Talk About Scottish Blends 2/19/2020

[badbriar]

So what elements make up a Scottish pipe blend? I lean towards the notion that there is usually a bit of unsweetened Black Cavendish and a reserved amount of condiment leaves with the bulk being fine, mellow Virginias. Seems that a Scottish blend is quite like a good dark porter - low in ABU, so not bitter, lots of caramel and malty as can be! I've been fortunate to have found a couple of excellent Scottish blends that I prefer and am wondering if there are other enthusiasts out there.
Lastly, recommend any outstanding examples of said style worth exploring.

 

[lochinvar]

A Scottish mixture should have the same components as an English mixture (Virginia, Oriental and Latakia) with the addition of an unsweetened Cavendish. Less charitable people have said they did this to fill out the blends with the more affordable cavendish, stretching their more expensive component tobaccos.....actually this makes my penny pinching heart (its of Scottish decent) smile, and I'd say it is true, although many of the classic Scottish blends from Rattray are very Oriental forward (Red Rapparee and to a lesser extent Black Mallory). Whatever the motivation, it makes for a great blends.
Rattray is the Scottish mixture king, and may have originated the style. Their Highland Targe and 3 Noggins are two good representatives of different ends of the Scottish spectrum. McConnell's Scottish Blend is also a tasty entry, as is the ever popular Dunhill 965.
They are superior to all other mixtures because......if it's not Scottish it's CRAP!

 

[mingc]

Their Highland Targe and 3 Noggins are two good representatives of different ends of the Scottish spectrum.

Not having tried either, what's that spectrum, i.e., how are they different please? Also, how do they compare to Black Mallory and Red Rapperee?

 

[BROBS]

A Scottish blend does not have to contain Latakia. Just some type of condimental leaf.

and this can even be flavored flue cured burley.

 

[TinCup]

Try the Davidoff Scottish Mix, tastes great and its reassuringly expensive... ?

 

[rushx9]

From what I can tell, a Scottish blend is whatever a blender chooses to label "Scottish". Perhaps the most meaningless of all classifications. A lot of folks say it's an English with unsweetened Va based Cavendish, and this is the definition I used to follow, but I've seen so many contrary definitions by Scottish blenders that I don't think it even matters. So many classic English blends contain unsweetened Cavendish. I've never heard anyone call Germain's Royal Jersey a Scottish Blend? Balkan Supreme? Blackhouse? At this point, I just default to thinking a Scottish mixture is any classic blend made by a Scottish blending house such as Rattray's, McConnell's, and in some cases McClelland's and McCranie's. I assume Dunhill marketed 965 and Aperitif as Scottish and their popularity made the designation stick. There's a small amount of merit to the discussion of what makes a Balkan blend Balkan, but I think a Scottish mixture is whatever the Scots say it is. I hate to sound so dismissive, I've just tried to pick it apart before and the more I dig, the less definable it seems.

 

[brooklynpiper]

The immediately above.

Blenders use the few types of components (which marketing and consumers use) to create many different impressions and flavors--some Balkans (blends that try to match Sobranie) use kentucky, black cavendish, and even perique. When we hinge our blend definitions on components, we limit our understanding of blends. It's like saying all paintings that use yellow are English ones, all paintings that use yellow and red are scottish ones, all paintings that use yellow and orange are American-English. It isn't a good enough method of categorization for the whole impression or meaning.

 

[lochinvar]

Not having tried either, what's that spectrum, i.e., how are they different please? Also, how do they compare to Black Mallory and Red Rapperee?

3 Noggins has a sweet, dark profile that doesn't change much. For me, the taste tends heavily to Cavendish and Virginia, with Orientals in the middle ground adding some spice and wood to the taste, with the Latakia adding only a little leathery note. Overall, kinda like a sweet, toasty porter.
Highland Targe is the reverse. If you have smoked Durbar, imagine that incense like interplay of Latakia and Oriental on top of a fuller, sweeter VA/Cav. The latakia, Orientals and Virginias move forward and back throughout the smoke, and it maintains a brighter spicier flavor.
Black Mallory and Red Rapparee tend to lie further afield. The sugar sweet that 3 Noggins heavily displays and comes in third in Highland Targe is barely there in Black Mallory. Its more of a Latakia forward mixture, with a little sweet, just enough to take the edge off. Red Rapparee is a bag of razor blades, a wonder of an Oriental mixture. Orientals and Red Virginia make up the bulk of the taste with Latakia in the back, and what Cavendish is in it doesn't present itself, even as lightly as in Black Mallory.

And now I've talked about them so much, I think I'm going to go dig on or two of them out for tomorrow.

 

[judcole]

So what elements make up a Scottish pipe blend? I lean towards the notion that there is usually a bit of unsweetened Black Cavendish and a reserved amount of condiment leaves with the bulk being fine, mellow Virginias.

From what I can tell, a Scottish blend is whatever a blender chooses to label "Scottish".

About 15 years ago, in a similar discussion on the old Yahoo Pipesmokers2 board, I asked a similar question. The late Joe Harb replied, describing how he had, on a trip to Scotland, asked tobacconists to sell him an ounce of what they considered their most Scottish mixture. Most of the tobacco he got was more like MacBaren Mixture (Scottish Blend) then anything else.
Terms like "Scottish", "English", "Balkan", and so on, were first used by American blenders to describe shadings in latakia blends. They aren't used by blenders in the UK - or, at least, they didn't used to be. I would bet that MM 965 was first blended by Dunhill for a customer who had picked something up from Rattray's, or had tried a bowl of a Scottish friend's 'baccy.
There aren't clear definitions of those terms, and I try not to use them much, for that very reason. YMMV.

 

[Rpink53]

I believe Dunhill Aperitif is considered a Scottish blend. I prefer this over the already mentioned Dunhill 965.