Dunhill Pipe Tobacco Blends

Dunhill Pipe Tobacco Blends are counted among the most respected English tobacco lines in the pipe world. Born from the tobacconist Alfred Dunhill opened in 1907 on Duke Street in London's St James's district, the series produced classics such as My Mixture 965, Nightcap, and Early Morning Pipe, considered the benchmark of their type. This entry covers only the brand's tobacco side; for the pipes known for their white spot, see Dunhill (White Spot).

The "My Mixture" Tradition

Alfred Dunhill presented himself as a "tobacco specialist." Rather than selling ready-made packets, his shop prepared a personal blend (mixture) to each customer's taste and recorded the recipe in a ledger titled "My Mixture." Records say these ledgers accumulated tens of thousands of personal recipes over time, and that customers included well-known literary figures and members of the court of the day. As the business grew, the most popular recipes began, from the early 1910s, to be entered into catalogs as ready-made packets; personal blends thus turned into standard products sold worldwide. The name of the line's flagship, My Mixture 965, also comes from this ledger tradition; the recipe is said to trace back to a blend prepared for a single customer before 1910.

The "Big Three"

When Dunhill comes up in the community, the first thing that comes to mind is the trio known as the "Big Three" English blends. Nightcap and Early Morning Pipe were introduced in 1951, while My Mixture 965 is distilled from a much older recipe. The three are considered steps on the same ladder in terms of Latakia proportion and strength:

Blend	Character	Latakia share and strength
Nightcap	Heavy Latakia supported by Virginia, Oriental tobacco, and Perique; designed for the end of the day, full-bodied and strong	Highest
My Mixture 965	Latakia, Macedonian-sourced Oriental tobaccos, and brown Cavendish; round, full, and balanced	Medium
Early Morning Pipe	Oriental-forward, supported by lightly toasted Virginia; Latakia present only at a seasoning level	Lowest

As their names imply, the trio is thought of as a family designed for different times of day: the lightest for morning, the darkest for night.

From Murray to Peterson

The blends were prepared at Dunhill's own facility in London until 1981. That year, production was handed to Murray, Sons & Co., a Belfast firm with roots going back to the early 19th century. When British American Tobacco (BAT) closed its Belfast factory at the end of 2004, production moved to Denmark, to the Orlik facility now part of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). When BAT withdrew entirely from the pipe tobacco and cigar business in 2018, Dunhill blends disappeared from world markets. STG announced in 2019 that it had bought the brand and design rights to the blends; in November of that year, classics including Nightcap, Early Morning Pipe, Mixture 965, and Royal Yacht went back into production under the Peterson label. Since production had already been running for years at the same Danish factory, the recipes are considered unchanged. Old Dunhill tins, meanwhile, have become pieces cellared and aged in collectors' stores, spoken of with respect among enthusiasts.