Tobaccos James Fox - Provost Mixture

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2011-06-11		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Very Pleasant

A nicely done Virginia/Cavendish blend that takes on traditional English undertones with the smokiness of the toasted Cavendish that would cause some folks to think the blend contained Latakia. The Virginia leaf reeks of quality and the strength and taste is palate pleasing to this cowboy.

11 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2012-08-05		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

UPDATE 4/5/15

After reading below that the blender states there is a touch of latakia here, and after finishing up another tin recently and finding none, I sent my 3rd tin to a somewhat-known blender for dissection and to see if he could duplicate it. He actually did a pretty fair job! When I asked what the percentage of latakia was, he said "Zero. They didn't use any so naturally I didn't either". He did say he got a whiff of it, as I did, upon opening the tin, but dissection and smoking revealed no latakia, and the whiff disappeared quickly. When I asked how the semi-spicy flavor was obtained, he didn't know how Fox did it but he knows how he did... but not telling. :) Anyway, interesting blend. A few years of aging elevates this to 3.5 stars... and unfortunately, although the blender was able to dupe it pretty well, the dupe is more expensive than the original! Careful what you wish for... but at least he solved the "latakia/no latakia" debate. Perhaps the "touch" was just that... Fox touched latakia and then blended this tobacco. :)

ORIGINAL REVIEW

Interesting one. About an even mix of black and tan and a rush of mustiness to the nose once opened, which may be why some smokers find this to contain latakia. Letting the tobacco breathe for a few minutes and, of course, smoking it, should dispel any thoughts of latakia here. I'm not sure how some smokers can completely miss the latakia in blends like Presbyterian and Red Rap, yet find it included here. Obviously latakia sensitivity is more subjective than I think.

As I said, this one is interesting. Just a batch of bright virginias mixed with a toasted cavendish, and yet a perceived oriental presence. I taste a bit of incense-like flavor and this blend has a fair bit of complexity. It even has some cigarette-like quality when overpuffed. There's even a scent of some exotic-but-light middle eastern leaf. This seems spicier than it should be, based on the actual components, so I'm not sure how they accomplish this unless they use some African VA's. The flavor itself is light but assertive, and it reminds me of McClellands Black Shag in that regard, as well their Royal Cajun series. This tobacco is better than 3 stars but the high cost brings my recommendation down a bit. Try this if you want something decidedly different and interesting.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Eulenburg (193)	2003-01-28		Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Well, I don't know. (I bet you thought you would never hear me say that !)

American Cavendish implies cased, caked burley. But there is no burley in this mix, and certainly no casing. This might contain English Cavendish (pressed Virginia, steamed) which could account for its mild taste and lack of bite. Yet the tin calls it a "Full Mixture", and several persons, including Mr William Serad and other knowledgeable and esteemed connoisseurs, have compared this to the potent DUNHILL My Mixture 965! My reaction on reading that was to exclaim, HUH?

The English [mostly the Irish, now] take great pride in the things they can do to Virginia tobacco, without resorting to flavourings, to change and adapt its taste by affecting the sugar content through pressure and temperature. The combination of unflavoured Cavendish, red (mildly stoved) and mahoganny (more so) Virginias give this blend the sec, mildly astringent flavour of a medium-weight Balkan blend, with the darker leaf suggesting some of the smokiness of Latakia. (There is no actual Latakia here.) The result is pleasant, but slightly bland.

For my taste buds, this does not resemble DUNHILL's 965 in any way, shape or form. It tastes, if anything, like a blander, lighter version of FOX's great Dorisco blend, a favourite of mine for its pungent, mouth-puckering zest, and delicious and intensely apt application of Périque.

This blend does not bite. I smoked it quickly and impatiently, in a large Don Carlos calabash, an immense Castello oom-paul, an old Charatan Supreme with decades of latakia burnt into it and even my fake albatross-bone Butz-Choquin The Thing. It never hurt me. It is perhaps this forgiving nature that made me find it boring.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3050)	2015-07-08		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

The Virginias are a little citrusy and grassy with a touch of earth. There’s a little spice which I think comes from either a bright Va., or a honey-like topping ala MacBaren Va. #1, but without the bite. The toasted cavendish is slightly earthy and mildly sweet. There is a mild smokiness and floral woodiness that I associate with Orientals, but I don’t believe they are in here. It could be the way the tobaccos are prepared, but I have tasted bright Virginia that has some floral and spice notes, so I suspect they come from that. Has a mild nic-hit. Burns at a decent rate, but a little warm, so it needs to be puffed at a slow or moderate pace. I got some cigarette notes when I puffed beyond that. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. More of a two and a half star smoke.

-JimInks

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dryseason91 (6)	2013-10-15		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Having contacted James Fox directly I can confirm that Provost contains a 'touch' of latakia but not enough for it to be classified as a full English. (Like many here, I had assumed that the suggestion of latakia was actually a characteristic of the toasted cavendish; but to me this is testament to how well the latakia is integrated with the other leaves.) I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion about what's really in here.

I think this uncertainty is intrinsic to the mixture and one of the reasons why I rate it so highly: being a mellow, sweet VaCav with that extra muscle from the latakia it quietly eludes categorisation, and this subtle, tasteful contrariness translates beautifully to the smoke.

The tin note is a pot-pourri of the sweet cavendish, the malty virginias and a ghosting of latakia leather, the smokiness being certainly detectable but by no means dominant: beside a tin of Nightcap, for example, Provost almost smells like an aromatic. The room note is similarly rich yet understated, neither cloying nor overpowering.

It tastes simply delicious in the bowl, opening with quite organic sweetness mellowed by the latakia with the latakia, over time, growing more assertive, yet only ever encircling the blend, warming and 'thickening' the other flavours. The latakia doesn't so much push aside the cavendish and virginia as smooth them down and present them on velvet gloves.

I have not encountered a blend quite like it. It works both as a breakfast smoke with a mug of strong tea or as a dessert to a good dinner. It should please both the smoker of full Englishes looking for a softer, milder, yet hardly less skilfull expression of latakia, and the smoker of VAs and aromatics interested in trying something more complex that's not as daunting as the likes of Nightcap (which, incidentally, I also love).

Provost Mixture is a must-smoke.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Contemplative (29)	2007-11-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This tobacco was specially blended in the 1870s for the Provost of Trinity College Dublin by legendary blender James Madden. Given that start, and the fact that the same mixture has been on sale for over 130 years now, you might reasonably expect this to be something of an aristocrat among pipe tobaccos. In my short experience of this mixture (ordered yesterday from Fox's St.James shop, and delivered this morning with a hand-written receipt,four pipefuls of the mix smoked so far)you will not be disappointed if you have such an expectation.

Upon opening the tin I was hit by a heady, full-bodied aroma of raisin and rum. My initial impression, on smoking the first pipeful, was exactly that: a delightful raisiny-rum flavour, which burned with almost indolent slowness and a very satisfactory evenness, right down to the ash - I don't think I've ever smoked anything that went as slowly and evenly. Further pipefuls made me realise better the pleasant and authoritative Virginia fullness in the mix. I'm not usually a great fan of Virginia, but in this mix one can properly appreciate the qualities of that tobacco. I must say that I don't detect the Latakia that others have mentioned, and there's no reason why Fox shouldn't mention Latakia if it is in the mix. They only mention Cavendish and Virginia.I should add that there is absolutely no 'bite', even at the end of the smoke. I had my first three pipefuls of this mixture without cleaning my pipe at any stage, and even by the end of the third pipeful there was still no bite - if there was any Latakia in this mix, I would surely have got some 'bite.'

The mix seems an absolute 50/50 of Cavendish and Virginia. The Virginia is a dark gold, and whatever type of black Cavendish we have here, it is not too sweet. There is nothing cloying about this mix. There is a rich, full aroma from the smoke, and my only complaint is that it doesn't linger long enough! Surprisingly, it seems to mostly clear from the room fairly quickly, like a quiet aristocrat whose company you have very much enjoyed but who modestly declines to impose his presence on you.

I will update this in future days, but my initial impressions are very favourable indeed: an outstanding smoke, a real pleasure, and it must surely be as good a candidate as any for that elusive 'staple' mix which one feels one should always have near to hand. It would be an insult to give this anything less than four stars.

Update: following day: I noted last night that, although most of the aroma seems to dissipate rather quickly, as noted above, there is an underlying pleasant raisiny aroma which lingers faintly for much longer than most tobaccos; in fact it was detectable throughout the night and into this morning.

Yes, there are woody and spicy elements in this mixture which make one think there must be some oriental involvement - but so far I am convinced that they come from the Virginia, or rather its particular reaction with the Cavendish. Very odd, in the sense that this mix is utterly unlike James Baker's Sunday's Fantasy, which is undeniably a straight 50/50 mix of Cavendish and Virginia. But it can be seen that the two tobaccos in the latter mix are very different in the way they have been processed - that's evident from sight alone.

Today, the woody and leathery elements in the aroma, mentioned by others, have started to come more to the fore. I am even more impressed by the richness of this tobacco experience. One starts to have more than an inkling, one starts to have an impression of what was in the mind of Madden when he came up with this mix - his consciousness comes through to one, just as the consciousness of a writer transmits itself to one's own consciousness through the medium of his words. The richness and complexity about this mix, including an undoubted element of mystery, which others have touched on, is starting to impress itself quite deeply on day two. Madden was a true connoisseur,with a knowledge of tobacco which one can't begin to aspire to.

Doubtless, the Provost of Trinity Dublin was a Classics scholar, as Classics was the leading academic discipline of the time. I am beginning to feel as if I can magically conjugate amiable Greek verbs, despite having not the slightest knowledge of that noble ancient language.

Update: having now finished my second tin, and having also smoked a couple of pouches of UK High Street proprietaries, a tin of Dorisco and of Bankers in the meantime, I can state that Provost is without doubt going to be my staple of choice for the foreseeable future. I just don't want a day to pass without my experiencing the raisin sweetness and the mellowness of this marvellous mixture.

I would also like to reiterate that I have never experienced the slightest 'bite' from this mixture.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gentleman Zombie (729)	2017-02-03		Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

A very nice smoke that has some interesting flavors. The Virginias have a nice hit of sweet hay and a light spice that fits in very well with the Black Cav that has just a bare hint of vanilla and what taste to me like an orange citrus flavoring. The BC also adds a nice toasty note in the second half. It's nice and smooth and has a decent strength to it. A great blend.

Medium in body. Mild to medium in flavor. Flavoring is very mild. Burns very well.

Pipe Used: MM Little Devil Cutty, Little Devil Acorn, Marcus

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	steppx (186)	2017-02-02		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Fox's Provost Mixture has been in production for over 100 years. This is the same blend that was first created for Trinity College...i forget the blender's name. It is a storied blend that is very old school and this unsweetened Cavendish and Virginia type is not as popular as it was sixty years ago. In fact when I first started smoking a pipe I knew older pipe men who loved the non sweet cavendish blends (McClellends Navy Cav is another example and JF Germain has one I believe). This kind of smoke has fallen out of popularity for some reason. I cant figure out why exactly. I love it. I really find the earthy toasty and yeasty Cavendish very addictive. The nic hit is moderate but certainly NOT mild. If anyone thinks this stuff is mild Id like to know what they consider strong. Now...its not strong, to be clear. Its medium. The taste is about medium too. Fox is blended by K&K now I think. But they are pretty scrupulous in keeping to the original ...as with other labels they now blend. This is the only Fox blend i smoke...the only one that really reflects the original. Its a very different sort of smoke for some newer smokers. But it will habituate you if you let it. There is no cigarette taste.....whoever says that is wrong. its high quality leaf, too. Give it a try.

Purchased From: 4noggins

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2082)	2016-01-28		Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

James Fox - Provost Mixture.

I ordered this in loose pouch form so I don't know about a tins moisture but this is good. Although it says it's in ribbon form, my pouch's contents look to be a lot closer to a coarse cut/mixture; I can see a selection of ribbons, both chunky and slim with there also being a few pieces of broken flake in there. It looks as though it contains quite an equal amount of each of the tobaccos. The aroma from the pouch offers only a tobacco note, it doesn't appear to have any casings or toppings included.

On to the actual smoking now: It lights up easily, exactly as I expected from the moisture content. I find the flavour a little perplexing; normally, blends that are heavy with Cavendish can taste sludgy and thick but this has a slight citrus/lemon freshness to it which makes it taste more sprightly than clumsy.

Sadly, this gives me a bit of a kick with tongue bite. This is one of the main reasons for it getting a 'not so positive' score. But as we all differ with that from blend to blend it could just be me!

This has quite a large amount of nicotine. It's not got a huge quantity but it does air more towards strong than medium.

This has a good flavour and gives a good burn. If it weren't for the bite I would rate it higher!

Two stars.

Pipe Used: Rattrays The Cave

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: James Fox

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RCUSElder (244)	2004-06-15		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

I am afraid that this one is not according to the description given above. Rather, I found this just a typical English blend.

Appearance: After opening the round 50g tin, you are greeted by a medium ribbon cut with all the typical brown's, yellow's, black's of a typical English blend.

Tin Aroma: A mustiness typical to a English, maybe a tad more orientals, I think there might be a pinch of Perique. Moisture is perfect.

Packing: Easy

Lighting: 3-4 lights max, normal.

Initial Flavor: Definitely tilted to the orientals, with the VA and Latakia close behind.

Mid-Bowl: Good English, similar to Squadron Leader, but with a little more Oriental pungency.

End Of Bowl: Some strength build-up, a Perique tartness, very faint though. Ash is grey and dry.

Overall: This is a good blend, but there was nothing outstanding to keep me coming back. It is pricey, $12.50 a tin in So. Cal. I found it to be a little bitey at times, worked best in a group 5 size bowl. Nicotine cont. is med. (which is good for me!) I suppose if there were not so many excellent blends out there, this could be in the rotation. The room note is strong, will definitely disturb the non-smokers.

Rating 3.5 out of 5

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	moniker (220)	2019-01-02		Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Not sure if the present version of James Fox’s Provost Mixture contains Latakia, but it’s certainly “smoky”, and this starts immediately when a tin is popped. In the tin one finds mostly short, chopped ribbons ranging from tan to light brown to deep, reddish brown, and there are also black chunks. Tin note is smoky, earthy silage. Though the TR blurb claims there is only VA Cavendish and bright VA here, I’m guessing the Cavendish is smoke cured, and I think there are air cured orange, brown and red VAs, as well. As for smoking PM, it got significantly better after it sat in its re-sealed tin for a couple of weeks, so I recommend starting out that way. Given this rest and some drying, PM lights and smokes down easily. Initial scents are “light, smoky English”, with earthy, savory scents and tastes added to the tin note, along with faint, fragrant meadow grass under the “smoke”. It gets more sour/acidic down the bowl, even as it gets sweeter. And that’s about it for me! Not bad at all, really, as whatever is in the blend winds up pretty well melded, balanced, and very consistent, top to bottom. On the other hand, it hardly stands out amongst 3 and 4 star English blends well known and readily available to TR readers. Strength is mild. Tastes push toward medium. Room note is tolerable. Smoked to 7/8, aftertaste is a trailing off of the best of the smoke, or it can be somewhat acrid if the bowl is smoked to the bottom.

I can remember, decades ago, enjoying Campanile and Dorisco on the rare occasions when I ran across them. As for the contemporary Provost Mixture, like I said, it’s not really bad at all (honest), it’s just not a repeater for me; so, 2 stars, it is.

Pipe Used: English briars

Age When Smoked: from rested tin

Purchased From: Cup o' Joes

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	L'Italiano (233)	2016-05-02		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

I found very interesting DK’s review and the survey he did the last year but… I’m not convinced. Opening the tin (I bought my tin in Dublin) you can perceive a slight smell of Latakia and even letting the tobacco breathe for a long time the outcome doesn’t change. The smell endures. And then smoking. With a slow or quick cadence I always taste latakia, in the nose, in the tongue and in the mouth. A really delicate flavor (mouth and nose) of Latakia and I’m sure that this is not unflavored Cavendish and this is not toasted Cavendish. So I think there is Latakia: 1%, 2%, 3%? I don’t know, but something called Latakia is present here. Ultimately, if you are a Latakia lover this is not for you (not enough Latakia); if you are a Cavendish lover the Cavendish is unflavored and it has not a prominent role; if you are a Virginia lover you can perceive a great quality but not a real Virginia taste and for these reasons only two stars. But if you are looking for something different and above all something with a skillful balance and an harmonic composition in this case the score is four stars. In my personal system rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 8 and three stars.

Purchased From: James Fox Cigar & Whiskey Store in Dublin

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Giovanni Palomino (21)	2016-01-25		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is my first tobacco based non-aromatic cavendish, its smell in a can is not anything different from an English tobacco even to open Tin thought was another blend English by its smell and appearance but reading the description does not contain own Englishmen Latakia, is a tobacco smoking soft and does not produce you burn on the tongue , the note in the room is tolerable as it has fallen leaves burned, its flavor is intense but it is not bitter which makes it very nice, it gives you a good hint of nicotine which makes you to have a pleasant, relaxing and enjoyable smoke.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Old German puffer (106)	2015-07-17		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I will be up front here. I like this blend just because. I have no real reason. I holds no great taste. Never makes me want to jump up for more. Nothing like it at all. Generic at best. But for me it fits like a well worn pair of shoes. I have a lot of tins of this and I always go back to it every time. It lights so well. Smokes every so good and I can be happy with it for at least an hour. It is cheap. Smokes well. Remains in my rotation until I can no longer find it.

Pipe Used: Dunhill, Peterson, Savinelli, Comoy

Age When Smoked: Tin - 2 years plus

Purchased From: London England

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Lit a Kia (69)	2015-03-05		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Black-and-tan ribbon with a notable smokiness to it (I can see how people might think there's latakia in this) as well as chocolate, cherries, prunes.

Takes a light well and burns very steadily/evenly/cleanly.

I find it a bit sharp and monodimensional through the first half of the bowl. Not a lot going on besides an interesting soapiness and some mild tongue bite. If you can stick with it, it does open up nicely through the last 2/3rds to half of the bowl.

Doesn't blow my socks off, and I don't find it all that intriguing (I'd much rather fire up a bowl of Rich Virginia Ribbon, for example), but it's still an enjoyable smoke.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	zulujerk (146)	2012-07-16		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Provost is no aromatic. I expect most Cavendish to be vanilla flavored, so I was expecting a sweet smoke, as stated on the tin description. Nope, this blend is not sweet. It's not smokey, either, though I don't doubt that a shot of Latakia would make this a more interesting smoke (I've tried that and it works perfectly).

The confusion surrounding the inclusion of Latakia (similar to Presbyterian) is understandable. In the tin, this is a dark mixture, with black leaf approaching well over fifty percent. It looks very much like an English blend, until you light it up and note the very neutral, non offensive nature of the smoke. Provost has a spiciness to it, and yet the description makes no mention of Oriental leaf. I recently opened up a tin of McConnell's "Oriental," and I find that the two have similar profiles in taste, strength, and looks. That blend is also quite dark in the tin, with a limited expression of Latakia.

As it is, Provost is rather boring and indistinct. I wouldn't quite go with medium on this, it's a little milder, to my tastes. The roomnote is quite nice, it has that toasted marshmallow scent that one often associates with aromatics like Captain Black. There's just not enough here to keep me coming back for more, and as I work my way through the last few bowls of my tin, I've grown fatigued. I have this feeling, like there's a quarter tin of Lemon Meringue pie left in the fridge, and I have to finish it off. It's not my favorite, or worst flavor, I'm simply averse, but looking at the thing sitting in the fridge annoys me.

A note on the tin art...

I loved the original packaging of Provost, and looked forward to the wonderful, bright reddish/orange tones of the Fox label. Some pay no attention to packaging, but I admit, I am more compelled to buy a blend that looks beautiful on the outside. My tin arrived with a generic white label and green print. There was a nasty sticker attached to the bottom, which I promptly removed, to absolute horror upon what it revealed--an anti smoking blurb common to the European market (where it was manufactured) that somehow destroyed the allure. I grabbed an old Sharpie and gave it coat after coat, which served no purpose in ending the madness of these anti tobacco forces. I'd like to grab that Sharpie and write nasty warning phrases on their foreheads. So I plopped the contents into a mason jar and tossed the tin. Oh well.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	musicman (131)	2012-03-15		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Oh what an enigma this blend is! When you look at the tin description it says American style black cavendish. Immediately I think aromatic sweet. Then I open the tin and smell....Oh my, no aromatic sweet, now I am thinking of a dark latakia laden english blend. Then I put flame to leaf. At this point I dont know what the hell to think. It is not anything like an aromatic. Although the tin note is an english, this is nothing like an enlglish blend. OK, I GIVE UP. I just like it. Whatever the hell this blen is I like it.

It seems a little moist a first, but I think that is the nature of this blend. Drying didn't seem to help much. This one tastes great, and is very very unique. a nice dark flavor that pairs nicely with coffee.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2005-12-21		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant

This is a fun tobacco to review ... and it seems there haven't been as many as one would expect. I liked Paddy's review and think he covered the tobacco well as per my observations. I don't quite understand how people are finding Latakia in the blend since, ostensibly at least, there is none. It seems that the Orientals, which are very complex and the main star, are delivering in some way, what some find in Latakia, when it is used as a condiment. There's no mistake though ... there is NO Latakia in this blend and the Cavendish may again be a misnomer since there seems to be Virginia Cavendish (unsweetened) in this blend, naturally sweet. My observation is the marketing folks at FOX do not have a clue and opted for an artistic description that isn't necessarilly doing the blend justice. I saw "sweet" and passed on it for years until someone gave me a sample. If that had read "natural virginia sweetness" I would have ventured since I already love Dorisco. They did the same thing on the Dorisco tin. As far as I'm concerned their marketing folks have probably had an adverse effect on overall sales. Fortunately they haven't worked their way into the blending area. Bravo this is good stuff!

This is not overly powerful but it delivers considerable satisfaction and is very tasty IMHO. It is a very complex smoke and while no Latakia is present, it has the characteristics of a smoke that one would typically find it present. The blending is superb, just as I have found in Dorisco. A wonderful pairing of tobaccos that create something mysterious. No single component seems identifiable for very long and I find it a very intriguing mixture and enjoyable beyond expectations. The Orientals are truly remarkable. The burning qualities are terrific (as with all Fox blends a little air time and some light rubbing is compulsory).

Cheers VC

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Paddy (127)	2005-06-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

For those who may be considering this blend, you should know first off there is no latakia here. Second, there is no sweet American cavendish; there are no flavorings or casing. There are dark bits in the blend which I take to be unsweetened cavendish. Third, this is an oriental blend or a Balkan blend without the latakia, if there can be such a Balkan blend. It contains some marvelous oriental tobaccos and very tasty Virginias. And fourth, I would not describe this blend as full strength in the traditional, nicotine sense. It reminds me very much of Fox's Campanile in its overall taste effect. The difference I think has to do primarily with the addition of the cavendish which I think gives the blend a bit more oomph and makes it quite distinct from Campanile. Having moved past the Virginia and cavendish, let's move to the main event which is the orientals. There are olive flakes in this mix which resemble candela wrapper. The smoke is mild with no bite. It has that wonderful spiciness of various orientals playing about and just a bit of heft or body from the cavendish. Latakia lovers may find it lacking. Aromatic lovers may find it astringent or too spicy. I love this stuff. My only regret is that, because the sweet cavendish description put me off, I did not discover it years ago. If you like a mix of mild, spicy orientals and Virginia, this will not disappoint. Most highly recommended. Paddy.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tantric (321)	2002-10-30		Strong	Extremely Mild	Full	Tolerable

I definitely agree with the esteemed P.Tatum as to the misleading description of this tobacco. There is nothing sweet about the toasted Black Cavendish used in this blend, to the extent that one can easily think of it as a Latakia of sorts?But it isn?t. The only other blends I have found that use this particular type of Cavendish are Larsen?s Selected Blend N° 20, and Two Friends? Redwood. And yes, this tobacco can easily compete, in strength and richness of flavour, with Dunhill?s My Mixture 965 (take away the Latakia), or Elizabethan Mixture (substitute the Perique with the toasted Black Cavendish). It?s that good.

Provost is a wonderful, natural tasting, sober and almost religiously austere smoke. The initial harshness that seizes the palate upon lighting gradually subsides, evolving into a full bodied Virginian flavour that only gets better as you progress through the bowl. By the second half, and especially towards the end, the whole blend acquires symphonic proportions, with the Virginias expressing a full blown maturity emphasised and underlined by the rich, dark, earthy undertone of the Black Cavendish.

Better than sweet,and within the austere limitations noted, this blend can be opulent, intense and palatably nutty. The Virginias are treated and processed in a completely different vein from those used in, say, Light Flake. They are bolder, almost aggressive, with quite a vigorous density. The Cavendish provides a deep, roasted touch that fires up a splendid steamy and woodsy texture. Not a cool smoke (the tobacco is quite moist in the tin and airing is highly recommended), it lends itself as an excellent autumn/winter smoke, and as an alternative to any Latakia mixture. Not as pungent nor diverse in flavours, it nevertheless provides enough punch and body to satisfy a well seasoned palate. Great stuff!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dave A (23)	2022-08-05		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

After reading the reviews and all the discussion about what is or is not in this blend, I decided to give it a try. While others may disagree, here are my two cents. The manufacturer states this is a blend of Virginia and black Cavendish. I trust what they say, I see no good reason a manufacturer would include a tobacco and not list it as an ingredient. Upon opening the the tin I see ribbons of black, medium brown and lighter brown tobacco. The tin note is a tangy citrus with some mild sweetness and smoke. The blend packs well and is easy to light. The taste strikes me as much like the smell. There is a pleasant citrus tang, with some mild sweetness. Towards the end of the bowl I do get hints of smoke flavor but it too is very mild. I think the confusion comes in when we forget the blenders are artist. Two wine makers can take the same grape and come up with very different wines. One like refreshing crisp apples, the other like buttery oak and melons. The blender is much the same. Many claim this must have latakia, others swear by Orientals. This is a nod to the skill of the blender. Just because some exotic meat is described as tasting like chicken, it's still not a chicken. This produces a full yet dry tasting smoke. I enjoyed it and could see it serving as an all day smoke. If you are looking for a straightforward tobacco that taste good without all the bells and whistles this is it. It will make my rotation when I am looking for that kind of smoke.

Pipe Used: Brebbia

Age When Smoked: 1 month

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	1979 (62)	2017-07-27		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

James Fox - Provost Mixture

Never mind the hokey tin descriptive posted at the top. It was obviously written by an uninformed marketing type. I'll tell you the truth about Provost Mixture:

This is the best pipe tobacco ever made, bar none. Smoking it will cause your wallet to swell, your IQ to double, the calendar to roll back at least ten years on your wife, and your kids to do all the housework. And that's all I got to say about that.

Now that's what the tin descriptive should've said!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	LV9 (85)	2017-06-04		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Well I'm going to start by saying that this taste like a light Balkan blend to me, in the spirit of Presbyterian mixture , if you read the other reviews there seems to be all kind of crazy theories of how the this cavendish is presssed and they get this flavor or that flavor they only thing I know for sure is that I can smell the Latakia and taste a Basma like flavor, if this was cheaper it could consider as all day kinda blend, be sure to have a lot of pipe cleaners around because it does drip quite a bit, overall it's a solid mystery blend and definetly worth trying.

Pipe Used: Viking class

Age When Smoked: 6 years

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: Presbyterian mixture..

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ElMog (36)	2017-02-22		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Bought this one because i was intrigued by the ''toasted cavendish''. Also because the tin was nice looking. But i received the new, white and green tin design, with a huge ''smoking kills'' sticker, over which another sticker had been applied, which stated ''fine pipe tobacco'', courtesy of the fine folks at 4noggins i guess... on to the review. Strangely enough, this blend reminds me of a sweeter version of McClelland's 221b Arcadia mixture. That is, it is sweet, savory, with some BBQ notes. Even the tin note evokes the famous Mc Vinegar, which to me isnt unpleasant at all. Must be something in common in the way they process their virginias... Provost mixture tastes like there is Orientals in the mix, and maybe even a touch of latakia, slightly. The cavendish does indeed seem to be of the ''english'' cavendish type, giving the blend creamy undertones. This kind of cavendish, to me, tastes a bit like sweetened milk, or sweetened cardboard, with a hint of maple syrup... The room note of this blend, to me, is very pleasant, not overly sweet, yet not as pungent as a Lat blend. Overall, my impressions are the same than for Arcadia: this blend won't knock your socks off, but it will certainly scratch that itch. I cant see how this blend could offend, and it could be an all-day smoke.

2017-03-15 UPDATE: truly a chameleon blend. Every time i convince myself its rather smoky, i find it sweet. And every time i convince myself its sweet, well, the next time i smoke it im surprised by how smoky it is. I guess its a testimony to how well balanced this tobacco is. There are no obvious high notes, just a savory, umami, meat like and full bodied impression. In turn, this means it is not a tobacco which i find myself craving often, it is too neutral. But i think this would make a great blend to introduce new pipe smokers because it is well behaved, satisfying and not intimidating in its taste profile, while giving a glimpse of both the sweetness and the spiciness that can be found in pipe tobacco.

Purchased From: 4noggins

Similar Blends: McClelland Arcadia 221b.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2013-07-12		Mild	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

This blend is quite the hybrid. It's tastes/flavours lean towards an english but there is no latakia nor oriental in the mix. I've been cellaring this since 2002 and it just keeps getting better. I think the trick is to get it out of the can and into a sealed mason jar. It has a very suttle flavour that demands a slow puff. A fine smoke.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Smoking Sam (20)	2013-07-01		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I recently purchased a tin of Fox Provost Mixture, circa 2002. The tin was sealed and the tobacco was still moist. The circular liner was completely brown where the moisture had soaked it over the years. I popped open the tin, and I am keeping it fresh in one of my humidors.

The tobacco? Ready to smoke right out of the tin. The tobacco is on the dry side. Packs easily. Burns like a fuse headed toward dynamite - I don't think the entire bowl of tobacco lasted a half hour. Any type of frequent puffing resulted in my bowl getting much too hot to touch. I had to set my Peterson bulldog briar pipe down several times, to let it cool down, for fear of cracking the pipe. Zero tongue bite. Zero nicotine. Pretty much zero enjoyment.

The flavor? Meh. Mild Cavendish tobaccos and mellow tasting, without any notes to savor. The tobacco burned so quickly, and so cleanly, that there was nothing in my pipe after I dumped out the ashes. Zero ash accumulation in the pipe. I will eventually smoke all of this tobacco, albeit at a much slower pace. I don't think that I will be buying Fox Provost Mixture again anytime soon.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Blue Bayou (60)	2012-11-06		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

The Latakia-like flavour fades somewhat after a few puffs, which is fine with me, as I'm not a fancier of the English blends.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2011-08-18		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Provost is one of those gems that seems to fly under the radar of the pipe world. Made with high quality leaf that arrives a bit too moist. This English blend, like Presbyterian, can have be mistaken for having Latakia however it has none. My tins have a couple of years on them so there may some additional sweetness to an already slightly sweet smokey blend. Provost is rich in flavor and while not a powerhouse, it's not whimpy either. The mix of Virginia's is masterful and the Cavendish is used very smartly, not any easy thing to do in an English blend, but Provost nails it. The hefty dose of quality Virginia's should make this a great blend for aging too. Highly Recommended!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Tom Servo (58)	2011-04-07		Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable

The initial aroma out of the tin (described by one reviewer as raisins and rum) reminds me of the brandy soaked fruit cakes my Grandma made for Christmas. Rich, heady (almost wine-like), dried and candied fruit, gingerbread, then the grain and straw scents of the Virginia “comes creeping on little cat feet“. By the scent, at first there seems to be some sort of very light casing or sweetening going on, but it doesn't interfere with the soft but full tobacco aromas.

Another note, my tin has a different label than the one shown, It has a very plain one of those EU type labels with the huge health warning taking up half the label. It has no blend description other than, “Fine Smoking Mixture”. (I guess that's because they had to squeeze all the rest of the label text into the top half, above the huge legal health warning.)

Upon lighting I caught only the slightest hint of the out-of-place sweetness from the light casing I had noticed in the tin aroma. Mostly what I tasted was the lovely sweet & tart Bright Virginia leaf. Whatever else is in the blend, it seems to spotlight and cool down the sugary, spicy, delicious, bright leaf.

I like it, I love Virginia tobacco, and I really enjoyed this stuff. It's not as complex as one might hope, but still good. Smooth, sweet and cool. However, the price is too high. It's pretty good, but there are too many better tobaccos out there with lower prices.

I give it 3 stars.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Skando (203)	2011-01-16		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

At the opening of the tin, Provost greets you with a very dry scent, something very “regular”, faintly sweet/sourish & smoky.

Light & golden Virginias, fine-to-medium ribbon, intermingled with very dark/quasi black unsweetened Black Cavendish in short ready-rubbed form.

At the first charring puffs one wonders if this is a mild EM… I understand who smells Latakia for sure… also some spicy notes of Orientals. Piquant to the nose, does this have Perique ? I'm pretty confused.

The flavour is not sweet at all, nor bitter to the committed smoker. The BC is the main player. Saying it better: everything in this blend is about this spectactul unsweetened BC, offering a wide share of flavours which are very difficult to describe (smoky, spicy, malty, woody), over a neutral base of semi-sweet Virginias probably of African origin. Right or wrong, this BC proves to be of the K&K family, something like the Black Virginia (or the one used in Dark Fragrant) on steroids, very very much more complex.

Provost grows as the bowl progresses, both in strength & body. At mid-bowl the initial sharp edges leave place to a pleasant piquancy, and some increased sweetness. The piquancy disappears to the nose too, and I'm finding myself trying to inhale through the nostrils a quasi-EM aroma. My Dunhill 3110 Tanshell shows all her good qualities with this blend. The second part of the bowl is very rewarding: all the fatures of Provost are in a perfect balance, an exhilarating citrusy note builds gradually up. Strength never exceed the medium mark.

No gurgle, no tongue bite, no insanely hot pipe. Just the palate slightly scorched due to a bit overly enthusiastic puffing.

Like all the K&K produced blends, Provost needs long idle time in the unsealed tin before use, as it came semi-wet.

Four shining stars, no doubt !

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Philo Beddoe (221)	2006-12-24		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Let me start by saying that Dorisco Mixture is one of my top three or four tobaccos and that I was hoping that anything by Fox would be of the same caliber. But it was not to be, I found Provost Mixture to be flat and bland with no character.

It smells bland in the tin and the taste was just not there, I wanted to find a sweet light English but this is just too mellow for me.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	King Weed (228)	2021-07-03		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I obtained three tins of this blend, Provost Mixture by James J. Fox,, in a 2017 "thin-down" buy out of another pipe smoker. Two tins were older, 2002 and 2007, and one tin was dated 7/9/14; the tin I opened for smoking and reviewing. I promised to open a tin of this blend in my "Similar to" section of my review of Drew Estate Luxury Flake, as both are Cavendish/Virginia blends of current or recent production. After a normal tin opening I found a ribbon-cut blend of relatively dark overall color. Though sealed in a normal appearance, the tobacco inside was surprisingly dry and ready to smoke. Now comes the contested part; lighting this blend up and tasting it. Some feel that there is a Latakia component, some feel that there is a Perique component and some feel that there is a Burley component. I don't. My tin sniff test detected something that was stoved , but nothing smoky. That would be the Cavendish coming through two different Virginias. This blend is much simpler than it is reputed to be and smokes in a no-nonsense manner. The stoved Cavendish and the Virginias play well together and provided me with an above average smoke in that huge category of non-English blends that I have been trying so hard to catch up on after a life of English blend living. On the other hand, I found it to smoke a little inconsistently down each bowl with pleasurable runs of richness punctuated by lesser areas. This was a characteristic of this blend from pipe to pipe. As to the comparison with Luxury Flake, well, there really isn't that much. Provost is much darker in color, more heavily stoved and smokes with a lower register than Luxury Flake. I liked them both about the same and gave each three stars.

Pipe Used: Ashton LX Brindle Dublin

Age When Smoked: tin purchased 7/9/14

Purchased From: an Ebay seller

Similar Blends: I don't know, as there are fewer Cavendish/Virginia blends on the market than most others. I will say that I found some of the brand comparisons strange..

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Luciferjohn (1)	2018-12-07		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Full	Very Pleasant

The only word to describe this tobacco is "delicious"! It's like smoking a slice of a very high-quality Christmas cake. The Cavendish is the overriding flavour but the sweetness of the Cavendish is brilliantly toned down by the excellent Virginias to a perfect level. You get the occasional smokey touch, reminiscent of Latakia and it smokes out completely. Absolutely no bite. Wonderful!

Pipe Used: Homemade ash, homemade blackthorn

Age When Smoked: New tin, no date

Purchased From: Gem, Tralee, Co Kerry.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	johnstaf (12)	2012-08-07		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

This tobacco is magic. At first it appears like a light VA with an almost oriental tinge, but it also has a dry woody depth. It can create a gentle tingle in the mouth, with the cavendish lending a soft whisper of Dunhill MM965 (as others have noted). The balance of flavours is very subtle, but this is the blend's strength. It centres upon the softer side of things that can be lost in a stronger blend. That's not to say that fuller blends can't be subtle -but this is like a water colour in a gallery full of oil paintings.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Xeneize (275)	2012-07-01		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I bought this one thinking of a light aromatic, and surprisingly found an "almost natural" tobacco mixture. Cavendish here has nothing to do with the Scandinavian version we commonly know, resembling a "Scotish mixture" with very light casing. Smooth, no tongue bite, perfect moisture level, cool burning. That said, a bit pricey among its kind.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2011-09-09		Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Appearance is a sticky dark brown rough ribbon. Tin smells of dried fruits with a fish sauce and soy sauce note. Tastes lightly sweet with savory notes. This is a red labelled tin.

The reviews of blends we dislike and blends we love are easy to write. Provost Mixture presents more difficulty. This blend is between a like and a love. One might expect a Virginia and Cavendish blend to be simple, but Provost Mixture is more complex than you might imagine. On opening the tin I get a slight whiff of something similar to Esoterica's Margate- a savoury smell, something akin to a soy and fish sauce, perhaps even Roman garum. It does need a little drying time out of the tin. The first part of the bowl may lead one to think this is boring, but press on. Lovely notes emerge, and Provost is medium strength as the smoke progresses.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2011-08-24		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Good stuff! I discovered this tobacco a few years ago and fell in love with it. I don't know why it is not more popular than it appears to be. Smooth, rich tobacco flavor with a hint of spice to it. It's an all day smoke for me and one I never seem to tire of. Pairs great with a morning cup of black coffee or tea but is just as good with an ice cold beer on the front porch watching the sun set. Wonderful daily smoke!

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2011-08-17		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I've read where they've said (whoever "they" are) that you should smoke X oz. of a blend before reviewing it. And sometimes it might indeed take a couple tins to get a good handle on a blend. BUT then there are other blends, where half way through the first bowl, you think, "Oh yeah, this one's a keeper". Well ,for me this is one of those blends.

Now, I have smoked a bowl of Provost mixture every night for the past week , usually as the last bowl of the night. Tonight I smoked two in a row. I do not hesitate to award this blend a four-star rating. Every time I smoke a bowl of this, I think, "My God this is good tobacco".

This one is kind of a chamaeleon of sorts... apparently it is just virgina + cavendished virginia, but on the first bowl I thought I tasted a perique-y taste like a va/p. Tonight I got the essence of latakia that others have mentioned, then later it gave way to a more oriental-y type taste. Also, I find notes of cocoa and raisins throughout. This seems more of a sipping tobacco, for although it has yet to bite me, the bowl gets pretty hot if I start to chug it...yet strangely, the smoke does not ever seem to get too hot or harsh...FWIW I have been smoking this in a deep but narrow, thick walled bowl, and let it air out for 30 to 60 mins. before firing. If I had been in charge of naming this blend, I'd have called it "Rico Suave". Lmao. No kidding.

I'm very impressed that this blend was created from nothing more than virginia tobaccos, bright and black. Generally I dock half a star when I feel the blend may be a little too ahh pricey but this time price doesn't deter me in the least, it was worth every cent IMHO. Good good stuff. Highly recommended.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2011-08-11		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

A most excellent blend that seems to fool many of us.The toastyness of the Virginia Cavendish along with, I suspect some Virginia Sun cured (which by the way is also called "oriental") and grown in Virginia as well as Greece and Turkey, give this blend a mistique! Hearty and out front, delicious with a rounded balance and flavour. After one pipeful you'll want another right behind it!

Update: The tin, (stash in a mason jar) I was smoking was 2003. I just came from the porch where I had another pipeful of Provost. Smoked this in a large Canadian James Upshall. I will take back the sun cured leaf, I don't think it's there. This blend will really fool many because it tastes so...english. It's a very refined Virginia flue cure (bright) that with the cavendish just works like no other I've tried. Four stars and wish I could give it five.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2010-10-03		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Casper is on to something with his Cavendish comments. There's no shortage of blends that involve Cav, but everyone seems to pay attention to a mixture's Va/Lat/Burley content.

I'm no exception. I don't know what to call this aside from a Cav/Va.

Pure Va smokers won't love this. I don't love this. But I like it a lot, and it has a role in my rotation. After I've had a bowl or two of Va in a day, and I want a change of pace, this is exactly what I want. There's good Va flavor, and also something dark and earthy.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Grundie (26)	2010-07-26		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable

This is a firm favourite of mine. It's a tasty and reliable English blend. Some may say it has no latakia. But there is definitely something latakia flavoured in it!

Tasty, cool and easy to smoke. It's just the sort of tobacco I love.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pDzine (12)	2009-05-13		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

I just happened to pick up a tin while I was getting some cleaners. I hopped in my car and loaded up a cob I use for testing new blends. I didn't even make it home before I called the tobacconist and had them hold the rest of the stock for me.

I've not been smoking pipes long enough to really understand what makes this a great blend. All I know is that it is phenomenal. I highly recommend trying at least one tin sometime in your life.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2008-06-18		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

My next big tobacco with the BALD HEADED TEACHER 4noggins!

Fortunately I added it by chance in my last order. Provost requires sober smoking so that you can enjoy its magnificent natural taste. Virginia and Black Cavendish add a very nice sweetness. The baked Black Cavendish causes the feeling that there is Latakia in the mixture.

NO THERE IS NO LATAKIA IN THE MIXTURE.

The initial roughness goes away gradually. After the second half of the bowl, and especially towards the end, the whole mixture acquires the perfect proportion. It is not a cool tobacco (the tobacco is quite moist in Tin and it requires drying).

It is not spicy, not sweet, and just perfect for my palate-roof!

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2008-04-14		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

I'm on a bit of a "cavendish" adventure/journey/trek. Cavendish...the elusive "Keyser Söze" of the tobacco world. Is it cased..is it not? what is it...who is it???? 965 was the first port on the journey, Provost was the second and I'm afraid I disembarked and am stuck on this blend. I love this stuff and love the descriptions below spanning several years. I'm not sure I've read such a wide range of descriptions seemingly including about every tobacco there is. I will say this....read all the worthy descriptions below...and please do try a tin at least! I'm becoming a fan of cavendish, (whatever you are), blends.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2007-08-09		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

While I am pleased the last three reviewers enjoyed this blend, I have to say that they really don't know their arses from a hole in the ground. This Tobacco has Latakia in it, and if Fox says it doesn't, then they are Lying. It has enough that I can pick it out with my fingers. This is a good tobacco blend though, very mellow, leathery, smokey. Fox produces some outstanding blends, and Provost is great.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2006-03-27		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Strong

a quick note to say how much I am enjoying this tobacco. My other favourite is Dorisco so this is another success from the Fox stable. In Dublin Fox's and Petersons have shops virtually beside each other. Peterson have great pipes (Fox's have a pretty good selection too) but the Fox brand tobacco is streets ahead in my opinion. I have yet to find a Peterson tobacco I like but so far have yet to dislike a Fox tobacco. Being relatively new to pipes I cannot comment with accuracy as to the type of leaf etc but if this is an English/Oriental then that is what I like. The room note is a bit strong for my taste but the cool smoke you get from this tobacco is well worth it. A very helpful assistant in Fox's called David in Dublin recommended Provost as his smoke of choice. I can only thank him. Service is a bit eratic in Fox's ranging from superb to a bit grumpy but their tobacco is well worth it. Amazingly they did not know about this website in the shop. They do now. So far the second best tobacco I have ever had after Dorisco, ranking equal second with Bob's Chocolate flake (the only aromatic I like so far)

Update - 9/03/09 - I mix this with Fox's Aromatic (another recommendation by David in Fox's Dublin) and again can only t hank him. I had found Provost slightly high in nicotine for me but mixed with the aromatic (which is very subtle) it is a wonderful mellow smoke - top notch.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2004-12-04		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Update 08-04-09 I had to write an updated review for provost mixture because of the original verbiage that I used. My how my tastes and experiences have changed. I look at my statements concerning the possibility that this blend contained latakia. HAHa! Back then I knew so little. The truth is still that this is one of my all time favorites. I still view the craftsmanship and quality in provost as top notch. I value this blend heavily now that 965 is gone. The twangy, mild-edginess, of the orientals are so provocative. They are full on the palate and intriguing in the nose. The orientals don't come of as spicy. In a freshly opened tin, the moisture is quite high. The excess moisture seems to cloy the combination of flavors, yet with a slight amount of drying, the orientals begin to "pop" against the smoky sweetness of the cavendish. I really can't say enough for this blend and its level of refined elegance. I can't think of another quite like it in composition and matching depth, given the ingredient list. The cut and quality is everything that I lost when the dunhill stuff went bye-bye.(whining,groaning) Provost is a must try for those who love english/oriental blends. It is a mainstay for me. ---------------------------------------------------------------

I must say that like the others who have reviewed this blend, cavendish is not what comes to mind. Unless J. Foxes concept of cavendish is tobacco painstakenly cured under a smokey fire of cedar. I'm sorry, but the characteristic charred cedar essence of smokey latakia is just too evident in this blend to pass it off as cavendish. I do believe that there is a trace amount of cavendish present but, not so much as to take this blends flavor away from the beautiful essence of the English style. There are so many likenesses found in many of the great english blends that I have to say that to deny latakia would almost be blasphemy. Oh... but don't let me be the expert, (because I'm not) I'm just going by what my nose and taste buds tell me. Upon opening a tin of Provost I'm met with the wonderful essence of smoked red meat and tangy worchestershire sauce, the same aroma the left me hopelessly addicted to Dunhill's 965. All in all whether or not this blend is complimented by cavendish, latakia, or both, I could really care less. I let the true guruhs debate the topic and, the blender know the truth. This a blend for the ages and is ultimately classic in its composition and quality. Get your self a few tins and be enthralled.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2003-12-21		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

Outstanding English blend! Soft smokey,full,light natural sweetness with the leathery smokey Latikia playing bass. This is a most elegant tobacco and packs well,lights well,does not come too moist,and is most savory.This is not a harsh English blend,it's not edge-y or acrid, but smooth as silk.A really great English tobacco.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2002-01-15		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Strong

Not too sure about the above description ""sweet American Cavendish" . This tobacco is a full english latakia blend that gives 965 and Standard Medium a run for the money . A very nice full latakia blend . Highly recommended .A nice change of pace for the latakia lover .

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