Did EMP change or did I change?

[dnietosi]

Yesterday I bought a tin of Dunhill EMP. I had not smoked this blend since 5 years or so (I stopped smoking for a few years). When I first tried it, it was something great I felt smoking this tobacco. At the time, I was only smoking cherry and vanilla aromatics, McBaren's Cube and stuff of the sort. When I opened the tin yesterday it was disappointing just by looking at the tobacco. I remember it different, darker tobacco mixed with the yellow thick leaves. Yesterday it was much more brownish looking and the smell was not as bright as I remembered. The smoke was nice, It lucked the brightness I remember but it was good. Maybe you itchiness on my throat by the end of the bowl.
There is this say: "To the place you have been happy, you should never try to go back"
Is my mind making all this up? Or has there been some changes in the classic tobacco?
D.

 

[tbradsim1]

Tastes change Dinie, some weeks every thing I smoke tastes almost the same, when that happens I have a lemon tree and I make some light lemon water and looks like it cleans out the palate, some members drink hot tea. The old cajun

 

[dnietosi]

Mmmm

 

[sparroa]

Dunhill tobaccos stopped being distributed for a time after the closure of Murray's...
They were picked up by Orlik, who I've been told did a fairly faithful interpretation of the old blends.
Just recently I have heard that K&K in Germany are now doing the blending.
So there may very well be something to your argument that the blends have changed substantially, because they have indeed changed hands several times in the past few years.

 

[ohin3]

I never did get around to smoking Early Morning Pipe back in the Murray days. I was, on the other hand, a faithful smoker of Night Cap, London Mixture, My Mixture 965, Light Flake, Durbar and Three Year Matured during the Murray years. I do like the newest version of Early Morning Pipe, and I find the other new Dunhills to be spot on matches of the old Murray Dunhills. Like Tbradsim said though, tastes do change from time to time.

 

[aristokles]

I doubt it's your taste (or olifactory perception) memory has changed. I pick up changes in Dunhill blends more and more and, lately, even tin to tin. I at first faulted myself, but did not find the problem with other brands and/or blenders. Poor quality control at the Orlik packaging plant? Possibly. Possible changes with Kolhhase & Kopp taking over from Orlik as contract blender? Maybe, but perhaps too soon to get that in the field yet.

 

[sparroa]

Mike,
If the problem indeed lies with the blender then it stands to reason that a Nightcap lover could soon find themselves in the same boat.
No doubt dnietosi has changed a great deal over the past five years as a smoker but the truth is likely to be found somewhere between that and any possible modification of the blend itself.
(It is curious that I have heard this issue raised several times recently so that is what leads me to believe there is a little more to it than palate change)

 

[dnietosi]

Well, I had no idea about blenders changing and all that. However, I had such a nice memory of this blend, what I smoked yesterday is not bad, it is just not the same.

 

[sparroa]

Valid points all around.
I would imagine that blends are constantly changing in minute percentages as the factories compensate for the shortcomings or play up the strengths of each individual tobacco shipment.
Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating any conspiracy theories. I have seen the same video that you reference Mike and it is comical to think that the uproar only comes in high volumes when there is a visible change.
Still, there has to be something that cannot translate from one blender to another.
If Samuel Gawith started to be made with modern equipment you might have a good facsimile but something would definitely be lost in the bargain... (Purists say that FVF isn't close to its old self since they lost the Zimbabwean leaf you reference, roth)
I would also presume that the more changes a blend undergoes (Dunhill-Murray-Orlik-K&K) the more likely it is that a blend will be fundamentally different than the originals than a blend that has made just one transition to a reputable blending house.
Anyway, it is no big deal for most and as long as there are ready substitutes it is no big problem.
I have just noticed a few queries about Dunhill consistency these days that did not really arise much on the forums during the period of time that they were blended by Orlik. Dnietosi's inquiry just reignited my curiosity...

 

[sparroa]

Who knows.
I love some K&K products so I am not "against" their tobaccos by any means, but it does make me wonder if this supposed switch (which I just heard about from Kevin approximately a week ago) is the culprit for any perceived differences that may arise.
Dnietosi, for example, was not aware of a transition to another blending house so its not a case of the curmudgeon crying foul upon hearing news of a change.
I will follow the issue from a distance and see if anything comes of it.