Tobaccos Peterson - My Mixture 965

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2001-03-11		Medium	None Detected	Full	Strong

Pouch Aroma: Rich, smoky and leathery, this tobacco is touted as 'the finest smoking mixture in the world' by Dunhill. I don't know about that, but between the Latakia and Orientals in it I can sniff my jar for a while before I get around to lighting up. It has a dark sweetness from the brown Cavendishes and lighter Macedonian, and a woody, leathery smell from the some of the choicest Latakia I have ever experienced.

Appearance: This is a finely-cut tobacco consisting of medium to short ribbons varying evenly in color from golden-brown to black with some birdseye stems with an interesting woody texture.

Packing and Lighting: The cut of 965 makes it easy to drizzle pinches into my Jobey 'Asti' Canadian for filling, yet it doesn't seem to clog the airhole or pack too tightly. Drawing through the unlit pipe yields a nice leathery flavor - this is another tobacco that I'll sometimes put in a pipe for dinner in a non-smoking environment as I can 'use' the pipe unlit and get a nice flavor.

The first match raises a small crown and brings up a dusky sweetness which transmutes almost immediately into a full nutty taste and a semi-sweet aroma which mirrors that in the pouch. A few puffs and a light tamp later a re-light tames the sweetness even more and the smoke becomes reminiscent of burning autumn leaves (which I miss sorely since the Environmental Protection Agency banned the practice) and distant fireplaces in a cool autumn evening.

This is a mixture that is medium in strength and definately FULL of flavor. There are many nuances - burning hardwood, old leather, musty books and faint hints of exotic spices - this is one of the most rewarding smokes for an inveterate English lover like myself. I never allow myself to run out; if I had to pick only ONE tobacco to smoke for the rest of my life I have to say that this would be the one.

Exposition: As the bowl burns on it increases in strength and the flavor becomes slightly more unified. The neat thing is that what it unifies /into/ seems to change with my moods and which pipe I smoke it in. My Jobey emphasizes the nutty and leathery flavors, whereas my Italian pipes bring out the musky sweetness of the Cavendish and Macedonian. In my Tinskys, it is pure campfire heaven.

This is an easy blend to smoke hot, both due to the cut and the fact that I keep mine rather on the dry side. Taking my time, though, produces just enough warmth and moisture to bring out the flavor and my pipe never gets more than warm to the touch. Also, I have never been bitten by this at all. The room aroma is heavy and natural and seems unwanted my most non-smokers indoors. Outdoors, I get many compliments - it makes people wistful as they remember some wonderful night by the fireplace or a special camping trip.

The Story: Midway down the bowl a sharpness appears; far from unpleasant, this shows up as a tickle on the palate and a spicy flavor that I (when I first tried it) mimics incipient bite. But no! Stop puffing for a minute and it fades gently, leaving only a pleasant aftertaste.

The flavor changes very little as the bowl is smoked, only increasing slightly in heaviness and sharpness. This is so gradual that I find it barely noticeable unless I put the pipe down for a short while and come back to it. The aroma hardly changes, and the sidestream smoke from the bowl remains sweet and nutty - if I had an Oom-Paul, I'd reserve it for this.

Denoument: The end is approaching and there is still no sign of sour, bitter or ashy taste. Relights become a bit more frequent but not because of any moisture - I don't dump the ashes at all as there is very little produced and I like to coat the bowl with them (by shaking the pipe with a cleaner in it and the bowl covered with my thumb) and I think this also helps it burn cooler. I don't mind, since the relights just blast me with the flavor all over again anyway, and the burn is so even that this process produces the kind of thin hard cake I like best. I break all of my pipes in with this or McClelland's 2015 (a Virginia/Perique flake), which has the same effect.

Actually, the only way I can tell that the bowl is done is either the draw becomes too easy (no resistance from ashes) or I can't get it to stay lit. The flavor is still pleasant and there is no bitter dottle, which is a problem I have with aromatics.

Pros: Just re-read the above paragraphs, as I think I have effused quite enough on the virtues of this, my favorite English mixture :)

Cons: The room aroma is too heavy for most non-pipers, and the flavor and strength can be a bit much for those not accustomed to heavy English blends.

108 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3048)	2012-10-03		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian Latakia takes a little of the lead, and is aided by the Oriental/Turkish in regard to the smokey, woodsy quality of the blend. The spice, floralness, herbalness and dryness from the Orientals is lightly moderate. The Virginias are tart and tangy citrusy and grassy with a little wood, earth, and tangy dark fruit in a support role. The brown cavendish amplifies the sweetness, and adds a slight sugariness. The various elements are all noticeable, and work well together as the well balanced blend it is. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. Won't bite, or get harsh. Burns cool and clean at moderate pace with a very consistent, slightly creamy, mildly sweet and rather savory flavor. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and stronger room note. This can be more than a once a day smoke, even with its strength as it won't knock you off your feet. The Murrays' version was a little more complex than this incarnation.

-JimInks

84 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2009-02-06		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I waited to review this, my absolute favorite latakia-based blend, until I had smoked a tin of the Orlik era tobacco. The Murray era blend was an absolute classic. This is very nearly as good, and I think a bit more aging of the tin could bring it neck-and-neck.

The description above tells a lot. It's a nice spicy, sweet, rich, nutty mixture that smokes cool as long as you don't overdo the puffing. It bursts open on your tongue with the first draw and the spicy sweetness stays with you throughout the bowl. I find this to be an extremely complex and refined tobacco and it is still my favorite English blend. It's full bodied without being overly strong, as Nightcap is. GREAT after dinner smoke, but I've found I can enjoy this at any time of the day, although as a committed VaPer smoker, two bowls of this in any one day is plenty. And single malt lovers, this goes great with a dram of Highland Park or Lagavulin, although I found it clashed with Talisker.

No confirmed pipe smoker that enjoys latakia should miss this blend. Truly a classic.

62 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Beer (345)	2004-10-07		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Tolerable

The quintessential English Blend, together with London Mixture. This is another tobacco that I would choose if I could smoke only one blend for the rest of my life.

The reasons? Well, it is a perfect mix. Very full, rather strong, but never aggressive: I like strong tastes, but while I love Nightcap, I think that 965 is much more suited for all-day smoking. It never tickles the throat or bites the tongue, regardless of how you smoke it. Just a bit in the nose, maybe, but it's an otherwise well-rounded mixture.

What shocks me is that this doesn't come at the expense of taste: this is one of the tastiest tobbaccos I have ever tried. Every mouthful of smoke gives you an almost culinary sense of fullness, as if you were eating some delightful "lasagne". It really makes you crave for more and more, never tiring: I find it perfect as appetizer, or after dinner, or in every other moment of the day. This is a tobacco that simply makes you love the taste of... tobacco! That burnt-wood, exotic taste that I have always been looking for in a tobacco...

I am a guy who loves to try different tobaccos to change tastes, but I feel that My Mixture 965 is a blend that MUST always be present in my collection, because it never grows tiresome. And it should serve as a warning to all "aromatic fans": don't try and go looking for taste in those boring and syrupy cherry-vanilla-fruit tobaccos... There's twice the taste in this and in London Mixture than in ANY aromatic, and it is a TRUE taste, the taste of real tobacco...

I also tend to recommend it to beginners: in my opinion, it is a much better choice than the usual drugstore tobaccos, or than the ultra-classic Early Morning Pipe. I began smoking a pipe with EMP, and I was a bit disappointed. And don't fear that it might be TOO tasty: it never goes over the top, and it is much more straightforward (which doesn't mean it lacks in subtlety) than my other beloved: Nightcap. Nightcap is even fuller and tastier, but it might be TOO spicy and "grand" for someone. 965 has also the advantage of releasing its taste from the start and keeping it very stable for the rest of the bowl, while Nightcap evolves and changes: nice for experienced smokers, but a bit disconcerting for someone else.

Packs easily, burns well (leaving a dry light grey ash), doesn't require a great smoking technique, tastes great. What else could you want?

A recommendation if you like this tobacco: as I said it is very similar to Dunhill London Mixture, but in my opinion it is less sweet and "licorice" tasting, verging on a "salty" tone instead. Probably due to the reduced amount of Virginia? You may want to try both, anyway.

Curious note: Many say that this kind of English blend (heavy on Latakia) can be unplesant to wives around you. To my surprise, this is a tobacco that my wife LOVES to smell when I smoke it! She hates aromatics, or "sweet" tobaccos: she prefers the room note of english blends, especially London Mixture and 965! Her sister, too, once asked me if she could try to take a puff out of my pipe when I was smoking this kind of tobacco! She, too, loved the smell of it (and she isn't even a cigarette smoker)! So it seems to be only a matter of taste... It has a strong room note, but someone may like it very much (and my cigarette smoking friends LOVE it).

UPDATE February 2004: After a couple of years and some tins more, I can say that this tobacco suffers from batch variations. Some tins can be great, while others can be nauseating, with a taste that is sweetish and spicy but in the wrong way, or because of a weak undistinct taste. Recently, it has become almost impossible to find a good tin... Not a very subtle tobacco, though, even when you get the good tin, and it probably has become stronger in nicotine while becoming generally worse in taste. I prefer London Mixture by a long shot, now. The rating reflects the average between the old 965 (==) and the new one ().

UPDATE 2012: Ok, downgrading the rating AGAIN. While I enjoyed the recent Orlik versions of London Mixture (a bit thin, but fragrant and very balanced), Standard Mixture (not as juicy as it used to be, but still very... "standard") and even Early Morning Pipe (never my favourite, and still heavier than what the name would suggest, but very complex ad intriguingly oriental), this one is a BIG disappointment. Flat, carboardy, cigarettish. Not exactly offensive, and probably lighter in nicotine than the last Murray versions, but boooooring! Some slight harshness, too. Here and there a hint of the old greatness and of Dunhill's trademark style, but otherwise it's a miss.

45 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2009-04-07		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

This epitomises the phrase "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone". 965 was Dunhill's signature blend for years.

Somehow, 965 manages to marry good quality virginias with the sweetness of cavendish and spicy latakia tobaccos to create a very palatable smoke of good strength. The smoke never bit, neither did it show any bitterness. Just a great mixture of sweetness and savoury, cavendish and latakia.

Smoking it now, the tin has been opened for six months, and I am down to the last couple of bowls. It really is an exceptional smoke. The strength has been lost slightly, and the powerful latakia mellowed with time outside the tin. The tin was aged at least 5 years when I opened it, and I really feel like I am smoking the remainders of something very very special. Luckily I have a few more tins in cellar, but when they're gone, they'll be gone for good.

An update to this review. I have just opened a tin of the EU production, and it is still a fine smoke. Sweet, smokey, spicy - fully of flavour. There is no bite and the flavour remains consistant down to the dottle. There may be differences between this and the UK produced tobacco, but I cannot tell. It is certainly still head and shoulders above most other blends of this ilk I have tried. With 5 years of age, it should become a very fine smoke indeed!

38 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2002-04-22		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I like 965 because although it is an English, the latakia does not overwhelm the palate. There is enough latakia to certainly satisfy latakia lovers, but it is subdued enough to be enjoyed by those of us who don't want our palates overwhelmed by the stuff.

This tobacco is elegant and burns to a dry, white ash. You can puff as fast as you like because the blend is so cool, tongue bite is not a worry. Because 965 is strong, you will not be firing up multiple bowls of this stuff. It is not for everyday consumption either. At least not for me. I will smoke a tin over a week's time and then take a 6 month break before heeding it's call again. Enjoy this classic!

37 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	CriolloCorojo (18)	2014-07-04		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

What can I say about this blend that has not already been said. There are some reviews with which I agree and others which I do not. However, there are some things that I can point out in brief that will hopefully help others who have not tried this blend to know whether or not they should give it a try. 1) If you prefer English blends but have never tried My Mixture 965, then you absolutely need to try it. I trust that you will not be disappointed 2) If you do not typically like latakia-based blends but are open to trying one that should really be the be-all-end-all litmus test of whether you like a properly composed english blend, then this could be it. If you do not like this blend at least a little, you probably will not ever like English blends 3) If you love English blends and have been wondering which one is the absolute best value in bulk, then look no further. You can purchase this blend by the tin, and if you only smoke casually and infrequently (less than once a week), the tin may be the best route to go for you. However, if you are a daily smoker or smoke more than once a day and are looking for the best bang for the buck in an English (I have found it on sale for around $30 U.S for a pound), here's your blend. It is around $45 for 16 Ozs at pipesandcigars.com, but I have purchased it there for less on sale.

The tobacco packs very nicely and should not clog or restrict air flow even when packed tightly. It smells like any good english should smell - like leather, fresh cut wood, peppery spices, and real quality tobacco. It lights fairly easily when fresh out of the tin or bag, but it will light even easier once it has dried out a little. It does not have an propylene glycol added, so it will dry out if you do not take care to keep it seeled. In bulk, I have considererd keeping a little humidifier on the bottom top of the jar (distilled water only), but have not needed to yet - as I smoke through it quickly enough to not have the need. If you do this, remember to open the jar from time to time if you are not smoking frequently in order to prevent over humidification or mold. I must so, IT GETS BETTER WITH AGE!!!! I recommend aging in a well-sealed jar.

It tastes the way a good english should taste. It tastes like a combination of high-grade (non-sutliffy) pipe tobacco, quality cigar, smoky-peaty (think Islay scotch), and a good qualtiy dunhill cigaratte - I actually typed that and was not even thinking about the fact that this is also a dunhill product, although it is a coincidence.

It burns very evenly and will not require relighting with proper tamping. In fact, it leaves very, very little ash in the bowl. You will know when it is done and ready to dump because it just gets to a point where there is nothing left to burn.

I notice from time to time that my clothes smell a little more like I have been smoking a cigarette than pipe tobacco from time to time, although not nearly as pungent. The smoke is typically not pleasant to non-smokers, but then again, for whom and why are you smoking the tobacco in the first place.

A few other important points are:

1) the tobacco burns failry cool - you will not get tongue bite (this is not some syrup infused Sutliff tobacco made from tobacco scraps and chemicals), and the bowl should not get too hot if you smoke it properly (and have properly borken in your briar) 2) As far as I am aware, I have not smoked the 965 from the previous manufacturer. I believe that I have only ever smoked the Orlik version. Please keep that in mind when reading my review, as many others have pointed out some disappointment with the Orlik blend compared to the previous verision (Murray I believe that I have read).

If I told that I could only smoke one pipe tobacco for the rest of my (if it was just one tobacco then it would be cuban seed nicaraguan that was handrolled by one of Don Pepin's finest and most likely had a Tatuaje label on it), then that pipe tobacco would most likely be My Mixture 965 - although SG Squadron Leader,MacBaren Navy Flake and a few others would defintely need to duke it out first.

Pipe Used: various - each only used for latakia-based blends

Age When Smoked: various (aged in tins and glass jars)

Purchased From: B&M's, Pipesandcigars.com, various sources

Similar Blends: the best English blends you have ever had....

24 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2007-05-21		Very Strong	None Detected	Extra Full	Very Strong

Umm.... Yes.

I really do love 965. I've smelled it from bulk bag and tiny tin, old and new. Yes, the newer production lacked the huge amounts of Latakia from back in the day, and they've remedied that somewhat. I also found that the first thing this requires upon purchase is to empty the entire contents into a Mason jar (you're shocked, I know) and leave it in your basement for about 2 months to marry and meld. But once that's done......

Something about 965 just sets it as the baseline English blend. The Latakias are pungent and musty and loamy. There's almost a figgy note in some of the older blends. It's rich in the nose. It's like smelling beef gravy. You can already hear your wife b*tching and you haven't even packed your pipe yet. Get a big one. If you're going to suffer her complaining, you may as well earn the scorn. I prefer this in a monstrously huge Don Carlos that has a bowl about the size of a film canister.

Oh, how wonderful. Right out of the gate in third gear with latakia. Huge volumnious clouds of latakia. Does it stay lit? God I hope not, I want any excuse to fire it some more and get more of these billowing air pockets swirling around me. Birds drop dead from the sky and mosquitos run for the hills. Children hold their noses and wave their tiny hands in impotent disgust. Wives' faces implode in derision. Who cares? This is a great, great blend. And now that I'm about 1/3 of the way through the bowl, I actually do notice it's a blend. There's other stuff happening here. Orientals, virginias, not brassy or tart but enough to lift the whole mix and keep it up off the deck. But make no mistake, the Latakia is the fat lady singing in this play, and she will not be denied.

Some will say this deserves a worthy beverage, like a stout. Somehow, I disagree. I'd think a beer (such as the Greek import "Athenian") or even a fine tea would be what you'd want, to cleanse the palate. But I don't have time for such nonsense, I'm too busy enjoying this stuff.

Just barely this side of overly full, you could smoke this one with some regularity before your tongue cried for mercy (or variety.) It truly is the quintessential English blend, and you won't often go wrong in comparing other newcomers to it.

Just make sure it gets some quality time (6-8 weeks) in the bell jar first, or your flavors will be all disparate and unpleasing.

24 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Swiss-smoker (87)	2015-12-26		Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Open the tin, and 3 dominant scents welcome you: sweetness, smokiness and a vinegary sourness (from successful fermentation). Nice and rather powerful scent, but not one to instantly fall in love with. As always, scent and smoking are different animals.

A typical Scottish Mixture, indeed, and a Hall of Fame mixture, too. For many pipe lovers it might be the best Scottish Mixture ever. I remember 965 quite differently in several aspects when I smoked it in the early 80’s. But I don’t want to get into this.

The Virginias and the English Cavendish, as a courting couple, form the body of this mixture. The bright and obvious sweetness lies unequivocally in the Macedonia Bright (a sweet Oriental). The darker, more settled sweetness, as well as the discreet nutty, creamy taste, originate from English Cavendish, not from Burley, as it normally does. To my knowledge, there is no Burley at all in this mixture. The Orientals (other than Macedonia Bright) provide and enhance the natural tobacco aromas and add some spice to this blend. Latakia is there, as in all Scottish Mixtures, on a small scale though, just to provide a decent woody, leathery smokiness.

Overall, an excellent all-day mixture, although it might be too dominant on the diverse sweetness for the dedicated English, Balkan and Latakia smoker.

Last but not least, like all Scottish mixtures, this mixture has the quality of a “transition mixture” for Danish smokers who want to become English smokers. Try it.

Age When Smoked: New, out of the tin.

Purchased From: Local tobacconist.

16 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Perique (163)	2014-01-29		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

965 is about harmony of the constituent tobaccos. There are certainly bigger "Lat bombs" out there. There are definitely sweeter English/Cavendish blends. There are more oriental-forward mixtures. But few blends present the harmony and balance of 965, from tin note through the final sip. I suppose that's why there are so many reviews of this classic blend, a must-try for every serious piper.

While not predominately a smoker of English blends, this is on the top shelf of those I would reach for: a classic of the style, on par with what Dunhill Flake is to Virginias - the best? Debatable. A classic? Indisputable.

Highly recommended.

16 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	marosi (70)	2013-12-18		Medium	Very Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I am not a worshiper of Dunhill blends. I think that they have suffered over the years from being bounced from producer to producer, and in some sense have rested on their laurels while failing to ensure that top quality has been maintained. With that said, this mixture is essential to anyone wishing to keep English style blends in their cellar. I think the description is fair also in that you cannot really consider yourself a smoker of English blends if you cannot smoke and enjoy 965. It is at core of what an English smoke has to offer.

This blend has been reviewed to death, so I will keep it brief. The cavendish makes all the difference, and is what sets this apart from other English offerings from Dunhill and others. It is a very "English" style cavendish, and if you have not experienced this style of smoke you are in for a treat, as it has none of the funky, gloppy flavor and consistency of some danish or american offerings. What it does, in conjunction with the VA's, is provide a sweet backbone (but not overly so) to the richness of the latakia. Yum, Yum, Yum!

The overall experience is one of luxurious fullness in the mouth and a rich refined flavor that few blends from anyone offer. The tobacco packs, lights, and burns easily, with no tongue bite or issues. This blend truly is perfection.

With respect to strength, I do not notice the nicotine until the second half of the bowl, which is why I have rated this at medium to medium strong strength. I can smoke a large bowl of 965 without being too loopy, but I feel it. If you look at how English pipes were (and are) generally shaped and sized, you will notice that the vast, vast majority are not too large, and do not offer a huge bowl capacity. My humble opinion is that there is a reason for this as English blends which often offer a fuller flavor and stronger nicotine content are best enjoyed in small to medium quantities. Even my oversized GBD's and LX or ELX Ashton's do not have the same bowl capacity as a largish Italian or Danish pipe (My ELX Ashton, despite being about the size of half a baseball bat, still holds less tobacco than my "standard" sized Kai Nielsen or Neerup). Keep this in mind when choosing a pipe for these types of blends, and you will improve your experience.

As stated above, this mixture is essential and should be kept on hand at all times if you enjoy this style of tobacco. Sillem's London is similar and equally (yes, equally) good, and to my palate a little drier than 965. I enjoy both regularly.

Pipe Used: Ashton XXX Sovereign Bent Rhodesian

Age When Smoked: 2 yrs

Similar Blends: Siilem's London.

15 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jack The Bear (3)	2017-10-06		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

Once upon a time 965 was a blend I puffed at least three times a week for many years and I smoked my last can of ancient vintage in mid-2017 after experiencing a tin of the new stuff I'd recently bought. I was tempted to buy more than one tin of the new by the reviews of gifted writers from the recent crop of pipers. I am relieved that I didn't even though my Dunhill bin is down to the last few dozen tins blended in the 1980s and 90s.

I haven't typed a blow-by-blow compare of the contents and pleasures of my last tin of 3o year old Dunhill 965 with the most recent tin as that would've been too lengthy but I will say that although old and new 965 has a vaguely similar tin aroma and still requires a bit of airing to pack well and combust readily, the similarities end about there. Now I admit my mouth is old and probably unable to note the finer nuances of taste and smell that younger pipers can and though my ability to describe a smoking experience is not wondrous fair, after almost a half century of pipe smoking I believe the 2017 version of 965 is nothing more than a counterfeit - and a bad one at that. To me it's almost devoid of the finer qualities it once had.

I could not smoke a complete bowl of the new 965 as I found little in it pleasurable and a lot that provoked me. It's a harsh, pungent smoke that often crossed my line of tolerance for heat, sourness and nasty aftertaste. I can't promote this 'Scottish Blend' to any pipe smoker let alone a Scot.

I gave up on Dunhill about 2005 after some not-so-subtle changes to my Dunhill favourites. These changes were all to the worse and likely caused by many things such as small tobacco farms in faraway lands forced into government control that dictated what leaf was planted and how it had to be grown, harvested and cured, as well as the end of so many traditional family tobacco farms by educated sons and daughters who moved to the city in pursuit of better education and a modern lifestyle. Perhaps these things were inevitable but what's truly maddening was the utter destruction of so many worthy old brands and blends caused by the insatiable desire for market control by monolithic, soulless corporations propelled solely by greed. Other changes to the pipe tobacco landscape have been brought about by the fast times we live in and the image consciousness of recent generations who've chosen the quick and nasty stogie over the slower and more skillful craft of the pipe.

My Mixture 965? Move along here... this is not the tobacco you want.

Pipe Used: Half & 3/4 Bent Dunhills, Saveneliis

Age When Smoked: 23 years (more or less)

Purchased From: United Cigar, Canada (long extinct now)

Similar Blends: Nothing today that I'm aware of.

12 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gentleman Zombie (729)	2013-10-17		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

404 reviews and a hall of famer. Only thing I can add is that the Macedonian Bright is superb. To me it steals the show. Love this blend. Get some.

12 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Noorrmm (192)	2002-01-29		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

Appearance: A slighly broad ribbon cut, about equal parts medium and dark colors. Ribbons are quite uniform, typical Dunhill attention to detail

Aroma: Lots of Latakia, with a good Virginia base. Little Turkish present to my nose.

Packing: Packs easily in most pipes, group 3 and up.

Lighting: Typical lighting procedure, not too quick or too slow.

Initial flavor: Just like it smells, lots of smokey Latakia, with some slightly sweet Va flavor.

Mid-bowl: Not very complex, just the two flavors changing intensity slightly as they interact. Dry and cool, and not too sensitive to puffing rate. You can smoke it while being active outdoors.

Finish: Nice, clean finish. No tendency to get harsher at the end, and no wet dottle.

Summary: An excellent blend, even though I normally prefer more Turkish with my Latakia. If you haven?t tried it yet, you should. Could be a wonderful intro to Latakia blends

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	rhonn (4)	2020-12-11		Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

What can I say about a tobacco I've smoked for over 40 years? I try other blends from time to time, but always come back to 965. There's 965, and all other pipe tobaccos. The only second-place blend I have every smoked is Balkan Sasieni, but even that is a distant second. One of the proofs is that 965 left the market and demand brought it back. (Peterson obtained it from Dunhill). When I heard it was going to be discontinued, I bought 75 tins. (My wife was not happy.) I love 965 for six reasons: for an English blend, fabulous sweet aroma -- from the tobacco and not flavorings -- not too weak, not too strong, wonderful nutty taste, burns great, and its calming effect -- like a well-made martini. Wish I could give it six stars. If you are a non-aromatic English blend smoker and are smoking other tobaccos.....why??

Pipe Used: peterson

Age When Smoked: 72

Purchased From: smoking pipes

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Indianapolis (49)	2020-02-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

One of my absolute favorites. Although the description says "full bodied," I'd say more medium+. It's generally english in character, but not a full english by any means.

I enjoy this blend because, in part, of the lack of perique and medium latakia. To be clear: I really like perique and latakia. But, "english" blends like Nightcap accentuate the perique and latakia, sometimes to the detriment of the virginias and orientals. If I want a medium english flavor, I tend to go for this, Margate (if I want a little more herbal/grassy vibe), or Ashton Artisan (if I want just a little more oriental and sweetness).

This is a smoke I could enjoy every day, any time. It doesn't clutter the palate or overwhelm in any way. I always walk away from a bowl tasting like lovely rich tobacco -- no frills, no BS, just a good everyman smoke.

Theres a tannic, black tea note that pervades the blend which is cool, and particularly lingers on the aftertaste.

I also really enjoy how the orientals build over the course of a bowl. I find that a lot of middle english blends start more oriental and then fade into the virginias. This one does the opposite for me, and I taste the orientals creep forward mid-bowl into a great spicy balance. The evolution on this one being a little different is joyful and interesting.

I know this mix gets reviewed A LOT. So let me take a different approach and say what it ISN'T. It's not a lat-bomb, at all. It's not a balkan -- the orientals are balanced, not forward. It's not an overwhelming, end your night with a huge bang smoke. It's balanced, middle of the road, charming, and pleasant.

Don't smoke it immediately upon opening the tin. Stick it in a jar for a week, give it a little air, until the black tea and incense notes form in the jar. Then.... enjoy!

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tabaco (112)	2014-02-22		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Regardless of the famous provenance, this current interpretation is not good, muted, bland, and frankly boring. No further purchases required and I'm not taking the chance of this being an off-batch.

Quite a shame really, I was hoping it might bear some vague resemblance since I adored the Murray's and pre-Murray's versions, purchased in bulk from the Duke street shop. My late pipe-mentor Uncle and I combusted lorry loads of the stuff.

If one is keen to recall the days of yesteryear Compton's York Full Mixture is infinitely better, worth the price and wait at least for me. Old Limey Bastard is superior too, although it does not have the 'transporter' qualities of Compton's.

9 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipefitter (51)	2022-06-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

So I do most of my smoking with a big, thick, deep Cobb and some of you might think that’s sacrilegious when smoking this blend, but I used 965 to break in a new Cobb and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This blend is similar to Peterson’s Nightcap with a little less Latakia dominance, but it’s still the lead character. Smokes cool, never bites and can be an all day smoke for the more experienced among pipe smokers. Some that have given Nightcap a 4 gives this one a 3 because I suspect that the Nightcap has a stronger nic hit and others don’t think it’s as complex as it could be, but I’m giving it a 4 because of it’s smokability and it’s just a damn good smoke. It’s an unpretentious English blend with plenty of Latakia, but won’t chase a less experienced person away…..I try and review pipe tobaccos not just considering my personal preferences, but with the overall quality of a product and if I think newer smokers could enjoy them if their thinking about venturing into new blends...I would also urge anyone that hasn’t tried one of Peterson’s English blends to read some of the 3 and 4 reviews, as there’s a few that have reviewed over 1000 tobaccos and they have been , overall, on point.

Purchased From: Smokers Discount World in N. Wit Ct

Similar Blends: Peterson’s Nightcap.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	boc777 (39)	2020-10-21		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I really wanted to enjoy this blend and trust me I gave it about 5 years before I posted this review. I tried it new. I aged it a bit. Then I aged it more. Then I aged it a whole bunch. IE, I am currently smoking a jar from 2014. (this review is in 2020.) Honestly, I am still underwhelmed. If this was a blind taste test, I would swear this is a VaPer. The grassy overwhelms any of the supposed English components. This one is bland, biting and just not satisfying for me. I am not a Dunhill or Pete hater. This blend is just not that great. Any, and I mean ANY blend in the GLP lineup blows this away. I am a fan of Nightcap and I like (but dont love) EMP, but I see no reason to have this blend in the rotation. I will not be reupping this one. I have over 100 blends in my library at this point and am on a quest to whittle it down to less than 10 before I retire (quite some time away LOL) so this one is done for me. Once the jar is done, it will never be purchased again. I gave it the old college try, again and again and it just did not make the cut.

Pipe Used: All

Age When Smoked: All

Purchased From: Yes

Similar Blends: Tons of other mediocre blends.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2015-11-15		Very Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Very Strong

Your Mixture 965, because I want nothing to do with it. I saw this was an all time favorite of Hacker's in his 21st century guide to Pipe smoking, but I found it harsh and abrasive. Perhaps the blend has changed? I tried to cut it down by mixing in some lighter tobaccos. I even named the blend "Handsome Lake" after the famous Native American. But it is still awful, and I have dishonored the name of this important historical figure. All in all, this purchase was a tobacco catastrophe for me, lending me new respect for the art of blending (I'll leave it to the experts), and the knowledge that someone's trusted favorite is not necessarily to be trusted. No thank you.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	fr_tom (393)	2015-08-08		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is very good. It is not latakia heavy, and is a good combination of slightly spicy and a little smoky. The Virginia adds some sweet and some hay. It has some more body than many oriental/Va blends, and the brown cavendish provides some fullness and enhances the sweet.

This is one of those blends that grows on you and does not have much "wow" factor. It is tasty and balanced. I could smoke a lot of this but won't given the price point. I can easily understand this has fans. I prefer the "zestier" quality of London Mixture in terms of taste, but this one is a little stronger and "rounder."

It is a solid three on the scale.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2081)	2014-06-13		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Dunhill - My Mixture 965

Mainly mid-size ribbons but there's a few bigger, leafier pieces too. I'm not taken by the unlit aroma, although not offensive there's a strange top-note to it. The moisture's a bit too high but nothing too anomalous compared to other manufacturers; a million times better than Sam' G', but what isn't ;)

It gives quite a 'rounded' smoke without any of the leaves being too overt. They form a flavour, to me, bordering on the 'laid back' side of things; compared to other English blends. The Virginia brings a slight plummy note, and the smoke's sweetened with a honey style Cavendish note. The burn from it's cool, without a bite from beginning to end.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: a little better than tolerable.

965? Highly recommended:

Four stars.

Pipe Used: Peterson

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smoke King

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2008-11-09		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Strong

--update-- After that first (very very very old) tin I found at the local tobacconist, I never found another anywhere. I smoked alot of different tobacco's but always longed for the 965 taste. I finally found a shop in Germany that sold 965 tins over the internet! I ordered one and am smoking my first pipefull of this "orlik" made version. I opened the tin, expecting the familiar and lovely smell of 965....it was not there... It now smells more like Red Rapparee but not as nice. It looks "totally" different than the "old" 965. I have always kept a pipefull of old 965 as a comparison so I can see the difference. The orlik version is much lighter and is young looking, not as "aged". It does seem to contain several different sorts of tobacco leaf, yellow, light brown, dark brown, grey and black. The old version did not contain yellow leaf (young virginia?). It's really moist in the tin, but packs well. Lighting was easy and the first draw gave me the familiar 965 experience. After that first draw it was over. No creamy smoke, no "spark", no "holy smoke this is good!" feeling. Just a solid good tobacco with latakia. Orlik has made a VERY good English, I LOVE it.....but it's NOT 965. I will however be buying more of this....maybe to let it age. I am smoking it now, and I am enjoying the experience! That's what counts, not the label on the tin. Fun trivia : the old tin was painted cream with a painted logo, the new thin is a "generic" gold coloured tin with a Dunhill sticker on top. Well done Orlik.....goodbye Dunhill 965....

--original review-- I love this tobacco! I bought a really old tin and it's just amazing. Not familiar with latakia blends, when I first opened the tin I thought "this tobacco is off!" but I gave it a try. Such an experience! Sort of nutty tasting and leaves a creamy feeling in the mouth that no other tobacco has done. The smell can be a bit "over the top" for non smokers so I would suggest to leave this one at home. I can't buy it anywhere anymore, the shops don't stock it. I found a sort of replacement in mixture medium but that does not give the same satisfaction... I have to be in the mood for this one, it's not my everyday smoke as it where.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Deckard Cain (39)	2022-05-25		Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Extra Strong

This is an important blend. It really sets a standard for full English blends. It is more complex than most reviewers give it credit for. Latakia rarely tastes better than this, and Dunhill (Person now) exercised fantastic control with it. I consider this a deluxe English blend. A real luxury. It is an immensely satisfying smoke, with a noticeable nicotine level and a true full body. It produces lots of heavy smoke, even when puffed very lightly. It stays lit well and the tin note absolutely smells like a musty old leather jacket. What smoker of proper English could turn down a bowl of this stuff? I think 965 is as English as it gets. Bringing to mind herringbone jackets and walking sticks. It's not as light as Squadron Leader. It's not as murky as Nightcap. It's boring name makes no promises, and that's why it always surprises you with its premium quality, and richness. It's one of those blends that makes you think "how did I forget about this?".

If abused, it could probably burn you. It has the normal Dunhill cut, which I've always been convinced contributes to their flavor. It smokes best in a large bore briar. This is a big smoke in every way. It's probably not an all day. But it will usually be the highlight of the day.

Pipe Used: Cobs

Age When Smoked: 1

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: Nightcap kinda.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	stratego (5)	2020-11-09		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

An extremely offensive and repulsive colorful close up photograph of a giant neck tumor attached as sticker at the tin I acquired several years ago in Madrid, did not deterred me from enjoying one of the best pipe tobaccos I ever tried since I discovered it at the Guatemalan duty free airport shop about fifty years ago and that enthroned me to the glorious reigns of the ever intriguing Latakia realms.

The perfect blend for me. Four stars.

Many experts here have described and sang the wondrous feature of this great old timer.

So much for the sadistic / fascist social health enforcers!

Pipe Used: Peterson

Age When Smoked: At least three years

Purchased From: El Corte Ingles tobacco shop

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	oldcodger (74)	2014-02-07		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

This is the benchmark blend for English tobaccos. (Here in the US we use English tobacco in reference to a mixture with clearly apparent oriental/latakia content.) As the benchmark, MM965 is not automatically the best one has smoked (for me that would be GLPease Renaissance), but it provides the mean against which others are judged. Some insist an English mixture with cavendish should be called a Scottish mixture. MM965 does have cavendish, unflavored Virginia cavendish, which provides a slightly sweet base. The oriental/latakia component comes in at the medium to strong level--just under medium if ranking only the latakia. The mixture lights easily and burns well, and does not bite so long as the puffing cadence remains reasonable. In over a half century of pipe smoking, I have gone through the Dunhill production, the Murray version, and now the Scandinavian Tobacco Group. I have not experienced notable changes in taste and quality, although when I first smoked MM965 it almost certainly had Syrian rather than Cyprian latakia. There will be slight variations in taste for aged tins, and MM965 does age well. The full room note is delicious for latakia lovers and universally hated by significant others.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sinister Topiary (84)	2009-01-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A classic blend, so it seems: so many accolades, and now a Hall of Famer... I just had to try this blend.

It started off poorly, dry and hot like a sunstroked meadow, and it was downhill from there.

There were a few draws that somehow slipped into my mouth that were sorta smooth and pleasant and almost made it seem like tobacco, but most of the time, from my very first puff on, it's been a savagely hot, unpleasant experience. All the notes I was getting from this thing were nothing more than painful noise: any subtle undertones were, for me, smothered by overtones of smoldering rubber or plastic.

I've tried several bowls of this stuff, and this blend is just not for me. I honestly don't know how it's for anybody. Indeed I dislike this blend so much I don't think I'm going to try any other Dunhills, because obviously they're doing something very wrong by my standards. This blend just proves how variable and subjective a thing is taste, because I actively hate this blend. I'm amazed it's in the Hall of Fame (at least for all the wrong reasons :) ).

I seem to be on a radically different page than every other smoker on this one. Since I don't like mysteries in my personal life I will continue to try it once in a great while just to see if I can divine how almost everyone else can possibly enjoy this straw.

UPDATE 10/15/10: I tried it several more times since I wrote my original review, and my experience with it never improved. Indeed I don't know when I've ever hated a blend as much as this one. I gave the tin to another smoker who loves 965 and he said it was fine. Go figure. I don't get it. And yet, having just read denversixstring's review of 10/01/2010 I wonder if that accounts for my experience of this blend since his experience of it ("Horrible. Flat. Nearly tasteless. Hot.") coincides with mine. Maybe he and I were just victims of an errant batch. I don't know. But once bitten, twice shy -- I steer clear of anything with the name Dunhill on it.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	LiterarySmoker (143)	2021-07-31		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Another one of the old Dunhill mixtures for me today. This is a blend I had several years ago as one of my first English blends I tried. I had bought a tin of this, a tin of Old Dublin and if I remember correctly I bought a tin of WhiteKnight and Blackhouse after that. I remember not being overwhelmingly impressed with English mixtures when I first tried them, but it was smoking through the tins of WhiteKnight and Blackhouse that I earned an appreciation for what a good English blend do.

The tin is nice and old fashioned, it looks as though the tin art hasn't changed in the last 40-50 years, though I could be wrong. When I open the tin I see a nice medium ribbon with a few stems here and there. When I smell the tobacco in the tin I get whiffs of Brown Cavendish nuttiness, Macedonian sweetness and herbalness and a light and alluring Latakia smokiness. The smell is, in a word, captivating. This comes dry enough to pack and light right away. Like all my new tins I like to jar this right away.

When I light up I taste the smokiness of burning leaves in the autumn. The flavor is very harmonious. The brown Cavendish is not as sickly sweet as its Black Cavendish cousin can be. It gives a distinct nutty flavor and makes for a very nice base. The Macedonian leaf is very interesting to me, it adds most of the sweetness, but it gives a nice herbal backdrop to the blend. The Latakia pops in here and there, and it is present throughout. It gives some leather, earth, and creamy smoke.

The taste is a medium, I'm not overwhelmed by any means, but it is substantial. The Nicotine is a medium too. The room note is pretty typical of an English blend: nice and subtly smokey. I could smoke this at any time of the day, and it really is quite repeatable. Even though I was unsure about this blend when I smoked it a few years ago, I really like it now. I think this is a fine blend that really pairs well with my tea.

Pipe Used: Kaywoodie Birkshire Large Panel

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: B&M

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	AC (19)	2020-03-10		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

When comparing the Peterson 965 to the (previous) Dunhill 965, I found the latest version to be just as balanced, flavorful, with very good burning qualities, but sweeter. I like the profile it became with the added Cavendish, as the naturally sweet flavor is a bit more pronounced. There was a little too much mouth residue after smoking this blend, which I would have preferred to be without. Hence, an easy 3 stars for sure.

Pipe Used: Peterson Deerstalker

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: www.smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Various.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Toasterbottom (13)	2015-01-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I love the smell when I open the tin and often linger on that before packing a bowl. Been smoking a lot of this lately, because unlike many of the tobaccos I've tried in the year I've been smoking a pipe, that tin note actually carries through to the taste of the smoke itself. So here's my unsophisticated take on this tobacco: when I smoke this, I feel that this is what pipe tobacco is supposed to taste like. I'm not saying it's the only tobacco that tastes like that -- I just mean that I have an almost nostalgic feeling about it. It tastes the way I imagine my grandfather's tobacco must have tasted (though the memory of him smoking his pipe goes back almost 50 years). It's earthy and complex and reminds me of fishing at my granddad's cabin, the smell of the country, the musty smell of his old Ngaio Marsh paperbacks, and of his pipes neatly lined up in his pipe rack.

It's also mild enough (with no bite whatsoever) that I can smoke it at any time of the day from first thing to last smoke of the night. Tastes just as good to me with a cup of coffee in the morning or a whiskey in the evening or while walking the dog on a cold day. Recommended.

Pipe Used: a variety of billiards

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: 4noggins.com and smokingpipes.com

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kentishman (7)	2014-10-08		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

As a relative newcomer to pipe tobacco and not having tobacconists local to me that stock wide ranges I am still working through the standard Dunhill range. If and when I look to more exotic horizons here is one option always to fall back to. Of all the Dunhill English blends, in my opinion this is by far and away the best. Significantly better than Elizabethan or London, in the mid range of strength choices. I am sure the quality of tobaccos is consistent throughout the range so the conclusion is the blend must be the driving factor in pleasure derived. I am yet to discover who the original owner of mm965 was. Whoever he (or she) was, we owe them thanks. Latakia of the highest quality, superb cavendish, all tobaccos in perfect proportion. A newly opened tin lit and smoked well, however it seemed a little vinegary in the smoke, and I wondered what all the fuss was about. Three days later, however, a perfect, intricate and well balanced smoke. Therefore I would recommend decanting or opening a few days prior. If you like English you will have already smoked this. If you want to try the type, stick to this as a first option. My only negative is, as expected, the room note is not for non-smokers. Oh well, the perfect smoke for a long country walk

Age When Smoked: New tin

Purchased From: Local Canterbury tobacconist

Similar Blends: London mixture.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Otis56 (31)	2014-03-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

My favorite Latakia forward oriental mixture. Can't Tell you I smell a Pete fire in the moors on a Sunday eve. Or taste the coffee, tea, red wine, cheese. Chocolate, honey, or date. Or my grandmothers oatmeal cookies, but what I do smell is the best Latakia I am sure money can buy. I can taste the orientals in perfect harmony with the Virginias. Mixed together in the correct percentage they all combine to make one of the best English/ balkan mixtures ever made. Cause I say so lol. Peace.

Pipe Used: Tripis/ dublin

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: 4noggins

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Patryk Georgevitch (11)	2014-02-16		Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

Being a Nightcap lover, and having overdosed on NIghtcap (3 to 5 bowls in a day), I decided to take it a bit slower on my palate.

My MIxture 965 offered an amazing alternative to the Nightcap. You can feel the Latakia aroma from the moment you open the tin, to the moment you ash down your bowl! After half of the bowl is down, the smoke turns exquisitely sweeter compared to when you start smoking it, giving a gently mellow taste to the "kick" delivered by the Latakia. The Latakia is very present, yet gentler in its kick and concentration than that of the Nightcap, and the closer you get to finishing the bowl, the more you can feel some pepper-ish taste like that of the Perique, which adds to the amazing intrigue of this tobacco!

The nicotine content seems quite well, especially after a meal. Early in the morning, it does provide a decent dose to rush into the head while not feeling nauseated for a first smoke.

I would not recommend this blend to a new smoker or an aromatics-fanatic smoker for many reasons. First reason, the room note is not as pleasant than other tobaccos. Second reason, this is a very complex smoke to be enjoyed by a beginner, since it changes character as long as the bowl is getting burnt down, it starts with a strong Latakia note in the palate and in the nose, then as it goes, subtleties start arising, some sweetness, some pepper-ish, and some wooden-earthy taste, making it voluptuously complex, but not as a straightforward-one flavor-blend! This said, for all English tobacco lovers, and for those who would like to make their intro in the world of English mixture, it is one to be highly recommended both to be enjoyed and to get on the right track of English tobacco smoking.

An amazing afternoon, after lunch smoke. Smokes cool, taste full, burns great!

A must I must say in every English Tobacco smoker's locker!

Pipe Used: Stanwell - Army Mount

Similar Blends: Dunhill - Early Morning Pipe, Dunhill - Standard Mixture.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Simon.c (20)	2014-02-13		Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

At first I gave this two stars because I thought there would be some redeeming quality's if I jarred it for a while, but now I have had enough of this rubbish.

I do not know how people can enjoy this, it's harsh on the back of your throat, the flavour is wishy washy and thin and all in all it's a blemish on the good Dunhill name compared to the masterpieces like Nightcap, London mix and Navy Rolls.

Pipe Used: Meer lined Dr Plumbs.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2010-02-24		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is going to be a mixed review of 965. First the Murray's 965: Arguably the best English mixture ever made, period. Slightly sweet, strong and smoooth! There isn't much more to add to the other Murray's reviews. I should point out that I don't worship at the altar of Murray's. I find that some of the Orlik Dunhill's are very close to the Murray's versions or better. With that said, I was able to get a few of the current tins in Denmark and the new 965 lacks the depth and some of the sweetness of the Murray's. It maintains some of the trademark flavors but leaves me wanting more. I do find that as the bowl progresses it does improve somewhat. I wouldn't turn down a tin. Four stars for Murray's and 2.5 to 3 stars for the Orliks. For those looking for a good match blend, I would suggest B&B's "Beck's Ol Limey Bastard" sold at 4 Noggins. Hopefully, the insanity will come to an end and we will see the return of Dunhill to America.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrDyson (148)	2022-02-08		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

This is a very civilized English mixture.The varietals are well balanced, with the Latakia a definite but not overwhelming presence. To my mind, the sweetening presence of Cavendish is what gives this mixture the edge over so many other English mixtures (the purist might like to call it a Scottish mixture). The ribbon cut is easy to handle and keep alight; it burns quite quickly, but it won't burn you if you don't rush it, and it leaves behind only a clean white ash and no sludge. It's not as strong as Nightcap, and is more suited to all-day smoking. It's a bit like Old Dublin, but sweeter.The room note won't commend itself to non-smokers or Latakia haters, but that's English mixtures for you. Highly recommended to lovers of English mixtures.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Leon (85)	2020-06-05		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Tin note is wonderful sweet nuttiness. Smokes similar. Latakia comes out a bit more but is very balanced with the mildly sweet and citrus Virginias. Half way through a bit of spice develops.

Easily packed and smoked, average amount of relights, if any. Won't bite, just a simple enjoyment. Works in a medium or bigger bowl for me.

Due to its mildness this would be a great all-day smoke for Latakia lovers. However, if you enjoy Latakia or Balkan blends as a more rich and full bodied once in a while blends, I'd say that there are many other better options.

It is a great blend and I do recommend trying it but it just not one of the first Latakia blends that attract me. I don't think that I'll buy it again in the coming future. Maybe some day.

Pipe Used: "Ena" Brezo red bent apple shape

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Breck (3)	2020-04-07		Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Growing on me At first I was unsure if it was for me, Tin note was different ( olives ). But it doesn’t taste like that, it’s sweet and smoky. It was my first Latakia blend, going to cellar it for awhile and see if it changes. But I can’t fault it, it’s decent.

Pipe Used: Brigham

Age When Smoked: Fresh from tin

Purchased From: Local cigar shop

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kokinhenik (93)	2020-02-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I had my first bowls of this after months of smoking cigar blends exclusively. I'm sure that plays a hand in my experience. My review of 965 starts by pointing out the Cavendish impacts the smoke for me personally by smoothing and sweetening the blend. That's not my cup of tea regrettably. It results in a balanced yet boring flavor profile. I struggle to taste the other tobacco varietals. I'm a big big fan of EMP and Nightcap. I smoke outside in the wind and weather. 965 seemed too smooth and subtle for those conditions. I'll have to try another tin indoors and see if I can boost my rating.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DeathMetal.org (231)	2019-10-21		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Summary: although a Scots-style blend that adds Cavendish, this English balances spice and sweet like a gingerbread cookie.

English blends come together like a sweet-and-sour dish: some spice, some herb, some sweet, and some sour. You taste a constantly-shifting melange that nonetheless provides a flavor of its own, constantly hovering between synthesis and separation. With "My Mixture 965," Dunhill goes Scots-style and throws in some Cavendish with blends with the Virginias to form a molasses-like flavor, and this is then given an exotic herbal flavor by the Orientals (like oregano, parsley, and thyme in a vinegar sauce) which then gets layered in thick, black sooty spice by the tangy Latakia. As with most Dunhill blends, their fine ribbon cut distinguishes this blend by allowing it to mix finely and burn together, producing a flavor like gingerbread, both spicy and sweet with a dark oven-roasted flavor. When drawing in smoke, one first tastes the sweetness, then the smoke seems to separate into its spicy, herb, sweet, and tangy flavors, then reintegrates into a sweet taste all of its own. I have smoked a lot of English blends, but come back to this one, especially in fall when the scent of leaves on cooling earth seems to complement and enhance its flavor.

Similar Blends: Peter Stokkebye - English Oriental Supreme (No.306), Seattle Pipe Club - Plum Pudding.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Wilhelm Joharsányi (33)	2017-10-10		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

Foreword: I’m really not a Latakia kind of guy, wasn’t impressed with the Frog Morton series and didn’t care for Early Morning Pipe, so I am not sure how I will like this. I honestly never cared for the Latakia taste or the smell in the past, but I am looking change that and give the alluring Ms. Latakia a second chance.

Presentation: Standard Dunhill presentation. Tobacco is neatly packaged in an attractive tin, wrapped in a decorative white tobacco paper. Upon opening, the Latakia smell was the first thing I noticed. Aside from the Latakia, it has a freshly-cut grass aroma with sweet citrus overtones. I also sensed a perfumery, woodish aroma as well.

Taste: First thing that hit me was a sour vinegar taste of the Latakia. Thankfully, it is not overwhelming and complements the Cavendish, Oriental, and Virginias. However, the Latakia is the most noticeable, but is rather mild and just right for someone that isn’t a Latakia smoker. The taste is not very sweet at all, but rather salty, like if some seawater splashed into the blend when the tobacconist wasn’t looking.

Secondly, I noticed the spiciness of the Orientals, followed by the grassy sweet Virginias. My palate isn’t refined enough yet to notice the mild Cavendish, but the tin says “A Balanced Pipe Tobacco Blend”, so I’m assuming the blend is so balanced that I can’t even notice it. Well done, Dunhill. Well done. I’m assuming the Cavendish contributes to the coolness of this smoke, since there was no tongue bite at all.

After-thoughts: It certainly isn’t a “Latakia Bomb”, which is great for an inexperienced Latakia smoker or someone that just prefers other tobaccos. I wouldn’t call it balanced, since the Latakia is by far the most noticeable for me, but the veteran latakia smokers would probably think differently and consider it a very balanced blend. It goes well with a dark craft beer, especially after work or on a lazy weekend afternoon. It goes even better on a Napoleonic-era wooden boat, barraged by enemy cannon fire, singing Sea Shanties and drinking rum all day and night. “Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack.”

=Update 10/16/17=

I'm giving this 4 stars, my favorite blend to date. And this is coming from someone that didn't like Latakia to begin with! This will be my go-to blend, unless I like Presbyterian, Gawith's Squadron Leader or Skiff Mixture better (will be reviewing and trying them shortly). Excellent stuff!

Purchased From: http://www.danpipe.de

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Buster Bluth (56)	2015-12-21		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

It is almost 2016 and I haven't purchased any new tobacco in a few years, instead smoking various Latakia tins from my Cellar. Most were purchased 2012-2013. I generally like 2-3 aging on most Lat. blends. As I've begun to smoke again with greater regularity, I've made effort to replenish many of my favorites these past few months but find I am in short supply of one favorite blend in particular I like with a little aging. I use an app to manage my cellar and I'm regimented in that regard. Last week I purchased 8oz of bulk 965. My rationale was that I'd be purchasing a ample supply of a tobacco that although not my favorite, I remember being a consistent standard and would fill a gap for me. One key to this story is that I haven't smoked 965 since the late 90's...

I try to be open minded when it comes to pipe tobaccos. My tastes range from OTC Burleys to heavy Latakia blends. Having started piping in the mid 1990's, I like to avoid that "they don't make it like they used to" line of thought and commentary, as we are truly in the golden age of pipe tobaccos. But, my experience with this latest incarnation of Dunhill 965 has prompted me to post a review along those lines.

I remember a 965 with a different cut and different coloration. This seems to be a much finer cut ribbon with less dark tobacco. Tins and bulk I purchased at a mall tobacco shop in the pre-Internet days were perfect moisture content. This definitely requires some drying time. Memory is a fickle thing, but I remember a slightly zestier aroma and flavor. The bag aroma of this 965 seems to have a flavoring or casing added that is more prominent than expected from a Dunhill product.

I recently smoked this tobacco in an Ardor, a Boswell, and an old Custombilt. While the burning qualities were decent and the tobacco seemed balanced and slightly nutty as I remember, something was missing. A savory aspect is lacking, it seems the Latakia struggles to make its presence known.

To me, this current iteration of 965 reminds me of Middleton's Walnut. The 965 I remember was closer to something like Hearth and Home Sunjammer. While this 965 doesn't live up to initial expectation, it will be jarred and sampled at intervals going forward. It is a little disheartening to sense that a classic has declined, but we have a multitude of other choices nowadays.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Antihero (17)	2015-10-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I'm writing this review for the single purpose of "warning" others: do not despair because of the disappointing taste you get when smoking this tobacco straight out of the newly opened tin! This used to work with the old Dunhills, but apparently doesn't with the new ones or at least some of them. You have to let them breathe, i.e. open the tin, let it open for about five or ten minutes, close it again and wait 2 or 3 days (better: a week) before smoking.

The same goes for Nightcap.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipeologist (27)	2015-07-14		Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

This is my first review.Scary or what! When you get folks round for dinner and you bring out a bottle of really expensive and great wine,the comment is usually the same.When you show them your new guitar and play a really difficult piece,the comment is the same.when you show them your new pipe,same thing! I really hate that word NICE😁 ,so trying to find adjectives for the subtleties and nuances of what really is a dried plant,gives pause for thought. Forty years ago,when I had my first pack of Clan and actually enjoyed it (taste often improves with the passage of time),there was a realisation that after years of smoking that junk,that there must be something better out there. Visiting Dunhill's establishment(shop) in Jermyn St. London launched me into a world where NICE did not exist.trying all of the brands was just superduperfabby etc.the cost of a tin in those days,for me was prohibitive,having just graduated. Dunhill's tobacco,together with Balkan Sobranie,was the treat of the day. The flavour,the duration,the undeniable pleasure that My Mixture imparted to myself and all around was not inconsiderable. Some months ago I ordered some from an American company,whose name shall no be mentioned,a pound of loose 965. Even though cheap(inexpensive), I still can't bring myself to shoving it in the bin,where it belongs.Not an iota of similarity to the Dunhill I used to know and love.Flavorless,weak,unstylish,VERY fast burning and all round unpleasant is how I would describe it. I do believe the tins are of a higher quality and look forward to trying them,but,for now,I marvel at the fact that anyone buys this garbage,manufactured and sold by a company that has the audacity to put the Dunhill name on the packet.Enough for now .There's a bad taste in my mouth.Put that in yor pipe and smoke it. Oh yes,and one more thing,this burns faster than a bullet train,which,for a Scotsman is not good! I guess if you buy this in a tin, it could be satisfactory .Will try some this year

Pipe Used: Dunhill Amber Root

Purchased From: They might send the boys round

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipe Newb (49)	2014-07-02		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Being a huge fan of Nightcap and EMP, I really was looking forward to this and picked up a half pound of bulk to sample.

I haven't been able to put it down. It's exactly what I was looking for, a "middle ground" blend between Nightcap and EMP, something I could smoke throughout the day and enjoy.

On to the review...

Pouch Note: Smell is definitely not a "lat bomb" but you know it's there. Along with the so-called "brown cavendish" it imparts a very rich, almost molasses and smoke smell.

Light and initial draw: Familiarity, I can recognize this blend as a cousin to my other favorites from this particular house. It's rich and heady, slightly smoky, with a very, very subtle molasses sweetness. The cavendish is quite subtle, it simply rounds out the sometimes sharper flavors of oriental. If done poorly, I'm sure this could muddy the brightness but this definitely compliments the blend overall.

Down the bowl: Consistent with the rest of the bowl, but it still doesn't lose it's complexity. Everything is very subtle compared to say, Squadron Leader. Nothing is really standing out but playing very nice with all components.

Room note: I've received comments from folks at my local B&M who are avowed aromatic smokers that this smelled "much nicer" than my typical Englishes that I bring in to smoke. My wife doesn't complain when I smoke this one, either.

Final thoughts: This tobacco was an apparent favorite of Southern authors William C. Faulkner and Shelby Foote, as were Dunhill pipes. One of the lesser reasons I enjoy a pipe personally is due to the history of pipe making, tobacco blending, and my own love for a bygone era when rich and poor both had a pipe dangling from their mouth.

But to the aspects of this tobacco, it essentially has ended my search for a medium strength, room-agreeable, smooth, complex English (well, with Cavendish to be fair) tobacco that scratches every itch, and even goes beyond that.

Pipe Used: Savinelli Lovat and 616, Cobs with balsa filters

Age When Smoked: Unknown (purchased bulk)

Purchased From: Pipesandcigars.com

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ven (16)	2014-07-01		Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This one is f'n brilliant. I wrote an earlier review when I first opened it, stating how strong it was. I'm totally backtracking now after about five months: It's brilliant. Letting it age mellowed it out and let its true colors shine. A sipper, sure...but boy, what a great, adult smoke!! I fell in love with it. Doesn't ghost a pipe, necessarily...but definitely gives them a yummy maturity. Great stuff, just let it rest a while for the true personality to show, and take your time enjoying it. Terrific, classy smoke.

Pipe Used: Laxey Meerschaums; Orliks

Age When Smoked: Fresh, then later after five months

Purchased From: Rain City Cigar, Seattle

Similar Blends: Beck's Old Limey Bastard.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	n9inchnails (10)	2013-03-15		Mild	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I'm not much of a reviewer but I can't sit back and watch all these 4 star reviews of this crap. I've never had any of the Murray's only the Orlik Dunhill blends and this stuff is clearly the worst, in fact it is the only Dunhill blend that I don't love.

It's bland, boring, flavourless and harsh. It has nothing going on and is one of the all around most unsatisfying smokes I've ever had, I had to struggle to finish the tin. I've had 4noggins Owl's Head which is supposed to be a cheap "replacement" for the Murray's MM965 and its way better than this crap. It's pretty sad when a cheap knockoff is better than the real deal, Orlik really screwed up with this blend.

This stuff is a far below average English blend with a premium price tag, Dunhill should be ashamed to put their name on this crap.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tripjoker (65)	2011-01-21		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have smoked 3-50gr tins of this new release of an old standard and find it to be every bit as good as the old, and maybe a tad better. The tobaccos are identical to the old and give you the same effect.

A solid english that set the standard for what an english was defined by. The latakia is not 'overdone' as in many newer english blends that have trouble getting the proportions right. this usually ends with just adding more lat to compensate thinking this will coverup the fact that they couldn't figure out how to balance it.

The smoke is creamy and has a satisfying strength that Dunhill blends have always been known for. The cavendish is masterful as it has been in the past. That balance and perfect harmony is still there, fear not. The burn rate and quality is very good as well. The moisture out of the tin is about perfect as well. Dunhill seems to be one of the only names that can get this right. C&D is another. As usual, the tobacco benefits from some air (oxygen) to get the aerobic action working to bring out the flavors. The anaerobic state in the tin helps in the maturing and preserving process, but does nothing for the smoker. Therefore, a little air is needed to bring this or any tobacco that is tinned to full flavor potential. Just simple science.

As with my review of Standard Mixture (Standard Mixture Medium of old) I find no fault with this new version and am thrilled that they are available again. If you have reset your palate to other tobaccos since these blends have been off the market, you may need some time to reset to flavors that you only remember faintly. I'm just saying...

I, for one, am happy to recommend the new MM965 to anyone that is a fan of med-full english blends. You really can't do much better than this. It's not a lat bomb, but that isn't the true measure of an english anyway.

The move to the new blender has in no way diminished these tobaccos and I think may have saved them. The old blender was starting to lose interest anyway and it was starting to show. May the Dunhill blends lead a new and happily long life. Cheers!

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2010-09-11		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I love this site! lets not loose sight of the forrest for the trees: this tobacco is one of only six listed in the 'Hall of Fame' on this review site.

No doubt its selection owes much to the blending when in the steady hands of Murray & Sons, Whitehall Works, Sandy Row, Belfast (demised and sadly missed since 2005), but in reality Dunhill Tobacco Ltd only moved its blending there from London in 1981. Now having tried all of the Dunhill offerings from Orlik in Assens, including Nitecap - just recently released in the UK, it is clear to me that MM965 still has a home in the Hall of Fame - it's as good as the Murray's blend except in one respect -it has lost an element of strength, but I find this an advantage - the 'N' is more a slap in the face, rather than a punch in the mouth.

It is precisely what it says on the tin - "Balanced smoking tobacco cool with a rich flavour". Emphasis on the 'balanced' as no one component leaf take precedance over another - it's Hall of Fame stuff and a must try for anyone who enjoys that special moment - when pipe, tobacco and smoker are in perfect harmony.

Good for Orlik!

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Eulenburg (193)	2001-11-13		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

To me, this has always tasted like NIGHTCAP-Light. Not too light, mind you; the basic idea is the same as Nightcap, with some cavendish thrown in to make things a little creamier and smoother.

The result is a great blend, memorable in fact: less ecstasy-enducing than Nightcap perhaps, a little easier on the palate, especially in the beginning, where Nightcap can seem bitter, but a wonderful, full-flavoured English-style mélange, touchingly autumnal and true.

To read sea stories by.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JaWiBr (566)	2023-02-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Dunhill My Mixture 965: Tin note of smoky spices and mildly sweet. Tobacco is brown, dark brown, tan and black ribbon cut. Moisture content is good. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and mostly consistent, with notes of smoky, leather, toasted bread, woody, spices, earth, floral, dry, herbal, mild vinegar, mildly savory, spicy, musty hay, lemon zest, fermented sour vegetation, sour, a stewed sweet and tangy citrus fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Latakia is leading with Oriental/Turkish and Virginias supporting. Cavendish is supporting from afar. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Pipe Used: James Upshall Smooth Acorn (4) (P) (FH)

Age When Smoked: 5 years

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	The Old Man (19)	2022-07-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

To me, Petersons MM 965 and Standard Mixture are basically the same blend but with some minor differences.

Standard Mixture is more floral from the Orientals while 965 comes across as a wee bit stronger - with slightly more Latakia and some sweetness from the Cavendish.

Although 965 has a tad more Latakia than Standard Mixture, both are pretty mild blends and with both blends the Latakia plays second fiddle to the Virginias and Orientals. 965 can be a bit sharper in the mouth than Standard Mixture but the mouth finish is also sweeter which is a nice touch.

(965 does remotely resemble Peterson's Old Dublin but in a "Latakia lite" way.)

965 or Standard Mixture? Its a toss up, really. Both blends lack the intensity of additional Latakia that I prefer but both blends also satisfy an itch when I'm in the rare mood for less Latakia.

I do wish STG would/could bring back London Mixture. That would provide a little better contrast to the current versions of MM 965 and Standard Mixture because as it stands, the differences between the two are pretty subtle.

Similar Blends: Peterson Standard Mixture.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2021-10-16		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Branded as Peterson's rather than Dunhill now, and thank goodness the blend has not changed. This is a luxurious autumnal smoke. The taste is rich, of burning leaves, deep wood, and definitely that incense of oriental. A slow burning tobacco and so rich, a fine contemplative smoke. It is medium on nicotine, a great evening smoke too. As others have said, this is fine with a single malt or a good coffee. I recommend this, and as a pipe smoker of some years I have come back to this tobacco with delight.

Pipe Used: Peterson bent 305

Purchased From: Canterbury, Kent tobacconist

Similar Blends: Dunhill's standard Mixture..

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	getyur@sstomars (26)	2021-09-18		Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This was my first English blend,and my first WOW moment w a pipe.

When I bought this I knew not what latikia was. I new not what an English blend was. I only knew that dunhill was a seven letter word for quality.

I was shocked at the pungent smell wafting around in the car. I sealed it up cursed myself for waisting 15$ and it lived on my book case as a reminder of what curiosity did to a cat.

Fast forward 3 weeks or so and you'll find me a bit tipsy, out of cigs and feeling adventurous."huh it's not nearly as punishing to my senses, has a sweet smell to it, along w a bit of musty leather and something reminiscent of a camel cigarette.

The predominant aroma (besides lat) is musty sweet, as where I find Old Dublin smokey w a vibrant, tangy, VA,, super sweet smell. I feel 965 makes a stance, while Old Dub is riding the fence/middle of the road eng. But done exceptionally well.

From the first puff I WAS A CHANGED MAN. It was smokey and sweet like a good Scotch, had a tasty leathery quality and my wife didn't mind the room note. It was velvety and cool. I actually noticed a creamyness to it. Lots of low-key sweetness that melded beautifully w the acrid smokeyness, I didn't really know how iconic it was, but could still tell classic and dunhill wasn't just hype. After that I went balls out for rich strong tobacco. I dove head first into such blends as, Squadron leader, Irish flake, old dark fired, birds eyes flake, Peterson perfect plug. There was a WHOLE world of tobacco to get lost in and I was just taking my first steps on the journey. I remember my fist 965 as well as any other very memorable firsts in a person's life. I found out that if your smoking a bowl and your already contemplating where and when the next will be, then you know it's a 5 star bell-ringer, not many blends have showed this quality of character to me in 10 years . This is a high water mark for tobacco, and even after being turned to shadows of their former glory, can still be a bench mark.

Pipe Used: Cob. Falcon. Jobey pinch

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Brick and morter

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	The Harbor Seal (12)	2020-02-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

So many reviews here, so I will just add some personal hints.

For me this is my go-to blend when I am looking for the medium to medium-full English experience. To me, the added Brown Cavendish generates a delightful smoking experience. A must try for anyone exploring the field of English blends!

Pipe Used: Peterson Standard 307 w/ 9 mm Charcoal filter

Age When Smoked: fresh

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tomcat (226)	2020-01-03		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Unnoticeable

560 reviews so far . I don’t think many will read this but I am making my own log on tobaccos here so I don’t have to go by memory only . If it helps someone else great . This is for a 3 month old tin with the Peterson label . The cavendish is a little much for my tastebuds . It is a full flavored blend and burns great with the Dunhill type beautiful ribbons . It has a good amount of smokey nutty latakia and very nice orientals but every time I get a nice puff of them immediately the cavendish drowns them out . After a couple of bowls i had to add about 10percent or so of Izmir and Smyrna leaf and it greatly improved the blend . I have a couple of Dunhill tins with about 3yrs on them and i will try to let them age as long as possible and then revisit the blend and see if time improves it . I wish i had only bought one instead of two . 21/2 stars for me .

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	FilipPruncu (89)	2019-06-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Read to the end. I updated in September 2022 with a Murray tin review!

Original review from 27-06-2019:

I’ve waited some time to decide to review this blend, because after all, we’re talking about a legendary blend. The famous 965, included in the so-called Tobacco Hall of Fame, and a kind of trademark to Dunhill.

MM 965 and Nightcap, such appreciated blends, so renowned that they intimidate me when it comes to making reviews. I don’t want to write profanities, I don’t want people to look at me in strange ways, to be considered a heretic. But screw it! Lets give it a try!

My 965 tin is almost 2 years old, which means that the initial taste changed. I don’t know how much it changed, but usually when it comes to latakia that’s how things go. Latakia doesn’t age well like virginia. It gets lighter, smoother. So, what taste it has now can be different from what I could’ve tasted 2 years ago, when it was fresh. I’d say it’s important to take this detail into consideration.

As always, lets begin with.. the beginning. First time I opened the tin I took the tobacco to smell and touch and took notes of what I felt. The tobacco had a leathery and fruity smell, the humidity was medium. After I opened the tin, I’ve put it in a hermetic jar to keep it’s humidity and taste. In other words, I can still smell and taste it the same now, after two months since opening it (i have too many tobaccos opened). The smell is really pleasant. The humidity however is too much to be smoked directly from the tin/jar, so I usually take out for a bowl and leave it out 10 minutes to dry. I personally don’t understand people who leave the tobacco to dry 30 minutes/1 hour, especially if it’s not an aro, because you’re not taking it out of water and if you leave it to dry too much it will crumble between your fingers and it will start getting too hot in the pipe, so I don’t know how much you can enjoy it like that. But after all, it’s personal preference. I prefer it slightly dry.

The cut is a very well executed ribbon, easy to pack, it’s neither too long or too short. It has a dark color, from dark yellow to black pieces which dominate.

Lets light it up! It lights up very easy, and the taste gradually starts to make its presence felt. It is a subtle taste of latakia, which plays with the oriental. Wait, let me inspect...

... ok, i’m back. I don’t know how, but I quickly came close to the middle of the bowl. Maybe it burns too fast, although I didn’t puff fast. But this also means your pipe wont go out and it will continue burning without needing to relight every 5 minutes. Burns well, doesn’t bite, doesn’t get hot, doesn’t fade or go out. So this is very good.

How about the taste? It is described as being full bodied, but it appears to me as being a bit shy, so I’d say it’s rather medium bodied (full bodied for me would be Nightcap or Asthon’s Artisan’s Blend). The taste is very pleasant, although it’s far from being a latakia bomb. It has a balanced taste. At some smokes you feel more latakia, at others you feel more turkish. But, it can also be due to the age, the latakia losing its power. If I would smoke this blend and I would chew some leather gloves, I would feel the same taste, plus a slight note of smoked wood, and on the background a creamy sweetness.

Is it tasty? It is! Is it strong? So and so. Would I buy another tin? Yes! And I don’t usually buy more tins of the same kind, because I want to try as many tobaccos as I can, but I only buy again those that I really like. This would be one of them.

I’d describe it as a blend complex in aromas, which can be understood and appreciated at its real value by pipers with experience, who have the ability to discover the subtleties of a blend that doesn’t hit you with a direct and monotone aroma.

It is a blend that asks for attention in order to really enjoy it, it’s not the type you would smoke while driving or doing something else. It’s a smoke for the evening or the night, in peace and quiet, with a whisky and, why not, a tea. Yes, it is a refined tobacco for ‘real gentlemans’, not for corn cob while driving the tractor (no offense to cob smokers or tractor drivers! I smoke from cobs too)

The room note, I would say it’s ok, it’s not a stinky latakia blend (although I love the latakia smell and taste). I’d say it’s tolerable for the people around, and for me it’s very pleasant.

Unfortunately, the taste doesn’t stay long after you finished smoking. I like the tobaccos that leave an after-smoke taste. But that’s not a real problem, it makes you want more.

UPDATE September 2022: Review for Murray era (1985-1986 tin, meaning 37 or 36 years old)

I’ve hit a jackpot! While browsing some Romanian antiques groups on Facebook, I stumbled upon a tin of Erinmore from the Murray era. I asked the seller if the tin is full, but she said she doesn’t know, but she will come back with an answer. Later that day, she told me that it still has some tobacco left, and that she has another tin for sale. I asked her to give me pictures of that other tin. To my surprise, it was a 1985-1986 tin of Dunhill My Mixture 965. I asked her again if the tin is empty, she said she doesn’t know, because she can’t open it. The next day I got a message from her telling me that her brother in law came and showed her how to open the tin. The opened the tin and saw that the tin is full. I decided to buy them right away, and in a few hours I was at her house, inspecting the tobacco. There was absolutely no mold on neither of them, but they were very, very dry. Came home, rehydrated them and now I’m reviewing them. Oh, and I want to specify that I spent $61 on both tins!

Alright, so here we have this piece of history. A tin of Murray’s era MM 965, full, with no mold. I have the same emotions with this tin like I’ve had with the first MM965 that I reviewed back in 2019. This is an iconic blend! I must be precise at every note I take while reviewing this. This is exciting!

Alright! So... Tin note! The simplest way to put it is that the tin note is excellent. Sweet and smoky with lots of leather notes. The distinct Dunhill leather smell that I keep mentioning in my reviews.

The ribbons are black, brown and dark gold with lots of sugar crystals. The cut is smaller than the usual Dunhill cut. Like I said, the tobacco was very dry, but I managed to get it to a good humidity using a hydrostone with filtered and boiled water. Now it’s perfect, ready to go in the pipe.

Now lets get to the most important part. Taste! First thing that I got is some spice. It is still smoky, after 36-37 years! Leathery and spicy. After a few smokes the spice goes away and some woody notes come, like cedar. The leathery notes are not as strong as in London Mixture or Standard Mixture which I had from Orlik’s Dunhilll, but still it tastes like when you bite a leather glove. The virginia can be detected but it’s not the sweet type, it has more hay notes. Cavendish.. I don’t know. I don’t really detect it. And I don’t even know if it had Cavendish in the 80s tins. It probably had. But it might be the one that joins all the flavors. Someone wrote here somewhere that he finds some notes of grapes. I must agree. It has something similar to black grapes. Maybe that would be the Cavendish.

Reading my initial review while I was smoking my pipe I discovered that everything I wrote about the Orlik version is very-very similar to what I’m smoking right now.

I’ve let the pipe sit for about 10 minutes, and when I lit it up the taste got more pronounced. The leathery taste was more pronounced, the smokiness was more pronounced, the spice, the woody notes. As you progress, if you let the pipe sit it will become smoother and smoother and the taste more pronounced. When I first light it up it’s more spicy, but after that it becomes smoother.

By the end of the tin I noticed that the spiciness was almost gone, leaving a smooth, smoky and leathery taste.

This is a top quality medium bodied, medium strength blend that you can really really enjoy, it’s like an all day smoke, but especially it’s a great smoke for the morning when you’re having your coffee. It’s a balanced blend, balanced in taste. Like I said, medium bodied, medium strength, medium flavor.

One downside to this is that it seems to burn fast. It doesn’t get hot at all, but I always manage to finish a bowl too fast. Same thing happened with the Orlik 965 I had. I don’t know why. But this also means that you can use only one match to light up your pipe and keep it lit until the end.

Delivers e thick smoke, the room note being very specific to Dunhill blends, just like the leathery taste is specific to Dunhill blends. It has an incense smell like no other english blends. Many english blends are foul smelling, but these are actually exactly like church frankincense.

All in all, great blend. Maybe in 2019 I didn’t really know how to appreciate this blend, but now it goes into my favorites list.

Now I’ll be looking for the Peterson version.

Great stuff!

P.S.: Also review on the spot here

Pipe Used: Dunhill Shell 4S LBS, H.Simmons Burlington615 etc.

Age When Smoked: Almost 2 years old & 37 or 36 years old

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Artyom (12)	2018-04-18		Medium	None Detected	Full	Very Pleasant

Awesome tobacco with incredibly rich progression of flavour! Must have tobacco in your cellar.

1/3 of a bowl smokes like any other well balanced english blend with some alcohol and healing herbs notes.

2/3 of a bowl: your thoughts start to sink in a spicy veil of smoke.

3/3 of a bowl: the notes of rum, biscuit and some vanilla come to the fore. What a beautiful ending! I bought a second tin of My Mixture 965 right after the first bowl

P.S. TRY THIS WITH CORN COB PIPES! I dont know why but my briar pipe didnt give me such a range of flavors.

Pipe Used: Corn cob, briar, clay

Age When Smoked: 4 years

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pryhosm (248)	2017-10-31		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

MM 965 is one of the first english blends I tasted, after Frog Morton and Uhle's Bishop's Move. Between then and now I have smoked over 200 different blends. This is a much more refined and less latakia forward blend the Uhle' s and was my first experience with how blending style can really change similar tobacco blends. MM965 had a nice balance between the orientals and the latakia. I had a hard time discerning which was the main flavor, something I really enjoyed. At the end of the day I think the oriental spice comes through a bit more than the latakia. It is really so well rounded it is hard to commit, that is what makes this blend so great, in my opinion. The cavendish may be the star in this blend as it seems to provide a slight sweetness to the smoke but I would guess is the secret to the harmonizing of the orientals and the latakia. Dunhill blends are among my favorite ribbon cut tobacco's, easy to pack and easy to light. The tin note was latakia forward and extremely pleasing. MM 965 is the "quintessential" English in my book and one that should be used to indoctrinate new pipe smokers into what an English should be. That doesn't' make it the "best English" but it is to me, what an English should be and all should posses in some manner.

Pipe Used: cobs and briars

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	The Sunday Evening Pipe Smoker (54)	2017-01-01		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is noted as one of those legend blends. It is really quite a good blend. Now I'm a big fan of Frog Morton and Frog Morton's Cellar, and that is exactly what My Mixture 965 reminds me of. Smokey-sweet would be how I'd describe it. You get some of the latakia and the natural sweetness of the Virginia in it. Really a very smooth smoke.

I'd find this a really nice smoke for a mild summer or fall evening especially -- though it could be easily an all year and all day type of blend.

Quite tasty and a deserved reputation I think.

If you like Frog Morton or Frog Morton's Cellar, you'll like My Mixture 965, that's my take on it. (Which raises an interesting point. Many call the Frog Morton's "intro" blends, but I really do not buy that. Intro to what? Who is to say you -must- go on to heavier Latakia blends? No one, that is who. These are good blends, period.)

If the Frog Morton's ever disappear, they will be easily replaced by this blend for me. Quite happy with this one.

Similar Blends: Frog Morton's Cellar.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cantrell (14)	2016-02-13		Medium	Extra Strong	Overwhelming	Unnoticeable

Nasty stuff, tastes like old biscuits and perfume. never again. An insane blend created by a madman. I can only surmise that this is a "proper english" in which case England can suck it. threw the tin in the trash and promptly loaded a bowl of Macbarren Vanilla cream while gagging at the very thought of smoking this garbage again.

Pipe Used: crack pipe and a mental rays for lighting

Age When Smoked: doesn't even matter

Similar Blends: smoking perfume soaked mildew bread.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Reagold (29)	2015-12-17		Medium	None Detected	Very Full	Very Strong

Looks like Dunhill is making some efforts to destroy the reputation of 965, offering a extremely green, unripe tobacco. The protective paper in my tin was so white that I almost need sunglasses... The cut and moisture level are perfect as always, so I packed, lighted and... "Where´s that wonderful tobacco that I (and everybody else) used to love?". Well, it´s hidden in several layers of time.

Yes! Close the tin and let it rest, and wait... Wait very patiently indeed, like some months. Your patience will be rewarded and that harsh mixture will develop in the well-known, excellent, top notch quality of this almost perfect, flavorful, balanced mixture.

But then again, Dunhill must watch out for and standardize the right point to put this in market. This makes me reccomend it, but not highly recommend.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TEO (33)	2015-12-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

Hey, Mr. Fabulous Itself, Mister 965.

I don't know if it's worth saying something. I don't know if this blend maybe the best in the world, but I do know this is where a lot of mixtures wanna go, but never reach to.

Nutty, nutty, cheesey, always silky. Never ever bites. Never ever gets harsh or something. Balanced and sweet by the way. I hope they never put this classic out of production, cause this is real tobacco happyness.

If I smoke it on the morning, or on a rainy Sunday afternoon, it always transports me on a trip thru Orient pleasures, still standing on the sweet side. I have several tins cellared in my jars and it never suffers but ages slowly increasing its sweetness.

If They only made this flake cut...

Highly recommended mixture.

Pipe Used: All of my English Mixtures and Balkan Ones

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BigNick (59)	2015-03-10		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I found this to be a very mellow blend. Latakia is taking a backseat with this tabac. Not much spicy or sweet flavors. It is a mild and mellow blend because of the dominant cavendish. This doesn't make it sweet, it simply mutes the full bodied nature of the orientals and woodsy Latakia, making it medium bodied. It doesn't stand out as complicated, but it is refined and smooth. The aroma is semi-woodsy and cigarette like. All in all a great blend that is very easy on the palate, making it an all day blend.

Pipe Used: MM Washington, CPF bulldog meer

Age When Smoked: 2 years

Purchased From: Gift

Similar Blends: Dunhill - Aperitif.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Corvus (36)	2014-11-26		Medium	None Detected	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Tolerable to Strong

For a hall of fame blend this was a bitter disappointment and its faults make it unsmokable. At this point, the chief complaint is its harshness. Upon lighting I feel an immediate irritation at the back of my throat. The smoke itself has a medium body and medium to strongish nicotine content, but flavor is almost lacking except for one particularly loathsome note, which I can only describe as similar to burning particle board. The product is also quite moist in the tin. I am a relatively new piper and at first ascribed these faults to myself and a new briar. Further experimentation with different and seasoned pipes and continued efforts to dry both a sample and the tin overall exonerate me. Furthermore, it's not a dislike of the brand in general as Nightcap is quite enjoyable. I find the tin note quite nice, tangy, smoky, and leathery, but these elements just don't translate in the taste. I have serious questions about the quality control of the product. I of course have never smoked the pre-Orlik blends and thus can't compare, but many other reviews mirror my sentiments. This will go in storage and I'll check it out in a year or so, but I can't imagine ever buying this again, even if I simply had an off tin. Terrible.

Pipe Used: 4 Dot, Peterson Kilarney, MM Country Gentleman

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jevverrett (107)	2014-08-28		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

I just finished my second tin of this blend and have ordered more. Come to find out I really like Scottish blends. They have just a slight sweetness to them that a proper English does not. This being due to the addition of cavendish, I think. I bought this bc it knocked my socks off when I smelled it in a jar at a tobacco shop. I said to the lady who owns it, "this smells really good". She replied it was the most expensive they carried in bulk there. I bought one of the tins she had in stock, it had a pretty good layer of dust on it. I think it must have been aged a good amount of time bc it was better than what I have received since.

Any way, on to my review. Fresh tins smell spicy sweet, and really do smell of leather. A bit smokey too.The cut is a good ribbon, some a bit crumpled, which I believe lends to its fantastic burning properties. It looks very pleasant in its tin, the colors are all fairy close in shade to one another. This is one I just like to smell when I open it for a bit. It bears some resemblances to nightcap, in quality, burn character and strength. But its flavor seems to be more balanced and it is sweeter.

It packs very well and I have not had any draw issues to date. It takes to the flame readily and burns even and cool without much need to relight, properly tamped of course. I've tried it in small and large bowls and it burns cooperatively regardless. The taste is rich off the draw, and maintains its flavor profile throughout the bowl. It does change slightly in the end, it sort of gathers it's strength and pushes forward the sweetness towards the last quarter. It burns fairly dry as well and doesn't leave much ash or oily residue in the pipe.

I would recommend this one to most pipe smokers. To the new ones, it is worth starting out properly. To the seasoned, you owe it yourself in your exploration of the English/ Scottish world. It is a worthy blend and a fine representation of what this art is supposed to be about. Rich, pure and un tampered with. I gave it a highly recommended, and I stand by it. For what my opinion is worth to you anyway.

Pipe Used: Group 1 billiards, ratts butchers boy.

Age When Smoked: Fresh tins

Purchased From: Tobacco plaza, old saybrook ct, smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Dunhill nightcap in a some ways.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	twaksak (54)	2014-06-26		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Another of those samples given to me.....awesome blend. Typical English with the just right balance of Viriginia, Latakia & Oriental. The smell from the tin not nearly as pronounced as when you start smoking this, although the Latakia was clear. In the pipe, a well balanced blend full of flavours.... smokynes from a camp fire or fireplace, antique goods, mouldy, and then that hint of orientalness.

Pipe Used: Meerschaum

Similar Blends: McClelland - Frog Morton's Cellar (Craftsbury Series).

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	AfternoonPipe (5)	2014-06-25		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

I have tried many, many tobaccos, especially of the English variety, which has always been my preferred type of tobacco. For whatever reason, of all the English blends I have tried, this remains by far my favourite. It has been, is, and I suspect will be for a long time, my daily smoke. It has the ideal nicotine level for me to enter into a very focused contemplative mode, especially helpful in the afternoon when I am trying to keep writing, researching, etc. And yet it is also good for just relaxing and enjoying. Although I will continue to try other British blends... and I feel like I've tried almost all of the good ones... this remains my favourite. It think the secret is the right blend of latakia and cavendish in the mix... for me these make the flavour pop more than in other blends I've tried, admitting that there is probably something particular to what I look for and enjoy in a British blend. I have come to prefer the quality of bulk buying it to the tin because I don't have to wait for the bulk tobacco to dry at all.

Pipe Used: Dunhill Chestnut, Ser Jacopo picta, Bakerstreet

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Tinder Box Haverford Store

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	rsvp2rip (27)	2014-05-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Very good balanced English blend. It starts out pretty much how it finishes. No bite, no gurgle, right ammount of moisture in the can....there is not much more that can be said about it than already has been said. A solid choice for an English blend. If you wander into a tobbaco shop and can't decide, this is a good pick. Not thought provoking but just a very fine blend thats not too strong to be enjoyed all day.

* 5/09/2015- one year of age and it really improved. Much more complex and rates a half star more than just three. Wish they would age it before turning loose on the market.

Pipe Used: Nording Bulldog

Age When Smoked: Unknown, year or two

Purchased From: Kenny the King, Lakemoor, IL

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kraft1994 (54)	2014-02-10		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

A perfectly blended, well rounded English blend. The blend is very reminiscent of Early Morning Pipe but slightly fuller, bolder, and smooth. I lend this to the excellent use of cavandish. Normally I steer clear of anything containing cavandish but when I saw a Dunhill english with cavandish i had to try it. I was very pleased. It rounds off the blend and adds a little something special.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TallPuffO'Burley (633)	2012-04-09		Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I think that this will be review number 340 by the time I finish this reveiw unless someone sneaks one in while I am typing. I am primarily reviewing this in defense of the new mixture by Orlik.

I am a new pipe smoker, but due to some extremely fortunate circumstances I find myself in possesion of just under 6oz. of the original Dunhill 965 mixture (pre murray.) I will not divulge as there is more where this came from. Thus I have had the unique opportunity of trying the two side by side. While I found the older stuff to be a little better, the new stuff is pretty darn good.

The original is a fuller tasting blend and the taste above would rate a solid medium if i were reviewing the original, but I am reviewing what is available at present. And I feel the newer does have the same taste, just lighter. In color and taste. More like a 965 mellow mixture if you will.

So if I am reviewing the new and not the old and have admitted the old is much better, than why 4 stars? As this has 340 reviews and is constantly compared to several other tobaccos within these reviews, I think every pipe smoker owes to themselves to try it. As for you older guys who smoked this religiously 30 to 40years ago, I can certainly understand your antipathy.

Will I buy more? I finished my 2oz tin at approx 8am and purchased another tin at 10am this morning. I plan on always having it on hand so I am not tempted to deplete my 6 oz of the better stuff on anything but the most special occasions like after dropping a buck each fall.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2011-03-21		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

When I reviewed Dunhill's Royal Yacht (my 2nd Dunhill review of these Orlik blends) I indicated I wasn't buying any more of the current Dunhill offerings. Well, I lied. I picked up a tin of MM965. Same thing-there is no comparing these blends to the Dunhill's I experienced in the early to mid 70s. While all of those mixtures had their own unique characteristics, they all had a unique rich flavor almost a similar flavor which stamped them as Dunhills. Apparently the blends I experienced @ that time were indeed blended by Dunhill & predated the Murray's offerings. I would characterize this as a crossover blend, since it's basically an English with cavendish. I'm not really big on this genre, as I prefer English & cigar blends, but the tin beckoned to me in the cigar shop & I caved in. One reviewer of the Dunhills said that we old bucks should just accept that these blends have evolved & we should just get over it. I disagree. Dunhill seems to want to live off its past glory with these inferior Orlik blends which aren't even a shadow of what they were several decades ago. They should call them something else-how about Orduns?

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tmoney (25)	2010-12-11		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

At the first opening of the tin, you smell the wonderful glabnaw nuts from the planet Kashyyyk come through with such strong proportion. The flavors that they gathered from all over the galaxy are absolutely exquisite. Also, Dunhill managed to gather a full harvest stock of Bota from Drongar. It really is a shame that the Republic's occupation of that Planet fell stale to a streak of bad luck. What amazes me is that Dunhill had to have smuggled a small shipment, frozen in carbonite, off of the planet before the specimen became useless.

And Unlike most death stick companies out there, Dunhill doesnt use droids to do the work, they still use various humanoid species from all over the galaxy. This is nice, because it gives it a very personal touch. I think that this blend goes nicely for any species out there. Would be enjoyed by the stingiest Hutt to the most welcoming Wookiee. The Room note of this tobacco brings on strong memories of my years spent in the low levels of Coruscant; where many of my inter-species relations took place.

Also surprising to me is the taste. Dunhill managed to capture pure essence of death stick in this blend. Subtle like a skilled galactic bounty hunter, yet as bold as a Republic cruiser ship.

I must say, although death sticks have been outlawed, it is nice to see a great many people in support of the galaxy's favorite past time. I think this whole mess with the Republic granting emergency powers to the Senator Palpatine is a bad Idea. Already the Galactic Senate has limited our rights as death stick smokers, are we really gonna sit by while the Republic elects one of the most liberal leaders in the Galaxy? We shouldnt. Have your say, galactic citizens. Dont let them walk all over our rights.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2009-08-08		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

Is this the most reviewed tobacco here? I think so, because its so good. My Mixture 965 is tied with Nightcap as my two favorite English blends. When I started trying other pipe tobaccos besides aromatics several years ago My Mixture 965 was the first English/latakia blend that I ordered. I have desired it ever since. It smells good in the tin and tastes good after being lit. I burns cool with no tongue bite and produces a good thick smoke. The nicotine level is good. I have a few tins cellared and smoke it sparingly to make it last as long as possible. If this blend was widely available it would be my everyday English blend, its that good.

I like the aroma in a room after smoking My Mixture 965, but my wife doesn't, so the room note is listed as "tolerable to strong". If you haven't smoked this and you can find some (its scarcer than hen's teeth now) by all means try it. Its a legend in the pipe smoking world for good reason.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tantric (321)	2002-07-25		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

The story. Quite a long time ago (I must have been 23 at the time), my father in law came back from a trip to NYC. Knowing that I was starting to smoke a pipe, he had visited the Dunhill shop there and, on suggestion of the shop keeper, bought a couple of tins of My Mixture 965. Before this, the only pipe tobaccos I was acquainted with were Clan, Amphora red, Prince Albert, and a number of American drug store blends (i.e., Grand Old Dad, flavoured with bourbon, and those goopy vanilla steam-cased Burleys). So you can imagine what it was to experience this tobacco?Wow!!! From the onset, the tin itself was a novelty! As soon as I opened it I felt transported somewhere near Nirvana: soft leathery, slightly pungent, and naturally sweet aromas engulfed my senses. I had never seen or felt a pipe tobacco with this texture and aroma before. Packing it in a medium sized Savinelli Punto d?Oro was a joy: all those different shades of light and dark brown, plus the jet black strands of Latakia?a tobacco I had no previous knowledge of. Then came the first puff?Eureka! I had found it: the perfect tobacco! No gurgle, no dottle, simply a dry, very cool smoke, full of NATURAL woody and earthy flavours I had no idea you could find in a pipe tobacco. A completely different smoking experience. My Mixture 965 gradually revealed itself in a myriad of deep, subtle, yet full of savour and mystic aromas (very much like incense). That day I must have had three or four bowls, but at a price: by the evening I felt dizzy and exhausted from the nicotine rush and the strength concealed in this mixture. It has been a rather long way from that first Latakia based smoking experience. Since then I have read about a great variety of blends and mixtures, and have had the opportunity to sample many tobaccos of this kind (Early Morning, London Mixture, Balkan Sobranie, Sullivan?s Mixture, Red Raparee, Black Mallory, etc.), some of which are softer, and some of which are stronger or harsher than 965. Of recent I feel a closer affinity to, and enjoy more, Dunhill?s London Mixture, and Davidoff?s Royalty. Yet, 965 will remain in my memory as the first REAL tobacco experience I had, and still is one of my most cherished Latakia based smokes! I know this is a very subjective (personal) review. Then again, pipe smoking is also a very personal pleasure?.Highly recommended (if a beginner, though, proceed with caution).

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Subzero (4)	2022-11-18		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

[English version below]

La lata recién abierta tiene un fuerte aroma a latakia, donde casi no aprecio el resto de tabacos, una vez en bote, pasados unos días, soy capaz de apreciar un aroma más dulce, notas especiadas y notas a té negro, como leí en una revisión aquí.

Al comienzo de la fumada puedes sentir la latakia con esas notas ahumadas, pero no es abrumadora, es suave, dulce y con tonos especiados de los orientales, que están presentes, especialmente para mi en el retrogusto, la sensación en boca es más dulzona.

De mitad para abajo de la cazoleta, se acentúan los sabores, los tostados como en todo tabaco, el sabor a cuero, ahumado, el dulce no se pierde en toda la fumada, es un tabaco que hace salivar. Sí lo fumas a baja temperatura, puedes incluso percibir el sabor a nuez, floral y especiado, es como estar comiendo frutos secos alrededor de uns hoguera en mitad de un bosque!. simplemente delicioso.

En resumen, muy rico tabaco, mucho cuerpo, fuerza media, que te deja saciado. Ideal para personas que se inician en mixturas inglesas. De mis favoritos.

...............................................................................

The recently opened can has a strong aroma of latakia, where I hardly appreciate the rest of the tobaccos, once in the jar, after a few days, I am able to appreciate a sweeter aroma, spicy notes and notes of black tea, as I read in a review here.

At the beginning of the smoke you can feel the latakia with those smoky notes, but it is not overwhelming, it is soft, sweet and with spicy tones from the orientals, which are present, especially for me in the aftertaste, the sensation in the mouth is pleasently sweet.

From the middle of the bowl to the bottom, the flavors are accentuated, the toasted ones as in all tobacco, the leathery, smoky flavor, the sweetness is not lost throughout the smoke, it is a tobacco that makes you salivate.

If you smoke it at a low temperature, you can even perceive the nutty, floral and spicy flavor, it's like eating nuts around a campfire in the middle of a forest! just delicious.

In summary, very rich tobacco, full-bodied, medium strength, which leaves you satisfied. Ideal for people who are new to English mixtures. One of my favorites.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	marvin184 (10)	2022-04-20		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

This is an amazing english blend whether it is smoked fresh or aged. The different components are easily identifiable and combined, they provide rich, full taste. With a little bit of age I find that the blend becomes less harsh and the latakia becomes sweeter, in the other hand the orientals taste bready, earthy and spicy. To sum up an excellent choice even for someone like me who doesn't like really strong blends.

Pipe Used: Briar

Age When Smoked: 2 years

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PaulMcCoy (78)	2021-10-25		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

There’s a lot of mixed reviews on this one. I like that the Latakia isn’t in your face, and it’s lack of Perique. Halfway through the bowl the Orientals amp up a little more with the Cavendish continually adding some sweetness in the background. It’s a classic, but not my favorite.

Great with some age on it.

Pipe Used: MM Missouri Pride

Age When Smoked: New to 8+ years

Purchased From: Pipesandcigars.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TotoPipeDreams (44)	2021-10-18		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

965 Haiku Review:

Benchmark English Blend Creamy, caramel, nuttiness Lacks expected depth

I told a friend once that 965 is like listening to the Beatles. It might not be your favorite style, favorite flavors, or even something you particularly like. But it’s important to know what it tastes like because so many other blends have been modeled after this one. It truly is a benchmark for so many.

It’s creamy and full and balanced. Honestly it’s grown on me since I first had it and wrote that initial haiku review. Sometimes I find myself wanting to listen to the Beatles. I’d never say I’m a die hard fan, but we all get odd cravings every now and then. That’s exactly where I’m at with 965 as well. I’ll come back to this legendary hit every now and then. Knowing exactly what to expect and I’ll enjoy it.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Liverpool 47 (10)	2021-02-15		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Is there such a thing as a perfect English blend? Probably not but this has to be a good contender. This is sublime, a real Goldilocks tobacco, as in it appears to tick every box and in my view,is just right.

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: C Gars Gt Yarmouth.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	suitou (38)	2021-02-14		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I've never smoked an older version of this famous blend. So I can only rate the current product, but it is complex enough for me, with a sweetness and acidity that tickles the tip of my tongue. Herbal, grassy, incense, earthy, wood creosote, peaty, smoky, woody... Well, what I mean is that it is a blend full of pleasant bitterness and deep aroma for pipe smokers. Because of its availability and reliability supported by many reviews, it seems to be recommended to new pipe smokers who are not sure what to choose. I used to be one of them. In fact, I think 965 is a delicious blend.

Purchased From: Local Tobacco Shop

Similar Blends: Sutliff Tobacco Company - Heavy English #503, Dan Tobacco - Bill Bailey's Balkan Blend.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Slickshooter (4)	2021-02-03		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Man o man what a blend. My first English blend and likely my last one needed. I liked it from the very first puff, I’ve since began hoarding this stuff tin by tin. Read all the other reviews for all the technical stuff and then go out and “get some”. I am a new pipe smoker and find this a pleasure to puff on. First class tobacco!

Pipe Used: Peterson DeLuxe 20s

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: GoodFellas

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrAcula (62)	2020-12-01		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Presentation: Humble tan tin with red and black text. Very simple.

Cut: The beautiful STG ribbon cut. No qualms with this. On the moist side but still smokable.

Tin note: I believe I smelled a nutty, tangy, slightly sweet scent but I cannot be certain. My nose is not the best sometimes.

Tasting notes: Sometimes nutty and bready, sometimes tangy, the smallest tinge of sweetness, some solid spice coming and going, and a moderate smokiness throughout the bowl -- it is more potent upon light up, but mellows out to dance with the other notes in the bowl.

Mechanics: N/A -- A well behaved blend.

Extra Remarks: This is definitely a well balanced smoke, you never know what you're going to get with each puff. I feel it is a bit mild in flavor for my tastes but nuanced for sure. I can tell this is a well made blend even though it's not one of my favorites. 3 stars.

Pipe Used: IMP Author Reverse Calabash Meer

Age When Smoked: 9 months

Similar Blends: Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East Flake.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Fawzi (5)	2020-09-10		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

It’s every day smoke. Not strong, not light. Tasty, mild, and nice blend. I would highly recommend for who wants to try Latakia for the first time.

Pipe Used: Castello, Dunhill, Flávia, Asteriou, Kyriazanos

Age When Smoked: 6 months

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PipeDave (12)	2020-07-08		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Edit 2 After four weeks of this tobacco being jarred... It has become my favourite. My comments below were written too soon. Great smooth smoke, fantastic Complex and balanced flavours and Perfect coolness. 965 had become my favourite. Absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait to see what it’s like over the next few weeks. Absolutely superb. Just needs 4 weeks out of the tin in a jar, then you will taste the magic.

Edit* After it has matured in a jar for three weeks... I can say this is a top blend. Now one of my favourites. Needs a couple hours drying after opening the tin, and about three weeks in a glass jar. Also recommend a Savinelli with 6mm balsa filter.

This along with Nightcap, Flake, Elizabethan, Royal Yacht, are all favourites. Highly recommend 965- just use a good pipe and prepare the tobacco well.

—— —- This is a little moist when you open the tin. I recommend taking this out of the tin and putting into a jar. I have left the lid off the jar and it’s just about smokeable now. It needs about 3 hours of drying time. When I smoked a bowl fresh out of the tin, it was too moist and liable to burn the mouth.

I’m not sure that this is deserving some of the hype it gets. But perhaps after a few weeks in the jar it will mature into something better. It is much simpler and milder than I had expected.

If you want a mild ‘all day’ English blend, this is a good option. However, it doesn’t have that moreish flavour. If your pipe goes out after 2/3 of the bowl, you feel you’re done. Not like Royal Yacht which makes me keep smoking every last bit down to the bottom of the bowl. Also there’s something in this that can just tickle your throat for a while afterwards, and leave you with a bit of a cough - a bit like when you have a garden bonfire and take a few breaths of the smoke by accident.

Having said that, it is not at all bad. If you want an early morning pipe blend - buy 965. It is much better than ‘Early Morning Pipe’ and much nicer than Peterson’s Balkan. 965 is a good, simple English blend. It behaves reasonably well, but if you puff too fast or too often, the flavour disappears instantly. Definitely one to be enjoyed very slowly and sipped gently.

The other day I was walking down a country lane and I could smell 965 in the air! Or was it someone burning their hedge trimmings? I will never know. But the flavour and the smell is the same and that best describes it due to its smoked Latakia.

It is not as complicated a flavour as some people claim. It’s actually quite simple. A little dry and cigarette like unless you are really really gentle with it. I was hoping it would be more leathery and creamy.

I would say the flavour and strength is medium. Nicotine is medium to high. Higher Nicotine than I thought it would be.

If you want to try a Peterson Latakia tobacco please do buy this instead of the EMP or the Balkan - you are much more likely to enjoy 965. Overall it is a good blend and one I will keep smoking. But not everyday. It’s a once or twice per week smoke.

Overall it is good and it has restored my faith in Peterson Latakia blends after the unpleasant EMP and Balkan.

If you aren’t sure which English blend to try - try this one. It is very much a medium, suits everyone blend.

Pipe Used: Savinelli 626 Tortuga

Age When Smoked: Best after 4 weeks

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ATW (110)	2019-12-01		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

So here is the back story.

The first time I tried this blends was 6 years ago. I got a 1 oz bulk sample and was not really impressed. It seems like just a plain old english blend with nothing big going on with it. Being that it was bulk, a year later I bought a tin to try instead. 965 bulk vs tin are totally different in my opinion. The tin was great. The main thing that caught my attention was how the brown cavendish flavor was very similar to sweet tea and how sweet the aroma was. That tin didn't last me a week. As I was stuck on Nightcap being my go to english of all time, I never picked 965 up again until a couple of years later after coming back from a short hiatus to find out dunhill was stopping production. So I ordered 2 tins of Nightcap and 965.

I dont know what happend but I opened my first tin and it had an awful rancid smell of green olives which was something I never remembered. Loaded up a bowl and it was terrible. It had a horrible rotting smell and flavor. I cracked the other tin to find it was the same way. Possibly.a bad batch of orientals? That's all I could think it was. If it's bad then it's bad so in the trash it went.

After the reintroduction under the peterson line I wanted to try it again. Cracking my new tin, I'm greeted with a great memory. The smell of a smoky sweet desert that I reminded from my first tin. The moisture was perfect. From first light to the last puff, it was complex with a almost maple sweetness and sweet tea from the brown cavendish. The orientals jumped around through the bowl from woody notes to spicy like black pepper to a slight musty earthiness. The latakia did not over power but had a nice smoky undertone throughout. It burned cool and clean with no bite.

This was a very satisfying smoke. It hit all the right notes for me. 965 is in a league of it's own. There is one or two blends out there that are close, but this has a little more of what I want. This is my idea of an all day english. I have been very content on smoking 965 and Elizabethan Mixture everyday for nearly a month and will continue to do so.

I highly recommend

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Av8er (5)	2018-01-18		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

A very full and satisfying smoke.

The very first thing I noticed upon opening the tin was just how smokey it was. Delightfully strong, almost pungent. Spicy. It reminded me instantly of sitting around a smoldering camp fire.

It burns cleanly, leaving a very fine ash. The flavor is strong, and quite enjoyable. The is a very pronounced dose of nicotine in this blend, so be ready to for that.

I especially enjoy this tobacco when I'm tinkering around in the garage, or relaxing with a generous pour of Glenfiddich 15 year.

No need to bash aromatic smokers in this review, as I really enjoy those as well. But, this is best enjoyed in a pipe that doesn't have any lingering sweet flavors in the briar.

Pipe Used: Savinelli Arcobaleno, Rattray's, various Grabows

Age When Smoked: Fresh, and about 6 months.

Purchased From: Tinder Box, Pipes and cigars

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Calamiti (86)	2018-01-08		Very Mild	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

Let me join the chorus of praises. The famous MyMixture 965 is indeed a stellar blend. Although too mild to my liking, it's full of flavour and aroma. It's noticeably sweeter than most Latakia blends because of the added Cavendish. In a way it's similar to Peterson's Old Dublin (which is also a Scottish blend with Cavendish), but better.

Highly recommended.

Similar Blends: Peterson Old Dublin.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cochon74 (29)	2017-11-28		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

This is my first Dunhill tobacco... and I can say, without reserve, i don’t like it. I noticed a similar “cheapness” in its quality which I’ve found in other European producers - something in the smoke which is thin, characterless, and simply unpleasant.

Even my wife, who has an astute nose for my tobacco choices, said that the whiff she caught while I was smoking was reminiscent of cigarettes, and even more so in my beard and on my clothes afterward.

The cut, moisture, blending, and consistency of the tin were fine. I think it’s more a question of taste. Obviously a lot of people love 965. As a lover of all Latakia mixes, I wanted to also... I just couldn’t, and I am firmly convinced that it’s something in the Continental style which doesn’t jive with my tastes.

Age When Smoked: Relatively fresh (under 1 year)

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Lazarus77 (91)	2017-04-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Another perfect mix from Dunhill. Medium in strength and almost full in taste. Cool dry smoke,with few relight, leaving just white ash at the end. Amazing tobacco and highly recommend for everybody. Grab it until is available.

Pipe Used: Various

Age When Smoked: 2 years

Purchased From: Local store

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Robykeys82 (25)	2017-04-07		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I bought My Mixture 965 full of curiosity and expectations. In Italy many complain that the current 965 is a pale imitation of what this blend used to be. Since I started smoking pipes only 2 years ago, I did not have the chance to smoke the "old good one", and I think this is a good thing. The tin aroma is wonderfully smoky and leathery, with just a sweet note probably due to the cavendish. The cut is the usual Dunhill ribbon cut, which makes the packing a piece of cake. The smoke itself is a real pleasure, indeed I often use my biggest pipe, a Peterson Sherlock Holmes Watson, to enjoy the mixture at its best. The smoke is creamy, leathery, with the latakia clearly noticeable, all rounded by the Cavendish. Highly recommended, probably my favourite mixture so far.

Pipe Used: Peterson Wicklow, Peterson Sherlock Holmes Watson

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Similar Blends: Dunhill Aperitif.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Yonatan (7)	2017-03-30		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant

I've been smoking this blend for a while, and it is unmatched in my opinion, in its quality of being complex, harmonious and full, while remaining very balanced.

Tin note is a blast of Cavendish and Latakia. Just plain mouthwatering. You smell the plums and figs, raisin and chocolate... with the leathery smokiness of the Latakia, in perfect harmony. As if the tobaccos are a group of singers harmonizing with one another.

Off the bat the smoke is very sweet from the Cavendish, dancing equally with the leathery smokiness of the Latakia. The Virginias, Burley and Perique all stay in the mid to background, adding character in the beginning of the bowl, evolving into complexity toward the middle, and a 60 piece orchestra at the end. It's beautiful to analyze the flavor evolution throughout the smoke.

This blend induces a meditative state of mind due to its complexity, peaking my curiosity as I receive hints of various dried fruit, multiple wood species, spiciness, leathers and breads. Inducing warm memories of family dinners, deserts, fishing and luxurious outings.

My favorite tobacco. Definitely close to my heart.

Pipe Used: Falcon , Nils Thomsen Bulldog

Age When Smoked: fresh & up to 4 weeks

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Dunhill Aperitif. Aperitif is more Latakia forward and tastes a bit less of Cavendish..

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Greekpipesmoker (201)	2017-01-20		Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

A strong latakia blend,orientals are there too,right moisture easy to pack and light.it has all the quality standards of dunhill blends.the taste is very strong the latakia is dominant to me not an all day blend...it's not so pleasant for the others in the room.if you are a latakia lover you should try it!

Age When Smoked: After 2 weeks

Similar Blends: Dunhill aperitif but stronger.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pinko (52)	2016-07-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The tin smells immediately of acetic acid, and the tobaccos in here are young and still maturing. It’s not ready to smoke, which is super frustrating from a blend that is supposed to be a benchmark. Somebody at British American Tobacco needs to put the hammer down on Orlik, 965 has been this way for a while.

After a week of airing out, you’ll get a Turkish-forward blend that tends toward the sour and tangy, with a good body of Latakia underneath and a lot of rich red Virginia flavor. It definitely leads with the sun-cured stuff though, and kind of stays there.

After a couple of years aging in the tin, what you have is a very well balanced all-day smoke with good Turkish flavor on top of an integrated VA/Lat backbone. But nobody should be forced to sit on a tin for that long just to have a good smoke. With the availability of better all-day English blends, 965 should be put in the penalty box until it can get its act together.

Age When Smoked: fresh - 3 years

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gus Evening (10)	2015-08-26		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

When I first got into the hobby of pipe smoking, my mixture 965 was one of the first English blends that I tried. At the time I kind of went tobacco crazy in that I bought so many different blends to try. I keep going back to Dunhill my mixture 965. So much so that I bought it in bulk now. And all the other tobaccos that I bought to try are now in jars and I hardly ever go back to them. I just find the taste, cut, and burn qualities of 965 to be superb. Perfect for me.

Pipe Used: Ferndown straight billiard

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

Similar Blends: Pease Westminster, Balkan Sasieni, Margate, Balkan Sobrani.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Old German puffer (106)	2015-07-19		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Today I am a very happy camper. While looking in an antique store I came across an old Dunhill tin for a buck. I found several others as well and went up to the register to pay. My total was 7.00 and I happy to have some old tins for decoration. The older man at the counter asked if I wanted some more. He happy told me he had four boxes of tins and would sell them all to me for an extra ten. I said sure and when he brought them out it was a case of Dunhill 965, Case of half and half, case of Prince Albert, and a case for Grainger all still sealed in the carton cases. Stock was over 30 years old. I was excited and he thought I was nuts. We talked a little while longer and the decided to give me another box full of old pipes that he did not want. Total score. I opened the can of Dunnhill and it was perfect. I sat in the car and loaded up my pipe the old guy just kept watching out the window. It lit up and smoked perfect. OMG. This was one of those moments. I left with a giant grin. Happy! Dunnhill never tasted so good.

Pipe Used: Stanwell

Age When Smoked: 30 plus tin

Purchased From: Antique store

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Lord Clam (5)	2015-04-02		Medium	None Detected	Full	Strong

When you open the tin of My Mixture 965, you will get a powerful kick of spice and leather. It's an intimidating smell that belies the sweet taste of the actual tobacco. A colleague of mine said it smelt like an old museum and I think this is a definite selling point rather than an insult.

You will have to waft the match for some time over the tobacco but you will be rewarded for your patience with a wall of taste like a rich fruit cake. There is a distinct sweetness to this blend, however it is balanced with a slight bitterness, that I think has a hint of Stilton cheese. It has a kick in the Vitamin N department, you couldn't chain bowls of this, however a few a day is fine.

So, to sum up a fantastic latakia filled bowl that is complex and satisfying. Leathery and pungent, sweet and bitter. Quite possibly the best bowl I have ever smoked.

Pipe Used: Peterson System

Age When Smoked: New

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	NobbyR (79)	2015-03-31		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Dunhill's My Mixture 965 is probably one of the most popular and successful English pipe tobaccos in the world, that has been reviewed many times. So here are my two cents worth.

There's something autumnal about the tin note, a warm, pleasant smell of fallen leaves, cut grass, leather, and in the background peat fire.

Filling your pipe is easy (I prefer the Frank method), just don't pack it too tightly. A single charring and true light will usually suffice to get it burning evenly, not requiring much attention after that.

There's no denying that this is an English mixture, but with the Virginias and Orientals leading the way. The taste is strong, creamy, distinctly nutty, and profoundly sweet with the smokiness of the Latakia always present in the background. The sweetness subsides a little mid-bowl, the creaminess remains to the end. Enjoyed gently, there's no tongue bite at all, and the cooler you smoke, the more pronounced the nutty taste will be. All in all, it's a great, satisfying smoke. It's stronger than Early Morning Pipe, yet not as bold as Nightcap. The burnt offering will leave you with some light grey, almost white ash.

The room note is dominated by the Latakia and Orientals in the blend and therefore tolerable.

Pipe Used: Rattray's 110th Anniversary Pipe

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Local Tobaconist

Similar Blends: Dunhill London Mixture.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	AE1PT (8)	2015-01-16		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is a much fabled blend--and my first tin was met with great anticipation. Opening the tin for the note was a surprise. A very strong aroma of something mildly unpleasant--almost animal in nature. Also, a bit wet for my preferences.

The following summarizes impressions of a tin, and sampling of 8oz of bulk order. The initial burn is not really characteristic of how the tobacco progresses. Initially a bit bitter and heavy--with a mild sour note. As the bowls move into the first quarter, the sweet begins to slide forward--but is offset by a bit of bite.

There is an odd taste to this--underlying the VA and Lat. Something burning of a woodlike character--but not what I associate with tobaccos. Going into the first half and onward, it makes for a relatively nice smoke--but no fireworks or bells going off with commendation. The odd flavor continues throughout, and the bit of bite continues to wax and wane.

Finishes well and leaves a fairly nice mouth taste--sweet and mostly what one associates with Virginia. Overall this is a fair tobacco--but certainly does not live up to all the rave. Trying it in a bulk the manure sort of odor is barely noticeable, and the sour not such a component at the start.

I am putting 8oz of this into cellar for a couple years to see what develops. Otherwise, I find that such blends as Vintage Syrian and Arango Balkan are superior as overall smokes. An update to follow in 2 years...

Pipe Used: meer, Pete 8S, Stanwell poker

Age When Smoked: New tin and bulk

Purchased From: SPC

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jorge Soler (203)	2014-12-19		Mild	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I was surprised by this tobacco's tin note as I was expecting a stronger Latakia aroma, which is more or less absent. The black ribbons are still in there, but they don't show that much in the tin note. In your bowl it tastes like a Balkan type mixture, but the Latakia bit in it is not as much in your face as it is in other tobaccos in this range. Every now and again you get a hint of it, but ever so slightly. This tobacco has a somewhat sweetness to it, but I am not sure if this is coming from my pipe as I have been smoking virginias in it. The tin might need drying up a bit depending on what your particular preferences are, but I'd say the tobacco is spot on in its moist content, so even if you don't dry it, you'll be able to smoke it. Also, this mixture seems to smoke really cool in your bowl, which is a bonus. I think you will probably appreciate it more if you choose a large bowl/pipe to smoke it. As you go past 2 quarters of your bowl, I'd say the Latakia becomes more apparent. It has no bite, so you could smoke one bowl after the other without any nasty side effects. It packs quite nicely in your bowl and does not need any rubbing at all. I'd say this is a medium nicotine mixture, so I'd choose it in the morning if I am not planing on smoking any VaPers or virginias later on in the day. Also, I'd recommend this tobacco to all beginners as it really is an easy smoke. I really don't see how you could go wrong smoking this tobacco.

Edit1: I am certain now as my tin is almost gone. The Virginia content sweetens this whole mixture up: this is not coming from my pipes. I find this quite remarkable as the orientals seem to predominate without killing the Virginia in it. This is quite an achievement.

Edit2: I have spoken to a friend about this blend and he believes that the sweetness is achieve by the brown Cavendish content, which sort of provides a nice palette to the Virginia. I think this is probably the case and the one thing which is missing in other Dunhills Latakia blends in this range (or mixtures if you like). I usually don't smoke any Virginias if I am starting the day with an English mixture, but something it is telling me this tobacco can be enjoyed in the morning prior to any VaPers or Virginia blends. For one thing, its nicotine content is medium, so you never feel bloated after a bowl or two. Then, the Latakia is not so overpowering as to leave you tasteless for other blends. I guess I'd smoke this tobacco as an after tea or afternoon blend because of this. I am changing this to 4 stars now.

Pipe Used: Stanwell PS Collection 185

Age When Smoked: I guess 1 year

Purchased From: John Howlingsworth

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cavendishes (7)	2014-11-21		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

I really wanted to like this blend as it has gotten such high reviews, but sadly, I must say it is a no go for me. I am a fan of Latakia based blends and generally like Dunhill's line of tobaccos, but this blend is just not satisfying or even enjoyable.

In a word . . .ashtray, start to finish. It tastes like I just licked an ashtray for 45 minutes. Nothing stands out that is really pleasant or interesting, it just tastes like dry cigarette tobacco to me. Maybe previous versions were really good, but the current production is just sad.

Early Morning Pipe is great, London mixture is smooth and relaxing, but this just doesn't offer anything worthwhile in the flavor department. It also burns on the hot side and is prone to bite. I will be cellaring my current tin in hopes that time will improve it.

Pipe Used: Vintage meerschaum straight billiard

Age When Smoked: new

Purchased From: pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: Captain Black's.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	littlefield (17)	2014-09-08		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

This was one of the first really good smokes that I've enjoyed from a pipe. The tobacco was full of flavor and rich, rich to the point of creamy. If tobacco could have cholesterol this would be a candidate. This was also one of the first really nasty smokes I had, because the second time I smoked MM965 the tobacco had turned bitter. Thinking my new Savinelli pipe was the culprit, I tried it in my other pipe (I only own 2 pipes) but again that bitterness just overpowered every pore of my mouth. The first smoke was from a newly opened tin and by the second smoke the tin had been opened for a few weeks. I had not jarred the tobacco and I live in the tropics. This regrettable experience could very well be blamed on my carelessness, but I have other tobaccos that hold their own in a tropical environment and do not go Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on me. A low star rating for this one for not being more robust.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2009-07-23		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I am enjoying my last tin now and it will soon be gone... This is the best Dunhill blend ever done in my opinion. Classic balanced smoky taste, fullfilling and mild. Was my fave English blend for long time and now it is gone... Thank God Mac Baren put out HH vintage syrian which is quite good and in the same mood of 965. Go get it. Happy puffing.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	quantumboy (130)	2009-03-07		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Update 3-7-09: I am upgrading to four enthusiastic stars. This blend is smooooooth. I am an English-Balkan hound, and I keep coming back to 965 for its dependable, smooth, delicious qualities. Great stuff! Buy it whenever you find it.

Original review: Found a couple tins in a store recently. The guy there told me that he thought they were a couple years old. Upon opening, I found the tabac in great condition, perfect for packing and lighting right out of the tin.

Tin aroma is delicious, and often in my office I'll just open it and smell it (I don't smoke in the house so this is my cold weather fix)...almost as good as smoking it!

Not much new to say here...it's a very good blend, I would certainly offer some proudly to my pipe smoking friends, but it's still not my fave. It's about in the same place in my heart as Westminster. Squadron Leader is a bit higher on my rating system, and Stokkebye's Balkan Supreme is higher still. Right now, Compton's Balkan is on the top of my rotation. This Dunhill offering takes...oh...let's say fourth or fifth place in my list of English blend preferences.

Certainly good enough, though, to search high and low for more. I'll buy more whenever and wherever I see it.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2008-12-04		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Short mixed ribbon of brown, tan, and black. Packs and burn very well, with only minimal drying time needed.

While the cheap and often ill-placed tin label is nothing short of an abomination compared to the wonderful old Murray's painted tins (and while Orlik has the terrible habit of gluing the interior envelope to the tin bottom), the venerable Danish blender has done a superb job in recreating this most classic of English (read: Scottish) blends. Creamy and rich, with hints of vanilla, leather, and coffee over a solid core of toast and nuts.

In my experience, 965 has always been a blend best smoked young, as its can tend towards flatness after a time, and in that sense let us hope that the good folks at Orlik - who are leagues more consistent with their products than Murray Sons & Co. ever were - continue to furnish us with a goodly supply of this old standby.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Bigdadz (39)	2008-08-18		Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Strong

965 was the first proper English mixture I smoked back when it was produced by Murrays. I still remember that full flavour with notes of leather, nuttiness and a slight sweetness.

The current mixture made by Scandinavian Tobacco doesn’t have the elegance and stoutness of its predecessor but it’s still the closest thing to the dunhill 965 I used to enjoy. This one is slightly sweeter and will benefit from aging, giving the mixture more punch.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2001-04-02		Very Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Strong

Dunhill 965 is probably the standard for full bodied English blends. 965 has nice full smoky, nutty smell to it. It is cut into very fine, long ribbons, which makes for easy packing and lighting. 965 is very full and can be unpleasant to some around you. 965 is almost too well balanced, as nothing really stands out about the blend, but that doesn't leave you thinking that it is anything but an excellent tobacco. If you are not used to it, 965 will make the room spin. Very nice tobacco.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2001-02-25		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is perhaps the friendliest "heavy" tobacco I've smoked; sort of the Guinness of Stout beers. It's so well cut and such a smooth and cool smoke that the flavor of the heavy latakia content is prone to pass right by. To some, it's the sort of English blend that drives innocents from the room, but when smoked it's such a docile partner that I never find myself conscious of its potency. Comparing it to Frog Morton or Pirate Kake is much like comparing being asked for a charitable donation to being mugged - it delivers the same effect, albeit in smaller doses, but is so polite about it that you're prone to underestimate the experience. It is, however, still not a tobacco for the beginning smoker, and definitely not for the smoker accustomed to light aromatics... this would be much like going from Bud Light to, well, Guinness Stout for flavor shock value.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MeNoVa (8)	2023-02-21		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

It has very high quality and burns very well. It has an interesting taste and does not bite at all. Sometimes I feel that it has some Perique and a little smoky aroma. It needs a few times of light, although I put the tobacco in the bowl right away, maybe it needs some aeration.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SpiralOut (16)	2023-02-20		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Pretty straight forward English. Fairly complex with a nice bit of spice as the bowl burns down. Similar to Margate and Sutliff Eng #1 with more sweetness and less mustiness. The nic hit can sneak up on you. Nose note is in and out of sweet spice and toasted wood. Not amazing, but damn sure not bad. ☆☆☆1\2

Pipe Used: Eriksen by Nording

Age When Smoked: 2021

Purchased From: Tobacco Junction, Tyler, TX

Similar Blends: Margate, Penzance, Standard Mix, Sutliff English no1.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Diesel Fumes (11)	2023-01-25		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Because this has been reviewed in such abundance; I will try to keep from being overly redundant and adding to the typical controversial madness of opinion-based topics. As most are aware of, this is definitely a typical English blend and therefore new pipe enthusiast shouldn't ever compare this tobacco to any aromatics! Ok that out of the way, this really has the ear markings of a weaker version of Peterson Early Morning Pipe and for me is a pleasant alternative. I don't personally find it as much of a latakia forward smoke as the Early Morning Pipe, although it's definitely a taste note for sure. In my humble opinion I can enjoy a bowl of the EMP in the morning and one in the evening often with a nice single malt. With 965 I can enjoy it throughout the entire day without an excessive nicotine high. All said I truly would recommend this to at least try at a minimum. Also, those like me who also enjoy a cigar now and then, this blend will most definitely satisfy that urge. Being a Peterson fan already, this is just another arrow in my quiver. If you purchase a tin, make sure to smoke the pipe all the way down to the botton of the bowl and finish the entire tine prior to critiquing this blend (as with any tobacco).

Pipe Used: Everything in my arsenal

Age When Smoked: 6-months

Purchased From: www.tobaccopipes.com

Similar Blends: Peterson Early Morning Pipe, but lighter..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RudyH (13)	2022-10-28		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

An excellent tobacco. Very good flavor. I tried it when evaluating several English and similar blends. I prefer Peterson Standard Mixture, but this is an excellent comparable tobacco. I appreciate the variety that Peterson has for its English mixtures.

Some similar recommendations are: My Mixture 965, Standard Mixture, Nightcap, Elizabethan, De Luxe Navy Rolls, and Planta Presbyterian. They're all good.

Pipe Used: Various good quality briar and meerschaum

Age When Smoked: New to two months

Similar Blends: Standard Mixture.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Carolus (29)	2022-08-11		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Well blended and consistent, both in burning and in taste. The latakia is always noticeable but never too dominant. The cavendish brings some lighteness to the blend, and the orientals are modest.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	GergelyAdam (10)	2021-09-07		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

If you are looking for an eglish blend to start, try this one. Even cut, burns steady, leaves no dottle. Tin note is slighlty sweet, quality firewood that even your significant other wont mind. Packs and lights easily , smoke volume, taste and body are medium. Tastes little sweet , occaisonal nuttiess , almond notes, right amount of latakia and oriental sourness. Balanced, satisfying smoke. Matches perfectly with black columbian lungo coffee after lunch. Highly recommended

Pipe Used: Szabó briar

Age When Smoked: 1 year

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PipeDragon (44)	2021-05-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

While I am no longer that much into English blends as I was when I first discovered them, I still enjoy smoking them every once in a while. This blend caught my attention. I was pretty curious to see what the hype was about and also to try out my first former Dunhill blend.

Opening the tin and taking a whiff, it's obvious that the first odor sensed is that typical Latakia smell, with a hint of sweetness and tanginess in the background. But the Latakia is definitely noticeable.

Comes somewhat moist in the tin, but about 15 minutes of drying time should be enough. Mechanically, it's a walk in the park. Packs easily, lights easily, only requires a handful of relights, doesn't bite, doesn't get harsh, doesn't get hot and burns down to a fine, grey ash. The only downside is that it leaves a bit of moisture at the bottom of the bowl.

After lighting it up, the Latakia takes center stage until roughly one quarter of the bowl. It's not a Latakia bomb by any means, but it's still enough to dominate the other components. After that it mellows a bit and enters into a nice interplay with the Orientals, going back and forth between smoky/leathery and tangy/slightly sour. The Cavendish works in the background to offer sweetness and some fruity notes every now and then, especially grapes (for me, at least). This seems kinda a weird but, while smoking this, there were a few instances where I could detect something that, to me, tasted like smoked cheese, though not with every bowl. Interesting, but pleasant nonetheless.

At the end of the day, MM 965 is a typical, medium-bodied English blend with a bit more sweetness. It's a nice, smooth and enjoyable blend, but not enough to become my go-to English, mainly because it's a little too Latakia forward for my taste. I respect its status as a classic and, overall, I'm satisfied with the result.

Pipe Used: Szabo Bruyere Bent Dublin

Age When Smoked: Fresh from the tin

Purchased From: Mohilla store (Vienna)

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	porshcigar (44)	2021-01-01		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Peterson 965 original recipe of Dunhill 965. A truly great blend. It lights well, burns smoothly, and tastes wonderful to the bottom of the bowl. This is a blend I smoke on a daily basis. It never bites or turns bitter. A great tobacco blend to smoke slowly and enjoy the rich taste that does not overwhelm the palate.

Pipe Used: Cumberland Collector

Age When Smoked: new

Purchased From: Iwan Ries Chicago

Similar Blends: This Combination of 965 (Murray Production) and a Dunhill Collector Cumberland is the greatest of all time. My favorite tobacco in my favorite pipe..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Amarelo (25)	2020-08-30		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

One cannot say bad things about this one. Nice, Very bitter and leathery. I'm just not the greatest Cavendish fan around, it's heavy dose combined with a generous latakia amount do have a special almost metallic taste, but will never rank among my favourites.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rinyaveion (1)	2020-08-08		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Just wow. I am newly back into pipesmoking from a >decade long hiatus, and I threw out my old tobacco that was drugstore quality (a sin to throw any baccy, but there you go. It had too much PG and was goopy as hell). I didn't have any solid English mixtures, just a whisper left of the local B&M's interpretation of Nightcap, so I picked this up. I must admit I was chiefing on it a bit, but it never bit me. The Latakia slides in and out as a fir tree aroma/taste (to me, likely a result of the woods used to fire cure the Latakia), and I detect a solid nuttiness from time to time. Not extremely sweet to me, but I'm not sure how much Virginia is in there. Sip it slow to coax good flavors, but don't worry too much, as I said, it didn't bite me. Extremely enjoyable, may not win friends as quickly as an aromatic would, but I'm not looking to make any. A proper english blend (but what the hell do I know).

Pipe Used: Tinder Box Bent, Forget Shape, Smokes Well

Age When Smoked: 3 weeks from purchase

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Other English Blends? It is probably not quite so heavy on the Latakia and Orientals as say Balkan Sobranie, but that's a Balkan blend of course....

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RedGopnik (16)	2019-12-01		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I have been smoking a lot of 965, mostly as a mid-day smoke. My first English blend I ever had was a bulk match (most likely the sutliff) so i had to try the real thing when peterson relaunched. I know it's not the same of days past, but it has been an icon in my smoking so far. I pick up notes of woodh cedar, herbal rosemary and a mild sweetness of brown sugar. Smoke burns cool, little to no bite. Very aromatic yet very flavorful. 10/10

Pipe Used: Cobs, briar

Age When Smoked: Fresh, jarred and dried

Purchased From: Online

Similar Blends: Sutliff match 20.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HeavyTrees (70)	2019-10-01		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

My Mixture My 965 My morning

Most creamy and sweet Latakia superbly blended with sweet Cavendish some decent spicy Orients and a bit of VA also. Well balanced blend that goes great with a cup of coffee for me.

Pipe Used: Almost every pipe I own

Age When Smoked: Dried 3-4 hours

Purchased From: Local shop

Similar Blends: Some folks claim that [#931] Peterson - Old Dublin is exactly the same but I use to have them both in my shelf and it seems like there's more parts of bright leaf in the 965. They are both products of STG and maybe there are similarities in the components used..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jalil-Amín (3)	2019-06-16		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Tolerable

I like to inhale. Maybe that makes me a heathen, but only the smoothest, coolest mixtures are pleasant to inhale or pass through the nose, and this is one of them. The Latakia definitely holds the foreground in this mixture, but it doesn’t taste soapy or strange - just full and smoky. To me it seems like an improved version on Dunhill’s Standard Mixture: the same profile, more or less, but with more pronounced Latakia, a bit of additional depth and fullness, and much, much smoother in the nose, never burning - always silky and luxurious.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Viscfab (36)	2019-06-03		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The epitome of a fantastic English blend. There is no blend as balanced and rich in flavours as My Mix 965. I enjoy it as much as Night Cap but beacuse this blend is a tad lighter on the nic hit I would probably stick to this as the staple English blend. All in all, a marvelously coloured four hued melange of fine ribbon cut. The smell out of the tin is of figs with campfire, given the perfectly balanced bled of latakia, turkish, orientals and quality virginias in there. It packs and burns so well and produces a tasty smoke to be savoured especially with a strong cup of coffee or after a chocolate dessert - or both. Retrohaling gives a nice sensation and contributes to the sort of nuttiness of the blend. Taste-wise it is more complex than the majority of other English blends out there... I am sad this blend is disappearing once again of the market. I hope Dunhill licenses its recipe again to STG or even to Mac Baren, both competent manufacturers able to produce and distribute this beloved pipe concoction.

Pipe Used: Several Vauen, Stanwell, Savinelli, Gigi, Brebbia

Age When Smoked: probably 2 years

Purchased From: local importer

Similar Blends: Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) - Balkan Sasieni.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Briar Piper (89)	2018-11-15		Medium	None Detected	Very Full	Pleasant

My first review must be of the venerable Dunhill 965, which is probably my favorite tobacco, though there are some runners up. This was recently discontinued (again) by dunhill, this time it is said permanently. I was fortunate to have stockpiled a rediculously large amount of it, more than triple what I will ever smoke in my lifetime, albeit that this blend is still available under another brand (which I will name later) under another blend name. When I found out that Dunhill was yet again stopping production I promptly spent thousands of dollars to stockpile their blends, quite successfully this time, as last time it was discontinued I only had a few tins in my storage.

I have smoked quite a bit of the pre-murray, murray, and orlik produced 965, and have some of each in my stash. I much prefer the orlik produced incarnation as it has more going on, as well as more leather, incense and aroma to it than the prior blenders. I have my favorite pipe, a ser jacopo, dedicated to 965.

This is Dunhill's best blend in my humble opinion. Leather, smoke, incense, slightly sweet, and rich, rich rich. This is the only English blend I know of which is so heavy on the latakia without getting bitter. It can bite however if puffed too fast, due to the sugar. While not as bite free as London Blend, it more than makes up for it in taste, adding a sweet note but losing the "carbonation" note London Blend has from all of its orientals.

Now my tobacconist and I have a long running joke that most pipe smokers, perhaps due to smoking pipes, have lost ther tastebuds, sense of smell, and eyesight. This is because of the rediculous comparisons in the suposedly different blends, which despite being said to be different, were tinned in the same room, from the same tobacco, from the same batches, some into 965 and some into peterson's old dublin, which is the exact same blend. A cursory examination of the latter will clearly show latakia, and no black cavendish is as claimed on the tin of the latter. Be grateful that this blend is still available as such. It is the king of english blends.

Pipe Used: Ser jacopo, peterson XL02, cob, meer.

Age When Smoked: Old and new.

Purchased From: Many retailers.

Similar Blends: Old Dublin (which is 965). Rattray's Black Mallory, Robert Lewis's Tree Blend. Blackhouse. Commodore Flake..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PuffPuffLive (32)	2018-10-10		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Goodbye old friend. This wasn’t my favorite blend, but it was one I smoked frequently.

This is (was) a stellar English blend. The Virginia’s are smooth and earthy, making a fresh tin taste aged. The orientals provide a sour and spicy note, balancing the sweetness. The Latakia is mild, but remains a constant player in the mix. The cavendish is barely identifiable, but is likely responsible for the subtle, sweet, aged feel of the blend.

Dunhill has (had) the best ribbon cut, and this is no exception. It’s easy to pack, light, and smokes without any difficulties. A perfect presentation when you’re short on time and just want to enjoy a pleasant smoke.

It’s hard to find a fault in this blend. It doesn’t stand out, it doesn’t lead the pack in any category, but it always seems to deliver an enjoyable experience. This will always be a benchmark that other tobaccos are compared to. Sadly, it will likely be referenced as a “glory day” tobacco as the market continues to narrow due to cultural shifts and government interference.

I’m glad I was able to enjoy this blend while it was readily available.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tin Man Jay (7)	2018-10-04		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

In just a few puffs, I can taste why this tobacco is so well-regarded. An English blend where the Latakia uplifts the other tobaccos instead of dominating it. Rich taste with leather, hardwood, and spice. I had to immediately light up a second bowl.

Pipe Used: Savinelli 320 KS Oceano

Age When Smoked: 5

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HabaneroHardy (403)	2018-09-13		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

I have smoked this some over the years and really like it. After 548 reviews not much more I can add to the discussion. I bought this in bulk and this has a pleasant smell, not a strong latakia smell but maybe more from the Oriental and Turkish tobaccos. It smokes smooth and leaves behind a dry bowl when done. Wish I had more to add except I tried to buy more bulk but only could find the tins so I bought ten. Though discontinued or will be depending on what you hear I am sure though and it may be years but it will be back. And my rating for the big three is Nightcap, 965, and then EMP in that order.

Pipe Used: Savinelli Roma Poker 310 KS

Age When Smoked: New

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tiedemann (13)	2018-04-05		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable

The Orientals are the main player here, nutty and woody and leathery and perhaps a bit salty, aided by the subtle smokiness of the Latakia, which though distinct enough, never overpowers. If you're after a Latakia-bomb, look elsewhere. The Virginias adds depth and sweetness, along with a little hay and fermented fruit. The Cavendish is thankfully not very noticeable, but may contribute some mellowness. There is also a somewhat musty, vaguely mushroomy taste hidden somewhere in here, which is hard to decode.

Easy to light, but don't smoke it too fast. Leaves some moisture in the pipe.

I find this better as an occasional treat than an all-day smoke, there is almost too much going on for that. I suspect that this blend will become more harmonius with some ageing.

Pipe Used: Various briars and cobs

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Cup O'Joes

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cajomu (80)	2018-03-07		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

I received about an ounce of Dunhill My Mixture 965 from a friend. He told me it was eight years old. It was quite dry. Despite this, it had a lovely leathery fragrance.

Upon firing up, the rich and mildly smoky Latakia immediately made their presence known. The fragrant and slightly sour orientals kicked in about a quarter way through the smoke and, for the next quarter of the smoke perfectly balanced the Latakia. The orientals gradually out competed the Latakia for my attention until, toward the end, they faded out and the sweet cavendish and earthy Virginias came to the fore.

My Mixture 965 provides lots of flavor with no bite. The nicotine hit is somewhere between mild and medium. The only negative to 965 that I detected was a degree of bitterness in the aftertaste. I don't know if this was the result of the age and dryness of the tobacco, but it did detract somewhat from my enjoyment. I plan to hydrate the tobacco slightly to see if this cures the defect.

I think that any pipe smoker who prizes an oriental forward English blend would enjoy 965.

Pipe Used: Luciano briar

Age When Smoked: 8 years old

Purchased From: Gift

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	tschenyinkoh (51)	2018-02-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

I totally agree with Beer's review: "Flat, carboardy, cigarettish. Not exactly offensive".

And I totally agree with Jack The Bear's review.

And I give four stars to Standard Mixture, three and a half stars to Early Morning Mixture, three stars to London Mixture, two stars to Elizabeth Mixture.

But why do I still recommend this mixture? Because if you never taste it, I think you should give a try. Actually in modern days some others classic mixtures learn the blending philosophy from it. When smoking 965, I feel pretty comfortable and relaxed like talking with an old friend,

Not bad at all.

Pipe Used: churchwarden

Age When Smoked: nearly one year

Purchased From: 2 oz bulk from pipesandcigars

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	jw62 (8)	2017-12-24		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a very good mixture. It is called an English but it is also sweet and it smokes quite dry. It is a perfect middle of the road smoke.

Pipe Used: Briar and cob

Age When Smoked: 56

Purchased From: Tobacconists shop (bulk).

Similar Blends: I love Borkum Riff Bourbon. I still buy Borkum today. There is a similarity in the sweet fruity notes. But 965 is 50 times better..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DenizBeck (323)	2017-12-24		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Bought this out of curiosity, how "Pipe Tobacco Hall of Fame Inductee" would taste like and I have to say, it's really worthy to be a Hall of Fame Blend. My Mixture 965 is just so smooth, balanced and silky. There's a creaminess to the smoke that I find rather pleasing in the right doses. Like sweetened, whipped cream in a cup of coffee I find this blend very suitable in the morning. Nothing I could smoke all day though.

The tin note is pretty mild for a blend containing Latakia! Buttery, creamy , some woodsy smokiness in the back with a hint of nuttiness to it... somewhere inbetween "sweet" and "savoury". I have the feeling a very(!) mild flavouring was added to the Cavendish contributing this whipped cream and roasted nuts aroma.

My Mixture 965's taste is lovely and quite unique! The Latakia really just is a minor player to me, but a necessary condiment... the heart and the soul of the spiciness this blend has. The dry-tasting Orientals are rather mild and not always noticeable. They have some wood, ethereous oil and enhance the spice a tad. I belive that it's the Cavendish which is adds this somewhat nutty-sweet and creamy character to the blend. The Virginias aren't very noticeable to my palate, but the smooth Latakia is a bit smoky, buttery spicy and sweet, with some woodsy notes to it. As mentioned above, it's a minor player, yet noticeable in virtually every puff, nd I hve to say that I love Dunhills Latakia..it's just so unobtrusive, silky, yet characterful and spicy!

[Edit: After having my tin cracked for a few days the Latakia shines through more and the sweet-cream-ish aroma(/topping?) fades a bit, like it even more this way! UPDATE: it seems there is no flavouring whatsoever added to this blend: https://service.bmel.de/tabakerzeugnisse/index2.php?site_key=153 (seach for Duhill then chose "My Mixture") - great, all Dunhills are quite natural, I love that and am eve more impressed how well this is blended to have such creamy qualities!]

Wonderful aroma and taste. Room note is close to being good, pretty tolerable, yet the Latakia is noticeable in the scent. Unique, characterful blend, and truly a worthy classic that I'll highly recommend! Personally it's a 3,5//4 star for me, but I'll give it the whole 4! Great for a mild, creamy English experience with charme.

Pipe Used: Clays, Cobs, Briars

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	CherchezLaghost (52)	2017-12-01		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A very much beloved blend, just not by me. To be fair I've never smoked the murray or older versions, and so i only have the orlik to speak upon. To me, this blend is like a classed up frog morton, and it basically plays upon the novelty of Latakia plus cavendish. That has never been a combination i particularly enjoyed, and though there's fun to be had here, it's very short lived for me. The oriental component isn't very sharply defined, and one ends primarily with a softly sweetened, incense like latakia flavor. It's nice as a change of pace but quickly tires my palate. I pick it up from time to time, smoke a bowlful, enjoy it a bit, but remember why i don't pick it up very often. Perhaps the older blenders did more with it; i certainly don't know.

Pipe Used: Cobs, meerschaums, briar

Age When Smoked: New to 2 yrs

Purchased From: PipesandCigars.com

Similar Blends: Frog morton, fusiliers ration, bengal slices.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Bleepy (9)	2017-10-21		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Strong

So I had a bulk version of this sitting around for a year before I tried it. When I tried it, I got a weird metallic flavor. I'm not a huge latakia fan when it overpowers a blend but I thought this would be the most balanced of the main Dunhill choices. It sort of was, but I couldn't get past that taste which reminded me of licking metal.

Drew Estate's "Meat Pie" had the same disagreeable taste. I've had other latakia blends which did not feature this off-flavor so I'm not sure what causes it in these. But either way, I threw out the Meat Pie as well as 965. It was that unpleasant to me.

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Similar Blends: Drew Estate - Meat Pie.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ElMog (36)	2017-09-04		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

To me, Dunhill english blends all share the same DNA. They all have a very leathery taste. Out of those ive tried (EMP, Apéritif, NightCap, London), MM965 is not my favorite. Visually, in the tin, it is mostly dark brown, and the aroma is typical Dunhill. On first light, the Latakia is at the fore. Gradually, the Cavendish begins to emerge, with its creamy/milky, sweet cardboard-ish taste. Around the 1/3 mark, there is some sharp notes, which evoke sawdust, with sour hints (the orientals?) against the smooth cav background. The Latakia settles down. At around the 2/3rds mark, the sharper notes disappear and more sweetness emerges. The leather/sweet milk/creosote accord lasts until the end. The room note is quite pleasant for an english blend, but rather strong. The burn qualities are very, VERY good, leaving the oft promised fine white ash, and delivering voluminous plumes of grey-bluish smoke. Call it english, call it scottish, to me it feels very akin to all other Dunhill english offerings; reliable, but not very exciting. Another 3 stars blend for me !

Pipe Used: Peterson Kinsale

Purchased From: Tabagie Giguère

Similar Blends: Most Dunhill english blends, S.G. Commonwealth Mixture ?.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	J. Ward (71)	2017-07-09		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable

As classic as it is fine, this mixture is well balanced, without any of the components dominating the other. Virginia and Oriental / Turkish tobaccos impart a bit of wood, earth, sweet hay and pepper, while the Latakia plays the supporting role with its characteristic smoky flavor. The brown cavendish in this mixtue, slightly nutty and unsweetended of course, underscores the experience and lends a smoothness and a bit of something extra (this is where some may perceive the most imperceptible bit of vanilla like flavoring added). The ribbon cut is perfect, easy to pack, and it never bites. The nicotine is just a shade above medium. If opening a new tin, you'll want to give it a week to breathe in order for the blend to reveal its true character. A favorite of many pipe smokers, this blend is a must try and a must have.

Pipe Used: Cobs and briars

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Rattray's Red Rapparee.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Connoisseur (47)	2017-06-15		Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

Initial lighting - lightly latakia forward, dry and reasonably smooth. About quarter bowl, the cavendish dominated with no sweetness whatsoever and a dry, flat taste. A little pepper from the perique accompanied the cavendish, with the latakia all but disappearing into the background for the remainder of the bowl. the only redeeming feature of this otherwise disappointing blend is that it burned superbly right to the bottom of the bowl with a light gray ash dusting the side of the chamber. Nothing like the earlier version of 965 IMO.

Age When Smoked: new

Purchased From: 4 Noggins

Similar Blends: Aperitif (new release).

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ynrozturk (62)	2017-04-16		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

Okay, this one is a bit special for me. Let me explain.

This is my very first Dunhill blend. Yes, I am late to the game, however it's almost impossible to find where I live. Over the years I have gathered 4 blends from Dunhill - EMP, Nightcap (Murray version, found at an antique store), My Mixture 965 and Elizabethan Mixture, which I recently purchased on a trip to Paris.

I've been smoking VaPer blends (my favorite) for far too long, so I thought I'd mix it up with a nice English blend, so I decided to crack open one of the Dunhill's. From what I've read, 965 was pretty much in the middle of those blends (EMP and Nightcap) in terms of strength, so this is what I chose.

Tin note - very leathery and earthy, with a nice Latakia punch. I can also smell the Turkish tobacco in there. The Virginia's seem to be very much in the back. Beautiful ribbon cut, so packing is a breeze. Takes a flame well and stays lit with minimal tamping. This really requires no effort.

The thing is though, I'm not too big on the taste. Yes, it's pretty full flavored, but for me it's just lacking sweetness and body. I virtually get no Virginia in this blend, mostly Latakia and the Turkish. The flavor for me is on the bitter side, and I've tried this in various briars and cobs.

It is not bad by any means, but not exactly my cup of tea. For an English blend, I'd rather smoke Red Rapparee. Something just is not doing it for me here. It tastes of ash a lot of the time, and mid bowl it loses much of it's flavor. Maybe I built it up too much in my head. But really, I would rather smoke Red Rapparee.

There's also the point of quality control. For every bowl I pack, I come across 3 or 4 stems. That's around 40 stems per tin - unacceptable for a brand like Dunhill in my opinion.

Pipe Used: Various

Age When Smoked: Not sure.

Purchased From: Local tobacconist

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BriarWoody (33)	2017-01-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a celebrated blend in a crowded category and 965 still holds its own. Like all Dunhills, it's high quality, perfect out of the tin, beautifully cut, satisfying and easy to smoke.

It's more creamy than sweet, with nice cacao and coffee notes. Reminds me a bit of H&H Black House.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HobgoblinTA96 (60)	2016-11-15		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A lovely robust, full flavored Scottish Style English blend. Yes, Scottish as it does contain an unflavored Cavendish(straight English does not). Once this blend has been put in its proper genre, it is easier to compare it to others of its elk. Since I prefer Peterson Old Dublin for my go to Scottish, let us compare from there shall we. MM has a fuller flavor than POD with less of the sweet and spicy characteristics that POP is known for. In many respects, MM closely resembles some of Rattray's Scottish mixtures in taste. However, MM comes in an excellent ribbon cut and the Rattray's mixtures tend to be rougher cut. There are also less stems and junk tobacco in MM than the usual Rattray's Scottish Mixtures. Overall, MM is an excellent representative of its genre. As such, it is a must try for those wanting to try the full spectrum of the Scottish Style English Genre available on the market today. Cheers

Pipe Used: Peterson Calabash & German Black Clay

Age When Smoked: Fresh to One Month

Purchased From: Pipes and Cigars

Similar Blends: Scottish Style English.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rob73 (77)	2016-10-30		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

A legendary tobacco with a unique taste. But I refer to the tins I smoked from 5 to 15 years ago. I recentely finished it so I bought two more tins; well, that was another story: a "cardboard-cavendished" flavour and taste that really disappointed me. I'll try it again, sometimes. 5,0/5 in my personal rating system some years ago, 2,0/5 now for an average 3,5/5.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	AcworthAl (38)	2016-10-19		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Got a pound today from Smoking Pipes.com After reading several reviews I was expecting a much stronger English blend. This is wonderful tasting tobacco, to me surprising delicious. I purchased it in bulk and it was a bit too moist, but nonetheless it provided an absolutely wonderful smoking experience. Try it.

Pipe Used: 5220 Dunhill

Age When Smoked: New out of tin

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Thepipingeagle (1)	2016-08-26		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

An all round enjoyable smoke. It's my go to midday English blend and is quite nice in a churchwarden. The latakia is not so heavy but is there and adds a lot to the flavour. A nice looking tobacco.

Pipe Used: Briar

Purchased From: Thomas Hinds, Toronto

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2016-07-14		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Very Strong

Ok, I'm doing it. I'm adding another 965 review where there's nothing tu review anymore -- 'nuff said already.

So, what can I say? This is my personel favourite. One of the blends I smoke since I started smoking the pipe.

Normally, I tend to smoke more aromatics (that changed a bit over time), but this one got me from the first few puffs. I have to admit: I am addicted to this stuff. It's just great.

It's pure campfire smell, lightly sweet, well rounded ... just great!

I can't say more but to praise this blend over and over again.

Pipe Used: Different Briars, Falcon Pipe with bulldog bowl

Age When Smoked: quite fresh

Purchased From: diffrerent places

Similar Blends: I can't think of any.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	turkoloco (3)	2016-04-12		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

This is an amazing blend! The tin note has very nice smoky smell from the Latakias. The good thing is you can taste the Latakia but it doesnt dominate the others. It has a very balanced taste. Different tobaccos complement each other very well. It puts you in a very happy & relaxing mood.

It's definetely an all day , all year smoke. If you are a new smoker who want to try an English blend, you should definetely try this I guarantee you will never smoke aromatics again as the natural taste of this blend will make you fall in love with it!

Pipe Used: Peterson POY 2009

Purchased From: Local tobacco shop

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	canvas (337)	2016-04-04		Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Strong

Imagine you are in a log cabin on a cold day and it is time to poke the embers in the fireplace a few times until they glow again, capture that smell and you have what is mixture 965.

I'm likely in the minority, but I prefer a moister soft leaf tobacco, MM 965 is quite dry out of the tin and by the time I smoked my last bowl a few months later it was very dry and brittle. A dry charcoal blend that makes a little of that 'huck' in the back of your throat when smoked.

Gave me a sort of hypnotic numbing effect when smoked. Probably a good choice if you like the English robust no nonsense blends, but for those that prefer aromatic blends it can be a bit fierce.

Purchased From: Iwan Reis

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	The Cardinal (4)	2016-03-11		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Unnoticeable

Most fermenty "ketchupy" nose I've smelled. As for the taste - it's agreeable but forgettable. I'm tempted to throw in some Latakia to give it some juevos.

Pipe Used: Briar, Cob

Age When Smoked: None

Purchased From: PipesAndCigars.com

Similar Blends: Squadron Leader?.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	incognitopoet (37)	2016-02-12		Very Mild	Extra Strong	Overwhelming	Overwhelming

I had VERY fond memories of this blend from years ago. I remember a blend with powerful, intoxicating blasts of flavor. Of course I couldn't wait to get my tins in the mail once it was reissued. Sadly this isn't even similar to what it used to be. The flavor is tinny, metallic, and acrid. It has a very strong stench of chemicals, and even though I never inhale this stuff makes me short of breath. No other tobacco does that. I still have quite a bit on hand, and I am debating whether to even defile my compost heap with this vile, noxious weed.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	jedibastard (37)	2016-02-07		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Strong

My first go at a dunhill blend. Im even smoking it as i type.

Ya know, in my opinion, this blend is very very similar to D.E meat pie. I noticed that almost instantly!! And that's a good thing for me! Where meat pie has a different type of spice to it, 965 has a peppery, sharp spice. But they both have that amazing leather texture to the smoke. A true "manly" aroma. My old lady loves the smell of this. She even asked to take a few puffs.

This blend is very smokey, and leathery tasting. Which is what i look for in any tobacco. First light, you get the sweet, leather and musty flavors very up front. Which mellow out very shortly after to this sweet smokey flavor. About half way through the bowl, some spice makes its presence know, and stays till the end, sometimes becoming really spicey, then mellowing out.

I really really enjoy this one. Im not one for complex tobaccos where you have to sit, ponder, find the different flavors, examine each flavor when they show up, and so on. I like a smoke thats heavy, with tons of flavor, and i can just go about my buisness and smoke.

As far as an all day smoke? Why the hell not?!! Its that good.

Pipe Used: Jake Hackert OMS billiard

Purchased From: Cigars ltd. Fresno ca.

Similar Blends: Drew estate meat pie. But with a different spice..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	jaisalmere (1)	2015-11-26		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

Being quite new to pipe smoking,I can't wax lyrical about weather 965 is as good as it was in the past or even pass comment on the various constituents of the blend, after smoking most of the pipe tobaccos one can find in your average convenience store, I finally found a proper tobacconist, who kindly suggested I try some of the Dunnhill range. Having smoked a tin of 965 I find, nothing else will do. Gentlemen,I think I have found my blend..... unless anyone has any other suggestions?

Pipe Used: falcon international full bent

Purchased From: Chichester

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	mattle (4)	2015-11-09		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable

bought this on my tour to japan, where unfortunately not many places accommodate smoking now and let alone pipe smoking. so, i was on a porch, a tat too cool for an hr long pipe smoking period after a night of heavy first snow. the first smoke from this tin and like the first smoke from my older tin of EMP gave me the heavenly dunhill experience, but it tends to fade away after 5 to 10 smoke from the tin, maybe i should find one of those mason jar to store them instead of the ziplock bags. the humidity of the tobacco is just right, absolutely 100% right for lighting right out of the tin, no need to dry or air out. the latakia comes right out, not as strong as in EMP, but still very nice. at mid- to end of bowl, the latakia goes subtle and smokiness grows. no creamy smoke but still quite smooth. not too much a fan of smoky pipe tobacco and room note not pleasing to my gf either. tried it in a ben wade majestic, a butz choqin billard and corncob. the smokiness was most hi-lighted by corncob. leather and spiciness on the mouth present throughout, with leaf burning and camp fire taste just as others have said, however, the smokiness and the come-and-go strength of the taste sort of weaken its signature, i guess. burn mostly down to ashes, but quite a few relights, but i probably not the standard cos i need to relight many times smoking whatever tobacco. hopefully the second half i kept in the tin will age and make it better. haven't tried the old version (Murray's?) so no comparison.

Pipe Used: ben wade, bc, cob

Age When Smoked: new

Purchased From: airport

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cob Dreamer (1)	2015-07-09		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is not an everyday smoke for me, but when I do indulge it is quite an experience. It has been stored in a Kilner jar for about a month and upon opening I get a lovely combination of figs and lapsang souchong tea!

The first lighting gives me a nice hit of latakia, which reminds me of the lapsang souchong, a beautiful smoky tea. It has only been recently that I have been able to detect my own room note and I get lovely images of camp fires and autumn. Then comes a very subtle sweetness, which seems like a little bit of dried fig and dark molasses. I may be a bit of a lightweight when it comes to nicotine as I can feel it fairly early on in the smoke; not as much as Royal Yacht but still noticeable.

Further on in the smoke, the latakia fades a little but is still there but the subtle sweetness comes through. The aroma now takes me to bookshops and fine leather, which is very hard to describe as a flavour. Slightly peaty and in fact almost like a peaty whisky (Jura Superstition for example). With an accompaniment of a square of dark chocolate, this feels like a luxurious smoke and would also do well with a fine whisky. According to my wife the room note is 'creamy smoke' and again a sense of bookshops and leather!

Towards the end of the bowl the latakia is more subtle and the tobacco is still very smooth with all the flavours integrating into a very satisfying smoke with no harshness or bitterness towards the end. This definitely is a tobacco that needs you to take your time with it to explore all the flavours that come through.

For me, 965 is a very nice evening smoke where I can sit for a while and drift off into a world of books, camp fires and peat. Hard to explain, but must be experienced.

Pipe Used: MM Great Dane

Age When Smoked: 1 month

Purchased From: Mcgahey's Tobacconist Exeter

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	WillBrown (137)	2015-07-05		Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Tolerable

BIG! BOLD! FULL! ROUND! If you like to your tobacco to slap you around, this blend is for you. High in nicotine, high in taste.

Definitely not my thing.

Keep on pipin'

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	gladi8tor96 (143)	2015-06-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Finally a Dunhill blend I can enjoy! This blend in my mind is the PERFECT balance. I'm impressed. After smoking a few bowls over the last few days I've come to appreciate and actually enjoy this blend. Light, medium, to dark brown and some black ribbons, even some yellow in the tin. It's a bit moist in the tin and smells just slightly smokey, but more like Standard Mixture with just a bit of latakia added. Packs, lights, and smokes VERY well. The balance between the tobaccos is superb and is beyond reproach. I've not been pleased with any Dunhill blend so far, the dunhill blends and my chemistry don't seem to mix (what a shame), but this one is actually good to me. It smokes 'clean'...this is hard to describe, but the smoke has a flavor that just brings the idea of a 'clean' smoke to mind...especially the orientals. It's flavorful, but not overpowering. There is the typical Dunhill flavor and throat tickle that I am familiar with, but in this blend it is more subdued than any of the others I have tried. I have quite enjoyed this blend and look forward to finishing the tin. I may even cellar a few more tins of this......though, it is worthy to note that the tin I have has been aging for more than a few years.

UPDATE Smoke a few more bowls (now 2017) making the tin I have 10 years old. It is a wonderful smoke! I wonder if the age has something to do with it. I get notes of dark but light/natural sweetness balanced by sour woodsy flavors mixed in with some nut and smokiness. It's a dry smoke, meaning it leaves your mouth feeling a bit dry and the sweetness helps to make this not unpleasant. This mouth experience reminds me of GLP Westminster. Good stuff! If you have a tin, let it age a bit and give it a whirl...it's worth it. Upgrade to 4 stars.

Pipe Used: Bent Billard, Dublin, Egg, Acorn, Corn Cob

Age When Smoked: Tin Age 2007 (smoked...so far in 2015)

Purchased From: Pipesandcigars.com

Similar Blends: Peter Stokkebye - English Luxury (No.17), G. L. Pease - Westminster (Heirloom Collection).

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	LannarkGent (145)	2015-04-06		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

This is a pleasant blend. To me it is like a comfortable pair of slippers. Comfortable .Good. Reliable. That is more than enough for me.

Pipe Used: GBD Midnight

Age When Smoked: 2 months

Purchased From: Inidna Tobacco Traders Gr Mi

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Fred T (67)	2015-01-01		Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant

My Mixture 965 is the gold standard of English style tobacco in my opinion. It's rich and flavorful with a good Nicotine kick. I'm trying other Englishes now looking for others I like. I like Perfection, which is slightly less powerful, but still an excellent English. There's always a place in my rotation for the Classic 965. If you like English, you can't go wrong with 965.

Pipe Used: Dunhill shell billiard

Age When Smoked: New to 2 years old.

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Perfection.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	FireintheBriar (9)	2014-01-31		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Unnoticeable

My Mixture 965 is a solid blend. It has a very enticing tin note, not to sweet but not sour either, it just shrewdly asks to be put into a pipe. I could not resist, I had already had some Plum Cake, and I rarely smoke back-to-back bowls, but I just had to find out what that smell was. The taste is bolder, deeper than what I am accustomed to; there is a lack of higher notes, which I take to be Virginia tobacco, yes upon looking at the alleged contents Virginia is not there. It reminds me of some of the better cigars I have burned; it has a similar nose feel. No tongue bite, no nicotine rush, just a solid deep flavor that is pleasing and 965 stays lit well. This one is a keeper. I never get a room note because I smoke outside while walking.

Pipe Used: Stanwell Army mount, Pellini

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JustinCarcerated (99)	2014-01-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Unnoticeable

Fantastic blend-as good as Nightcap while being more "user friendly." By this i acknowledge that MM 965 can be an all day (or night) smoke, where I cant do NC till early evening at best.

Take away the VaPer from NC, mix in a proportion of sweet but smooth Cavendish, and it just makes palatable sense.

Presentation is classic Dunhill, tin note emphasizes cav and lat/oriental balance. Moisture is spot on out of the tin, conformity of cut throughout. It packs well in any pipe, typically its one light followed in part by strategic tamping, and I'm smooth sailing to white ash.

The bowls start sweet, with some movement forward mid bowl of the orientals, interspersed with lats. It never bites, and the flavor comes through even with carbon filters.

I don't feel the Vit N as I do with NC, but its enough for early morning. I understand now why its much revered. I'd think it may be good for anyone wanting to venture into English blends it is that smooth. A jewel in my book.

Pipe Used: BC, Sav, Miss Meer

Age When Smoked: 7 months in my cellar

Purchased From: Pipes Cigars.com

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Balisong (3)	2013-06-26		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

The latakia provides the majority of the flavor. The Macedonian never comes to the forefront and the Cavendish seems overly bland.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cmhpipesmoker (21)	2012-10-20		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I contemplated two thoughts before writing this review. One, should I review it so soon after smoking my first few bowls. Two, should I compare this to the Murray's version of 965. The free sample my local pipe shop gave me only lasted a couple of bowls, and I will compare this to the Murray's version because the tobacco is still called My Mixture 965. I was fortunate to smoke not only 965 but also EMP and Nightcap (in bulk) from Murray's. What I remember about Murray's 965 was that it was a deep, rich smoking tobacco. Not heavy, strong or biting but it just smoked deep. I'm sure it had lots of latakia but you couldn't tell. It had some sweetness to it, almost fruit-like (maybe apricot or pear), but the most noticeable component was a very pleasant nuttiness. Overall, I enjoyed smoking it but then Orlick took over. This version, regardless of who blends it, is nothing like the Murray's offering. At best, I can only classify it as a regular English style tobacco and not a very good one at that. It appears to be a little rough around the edges. Very unrefined. I can't really compare it to anything else I've smoked but there are many I could recommend that are far better. You can never go wrong with Balkan Sasieni or PS Balkan Supreme. They're both a bit easier on the wallet too. Not only is this blend not even close to the Murray's version, IMHO it's a below average smoke. I'm surprised it's not blended by McBaren's. Crappy and harsh.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Absurd (2)	2012-02-09		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

As I opened the tin and loaded the first bowl in a Peterson's churchwarden I was totally anticipating the experience and... Yes... At first I liked it quite a lot, but then, bowl after bowl I began to feel something wrong about it... like if something was totally missing.

As I smoke it I notice how the tobacco seems to be totally lacking of any "bottom note"... Like if it was disembodied.

I think it is a very harsh blend and, to quote some other review, the more I smoke it, the less I like it.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Mr. Big (321)	2012-01-25		Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I purchased my tin about a year ago, had a few bowls , was unimpressed , and cellared it away. I just reopened the tin and was initially delighted with the new results. Good balance between the latakia and Orientals. I found a sour/sweet component and savory smoky Oriental taste. No bite easy to pack and light and it burned to a clean gray ash. I was really surprised at all the poor reviews, but maybe people are stuck on comparing this to the Murray blender rather than taking this for what was. I continued to smoke this off and on for the next few days but my interest slowly faded. The more I smoked this, the less I liked it, it was stuck in "no man's land" , it wasn't sweet, it wasn't a strong Latakia and the Orientals were stuck in the background. It was boring, and yes it does grate at the roof of my mouth. I don't think I have any reason to buy this again. I now see why all the poor reviews

Updated 2/4/12 I don't give out a lot of 1 star reviews since I usually only buy 3 &4 star reviews from this site, but I just threw out the remaining 1/2 a tin of this blend. This really is harsh without the flavor. There are some tobaccos that I will put up with some harshness if the flavour is there, but this doesn't have the flavor. Boring , flavourless, harsh, it gets the single star of "unsmokable"!

Updated 4/2/2014- I've been reevaluating some of my reviews and I may have been too harsh on this one. I purchased some McC "bulk Nine 2 Five", which is suppose to be a match for this Dunhill blend . Well, McC "Nine 2 Five was so good I had to reorder some bulk 965 ( do I have you confused yet ???) . The result of smoking the Dunhill Bulk 965 was good, wasn't as harsh as I remembered, but was not as good as the "Nine 2 Five". I believe there maybe some blending inconsistences in the 965 ( look at the reviews, 4's then 1"s &2"s ) , this batch was a 3 star . Average =2

Pipe Used: cob

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kashmir (21)	2011-06-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I must tell you that I am greatly disappointed in the newly released line of Dunhill Pipe Tobacco by Orlick DK. I have tried all of them, going through many tins, and spending much money, and can really only recommend Early Morning Pipe and London Mixture out of the lot. The rest (e.g., MM 965, Nightcap, Standard Mixture, Royal Yacht etc.), for me, has been a real disappointment.

I am saying this in comparison to what is currently being put out by GL Pease, Cornell & Diehl, McClelland, Hearth and Home, Gawith Hoggarth & Co., Balkan Sasieni and Esoterica Tobacciana, to name but a few. I mean this Dunhill re-releases by Orlick do not even come close to what is offered by these other blenders. I am sorry, but this is what I think and it is important to put it out there.

There is a chemical taste whose presence is felt, at least to my palate, in nearly all of these Dunhill re-releases. I don't know what it is, but I could detect this in a blind taste test I am sure. Is it burley or is it a topping or casing or what, but whatever it is, I taste it in nearly all of the Dunhill re- releases.

Rather than reviewing all of the Dunhill re-releases individually, I am going to take the liberty of quoting a a recent review of Dunhill My Mixture by Maxim Engel of Pipes2smoke fame. This comments can be found on his website and in the recent email he sent out.

This website address is: http://www.pipes2smoke.com

My apologies to Maxim for not asking his permission first to quote him in full, but what he has to say encapsulates my feelings on the Dunhill line as released by Orlick to a "T". I can not improve on what Maxim Engel says. What he has done is to take a single Dunhill re-release, namely MM 965 and to compare this to the original and to the Murray Bros. issuance and finally to the present incarnation by Orlick. Many thanks to Maxim Engel and his wise words.

So here goes:

"Dunhill 965. I Finally had chance to try the new, new Orlick Dunhill. It is much improved over the 1st version 2 years ago. It is a very good tobacco albeit with a bit of bite I find and lacks a consistency of taste if I use different shaped pipes. In a Dunhill Group 4 Apple it was good – VG, in and Ashton Canadian it was thinner. I keep thinking I am tasting Burley or something akin to it when I smoke it. It certainly is a lot blonder in color than the Murray and earlier Dunhill version. By and large it is good tobacco but it lack the depth and breadth and fullness of taste that both the Murrays and Dunhill version had. It's good but not great. To me it has the difference that Davidoff's Scottish mixture has between the Made in UK early version and the later made in Denmark ones. Somehow crossing the small stretch of the North Sea they loose some English quality and become good English style Danish tobaccos. They are no longer English. To make sure I wasn't psychologically fooling myself. Last Sunday I smoked a bowl of Dunhill 965, around 25-30 years old. Then later in the day a bowl of Murray/Dunhill 965 about 15 years old. And later the new/new 965. Taking into account the Dunhill 965 (Royal Warrant) had a lot of age on it and the Murrays version a bit, less my observations were".

"Dunhill Royal Warrant 965 had breadth, depth, fullness of flavor and absolutely no bite. All the various ingredients melded beautifully and I only wish I had 500 tins stored away".

Murrays/Dunhill 965 – excellent but not quite as much depth. No bite but lots of subtle differences between it and the Dunhill version. Murrays a bit less strong in odor, maybe a bit more forward with the Latakia and the base Virginias were less there. Wish I had 250 tins stored away".

"Any smoker who has only had the new Orlick version of 965 should try to smoke a bowl of either the Murrays or Dunhill versions and see what great tobaccos are as distinct from good. Would I smoke it again, yes. 5 years of cellaring will improve it I am sure but it will never be a great English tobacco".

Again, my thanks to Maxim Engel. I only hope he doesn't mind this, but I have quoted him in full, taking nothing out of context.

I hope you have enjoyed reading his words as much as I have.

My favorite line is: "Somehow crossing the small stretch of the North Sea they loose some English quality and become good English style Danish tobaccos".

A priceless comment!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	FunkyD in the Morning (8)	2011-02-09		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Tolerable

I was extremely puzzled to find that this tobacco at my local tobaccinst's tobacco shop. There it was in all it's glory, My Mixture 965, right in front of me. I couldn't believe it, when did he get this in? How long has it been sitting here?

I felt taken advantage of, and deeply hurt, so I snatched up the tin and promptly stomped my way to the front counter. Old man Bert was there cleaning his glasses, in the usual fashion when any stranger approaches an old man at a counter. "Hey Bert," I said, "I like what you've done with the place. Seems very clean, and it looks like you have a lot of pipe tobaccos. That makes a great shop in my opinion." "Well thanks, Ernie." He replied,"Did you find anything worth giving a go?" I then slammed the tin on his counter, glared at the old man straight in the face and shouted, "How the hell did you get this?!" "Oh, 965, well you see that just came in. Ha, it's not Murray's. Don't worry, I haven't been holding out on you. "Well I know that!" I spat, "It says My Mixture, I know it doesn't belong to Murray." Confused, bert mutter, "That's Orlik's you got there sonny." "No" I said, "It says my mixture. IT'S MINE! HOW DID YOU GET IT FROM ME IF I NEVER GAVE IT TO YOU? Did you steal it Bert? Huh? Did you come to my house and steal my mixture from me? It was a secret Bert, I have been blending my own mixtures for quite some time and recently discovered pure bliss in my 965th mixture. And now you stole it from me and are selling it?" I was furious, i threw my fists down in rage on the counter and split the glass, Bert looked scared for his life. "Ernie I don't know what you're talking about, that's Dunhill....." "Don't make excuses Bert", I interrupted, "That's not going to save your old ass this time." I pulled out my tamp. Bert's eyes were fixed on my hands, and he started to shake. "What are you going to do Ernie? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did. You're right, and I'm sorry. Just don't hurt me, please don't hurt me. I'll give you anything." A smile grew across my face. "Ok, Bert." I said, "I'll let you go this time. But im taking this tin, and I'm walking out that door. If you pull a fast one on me again, I'll tamp your god damn eyes out you hear me?" Bert shook his head yes, a bead of sweat fell to the cracked counter. I left the shop, and never went back. Then I went home and enjoyed some free tobacco, great stuff.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dk-piper (25)	2009-10-03		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

Taste is very similar to EMP. Imho it tastes more mature than EMP. Kind of an upgrade. Subtle Sweetness. Nutty, Toasty, Creamy. This is a superb blend. My personal benchmark for an english-blend. Tobacco burns like a champ. This blend is very harmonic. One of the smoothest & coolest smokes there is...

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DoctorThoss (146)	2006-11-07		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Tolerable to Strong

For most pipe smokers I've known, this is the standard by which all other English blends are measured. It has incomparable burning characteristics, the components mesh perfectly, and it's as close to a genuinely "bite free" tobacco as you're likely to find. For many years, the only tinned tobaccos I had steady access to were from Dunhill and McClelland, so I went through my share of this stuff. Personally, however, I've always been kind of put off by the odd flavor (peat?!?) that seems to accompany most of Dunhill's blends. I was willing to overlook this for many years because, as I mentioned earlier, I didn't have much access to other English brands. Today, however, I can hop online and order plenty of mixtures in this genre that I believe are far superior to this (anything by GL Pease, for example). My experiences with Dunhill remind me somewhat of McClelland, a company known for its high-quality VAs that all seem to be haunted by an odd, ketchupy taint. In both cases, I can't really find any fault with the tobacco itself, and the popularity that Dunhill and McClelland blends enjoy indicates to me that my aversion to them is a matter of personal taste. Nonetheless, I can't bring myself to rate something as "highly recommended" when I've come to actively dislike it and would consider it no great loss if I never smoked it again. I'm giving this one three stars just because it IS a classic, and I believe it's a tobacco that everyone should at least try.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	A. Morley (97)	2006-08-19		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Reviewing Dunhill's 965 is like reviewing milk. No matter what one thinks of this blend it, is here to stay. The fact that it was Alfred Dunhill's preferred mixture would seem like enough to secure it, but 965 has no need to rest upon its laurels. It is as fine a classic English mixture as can be found, with all of the components in almost perfect proportion and working in near perfect harmony. What's more, they even decided, way back when, to shake things up a bit and augment this seemingly reserved blend with a little Cavendish, brown Cavendish, to be precise, a tobacco I have never heard described outside of this mixture. One is treated to the potent sweetness of good Virginia leaf, the piquancy and occasional bitterness of Orientals, and the meaty essence of Latakia used in the proportion that it was meant to be used in. That mysterious brown Cavendish comes through at various, almost random intervals throughout the bowlful and gives a goodly dose of Vanilla-like ease to the palate. Mind ye, I was smoking a tinned supply that was around ten years old. I understand that the blending of the stuff has changed hands and not for the better. The only other blend I have tried that duplicates so genteel a smoke is Samuel Gawith's Perfection, a venerable, augmented English in itself.

If there be one thing to detract from Dunhill's 965, it is that they have, to a small extent compromised the good old British reserve that is to be found in all of their other blends. The Virginia is at times too sweet, the Orientals and Latakia to deep and dusky, and the Cavendish outright cloying and sickly sweet should 965 be smoked too fast or too often. This can be an unpleasant surprise from an otherwise wonderful tobacco that one might have desired as an all day, every day companion.

Regards, A. Morley Jaques

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	UncleGar (110)	2005-03-11		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

As of 11 March 2005, this is the most reviewed tobacco in this database with 91 reviews. Nightcap is a close second with 85. Surely there is some reason why so many have smoked this blend and felt compelled to comment. I think people try this because their grandfathers smoked it.

I smoked a few bowls of this six months ago, tired of it and went on to other boutique blends. While cleaning up some early 20th century english pipes, I remembered the tin and thought it fitting to reawaken the long neglected briar with an appropriate mixture.

Again, I found this to be a stalwart, though uninspiring blend. It took until a third down the bowl to identify any defining characteristics and they were unremarkable as well. I suppose it serves well as a benchmark to which most pipe smokers can relate, but there are so many others I prefer. I don't know the British equivalent to Sears and Roebuck, but this would be it: a point of departure. 965 is to English like Prince Albert is to burley.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2005-01-09		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

965 is the English blend against which all others are measured. It is incredibly popular. To me, though, it is just plain middle-of-the-road. There is nothing bad about it, it smokes cool, it burns without difficulty, it is made with high-quality leaf. But it doesn't have anything that grabs you either. Its a house Cabernet, a Johnnie Walker Red, a cup of Maxwell House, a Beatles catalog tune. There are lots worse, but lots better too. Nightcap tips the scales with the Latakia (not my cup of tea, but it works for many), EMP with Orientals (yum!), but 965 just sort of goes along.

That said, if you haven't tried it, you HAVE to. It is a benchmark.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jakob Kiilerich (120)	2004-06-06		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Strong

Okay.. I'm not a Latakia-man. I have no experience smoking Enlgish Mixtures. I have tried Highland Targe and Oriental from McConnel's. They tasted ok, but acrid. Then I had to try this one. Dunhill's flagship.

I'm sold.. I had no idea that Latakia could taste so wonderful! This blend is heavy and strong, yet extremely cool on the palate. The cut is even with no stems. The quality of the tobacco is simply outstanding. It is well balanced and very transparent - It's possible to "decipher" almost every nuance during the entire bowl.

Some say that this is not the best introduction to English Mixtures, but for me it was. A wise guy once told me that a neophyte should start with a strong tobacco, instead of those mild bright VA's, because the strong dark flakes never bite the same way as the light ones does. I think the same thing goes for Latakia, because afterall: Either you like it or you don't. So why not start with the real thing? I love it!

Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2004-03-05		Very Strong	Medium	Extra Full	Tolerable to Strong

Without a doubt this is my favorite english blend.It's as classic as blue jeans and a leather jacket.When I've tired of trying new tobaccos 965 always bings me back to delightful tranquility.I agree with Richard C.Hacker(The Ultimate Pipe Book)when he describes this blend as "One I would'nt mind being stranded on a desert island with" If you have'nt tried this tobacco yet,you have no right to call yourself a pipe smoker.==THE BENCHMARK ENGLISH THAT I COMPARE ALL OTHERS TO AND IN MY OPINION THE BEST ENGLISH TOBACCO OF ALL TIME=== HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!! preppypipe

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2003-12-22		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Tolerable

Ah! My My Mixture 965...or is it "MY Mixture #1"? Mine, and a lot of other's yardstick on what an English is. I grew up in a family that had pipe wars. Really! My older brother was a Balkan Sobranie regular. My father was a Cavendish (Danish/Dutch) kind of guy. I went back and forth with these over the years, and have to say I leaned toward The Balkan. This created my love of the English blends, but something gnawed at me called "My Mixture 965". It was the perfect blend of the two, in my opinion. It leaned heavily toward the Latakia style without being overbearing. It had a fair amount of Cavendish thrown in that was more of a catalyst than a performer. I still believe that, and I have been smoking this stuff for years. I can always count on Dunhill's consistency, so I'm never let down. Besides, I can't get ANY of The Balkan Sobranie anymore. Do I need it? Not as long as there's good old "MY MIXTURE 965"! It burns easily, it tastes great, and it burns down to a fine white ash without any work. I do, however, think that if I don't let it sit out for a short period of time, that I get an overpowering vanilla taste that can overcome the Latakia and Perique that I truly love. Anyway, where is the perfect tobacco? This is, in my opinion, the best of the best. Today, The Balkan Sasieni comes, very, very close, however.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Danno (106)	2003-06-28		Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

Who wants to read another 965 review? Everything, applicable or otherwise, has been written about this blend. Me? I like to smoke it in a Brebbia horn on the way to work in horrendous traffic. Seems to opiate the senses enough to arrive on time. Happy smoking.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2003-02-13		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Dunhill My Mixture 965- 4 stars

Like so many others, I believe 965 to be the very best English Blend out there. It is absolutely perfect in every way. It is always my first smoke of the day and often my last.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2002-01-28		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable to Strong

When I was just moving into English blends years ago, I often blended 965 half-and-half with Black Cavendish for a smoke my wife could stand and that I could taste. On its own, though, I have just never been able to work up much enthusiasm for this stuff, lauded though it may be. It's sort of the Attila the Hun of Englishes, quite unrelenting and often harsh, it doesn't have the Virginia base I prefer, and it is full of that nasty tweedy brown Cavendish yucko ptooey stuff. Life is short and there are just many more interesting English blends out there. On the plus side, this blend always burns cool, and like all Dunhills, is always cut well. I am almost certainly in the minority on this tobacco, but it's just eh sort of OK in my book.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2002-01-18		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

I have an ad from Punch Magazine dating back to the 1920's for 965 . In the lower corner of the ad it states "Originally blended for E.A. Baxter" , info taken straight out of the original My Mixture book at Dunhill I suppose .

My Mixture 965 is a benchmark latakia english . A must for the fan of medium latakia blends .

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2001-09-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Let me say right from the start that I'm not a huge fan of Latakia blends. They sometimes kick like a mule and leave the room smelling like a repository for old and very sweaty training shoes, but I do occasionally enjoy a pipe of one in the cooler months or when I'm hiking in the hills on Autumn days, and on these occasions I am likely to choose 965 because it always seems such a good mannered and well balanced blend. The tin aroma is just wonderful - woodsy and leathery,with overtones of damp earth after Summer rain. I could just sit and sniff this one for ages. The tobacco is a mix of dark,medium and light tobaccos in about equal measure, ribbon cut with a mixture of longer and shorter strands. The pipe packs well and lights easily. The aroma is unmistakably Latakia - speaking of woodsmoke and peat burning in an Irish hearth. It is soft and gentle for a latakia and my wife who hates me smoking these blends always lets this one pass without comment. The taste is also soft,never harsh and is consistent from the start to the bottom of the bowl. Underneath the latakia there are other tastes that come and go as the tobacco decides - sometimes a gentle sweetness, at other times a nice spicy note and yet again a gentle peppery touch - but never,ever any bite. I don't think you could get this one to bite if you played an oxy-acetylene blowtorch on it. "Gentle" is an adjective that I find myself using repeatedly for this blend and in truth it has wonderful balance, never harsh,never in your face like a lot of other Latakia blends. This is quintessentially English - understated and cool with an attractive finish.However it is by no means a weak blend, there is an underlying power to it ,but it is power dispensed in such a controlled way that the blend might be a good one for someone trying Latakia for the first time. It also seems to smoke well in almost any pipe, however I prefer it in a medium size bulldog or bent Rhodesian. This is for me the best and most sophisticated of all the Latakia blends around.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	aadelma (67)	2001-04-12		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

It took about a year, but when I'm in the mood for an English mixture, more often than not I reach for a tin of 965. As the name implies, this tobacco started life as a custom blend for a particular customer of Dunhill, but it became so well liked that it became a production item. Like the other Dunhills I've tried, this blend is very easy to pack, light, and keep lit due to the fine and varied cuts of tobacco within it. It is somewhat similar to Early Morning Pipe, but is made fuller and stronger by the addition of burley based brown cavendish. This gives the tobacco a unique tangy taste and aroma from the very start of the bowl. As the bowl progresses, the tanginess recedes and is replaced by the heaviness of the latakia. Repeatedly smoking this tobacco in the same pipe tends to bring out an underlying sweetness which I did not notice for the first several bowls. Due to the fullness of 965, I find it just gets to be too much of a good thing when smoked in a large bowl. It takes a long time to get the cavendish flavor out of the pipe when switching to another tobacco from 965, so I dedicate 2 small pipes to it. I also find that the pipes need to rest longer between smokes or the tobacco gets pretty rank towards the bottom of the bowl. If this sounds like a bit of trouble to go through in order to enjoy a tobacco, it is worthwhile to a lot of people: Dunhill 965 is the most popular English blend in the world! Available from JR Tobacco

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2001-03-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

Like Balkan Sobranie White and Sullivan's Gentlemans Mixture, this tobacco is a standard reference point among english latakia blends.

Although I have never detected any casings, I tend to mentally classify it along with FrogMorton as a crossover blend, probably because of the large amount of cavendish in the blend, and the relatively low amount of latakia present.

This blend lights well and burns quickly. There is a fair amount of moisture generated by the cavendish which combined with the fast burn makes this tobacco prone to tongue-burn in anything but a calabash.

The flavor of 965 is a not-unpleasant barnyardy smokey flavor, with a musty aromatic quality from the cavendish, and additional sweetness from the macedonian. The lack of Virginias seems to leave this tobacco unbalanced by the dark flavors of the cavendish and latakia. As for room aroma, the consensus seems to be mostly positive, with comparisons to burgundy (from the macedonian) and leather (from the latakia), which pretty much sums up the flavor as well.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Brunello (166)	2023-03-12		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Several reviewers that I respect give this high marks, but I find it very much in the middle of the Bell Curve, being neither bad nor distinctively great. I’ve had the original Dunhill version in 1979, the later Murray era version in the 1990s, and now this latest incarnation. I’ve not found any of them great in the way that the original Balkan Sobranie was great, or compared to some top productions nowadays. So, it has always puzzled me why this is the best-selling pipe tobacco in the world. Am I missing something?

Aroma is mild, flavor is well balanced, with no single ingredient standing out, smokes cool and steady and the finish is clean. It does have a nice density on the mid-palate (thanks to the brown Cavendish) so it that what appeals to many smokers? DeathMetal.org paints a poetic and fanciful picture of the blend that may touch upon some of what I seem to be missing. When I read that review it sounded so good I had to load up a bowl right away to see if the Divine would finally be revealed. Kinda sorta... I’ll up my score to 3.2 stars.

Anyhow, in this style English with some added brown Cavendish I would take Sillem’s London over this any day.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Nick Prof. (28)	2023-03-08		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

My Mixture 965: this is a tobacco I literally fire multiple bowls during the day very often. It is one of the finest English, very well balanced blend; it smokes very, very cool in any pipe, from deep bowl bulldogs/billiards, to small pipes, corn cobs, falcon and the list goes on. It does not need drying time, it is smoky, woody, earthy, mildly musty, spicy; it is an exotic blend, perhaps little strong for some folks to be smoked repeatably during the day, though I will happily smoke multiple bowls some days. I have dedicated a number of pipes only to 965, I give a summary of a few of them here: savinelli 111 KS, 616 KS, Peterson XL13, three different Irish harps (B10, 999, 03), MM country gentleman, Freehand natural, Rattray’s harpoon Canadian. Full 4 stars out of 4 for me.

Age When Smoked: Fresh to 1 year

Purchased From: Local shop; smoking pipes.com

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	rick5iron (20)	2023-01-19		Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Tolerable to Strong

Was expecting a great smoke from all the positive reviews, i’ll say its better than Early Morning for sure . Smells great out of the tin ..To me it has a strong nicotine hit so its not what i prefer. Not a all day smoke .at least i didnt get that cigarette smell like EMP .im still looking for that great English blend

Pipe Used: sav626

Age When Smoked: 1yr

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Greybeard (66)	2021-09-08		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Enjoyable sweet English. Cavendish is in the lead giving the smoke a nice sweet, sugary flavor. I certainly smell Latakia in the tin note, and it's there upon lighting, but does seem to have a secondary role to the Cavendish.

Easy to keep lit, and doesn't bite. Good flavor and sweetness makes this a great smoke, but I think there are better English blends around too. Still, recommended for any piper.

Pipe Used: Brebbia Sabbiata, & cobs

Age When Smoked: Tin was a year old at least

Purchased From: Barclay Pipe, Tobacco, & Cigar

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MaritimePiper (4)	2021-05-31		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

This one is one of the staples of my cellar. It is a great middle-of-the-road english blend. It won't knock your socks off, but it never disappoints. I find the flavors balanced and pleasant. For me, it's an all-day smoke.

Pipe Used: Various

Age When Smoked: 2 to 3 years

Purchased From: 4Noggins

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	BrokenRecord (124)	2020-12-21		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable

I am not sure what I am missing here. The cedar-smokiness of the Latakia in MM965 melds well with the sweetness of the Virginias and brown Cavendish. The Macedonian leaf is peppery rather than floral—as with other oriental varieties. In the two batches that I tried, I enjoyed some bowls while others tasted a little acrid.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	maxiRica (8)	2020-10-17		Medium	Medium	Medium	Tolerable

Bien, me he fumado una lata de la nueva versión de Peterson, y la comparado en una cata con la antigua de Dunhill que obtuve con unos 2 o 3 años de añejado. Las dos producidas igual por STG.

La antigua me pareció más redonda, con sabores más profundos, con un humo sedoso. Una rica mezcla de latakia que no te va a tumbar, con una dulzura y marcado acento de los virginias (en frío arrojaba la de Dunhill, claras notas avinagradas). Dejo la comparativa por si quieren leerla: https://pipasytabaco.es/peterhill/

Referente a la mezcla de Peterson, me parece una mezcla escocesa muy solvente. Rica y sabrosa, donde la Latakia está presente en todo momento, arrojando su característico sabor ahumado, con cierto toque correoso. La Virginia y los orientales se muestran, con ese sabor dulzón y herbal, toque a madera, ciertas notas agrias. Todo ello ligado por el Cavendish, como si de harina se tratase en una receta culinaria. Dicen que el Cavendish es marrón (de virginia), y puede ser dado el nivel de dulzor que tiene está labor.

En definitiva, una mezcla muy para fumar cada día y si quieres, varias veces al día. No satura, no muerde, deja buen regusto, y quema bien. Tampoco sobresale en sabores y potencia por contra.

Recomendable para latakialovers que quieren tener algo para fumar despreocupadamente.

Pipe Used: Brezo

Age When Smoked: Fresco

Purchased From: Estanco. España

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	AJS2323 (32)	2020-10-04		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

On opening the tin you get a very nice smell of smokey bonfire, leather, spice, sweetness and some grassy notes. It is actually really nice to smell in the tin.

Upon lighting and within the first quarter of the bowl all I got was a heavy hit Latakia, very smokey and it dulled my taste buds somewhat. This isn’t out of the ordinary I find for the Peterson/Dunhill English blends but this is made up of some delicate sweet tobaccos. So I didn’t start to get a full appreciation for complexity for the blend until last three quarters. I admit this could have been how I pack the pipe and maybe there was more Latakia at the top. Once you get into this complex layer if you will, it is a nice tobacco and you get some wonderful smokey sweet flavours and the Virginias start to come through. It leaves a nice after taste and a wonderful fragrance in my beard and moustache with is a sweet and smokey almost vanilla flavour - not from any casing just the blend components combusting.

I would recommend this blend to new English smokers or experienced smokers. It is very nice but when you compare this to Ashtons Consummate Gentlemen (I know it is slightly different blend but it is within the same concept) this doesn’t hold its own, Consummate Gentlemen wins. You get a much more balanced, delicate and complex range of flavours there.

This is a nice walking tobacco, one for the camp fire, in the garden doing something or when you want a Latakia fix but don’t want the full blown experience of Nightcap.

Pipe Used: Rattrays bog oak

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: AE Lloyd and Son

Similar Blends: Ashton - Consummate Gentleman.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Zarathustra (11)	2020-08-15		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

A classic English. Will have to see what aging does to this stuff but so far I love the way the latakia and orientals slowly unite into this light but rich smoke. Very well-balanced.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DakotaHale43 (47)	2020-08-10		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

This is a good English blend. The Virginias are probably the main component here, as the latakia takes a step back somewhat in this blend. I couldn't really pick up a lot of the flavors that the others describe here, but perhaps that will change as I get more accustomed to the blend. Did have a little kick to it, but maybe that's just me.

UPDATE: It seems to me as I smoke this blend more that the latakia is the leading one here, followed by the orientals. The virginia is still there, however, but far in the back. Still has a kick to it though, and is an all-around easy-smoking quintessential English blend.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gordo (6)	2020-07-22		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

Hmm, it’s a nice smoke, not unpleasant, but it didn’t wow me. The first third of the bowl was nutty, smoky, leathery and very pleasant but not too complex or full flavoured. It burns beautifully, cool and no relights. The last half of the bowel developed a slightly unpleasant ash taste. I just finished a 2-yr old jar of PS proper English and that was much more enjoyable. This lacks the salty, sour, blue cheesey smokiness that I loved about the PS. Maybe it will improve with age. Not a bad smoke but not special either.

Pipe Used: Peterson system

Age When Smoked: Fresh tin

Purchased From: 4noggins

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipofilo novizio (3)	2020-06-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

A true classic. Strong latakia aroma in the tin and in the smoke. The smoke distinctly smells of wonderful frankincense. Smoky taste from the latakia and subtle sweetness from the Cavendish to round everything up. The orientals add a nice zing to the blend. I will have to smoke it more to better describe the taste, as of now it's just a really really enjoyable smoke

Pipe Used: Savinelli 626, Mastro de Paja, Dunhill billiard

Age When Smoked: Fresh form tin

Purchased From: Local tobacconist

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Spinkle (16)	2019-06-22		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Dunhill – My Mixture 965

This was the first blend that I tried which contains Latakia. I was introduced to this (and all the Dunhill blends really) by a tobacconist near my place of work. I asked him for a recommendation and he opened up his personal tin to let me smell and I instantly knew I wanted to try it.

The tin scent is like nothing I had ever smelled before, like a delicious smelling campfire with a bit of sweetness and spice behind it. Almost like when sage or cedar is burned on a campfire. Cut is very even and the different tobaccos are obvious; all the colours of the ‘baccy rainbow are here folks.

It lights easily and I am often able to smoke to the bottom without needing to relight and with only a tamp or two. The flavour is what sets this apart – I think that the brown cavendish adds a sweetness to this that makes it one of my favourite English blends. The rest of the tobaccos are all discernable but something about this blend makes it greater than the sum of its parts.

Would recommend this one to any new pipe smoker who wants to get away from aromatics and try new things. One of my favourites and I’ve finished more tins of this so far than any other blend, very unfortunate to hear its been discontinued. In a rare upside for Canadian pipe smokers who are usually left out, I’ve been told by the manager of sales for Brigham (the distributor of Dunhill in Canada) that they purchased enough for the next two or three years of sales when they learned Dunhill was ceasing production. As such its still available, but you better grab it while you can if you’re in the Toronto area as I imagine this one will go extinct first of the Dunhill blends.

Pipe Used: My Whole Collection

Age When Smoked: Tins Dated 2015 and 2017

Purchased From: Brigham & More Tobacconist

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Adam Z (18)	2018-11-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

(This is a review of the Orlik version, which disappeared in 2018)

As a novice pipe smoker scouring the internet in search of info about pipes and tobacco, the english blend that seemed to have all the buzz around it was Nightcap. 965 doesn't seem to have the 'wow' factor of the (much) stronger Nightcap, but it's a better blend overall IMO. 965 is smoother - it has a better balance to it, and it's better suited for the all-day smoke. Never overpowering, but by no means is it a mild blend either. The more blends I try, and the more my palate develops, I'm not as inclined toward traditional english blends as I once was, however, I would still keep some 965 on hand if that were an option today. I had only purchased one tin of 965 before it started disappearing from the market in 2018. If it were still available, I'd definitely keep a few tins around for the crisp fall/winter days when a traditional english blend seems so inviting. I find I prefer the taste of this one in a cob rather than briar (but I say that about pretty much any latakia-rich blend). Also, it's better when smoked in a smaller cob, like the MM Legend or the MM Apple Diplomat, but YMMV.

Pipe Used: Assorted briars and cobs

Age When Smoked: 1 year

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HeavyMetalPiper (64)	2018-05-30		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

The most prevalent flavorI got from this was woody. If I had no experience, this smells how I'd expect a tobacco to smell, and tastes how I'd expect a pipe to taste. I rarely had to relight or even tamp this blend. This is really a 3.5 blend.

You can view my video review of this blend here:

Pipe Used: Missouri Meerschaum Bent Diplomat Apple

Age When Smoked: 2 Weeks

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

Similar Blends: Kramer's Pipe and Tobacco Shop - Father Dempsey, Dunhill - Early Morning Pipe, Dunhill - Nightcap, Cornell & Diehl - Star of the East.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JohnH (24)	2018-04-24		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

The Dunhill Tripple

I have the day fairly free (a rare occurrence), so decide to smoke Dunhill EMP, 965 and nightcap to see how they compare. This will be the inaugural smoke of all of the blends for me, and they are all bulk from Pipes and cigars.

As with the EMP this is a very well reviewed blend, so I'm not sure I can add much more than others have already, so this will act as a personal reference and hopefully be interesting to others in comparison to the EMP and nightcap.

The look and aroma are almost identical to EMP for me, perhaps not as strong on the latakia, but looking at the bags side by side I really struggle to see the difference (which comes as a surprise). I guess this is to be expected with them both being English blends.

On lighting it's a different story. The Latakia is no where near as up front on the 965. There are definitely some similarities, but the Cavendish is quite present in the 965, and it makes for quite a different smoke. If anything I'd have the 965 more as an all day smoke over the EMP, but if I had to choose just one it'd be the Nightcap.

It's actually more interesting to try these together than I thought. In many ways they are very similar, but there is a clear difference. I don't find them too harsh, and they don't bite. I'd almost say the 965 is more complex (shock!), certainly more subtle, but I get some more subtle nuances, perhaps due to less Latakia. I'd still probably go for the EMP or nightcap if I had to choose, but don't right off the 965. This is my first smoke of this, so I'll have to revisit it and amend in the future, but overall I'm pleasantly surprised.

Pipe Used: Chacom prestige

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smoking pipes

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ocelot79 (32)	2018-04-10		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

50g tin EU made. A rather full and heavy 'English' blend, which is going to be a bit much in terms of weight and fullness in the mouth for those used to lighter blends such as Squadron Leader. It is, to my taste, just verging on too full and heavy to be anything other than an occasional evening smoke; this is not the merry chimes of the tubular bells, but the ponderous, dull and solid "bong...bong" of Big Ben. Latakia mildly detectable in this heavyweight. No orientals noticed. May be a good smoke for the yachtsman (yachtsperson?) who can't taste anything lighter in the face-flattening winds. Good quality, clearly, and not a dull smoke (since the 'dark brown' taste has interest and nuttiness) but a bit on the heavy side for all day.

Pipe Used: Small meerschaums

Age When Smoked: one or two years only.

Purchased From: Tobaccoblends Australia

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Hoipolloi (12)	2018-02-22		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

This is finest pipe tobacco I have ever smoked. The taste and smell are of leather and nuts. Easy to smoke and keep light. After my first bowl, I ordered all the tins my budget would allow and some Sutliff match as a backup.

Pipe Used: MM Washington

Age When Smoked: New (bulk)

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: Sutliff 965 Match.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Cherry picker 1779 (53)	2017-12-23		Medium to Strong	Very Strong	Medium to Full	Overwhelming

whoa , whoa , whoa .... I just simply erased my oroginal review based on the first bowl I was smoking. So I'll call this an Update . I've smoked a couple bowls of this and a couple of EMP tonight. I'm pretty sure this doesn't taste at all like natural tobacco. There is some strange flavors and it's ghosting two of my briars in a bad way. Whatever casing is used I can assure you it's the same in both 965 and EMP. Nightcap doesn't have this flavor and can't be compared to this. I am not sure I can get over this flavor. Looking through the reviews on person tastes BO ..... that is along the lines of what I'm tasting. Another said burning rubber/ plastic maybe.... that may be what I'm tasting. This aroma lingers and my mustache smells like I've been intimate with a very sweaty Michelin man !!! Not sure if I can get used to this strange flavor. Super unnatural and very pugnant. No way this or EMP is classic English. If you are not tasting the casing here you haven't ever had natural un cased pipe tobacco. I don't taste Virginia, orientals, cavendish, or Latakia. Is this even tobacco??? Shiver, quiver, wash my mouth out, nooo way this is natural. I'll smoke anything non aromatic basically but I would be careful with this. I'm actually feeling bad for my wife's cat. When I sparked the second bowl the cat looked right at me, meowed , and immediateley ran head first into the door rendering itself unconscious, clearly suicidal. Be careful out there....

Update. Okay, okay. Now that we discussed the bad , I am finding this to be a very full flavored satisfaction smoke. Don't ask me why I find myself craving this stuff, because at the same time it erks me. I think I'll continue smoking this chameleon blend. Sometimes it's a 1 star sometimes it's a 4 star. What a ghost it will leave ! I can't taste any natural tobacco flavors, unless maybe it's all overpowered by that "brown cavendish "... or some musty topping.... oh and Don't put this in your favorite pot unless you really love to smoke 965 and your sure of that.

Similar Blends: Early morning pipe.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2017-06-23		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Tolerable to Strong

Ok, I don't get this blend. I have been smoking more than 40 years and just tried this tobacco for the first time. Now, halfway through the tin, I get nothing. Very pleasant aroma from unburned tobacco, but once lit there is, basically, zero taste. How can there be zero taste from a Scottish blend? I have no idea, but there it is. Easy to light and to keep lit. No bite. But without taste, why smoke it? Other reviewers say that some tins are much better than others--inconsistent quality, but I have plenty of tobacco that is consistent in quality, as well as good. Not recommended.

Pipe Used: 35 year old Sasieni bent egg

Age When Smoked: New, in tin.

Purchased From: 4noggins

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Napping Puppy (25)	2017-05-29		Medium to Strong	Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant

If only less Cavendish is used in this blend, to be replaced by preferably a bit of Oriental leaf, then this blend would have been perfect. It is too sweet for my taste, but one cannot deny the quality Virginia used in this blend, nor undermine the pleasurable room note produced as a result of smoking this popular mixture. The strength of MM is well-balanced, but the aftertaste is a bit too sweet because of the excessive use of Cavendish. Three stars.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dbl-bbl (45)	2017-04-09		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The tin note is mild leather, salt, & ketchup. Stronger than EMP but not quite as much as Night Cap. The flavor is slightly sweet, tangy, and smoky which undoubtedly come from the Orientals & Latakia. Seems to burn down somewhat quickly and the bowl can get hot rather easily (despite my attempts to use a slow puffing cadence). Me thinks the unflavored BCA must be pulling the reins to whoa this one to mitigate any sharp edges from the Cyprian Latakia. All in all a very good mild-medium strength Scottish blend. I'd recommend it ... but use a larger capacity pipe bowl ... if not you'll find yourself refilling it sooner than similar blends.

Pipe Used: Briars, Meerschaum, & Cobs

Age When Smoked: Fresh

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Armeniandude (13)	2017-04-08		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

There must be something about Dunhill tobacco that doesn't sit well with me. That being said, it doesn't deter me from trying them either. I got a sample of MM965 and I can sit and smell the bag just because I like the aroma. It's leathery, smoky, and sweet.

My issue with Dunhill tobacco is every time I light up, I get cotton mouth/throat and a headache.

MM965 is no different but it doesn't stop me from trying. On the initial light and first part of the bowl, I do enjoy the sweet smoky taste. But once I get any further, it becomes too harsh to me. This is a tobacco that won't leave you with many friends afterwards unless they like the latakia leather smell.

Personally, once I finish this sample, I don't see myself ordering any more.

Pipe Used: briars and cobs

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	gahdzila (61)	2017-03-20		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

I tried a very small sample of this blend about a year ago, and remember not really caring for it, but thinking it might be worth another shot. So I eventually picked up a tin, now 5 months old.

Ribbon cut, mixed colors, average moisture. Well behaved in the pipe, requiring an average number of relights. Although this blend has a reputation for being on the strong side, I'd personally call it a solid medium, but no stronger than that.

Flavorwise, latakia is up front. This is not what I would call a lat bomb, but there's enough there that your wife won't be happy with you smoking this in the den, and enough that the lat-averse should stay away. Tangy orientals next. The orientals really seem to jump out at me. No sweetness to speak of. Earthy, smoky, leathery, tangy. It sounds good on paper....but it seems lacking to me. Maybe if the latakia was more in-your-face, or maybe if the orientals weren't so front-and-center, or maybe if there were some sweetness in the mix....but then, I suppose, it would be Nightcap and not MM965. To me, the flavor seems simultaneously too busy, too strong in the wrong places, too wimpy where it should be bolder, and lacking something that I can't quite put a finger on. My thoughts smoking this sample are that maybe age would smooth things out a bit, but buying more to cellar just doesn't seem like a worthwhile gamble to me. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad at all, I won't have any trouble finishing the tin...it's just not my cup of tea, and I don't anticipate buying more.

A friend sent me a 20 year old aged sample of MM965 to compare. Apparently, Dunhill branded pipe tobaccos have been produced at a couple of different factories over the years. I searched, but couldn't find much definitive information on who produced what, when and where, other than some old timers saying the new stuff is garbage.

Anyway - here's my thoughts on the aged sample. The appearance, overall strength, and behavior in the pipe seems virtually identical to me, other than a slight darkening of the color (attributable to age). The flavor is rounder, fuller. The orientals are much smoother, and don't scream at me in this sample like they did in the new sample. Overall, it's well melded and just plain better. I don't claim to have the most discerning of palates, but I believe there's virtually no difference in the recipe, and the improvements that I taste are a result of age. So....yeah, it's quite a bit better. But it's still not the kind of thing I reach for often.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dixcreek (184)	2017-03-11		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Leather, campfire, grassy sweet and sour ball candy all come to mind when I smoke 965. Many reviews on this iconic blend from Dunhill. Seems to be the one most Scottish blends are compared. Not much on comparison though. I believe that each tobacco has its own merits and is distinctiveness. With that being stated you owe it to yourself to give this one a try if you are drawn toward English/Scottish type blends. Not a Latakia bomb by any means, subtle nuances of Latakia melded with a good balance of sour Turkish. While the main component is the grassy Virginia which comes through clearly, the blend of these along with just a smack of brown Cavendish make 965 a winner down on the Dix Creek. As far as I am concerned this blend is a bucket list blend.

Pipe Used: Assorted briars

Age When Smoked: New to well aged

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ismkbuttout (2)	2017-03-11		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

This was the third dunhill blend i tried after nightcap and emp, and i have to say its one of my favorite smokes, im relatively new to the pipe, i bought a pipe and a few simple virginia blends from a cigar bar (generic house blends in a shop with about five to choose from, put thay away for a few years and forgot about it. I decided to try again and have been trying everything i could get my hands on from the other local shop (which has a pretty decent selection), out of the fifty or so blends iv smoked this is still top 3 easily and i usually puff on at least one bowl a day. The more i smoke it the more i love it. 965 really is a great mix and deserves the accolades it recieves.

Pipe Used: Mm cob

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Local

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	powermgh (1)	2017-02-21		Very Strong	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Good for afternoon. careful, don't be hungry. very strong. very good taste. very nice smoke. I Smoked from 1 y ago. Purchased From: Local tobacco shop. Similar Blends: nightcap. Pipe Used: bigben & vauen

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Hillbilly08 (38)	2016-10-28		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Dark and leathery, woodsy English blend. Light and dark tan leaf finely cut into small ribbon. Burns well, and - for my palate anyway - starts very smoothly with superb balance. It develops into a rich, Oriental / Latakia accented smoke with no bite but decent kick. Cavendish sets the early tone and initially Virginia is also noticeable but with time Cavendish fades slowly and the Orientals and then Latakia become the strongest element. Consistency of burn throughout the bowl, with no relight needed. There is a noticeable increase in apparent strength as Latakia takes over leaving just a slight bitterness towards finish. Well behaved, reliable and consistent, burns to fine white ash. Serious competitor to "Bald Headed Teacher" by 4noggins.

Pipe Used: Orlik rhodesian with a 9mm filter

Age When Smoked: 6 months old

Purchased From: Nara (Japan) tobacco kiosk in a shopping arcade near Kintetsu railway station

Similar Blends: "Bald Headed Teacher" by 4noggins (BHT is less leathery and more refined).

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Chr1st0sm1t (4)	2016-09-15		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I just cannot seem to get my head around this tobacco. Purchased it on the back of so many rave reviews and my own recent predilection for Latakia heavy English blends. Upon opening of the tin there is a definite aroma of woody, smoky Latakia, but it is very subtle and not much else. Very subdued compared to some other English blends. Upon lighting that rich, leathery Latakia taste immediately hits the taste buds and you give that contented sigh, anticipating a long, satisfying ponder playing with a symphony of flavours about to unlock itself out of the bowl. But...after a few satisfying sips or an interruption or whatever, the bowl goes out...you relight...and...nothing. Literally nothing except a slight ashy taste. Where'd all the flavour go? I thought maybe a did something wrong and tried in several pipes, tried dryer, tried more moist....but nope. Always a decent start ending in a disappointed digging for flavour at the end. Maybe just a bad tin...will only know if I can lay my hands on some again. But for now, only 2 stars.

Pipe Used: Savinelli, Peterson, Corncob

Age When Smoked: New, 2 months

Purchased From: Dubai airport

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TU (1)	2016-09-10		Medium to Strong	Mild	Full	Tolerable

Iam sick of listening to reveiws of how perfect this was back in the days. Now, its NOT dunhill, now its something else. OK. Personal opinions about this blend will not make it better or worse. 600 + / 10 ratio to other Dunhill blends does. Thanks BTW. why does a Tobacco age during a sealed condition? All inputs are welcome as it sounds so WRONG. thanks / T

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tom Bombadill (121)	2016-09-03		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

This is an excellent smoke that everybody should try at least once. Personally, I might have rated this a 3.5 because for me the latakia is rather light, but it was still a first class English/latakia blend I could smoke everyday and right through to the end of the tin. The rich flavorful Oriental tabackys were very. The latakia is present but put in with a light hand as they say. First class balance of the perique, latakia and I think Orientals. This is similar to, but with a little LESS latakia, than Presbyterian Mixture.

I bought the tin 9/30/13. Started smoking it 7/15/15 in lovely Vermont, USA and finished in on 7/18/16 at Wardsboro, VT.

Pipe Used: Peterson, Grabow, Kaywoodie,

Similar Blends: Presbyterian mixture, Nightcap, EMP, Peterson Old Dublin etc....

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ahmad Othman (51)	2016-08-21		Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I dare say that anyone who smokes pipes and has even heard about English blends, must've heard about MM965.. and That's not an understatement.. People even know it from an acronym like MM or just the number 965. and there is a reason for that.. It is... the absolute par for english blends in my humble opinion.. Smooth, tasty, balanced, magnificently burns and has a distinct character to it. An absolute must have in one's rotation alongside its baby sister, the BB1938

Pipe Used: Peterson System Ebony XL315, Falcon Genoa

Age When Smoked: 3 years old

Purchased From: Local B&M

Similar Blends: Dunhill - Baby's Bottom (My Mixture BB1938).

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Foz594 (5)	2016-08-17		Medium	None Detected	Very Full	Strong

Let me get this out right here in the open. I’m 50, drink smoky peaty Islay malts and drink my coffee black. I like gin martinis and bold heavy cigars. However, I don’t think I’m grown up enough for this 965.

It’s bold, it’s smoky, it’s got a lot of flavor going on. It’s like rolling up a steak, sprinkling it with peat and setting it on fire. If you’re into that (and from what I can tell a lot of people are) you’ll probably love this leaf. Me, I’ll take a sweet Virginia or VaPer over this and wait for my testicles to drop before I try this again.

Pipe Used: savinelli canadian

Age When Smoked: 2 years

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

Similar Blends: a tire fire.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Duke_61 (7)	2016-06-07		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I've smoked this in several pipes at different times of the day. I like the cut. It's very uniform, packs and lights easily, and burns well, albeit quite HOT...and I'm a slow smoker. What's missing for me here is the Latakia. I get the Virginia out front and I don't like that so much in my English blends. The last third of the bowl just tastes like a strong cigarette. I usually dump it at this point. The Perique is there but it also sits in the background along with the Latakia. That Dunhill nutty flavour is present. This is one that just doesn't cut it for my rotation. If you like Virginia dominated English blends, go for it. I wonder if the Dunhill name doesn't help inflate its rating.

1 person found this review helpful.