Murray Sons & Co, Ltd Punchbowle

Punchbowle was part of a trio of blends produced by Murray, Sons & Co of Belfast, Northern Ireland, on behalf of John Sinclair Ltd. Compared with Parson's Pleasure and Barney's in the same series, this blend has the highest Latakia proportion; virginia leaves build the body, latakia is added as the spice, and records indicate no sweetener or top-flavoring is applied to the blend at all. In the smoke, latakia's smoky, leather-like layer sits over virginia's dry, lightly sweet base; being unflavored, the taste comes directly from the leaf. This production ended when the Murray factory closed in January 2005; later productions carrying the name were made by other companies.