ... but this could be a nice substitute. I do like my heavy Lat blends but the nice thing about the ones that go easy on the Latakia is that the other flavors will take over and then when the Latakia pops up its a nice surprise. This one is that blend . The base is virginian....the main attraction is the orientals and the sideshow is the Latakia. it burns even and the surprise for me is every now and then I get a sweet thing happening. Not sure why but I like it . Let me give it a week I will know if this one's for me. So far so good ! The pipe in the picture is my Don Carlos freehand sandblast.
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