Exploring the Per G. Jensen Blender's Collection

Per Jensen came to pipe tobacco blending as the second act of his career after decades on the pipe manufacturing side running the Georg Jensen Pipe Factory. As a master blender, he's brought his expertise to many beloved mixtures for nearly two decades, and now introduces the Blender's Collection—five tobaccos ready to be mixed as components or smoked alone.

At  Mac Baren, Per developed the collection of modern classics that is the HH Series, expanded the Amphora line-up, created the Seven Seas line, and more. As head blender, he was responsible for maintaining some of the most historic mixtures in pipe tobacco today such as Capstan, St. Bruno, Three Nuns, and the classic Mac Baren mixtures, assuring the continuity of these legacies. More recently, he has collaborated with the Sutliff Tobacco Company on creative projects in the Birds of a Feather and Pipe Force series. It’s an impressive resume, but it was never really the plan. 

Home mixing was something Per first observed in his father's home blend. "My father's blending formula depended on what our local grocery store had in stock," Per tells me. "If all was there, he used two tins of Three Nuns, one tin of Capstan Yellow, and one tin of Players Red. If Three Nuns were sold out, he used Dark Twist instead."

Per similarly did his fair share of hobbyist mixing, but once he found himself on the tobacco side of things as Mac Baren's product specialist, his bent for tinkering went from a casual—usually fruitless‚—interest, to something more earnest, nourished by that closeness with the tobacco, education around the blending process, and the passion it begot.

With the Blender's Collection, Per sought to offer some tools to nurture that predisposition for experimentation and exploration that is shared by many others in the pipe tobacco community, but with components that are well balanced and easy to work with. As he puts it, "the critical thing about Blender's Collections is that users cannot make big mistakes."

With the exception of one meant to bring an Aromatic quality to a blend, all of the tobaccos in the Per G. Jensen Blender's Collection feature no top flavoring and are minimally cased. They can be blended to strengthen, sweeten, or mellow an existing mixture according to your taste, or blended together as your own recipe. Also, they are well balanced to offer a pleasing smoking experience just as they are. 

For this write up, I asked Per if he would send me two recipe recommendations using Blender's Collection components. So, I'll start by taking a look individually at each of the tobaccos in the series, before sharing my experience with the two recommended mixtures. 

Virginia

Bright and Red Virginia is pressed into a block and stored for at least one month. Then, it is cut and loosened into a Ready-Rubbed cut. Virginia serves as a solid foundation for various tobacco blends, reducing dryness and toning down strength when needed. Also, add some Virginia if you want to make a tobacco less aromatic.

The first tobacco in the Blender's Collection sees a mixture of bright and dark flue cured, as well as an air-cured Virginia variety, offering the essential Virginia character in a balanced blend.  

The ready rubbed cut is sliced thin, showing a good deal of dark and reddish shade, but some noticeable bright flecks as well. It produces that Virginia sweetness, tang, and a light wood and grassiness providing a great foundation—not at all monotone when smoked unmixed, but not busy in such a way that would make it a cumbersome base. There’s also a herbal and lightly brown sugar note that comes through as I smoke. It isn’t without a bit of weight, not full bodied, but not thin and thus easily overtaken by more robust condimentals. It will do well to round out especially bold components, but on its own, still engages the palate in sinus.

Burley

Most of this blend is Burley, with just a little Virginia added. Burley is excellent at minimizing bite and adding strength to a blend. If you have found a perfect aromatic but feel the strength is a little weak, add some Burley. Or, if you have a blend you find bites a little bit and you want to remove it, add some Burley.

Blender's Collection Burley is quite similar to the Virginia in presentation; ready rubbed with brown leaf of several shades. This component isn’t purely composed of the air cured leaf—it includes some Virginia for balance. The result is a mixture offering the quintessence of Burley, with a smooth delivery.

That familiar Burley nuttiness and sweet molasses are on display from the first light, backed by a light grassy accent. Blender's Collection Burley leans to the natural attributes of the air cured leaf. As I smoke, the darker woody notes alight, bringing a subtle weight to the palate.

Aromatic #4

A delightful blend of Virginia, Burley, and Cavendish. With a higher Cavendish content, it offers a pleasant backdrop for blending with other tobaccos. Enjoy flavors of fruit, figs, sweet berries, and brown sugar when smoked straight. Perfect for enhancing the flavor of your tobacco blend or adding to create a stronger aromatic. 

For Aromatic # 4, we have two exceptions within the collection—top flavoring and a ribbon cut. The cut is coarse, with a good representation of Black Cavendish holding that top flavoring.

Aromatic # 4 is a mixture of Virginia, Burley, and Black Cavendish, topped with a sweetening agent and fruit flavor that I find berry-like. But in general, the sort of miscellaneous flavor amalgam gives me the impression of a Danish style flavoring. The use of Virginia-based Cavendish probably lends to the impression, being the European tradition as opposed to the US tendency to put Burley through this process of creating Black Cavendish. The flavor is vibrant and offers a silky, lush smoke with an expected mild body.

Dark Fired Kentucky

Made from large leaves smoked multiple times in a special barn after harvest and drying, Dark Fired Kentucky delivers high strength due to fewer leaves on the plant, concentrated nicotine, and a slightly smoky flavor. Perfect for adding strength, smokiness or removing a bite.

For full body and flavor, we have Dark Fired Kentucky. If you ask me, this and Virginia’s are Mr. Jensen’s forte. I think the Old Dark Fired and Bold Kentucky HH blends are some of his finest contributions.

The Blender’s Collection Dark Fired Kentucky reaffirms that grasp on bold flavor and body. The dark ready rubbed offers a robust, flavorful smoke that can bring a smokey sensation to a profile, while buttressing a mixture with its assertive, earthy body. The mesquite and meaty character is joined by balancing sweetness, making this one of the more complex mixtures in its own right among the series. A good helping of this in your mixture will really beef it up, but even a small ratio of 5-10% will offer layers and some more weight.

Bold & Strong

A unique blend of Virginia, Burley, and Rustica, pressed and cut into a Ready-Rubbed style. Experience earthy, leathery, woody, and herbal notes. High in nicotine, it easily enhances tobacco strength. Add natural herbal, earthy, and spicy flavors to your tobacco with Bold & Strong.

The naming on this one couldn't be more straight forward. It's bold, and boy, it's strong. This last component sees the notoriously powerful Rustica balanced with Virginia and Burley, offering a component that will really stiffen up a mixture. I would put the strength on this one a few ticks beyond Dark Fired Kentucky, but one place it differs is in the fullness of flavor. No doubt, there is a good deal of flavor—it's rare that a hefty blend doesn't seem to convey taste vividly—but it's more textural. I find Rustica has a slight vegetative stalkiness and a BBQ aspect of its own, but more to the earthy charred side as opposed to Kentucky's meaty smokiness and floralness.

As strength can often be the vehicle for how flavor expressed, Bold & Strong makes for a great base to build a hefty blend off of (bearing in mind a little goes a long way), or perhaps one worth experimenting with introducing in small ratio to a mixture that you like but just needs that oomph.

Per's recommended blends

The most you will need of any one tobacco for these mixtures is 25g, so getting the tobaccos at the one ounce minimum (just over 28g) will suffice for mixing both of these. However, you might want a little more to try isolated. Also, you should think of these as good templates to start from, but you may want more so you can mess with the ratios as you fine tune to your taste. 

Of course, you could also just bring the ratio down on each, but it's pretty convenient to do 50g totals. 

Note: You can absolutely mix these to smoke right away, but I recommend you jar some to try once the components have a little time to marry, especially if you fine tune to something that really appeals to your palate. 

Mixture # 1

Premixed top to bottom: Virginia, Aromatic #4, Burley

Lighting up, a woody, vegetative base seems to come together between the Virginias and Burley, with the light hint of that Burley cocoa lingering. There's a warm, beady quality that the mixture offers. I also note an enjoyably muted caramel sweetness, likely brought out between the creamy sweet Cavendish, Burley, and toppings.

Per G. Jensen Mix 1 in Vauen New York Rhodesian

Even smoked by itself, I find Aromatic #4 to be on the mild to medium side in terms of flavoring—decidedly Aromatic, but not cloying or heavily topped. So, its contributions to this blend, while palpable, offer complementing harmonies. On that continuum of Aromatic-ness, the mixture is on the light side. 

If the flavorful Aromatic quality with some body and nuance is what you’d like, you could certainly stand to up the Aromatic # 4 ratio here, but if you want those aspects with more of a nod to the creamy, fruity notes of # 4, Per’s recipe here seems perfect for just that.

Mixture #2

Premixed top to bottom: Virginia, Dark Fired Kentucky, Bold & Strong

The woody, earthy, BBQ character from the Bold & Strong and Dark Fired Kentucky offer a wealth of flavor, but they are nicely elevated by the sweetness of the Virginias. The Virginias tame the boldness without “watering down” the flavor, and its own breadiness and tang nicely harmonizes with the more forward notes. 

Per G. Jensen Mix 2 in J. Mouton Bushido Poker

That taming is of course in the context of the intensity of the Kentucky or Bold & Strong, not at all to say the mixture is mellowed to a great extent. It placates the rougher qualities, but I would still call this a medium to full bodied and flavored tobacco. That fullness is emphasized in the sensory experience—an engaging piquancy on the palate, as well as the peppery pinch and earthy floralness in the sinus.

Whether you're looking for some mixing components or exceptional blends at affordable bulk prices, the Per G. Jensen Blender's Collection offers some fantastic options to explore. If you do mix your own, we'd love to hear what you put together over at the Tobacco Reviews forum!