Unfortunately, I can't really recall what this tasted like fresh, so I can't compare it to this 12 year old tin. I'm not sure if it dumbed down excessively with age, but the word "characterless" that was used by another reviewer is very apt. The topping was very faint and mildly sweet. The color was of the darker brown variety. No taste of the typical orientals here - just a mildly sweet virginia with good body from the various tobaccos. I could not discern any particular flavors with this one. It was mild and cool smoking with no hint of heat or bite. This would be a good one for someone that just wanted to smoke a pipe and didn't much care what went into it. I can certainly understand why this blend didn't make a comeback with many of the other Dunhill blends. Aside from the gross omission of Elizabethan, the new producer did a good job of burying the dead ones.

If you come across a tin of this and it's cheap and you're curious, by all means satisfy your curiousity. If the seller feels they have an aged classic and charges accordinly, take a pass.

A joy for the refinate palate. Great stuff.

The dominant flavor is a flue-cured tobacco zest and sweetness with a bit of a undercurrent of darker tobacco flavor, and there is just a hint of a cigar-like flavor sometimes. The top casing is often present, and again it's a citrus/berry flavor. The overall flavor for this blend is somewhat on the mild side but it's not devoid of flavor altogether.

Time passed.

Rummaging in the tobacco cupboard for something light and non-English, I found the long-lost tin of Ready Rubbed. Nothing special the first time, I thought, but I?ll give it a shot. I took the lid off only to discover I hadn?t adequately closed it. The leaf was as dry as could be, and the odor of the casing had all but disappeared. Maybe, I thought. . .

I loaded up a medium Sasieni and struck a match.

Flame met leaf and, to my shock and pleasure, I was in heaven. I sat in a deep armchair and listened closely to the blend, and I knew, by some quark, I?d finally found it: a truly amazing aromatic. A Cavendish aromatic with a true Virginia base, a subdued topping, rounded off with a late whisper of surprising Turkish.

And it's the Turkish that keeps this, an aromatic, in my, generally an English smoker's, semi-regular rotation. It's there. It's a quiet note. But when you concentrate on it, its sharp tickle makes this a memorable blend ? good for a lazy morning with a cup of tea or mid-afternoon break from heavier blends.

Now, I buy a tin (when I can find it ? it's increasingly scarce here in Poland), pop it open, break it up a bit, and don't touch it for at least three weeks, though a full month or more produces best results. Sounds like an exaggeration ? overkill, even. But it's worth it.

It's not available in the States, but if you have a tin of it from E-bay and were initially a little disappointed it in, air the hell out of it and give it another shot.

This did not ring my chimes, but was at least worthy of a couple of bowls. The smell in the tin was sort of a honey/licorice combination, but at the match, I could detect very little casing and a mostly "tobacco" taste, which I appreciated. The blend smoked very cool, and I detected what I sure thought to be the taste of cigar leaf mixed in there with the virginias and whatever else Dunhill tossed in.

I found the tobacco to be a bit rough at the back of my throat - very similiar to the effect I received when smoking Dunhill's Light Flake. The cut of the blend was ribbon, but each strand was chunkier than many rubbed out virginias.

For a change of pace, or, just something a little different, you might like this blend. It did have a nice nicotine level, and again, a true tobacco taste. As for me, I do not plan on planting this particular weed in another of my pipes!

Appearance: Dark tobaccos, mostly medium cuts, but some long ribbons here as well. It needs a little drying out before smoking. The Cavendish is the most obvious component.

Initial flavor: The first thing I tasted when the flame touched the leaf was a Virginia-type astringent sweetness, but that was quickly followed by the dark, rich taste of the other tobaccos. The topping enhances this dark flavor without being overwhelming. Overall, this is a mild but very interesting mixture.

Mid bowl: I wish I could be more specific about just what the taste is here. It has many Virginia-style qualities, including an obvious need to smoke slowly, but there is also something more here. I can only assume that it comes from the smoke curing of some of the tobaccos included in the mix. Oddly enough, there is nothing that I would call ?smoky? about the flavor. The tobacco flavor becomes richer as the bowl burns down. The topping plays a part, but is not intrusive. This is a very slow burning tobacco. I have had to re-light several times.

Finish: Toward the bottom of the bowl, the flavor of the topping disappears almost completely, leaving a definite Virginia-and-Cavendish flavor. The dark notes are still very evident as this bowl winds down. There is some sizzling at the bottom of the bowl. I probably didn?t let this dry out enough. The tobacco burns down to a small amount of dark gray ash, and leaves a pleasant after-taste.

Summary: This is a mild-but-flavorful tobacco. The nicotine content seems to be in the medium-to-high range. Unlike most aromatics, the tobacco flavor is full throughout the bowl. I had to re-light several times in the first half, but I finally got a good burn going. I enjoy a small bowl of this occasionally, and would recommend it to beginners and to die-hard Virginia smokers as a change-of-pace.