Dunhill My Mixture 221b Baker St.

["sam"]

Anyone ever smoke this? I bought a tin on a whim because it was pretty cheap and I usually like Dunhill blends.  I'm not going to open it yet because I have a few other tins that I want to finish smoking first. I haven't been able to find much in the way of descriptions beyond it being a Virginia/Burley with a topping. I did see it referred to as somewhat like Royal Yacht, which has become my favorite year round smoke. Also, I recently smoked some Murray's era Royal Yacht, even with age and being from a different blender I thought it was reassuringly similar to the current version.

 

[rothnh]

I remember trying a bowl of Dunhill My Mixture 221b Baker St. 10-12 years ago. IIRC, it was similar to, but not the same as, Royal Yacht.

Nice find. Enjoy -- and thanks for posting!

 

[monbla256]

I've been smoking Dunhill 'baccy since 1970 and have Never seen a MY MIXTURE 221 BAKER ST. in all these years . It's not listed in Lorings list of Dunhill blends:

http://loringpage.com/pipearticles/duntob2chart.htm  which  covers ALL the Dunhill blends/Mixtures from 1910 thru 1990. Where and WHEN did you get it?

 

[riff raff]

Never heard of that one - pop a pix up of the tin please.

 

["sam"]

I bought it from an online vendor, it had a bad photo and no description, but it wasn't much money so I didn't really care if it turned out the seal was bad...it wasn't.  I believe it is one of the hand-blended tins from the London store.  There is a date of '99, but it also says MM965, so who knows.
Sorry these photos are so huge:

 

[riff raff]

Interesting. I suspect it is MM965 but perhaps blended at the Baker Street location? Either way, a neat find!

 

[monbla256]

That's interesting. Unless one was going to London often back then, you would not have had the opportunity to have purchased that blend. The London store blends were pretty much only sold there. I remember going to the New York store backin the mid 90's and they said they could mix ANY of the blends in "the book" of My Mixtures they had but you had to purchase a min. of 8 oz as I recall. Sadly you can't do that anymore as they don't sell tobacco products OR pipes at any of the Dunhill stores anymore. Even in London from what some British smokers I know tell me. You now have to go to the WHITE SPOT store which is next door to the Dunhill store to get anything pertaining to tobacco these days. Enjoy your unique find slowly. Once it's gone, no more  :twisted: :twisted:

Here's some info on the Dunhill 'baccy tin wise during this time:

"Dunhill

The key year for Dunhill tobacco is 1981 when production of most Dunhill tobacco blends was shifted from Dunhill to Murray in Northern Ireland (at the time both Dunhill and Murray were subsidiaries of the same parent company). While the blends remained of very fine quality, distinct differences were immediately apparent, I suspect from Murray's use of younger tobacco and probably some recipe changes due to the unavailability of some tobacco varieties. The only exception to the Murray transition were the My Mixture blends (other than 965). The My Mixture blends (other than 965), were, (and are) available only from the London Duke Street shop. Those blends apparently continued to be blended in house for some time, and today are produced for the Duke Street shop by a small batch blender in London.
•'20s - '60s: During this period the 'knife lid' was the primary tin style. In the '50s some 'coin twist' tins were introduced with a decade long, transition from the 4 ounce 'knife lid' to a 4 ounce 'coin twist' starting in the early '60s. [This decade long 'transition' may be indicative of the extended 'in the tin' aging that Dunhill gave its tobaccos.] These 4 ounce 'coin twists' are often called 'tall boys' because they were the same circumference as the 2 ounce 'coin twist' tins, just twice as high. Not all tins during these five decades were imprinted with the packaging weight but when they were it was only in ounces. Closer dating may generally be arrived at through the royal crest that appears on most tins. A Prince of Wales Crest dates from 1921 to 1936; a George VI Crest with a reference to the King dates from 1936 to 1953; a George VI Crest with no reference to the King dates to 1954; a George VI Crest with reference to the late King dates from 1954 to 1962; and an Elizabeth II Crest dates from 1963 to 1995. In addition tins from the WWII era bore a small reference to war time packaging requirements.
•'70s: 'Coin twist' tins were used exclusively during the '70s in the 2 ounce, 4 ounce 'tall boy', and 8 ounce sizes and as in prior years generally were labeled with words to the effect that the tobacco was been blended 'by Dunhill' in 'England' (or prior to the '70s often 'Great Britain').
•Early '80s: The last of the 'in house' Dunhill production, ending in 1981, was packaged in 'coin twists' tins with 'painted' labels showing weight in either fractional ounces only, e.g. 1 3/4 or 3 1/2, or in both fractional ounces and grams with, in either case, the country of origin labeled as 'England'. Sometime in 1981 production of standard brands (but other then 965, not the My Mixtures) was taken over by Murray. These tins may be identified by their paper (rather than 'painted') label which, for the first time, generally indicated the country of origin as being the 'United Kingdom' (I have seen a few paper label Murray tins with 'England'). In addition, distinctively, the now 3 1/2 ounce/100 gram 'tall boy' tin style was flattened resulting in the tin having a noticeably larger circumference than its 1 3/4 ounce/50 gram counterpart.
•Mid to Late '80s: Murray changed back to painted labeling within a few years, these tins however, may be easily distinguished from earlier Dunhill production in that the Murray tins uniformly label the country of origin as the 'United Kingdom'.
•'90s: In about 1990 the Murry blended tobacco label was changed to show that it was manufactured under the authority of Dunhill. In 1995 the Elizabeth II Crest was deleted from the tins and 'authority' was changed to 'in association' with Dunhill.

In short (and with some generalization):

'Association' or 'authority' equals Murray / '90s;

'United Kingdom' equals Murray / '80s - '90s;

Paper label 'coin twist' standard blends equals Murray / early '80s;

Fractional or dual weight painted 'coin twists' made in 'England' equal Dunhill/early '80s;

Whole ounces, or tall boy 'coin twists' equals Dunhill / '70s - '60s; and

'Knife-lid' equals Dunhill / '60s or earlier. "

 

[Aristokles]

Interesting. I suspect it is MM965 but perhaps blended at the Baker Street location? Either way, a neat find!

Why do you think it's MM965? Besides the usual listings of MMs generally available, Dunhill (at least in Manhattan) had dozens if not hundreds (even 1000's) of MM blends - most personal formulas. No, I do not think this is one of those, but curious about the 965 reasoning here.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Yep, there are probably 1000s of MMs on the books. No way to tell unless you get lucky and meet someone who has also tried it or have them look up the ingredients on the books. Have you checked Tobacco Reviews? Maybe you'll get lucky there.

 

[DrT999]

Yep, there are probably 1000s of MMs on the books.  No way to tell unless you get lucky and meet someone who has also tried it or have them look up the ingredients on the books.  Have you checked Tobacco Reviews?  Maybe you'll get lucky there.

There are 2 reviews of it there, from 2004 & 2005. Both ordered it through the store -- a Va/Bur with a light sweet casing

 

[riff raff]

He added this to the pictures:
[/quote]

Why do you think it's MM965? Besides the usual listings of MMs generally available, Dunhill (at least in Manhattan) had dozens if not hundreds (even 1000's) of MM blends - most personal formulas. No, I do not think this is one of those, but curious about the 965 reasoning here.


[/quote]

 

["sam"]

Yeah, I saw those reviews, that's about all I've seen written about it. Riff raff, the bar code sticker has "965" on it, but maybe that was just the printed label they put on all of the hand blended MM tins. Whatever, it's a neat curio that I will smoke and enjoy.

 

[rothnh]

Enjoy your unique find slowly. Once it's gone, no more  :twisted: :twisted:

If you really love this blend --save a bowlful or two -- I'd wager Steve Books @ House of Calabash can blend this one for you.  Sure, it's pricey, but less, by weight, than you paid for that tin -- and once you pay for the set up charge and place an order, you can reorder more as often as you want.

 

[Aristokles]

He added this to the pictures:

Why do you think it's MM965? Besides the usual listings of MMs generally available, Dunhill (at least in Manhattan) had dozens if not hundreds (even 1000's) of MM blends - most personal formulas. No, I do not think this is one of those, but curious about the 965 reasoning here.


[/quote]

I see "965" in the legalese of the health warning, but no MM965 or My Mixture 965). No big deal.

 

[PlateauGuy]

I've just finishing reading "Pipesmoking - a 21st Century Guide" by Richard C. Hacker. At the end of the book he has tobaccos that everyone should try.

221B Baker Street was listed under Dunhill Hand Blended, which meant you need go to the Dunhill Store in London - or at least that's what I thought. It's an aromatic, but an indepth description wasn't given. June '86 was also mentioned as a good smoke.

So, where'd you get it?

 

["sam"]

I bought a couple of tins of the re-released version recently.  I won't attempt to review it, but I'll try to articulate a couple of observations.  The topping has been described as similar to Royal Yacht and Three Year Matured Virginia.  I have smoked pounds of the former but none of the latter and quite honestly I don't think they are that similar; I get a more pronounced berry taste from 221B that reminded me more of University Flake than Royal Yacht.  The underlying Virginia is similar, but the dark-fired Kentucky in 221B produces a much different flavor profile...for me anyway(I also don't get a strong plum flavor out of Royal Yacht that many people write about).  The nicotine level is probably medium and I think it smells pretty good when burning.  I think people who enjoy VaBurs with a mild topping would probably enjoy this blend and it does have that great Dunhill ribbon-cut that makes it easy to smoke.