A few months ago I was sent a package by a forum member containing a handful of samples of various blends. Most of them contained a strong oriental component and relatively little latakia. After at least one of the many times I've lamented the loss of Dunhill's Durbar Mixture, I've heard of several possible replacements. Among them was Rattray's Red Rapparee, and this was one of the blends which I had the pleasure of sampling. I have since bought myself a tin and opened it just recently because the stuff is good, and I couldn't keep my hands off of it. Now, I'm not exactly sure what a rapparee is, but I am pretty certain that I like it. I just had my first smoke from the fresh tin, and the tobacco arrived pretty moist in the tin. That's just fine, there is no humectant as far as I can tell and it appears in a rather fine ribbon cut so it dries out pretty easily. The blend is lovely to look at, with delicate ribbons of tan, deep reddish brown (from which it gets at least part of it's name), and a speckling of black. After drying for about 20 minutes it was ready to go - still perfectly pliable, but significantly drier than before. I packed my largest billiard (Savinelly Trevi 114ks) with the stuff lightly, more or less adhering to the "three layer" method. Filling a pipe has over time become more or less second nature to me, though, and I don't really need to adhere to any particular technique or method anymore to get it right. I just make sure it's pretty evenly distributed and light enough to burn well. I took a walk while smoking, and it must have lasted a good 40 minutes or so even packing it relatively lightly and taking it's fine cut into account. It burned beautifully in the large chamber, needing very little attention and only occasional puffing. It can be hard not to overdo it when it just tastes this good, though. The flavor is deep, rich, and subtle, and in this large pipe builds considerably in strength over time. The exotic, incense-like and slightly smokey flavor of the orientals is in the fore, but the sweet, high quality Virginia is definitely noticeable as well. They say there is unflavored cavendish in here, and I can believe that. There is definitely a smooth, mellow sweetness to it. Any cavendish present is rather indistinguishable to me, though. While I've smoked plenty of blends with unflavored cavendish, I simply am not well versed enough in the stuff to pick it out. The blend is so well balanced, complex and rich, and is so marvelously behaved that never would I miss the latakia. Latakia offers a special something to many English blends, but is also often used with too heavy a hand for my taste. It's not that I dislike the stuff, it's that I generally feel it's best used as a condiment or it doesn't taste very well balanced in most cases. To the serious lat-fiend, RRR may leave you wanting. To others who enjoy English blends but really don't care to have a lat-bomb, this may just turn out to be THE perfect English blend for you. It certainly has a hold on me. 4/4 stars
Good news, as I've got a few tins of it on the way. I don't know how I hadn't tried it up until now, but that's soon to change.
Hi nesta, I just received a tin of RRR a couple of weeks ago and haven't opened it yet. I am going to real soon thanks to your reveiw. I am also not a big fan of "lat-bombs". I like the lat to be more subtle. Great review. Paul
Oh, right on! Well it's a tasty blend. I'm strongly considering stocking up in a serious way at JRCigars...
Good plan. I've been supremely lucky enough to smoke some that was over 30 years old and it was killer! Granted, that batch was made by the old blender. But having smoked a lot of fresh stuff from various iterations, I'd say the current one holds up very well. No reason to think the new stuff won't age like a mofo as well. And so far, no shortages!
Yeah, but the kicker is that since I started smoking a pipe around 5 or 6 years ago, prices on most blends have nearly doubled. I don't have a lot of money to spend on tobacco, but I really feel the pressing need to buy faster than I can smoke...because if things keep going the way they are, we'll be up to 20 bucks for a 50g tin of tobacco before too very long. It's already about that high in some other countries from what I hear...so while I can't stock up the way I'd really like to, I ought to stock up as much as possible! Okay, doubled may be an exaggeration...but seriously, 10 bucks for a tin of Dunhill was just too much to be worth it when I started! 6 or 7 was more like it... Update: on bowl #2 of the day, this time in a Savinelli Tevere prince. Definitely still good, but it's better in a big bowl.
RR is in my top 3, welcome to the club.....shhhhhhh BTW, prices in CA for 50gr tins are already at $20.oo with tobacco and sales taxes.
Great review! I've got some HOTW on order right now, and I was thinking about buying some RR in the B&M the other day, but at $25/tin, I think I'm forced to go online for it at a much lower price. Still, I'm dying to try some. By the way, anyone who has a bunch of RR sitting around, I would be glad to send something in trade if it could be worked out. Not looking for a whole tin, just a little bit of it, and obviously I would send something as well. Just throwing that out there.
egars.com in their pipe tobacco section... think its like 7.19 per tin. But make sure you call and ask if they have it in stock first...
