Mixture 79 - you know you want it....
I'm pretty sure that I posted this somewhere already, but way back when on another site, I ran an OTC review/trade covering everything from Mixture 79 to Granger and Carter Hall.
Not entering the contest since I've already traveled this road but for your reading pleasure.....
Mixture 79. It sits in its baggy. Staring at me. Daring me to set forth. In the bag it is….well….typical looking. Smells vaguely Lakeland-ish, and I loves me some Lakelands. I am determined – yeah mayhap desperate – to enjoy this blend. Cob in hand, NPR on radio, I set forth. As I readied myself for this battle I thought of Poe for some reason, but I’m pretty sure that Poe would have been a FVF kind of guy.
Lovecraft. He would be into this stuff.
“I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more.”
Yah – that’s the ticket. So join me, dear reader. I now hurl myself into the abyss of Mixture 79.
I set this stuff out last night to dry. Yes – last night. It wasn’t overly soggy anyway, but I wanted to give this blend a shot at its crunchiest. Packed the pipe and got the fire stoked. I was immediately beset with a tidal wave of sugar. Seriously. It was like I bit into a sugar cube. The retrohale was that of a mild Lakeland, if Walmart made a Lakeland blend. Perish the thought. But overall? Surprisingly not bad.
“My opinion of my whole experience varies from time to time. In broad daylight, and at most seasons I am apt to think the greater part of it a mere dream; but sometimes in the autumn, about two in the morning when winds and animals howl dismally, there comes from inconceivable depths below a damnable suggestions of rhythmical throbbing ... and I feel that the transition of Juan Romero was a terrible one indeed.”
Slight Lakeland goodness, smooth burn, little or no tongue bite – overall this is good stuff! Not as good as the other OTCs I’ve reviewed, but not the evil harridan that I dreaded. The sweetness comes and goes, and although it is very obviously that of a topping rather than from the tobacco it isn’t overpowering. It wants to bite for a moment, then that passes. What was really odd about this was that when I was merrily puffing away with no bite whatsoever, and happened to take a sip from my morning drink. This brought on a moment of level three Mac Baren bite. Truly weird, and it only happened once or twice. I got absolutely none of the anise or root beer that I noted in the bag.
“Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities.”
Mixture 79 merrily burned in my bowl as I made my way through morning fog. Tomorrow I work later and will be able to listen to All Things Considered. Is that Yog-Sothoth? Waitaminute….this Mixture 79 thing is….surprisingly burnable. If you like a Lakeland, you will get a touch of such on the retrohale. It wants to bite, but doesn’t. Dry this stuff, then dry it more.
“I was nearly unnerved at my proximity to a nameless thing at the bottom of a pit.”
As I made my way to the bottom of the bowl, the sugar cube showed itself again. Then it turned into something I could only describe as sweaty feet. If you went to the gym, shoved a flake or two of Ennerdale into your socks, and then played racquetball for a few hours before smoking it, that would be it. That went away quickly, but like the image of a disfigured streaker on a trampoline, it....lingered. It was odd, because other than this moment of footiness, this was not bad at all. If toe-jam and floral notes are something that you enjoy, then Mixture 79 just might be your thing!
