Tobaccos Smokers' Haven - Select Mixture

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3046)	2014-03-22		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The Virginia is a little earthy, grassy, toasty, and slightly sweet, and forms the base of the blend. The Cyprian latakia is light, adding a mild smokey, woody sweet quality. The mildly spicy, woody, dry and lightly sweet and sour Oriental plays a support role. Not sure about the very light topping, but it doesn't distract, though this blend doesn't have the depth it should have. Needs to dry a mite before smoking. Has a mild nic-hit. Won't bite or get harsh. Burns clean and cool, fairly smoothly at a reasonable pace with a consistent flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a short lived after taste. Can be an all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TallPuffO'Burley (633)	2017-01-16		Mild	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I like Select Mixture. As of the date of this review I have tried all of the Smokers Haven (made by Germain) blends except OBB despite having nearly a pound of the latter in the cellar. I rank Select at number three to my tastes behind Krumble Kake and In B Tween mixture.

Select is light on the orientals but does provide a bit of tanginess that goes well with the predominate Virginia mixture. The Latakis is even lighter still as the smokiness is very faint. This blend reminds me a little of Squadron Leader, which is one of my favorites, so it is not surprising that I enjoyed this one as well.

Similar Blends: Squadron Leader.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2016-01-25		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A very moist mix of ribbons and shag, ranging from blonde to black. Tin aroma of orientals and Virginia with some added topping, and a smidge of latakia in the background, Syrian variety. Drier was better, but not too dry or this will turn to dust quickly.

The 20th Anniversary I smoked recently had a pretty heady alcohol topping, which is muted here but still noticeable with each puff. That diminishing elevated this blend over its cousin. This is a Virginia-forward oriental blend and it had a sweet and spicy quality but this is for those that prefer sweetness with an extra soft punch. Less of a crossover than 20th but also lighter tasting overall. Light but fairly rich - a combination I always find enjoyable. However, there are certain tobaccos who provide an experience that is difficult to quantify. This is one of them - just not much to say about it. Compared to some other SH blends, this one is kind of boring, but I think the point of this is to be an all-day type of thing, at least until the evening. Not very complex at all, as it never seemed to change its flavor. If a light-bodied but more medium flavored blend is something you're after, this is one to try. No more for me, but still a reasonably strong 3 stars.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	King Weed (228)	2021-12-11		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Awhile back I reviewed some tins that would not move on my show tables and kept coming home. Select Mixture by Smokers' Haven is, unbelievably, one of them. I say unbelievably because every other tin of Smoker's Haven blends I've put out have moved quickly and do not come home with me. I've had this tin on my tables for the last five show seasons and, even in this year's frenzy of buying activity, it was still there by itself when the dust settled. I had to find out what was going on here and ripped it open to find a rather thin ribbon cut mixture of variegated tones from light tan to black and issuing a mild-to-medium English odor. This all seemed good to me and I wanted to light up right away. I couldn't do it as my tin of tobacco was sopping wet and had to be dried (not aired) out. I thought the blend looked familiar on opening and smoking it backed up my initial feeling that this looked like and, now, smoked like older versions of Balkan Sobranie Mixture. That can't be bad, can it? Add to this the blend's four star rating and its hard to understand our show buyers' reluctance. I enjoyed the blend and made some very good mixtures using it as a base. You add this all up and its hard not to give it the four star rating it deserves. A real head scratcher, though.

Pipe Used: Charatan Selected 44

Age When Smoked: tinned 7/11/14

Purchased From: an Ebay seller

Similar Blends: It was very close to smoking old Balkan Sobranie Mixture..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2016-06-30		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Made with the special touches that only Germain can produce, Select Mixture contains special well aged Virginia and puts that leaf at the forefront. They then added just enough of their world renoun ripe Orientals to produce spice and cool burning delight, and finished up with just enough Latakia to add zest and smokiness to the mixture. Another winner from Germain and Smoker's Haven!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jevverrett (106)	2015-09-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Another from the BoB bombardment I recieved. Light English blend.

Not bad at all. The cut is ok, I wouldn't say great bc the shag portion of it is kind of long and can clump up while loading the pipe. Tin note is a bit smokey, and kind reminds me of a peaty kind of smoke like from a good scotch. Smoked nice and slow, easy to pack and light. Has a sweetness to it that pokes it's head up from time to time. Mellow taste, smokey and rich. More oriental forward than Latakia.

Probably not a good one for in the house if other people don't smoke English blends. Could be an all day smoke without burning out the taste buds. Good blend for a newer English smoker or someone who appreciates them more.

Update: 12/16/15 I finished off the rest of the jar I had today. I have decided this is worth another half a star, bringing it up to 3 1/2 total. Has a earthy richness to it I didn't appreciate fully before. Also, the strength is appropriate to be a good all day smoke. I say this bc I literally smoked this all day today haha.

Pipe Used: Kurt Huhn poker

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Gift

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	CPT/VSG (72)	2014-03-16		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

SM is the lightest of smoker's Haven's Germain-made recreations of their original blends made by Sobraine of London. It is a very light English, with delicious Virginias. While there is the presence of both Orientals and some Latakia, the Virginias are dominate and give the mixture an overall naturally sweet flavor. SM is not familiar to many who love Our Best Blend and Exotique but it fills a place in my rotation, especially for the first pipe of the day. Recommended.

Age When Smoked: 2003

Purchased From: Smoker's Haven

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pryhosm (248)	2019-09-22		Mild	Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

UPDATE 11/20 As I had hoped once left to dry out and age, this tobacco is MUCH better. I have to say up front that I am a huge fan of Oriental forward blends so the reduction in Turkish/Orientals, but with that said they are present and welcome in this smoke. The largest improvement in the smoke is the taming of the casing. I think it is a fruit flavored brandy and some chocolate, but that is a guess. It is still very strong in the jar note but it is almost unnoticeable in the smoke. Woody and slight lightly spicy from the Orientals, some earth and sweetness from the Virginia's and a hint of creosote and creaminess from the Latakia. This may be the largest improvement in a tobacco I have experience with a little age. 2 star upgrade

Another review that I will come back to after the tobacco has some time to age... Tin note is similar to SH 20th anniversary, but with less tobacco permeating nose. This is almost all topping. It is some type of liquor or liquors and it is very strong from a very fresh tin. I let this dry for an hour and then packed the pipe and let it sit for another 20 minutes. I then did some unlit pulls on the pipe and that is when I realized that the topping is either a chocolate liqueur or there is chocolate mixed in with a brandy. The topping more or less drowned this one out. I smoked 3 bowls of this and tapped out. My taste buds were coated with tobacco topping varnish and it was not very pleasant. The tobacco quality is first rate, like all things Germain, and my guess is that this tin is just too freshly made to be smoking. I only decided to write this review now in the hopes I may save someone the trouble and that they let their tin age 6 months or so before popping it open. There were some notes of sour from the Orientals and some sweetness from the VA's but the rest of the smoke was sweet topping, mostly chocolate but also an apple brandy, fruity/flowery flavor to it. Not my cup of tea as it stands now. I will revisit in a 6 months or so and see what blossoms.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2013-05-13		Very Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Normally I like blends with large amounts of oriental or latakia. This is one of the lighter blends that I really enjoy. The sweetness from the virginia is at the forefront, with the orientals there for added support. The latakia is in the background and just barely noticeable. The dark pieces in mine (latakia) had tons of white and grey crystals on them. Yummy!

I really enjoy this, and because it is such a light smoke, I can enjoy bowlful after bowlful.

I like it!

One caveat: This is the wettest tobacco I've ever found in tin form. 10% of the weight was probably moisture (I'm exaggerating), but I did need to lay it out overnight before it was to my liking, and it is a ribbon cut!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Philo Beddoe (221)	2007-04-04		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I got a sample of this on a recent trip to Smoker's Haven in Columbus, and as their Our Best Blend is among my top 10 favorite tobaccos I thought I would give all of their proprietary blends a try. Select is touted as their lightest offering in the line.

Select Mixture is a wonderful tobacco for my first bowl of the day and this could certainly be an all day smoke. I have a deep love for English blends and Select Mixture fits the light English niche for me wonderfully. Highly recommended to those who enjoy Dunhill's BB1938 and Early Morning Pipe or Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader, as this has a similar level of both taste and quality.

Pipe Used: Many briars

Purchased From: Smokers Haven ~ Columbus, OH.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	runswithdogs (41)	2018-08-05		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I’ve become more of a Virginia lover, and I would characterize this blend as a Virginia/English crossover. Honestly, I can barely detect the Latakia, although the spicieness from the Orientals I pick up on is present, if subtle. It’s a sweet smoke, and it sure seems like it has a sweet casing of some type. For me, it seems a bit too sweet, hence my two stars. All of the reviews that note how moist this is are correct; it needs a bit of drying.

Age When Smoked: Fresh from tin

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hawky454 (107)	2017-10-25		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

This stuff is awesome! I thought that I would miss the Latakia in this one like I did with In-B-Tween Mixture but this smokes more like a lightly topped VA blend than it does an English blend. It’s a very soft but rich smoke that has a lot of complexities to it. I detect a tad bit of licorice but there is certainly more to it than that. This blend is a treat that I think would make a great holiday smoke as the tin note conjures up images of the warm spices that are commonly associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mulled wine is one that comes to mind the most and I wouldn’t be surprised if they used some type of wine in the topping. I highly suggest dumping out the whole tin on a plate and thinning out the tobacco to air dry for about an hour and a half as it comes a bit too moist for immediate smoking but I appreciate that they pack it this way cause it just seems to age better with a bit more moisture in the leaf. I was fully planning on adding some more Latakia to this after reading a lot of the reviews but I think I will leave this exactly how it is because like I said before, it is a real treat. I’d highly recommend it to English afficianodos, VA fanatics and even the aro heads alike as it’s got something that will certainly please everyone. The main problem I foresee is we all know that it can be hard to obtain Germain products and lately all of the Smokers Haven blends have become scarce as well. Will this beat out Exotique for my favorite SH blend? Absolutely not! But I certainly would buy more tins in the future if they become easily obtainable again like they once were. Nicotine in this is light but the full, rich flavors in the smoke more than make up for this.

This gets a full four stars from this here pipe smoker.

Pipe Used: Savinelli, Neerup, Stanwell

Age When Smoked: At least two years.

Purchased From: Smokers Haven

Similar Blends: Esoterica Tobacciana - And So To Bed.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Palermo09 (23)	2014-08-10		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The tin note on this one is straight tobacco with latakia, which the description says is present yet is barely noticeable. Turkish tobaccos seem to be at the core of this blend. It does not smoke as cool as the other Smokers haven blends and it is definitely not as complex either. Not a horrible smoke, but I would not buy it again.

Pipe Used: Stanwell bent rusticated egg

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smokers Haven

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Duke (41)	2009-03-18		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Through this winter I have really favored Virginians, but English blends are part of my regular rotation. Two premium crumble cake flakes are part of my inventory. One day I brightened an English flake with Xmas Cheer and was pleased. That led me to find a lighter English blend. Select Mixture is that great blend. There?s so much to like-quality, complexity and balance. The very fine ribbon cut allows for effortless smoking. It smokes well in both small and large bowl pipes- quite user friendly. The Syrian Latakia and Turkish are perfectly applied by never outpacing the sweet and tangy Virginians. Each component tobacco shows up throughout the bowl. If you enjoy Early Morn Pipe, Squadron Leader and Presbyterian Mix you should not miss this blend, and HH Vintage Syrian, sadly, can?t compare. The bowls finishes with a dry, powdery ash. This is a marvelous all day smoke. I am head over heels on this blend.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	bent-1 (39)	2008-09-15		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I'm really enjoying this superb string cut blend. It's mostly a VA, with a small amount of Turkish & sprinkled ever so lightly with Latakia. I'd guess it to be a Syrian Latakia, very smooth & creamy tasting, strictly as condiments. It's sweet, stays lit, and is satisfying. As mostly a VA piper, I like the fact that the pallet isn't overpowered for a follow up bowl of a straight VA.

Key, it does well when allowed to dry in a ZipLok baggie for a couple weeks.

I like it best in bowls with 13/16-7/8" bore diameters. Thanks to Smoker's Haven for reviving this fine blend & to Germain.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SopwithCamel (255)	2005-05-31		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I purchased this as I was looking for a good, warm weather English. I tried this in a short clay, to get the full taste. The Virginia is slightly sweet, yet toasty, the Latakia is present, but is a bit in the background. It smells more of Latakia than it tastes, which is what was intended. The Turkish adds just a hint of spice, which grows stronger towards the bottom of the bowl. It arrived a bit moist, and would probably benefit from drying. Go slowly at the end, as it gets a little bitey. I suspect drying would help this as well. It leaves a nice, natural, tobacco aftertaste. I don't believe the room note will win you any new friends. My only quibble is it is a bit pricey. But as I only smoke a bowl or two a week, eight ounces will last me a long while. Definitely a top quality blend.

Addendum: I let this stuff dry out a couple of days, and what a difference! Although not a heavy blend, this is surprisingly rich. The Smoker's Haven site hints this could be a morning smoke, but I couldn't imagine using this as a wake up blend. I find it a little too full. There are hints of unsweetened cocoa, fennel, and black walnut. It is still a little nippy at the end, but slow smoking will thwart tongue bite. This stuff is much better in a briar. It reminds me of a milder version of Black Mallory, which is one of my favorites.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RCUSElder (244)	2005-05-18		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Another fine all-day smoke!

Appearance and Tin Aroma: Comes in a bulky large tin with a plastic bag inside. It is a bit moist, will benefit from some drying time before you pack your pipe. It smells very rich with the orientals prominent, there is a note similar to "And so to Bed" by the same blender. Visually it is a fine ribbon cut of mostly browns to dark with the golden Va ribbons here and there.

Packing and Lighting: once dried out a bit, easy. 3 lights typical.

Initial Flavor: "And so to Bed" light? This blend definitely has the Germain's signature flavor which I love.

Mid-Bowl:Aah! delicious! This is a perfect mid-strength English blend with the top note at the perfect level. "And so to Bed" gives me a whopper of a headache, this blend did not, even after several bowls in a row. None of the leaves stand out, everything is in perfect harmony.

Bottom of Bowl: A slight build up of strength and all you are left with is dry mottled ash. Which pipe shall I fill up next?

Overall: I was pleasantly surprised by this blend. It will not overtake my favorite English blends, but will be in my rotation pretty regularly. As a side benefit, the room note is liked by some of my non-smoking friends. To me, this blend fits between Royal Jersey Latakia and King Charles Mixture by the same blenders. Very well done indeed!

It is Hi Time to visit my August tobacconist, will you join me in the pipeline?

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