I enjoyed every bowl of it the sweetness of the VA was perfect augmented with a slight cider tasting tinge added by the stoved element. A lot like 27 to my tastes and, at least this tin, was superior to the tin of Christmas Cheer 2012 that I have been enjoying since last fall.

I am sure my impressions are due, largely, to the age of this tine, but I have to call it as I see it and perhaps this will change with a tasting of a fresh tin. But four stars for now.

I have had mixed feelings about this Royal Vintage line: I highly recommend Dark Stoved, really liked Latakia #1, but thought Latakia #2 was a flavorless failure. To be brief, I think Matured Ribbon is a success, falling just below Dark Stoved in my rankings.

The blend is a very nice, rich blend of Virginias that burns quite well and never poses a threat to the tongue. Well worth seeking out.

Flavor is, again, typical. Which is to say, typically sweet, strong, and complex matured VAs. The solid and balanced flavor rests on the red VAs with the gold and dark leafs providing punctuation.

This is a delightfully complete, full-spectrum blend. More than yet another red and black VA blend, the gold leaf brings a wonderful variance to a somewhat bloated blend category. This seemed best in a narrow to medium gauge chamber.

Of course there is this constant ketchup taste (since it is manufactured by McClelland).

Though it is easily smoked, easily fills the bowl, does not produce any tongue biting, it does not stay lit. It must go through a procedure of drying, in order to bring about better results. It tastes like McClelland?s No 27.

I will not buy it again because I was not really impressed.

I like that this is tinned my McClelland and yet is somewhat dry in the tin (more like the Blakeney's and the Syrian's by McClelland).

I've smoked a few tins of this in the last two weeks and am glad to have the stocked up. This could easily be an everyday blend. The lemon is somewhat muted while the stoved really runs the show in the flavor department. The red, as one should expect holds it all together. I think this may be similar to the "sun dappled red" used in a recent Christmas Cheer -- excellent choice.

It is somewhat overpriced typically, but if you like Va's and really liked stoved Va's you owe it to your pipe and yourself to try this very cool and clean burning tobacco.

Even if the description hadn't said so, there is no mistaking the fact the this is blended by McClelland. Just open the tin and smell it - the trademark ketchup smell is there.

This is a very good blend of several types of Va - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have several more tins set aside to age.

Matured Ribbon is a nice solid Va flavor with subtle sweet and spicy nuances. I recommend it highly.

The tin aroma is sublte and tobacoo fruitiness and the well aged stock of this blend makes its presence known in a very velvet smooth base with some VA tang here and there along the way. A very subtle background of deep sweet aged VA is constant and the other parts of the blend play atop that base.

There was no hint of any topping at all. It has a wonderful taste, does not bite and smokes cool. I ocassionally smoke ths in succession because one bowl just wasn't enough to satisfy my craving for it.

Now my disclaimor. Generally I like a broad variety of tobacco but in the VA's I tend to enjoy the dark mature blends and tend to not like golden, light and yellow blends because of the tanginess and bite (With all due respect to my smoking contemporaries - I don't share the joy of Delayed Gratification - I want it when I'm smoking it and this delivers. I smoke many balkan blends and latakia blends as well and I love the complexity of blends with orientals. I also don't like Marlin Flake the alleged Holy Grail. And, I think that's why I love this tobacco so much because it's deep, dark and complex without being unusually harsh or hot. It is now a regular in my rotation.

Cheers, VC

If you do give this a whirl, do so in a small bowled pipe, it seems to smoke better than in a large one. I tried a variety of shapes and sizes of briars during the course of smoking the 50g tin. Perhaps the virginia strength became too much for me in a larger pipe. It is good stuff, but not good enough to run back to the store for more.