Royal Yacht has quickly become my tobacco of choice. Very highly recommended to those aficionados who seek exceptional, classic Virginia blends.

Tobacco form: Ribbon

Humidity: Normal. Just some minutes of drying would suffice.

This tobacco packs a wallop! The tin aroma is quite nice. Smells like chocolate and raisins. Reminds me of Cadbury's chocolate with raisins and nuts (yuuuuum). It is a strong tobacco, both in terms of flavor and nicotine. The taste is full and nice. The puffs should be small so that you don't overdose unexpectedly on Vitamin N. In terms of drying, few minutes are ok, but DON'T dry it too much or you will smoke Royal Bomb instead of Royal Yacht. Savvy? :P

To sum up: Great tobacco. Strong, but tasteful. I would not recommend it if you are a pipe smoker for less than half a year.

The taste is quite distinctive, Sniffing the bowl, I find it has a yeasty bread like aroma. Most VA's I smoke are too grassy, this is one of the rare ones that offer a complexity and depth that make it interesting.

The strong nicotine punch it gives me prevents this one from being smoked too often, but with a full stomach and a strong cup of coffee it works quite nicely.

Definitely a blend to be savoured slowly, otherwise it can become harsh. I really enjoy this one when in a contemplative mood and in need of a change of pace.

PS: This is my first review on this site :)

With that said, this is a very fine VA smoke, and somewhat unique. It reminds me a great deal of Gawith's best brown flake. When dried out properly it is a cool smoke, and offers a great deal of flavor. For those who say this tastes like nothing, I am not sure what they are doing wrong. It may be that it is being smoked at too high a moisture content, which has a tendency to mask subtle flavors. This is indeed flavorful. It is not complex like a mixture of different tobaccos might be, but it is rich and heady. to me it provided a very clear VA flavor profile, with little bite. I do not notice the flavoring in the smoke, and what others may think is its presence could in fact be the processing of the VA's (or it could be that I just have a palate which has been rendered into shoeleather over the years). It burns easily with little fuss if you tamp it every now and then.

The thing to be cautious of with this blend is that it is very strong in the nicotine department. I would put it on par with something like Bracken Flake or 1792. I am not overly sensitive, but I still smoke this in smaller bowled pipes, and usually must nevertheless take a break to truly enjoy it. It is interesting to think about the fact that this is an older blend, and pipes in general were much smaller in the olden days. Keep that in mind if nicotine gives you fits, because you will render yourself unconscious if you fill up a big pipe with this stuff. Smoke a little, slowly, and enjoy what it has to offer, which is not insubstantial.

05/14/12

Just noting that I have found this tobacco performs way better when lightly dried out. Flavor and smoke both perform at a top notch level. My initial review came off of a fresh tin that had little time to breath. I will be keeping this in my private stock and it will be in the everyday roation.

Yes, the open tin aroma is superb ; as described in the blurb, figs & raisins.

However I find it tastless, lacking in character of any kind and as dull as ditchwater. It doesn't smell of anything.

I am halfway through the tin and it would seem these apparent subtelties in the smoke are lost on me.

Perhaps I need a new pipe....

Now having rambled on to the point As I said I am reviewing Orlick's tobacco, Royal Yacht, and as that is the tobacco in question, I would say it is pretty tasty.

The pouch aroma is accurate. The moisture level was about right, and the combination taste of plums and chocolate combined with use of high quality leaf gives a wonderful taste as well as full and lasting aroma.

You should be careful of the nicotine hit if that is something that bothers you because this baby can produce it. But not always. I think how much you smoke and how fast creates different nicotine, but I could be full of it.

I give it three stars, but was tempted to give four because it is such an unusual smoke

So, tin note: chocolate, with fruit. Some Lychee in there. The leaf is a thin ribbon cut, the colours ranging from yellow to medium brown. There is citrus in there.

My first tin was a bit wet; my second was just right. Accordingly, your mileage may vary. I prefer my taller bowls for this; they make for a slow, steady burn with little maintenance. But this blend will colour a bowl, so I suggest using as few pipes as possible for this blend.

The taste and room note are both excellent; this is one of those blends one can smoke in company without being berated. In the beginning, the taste is a tad sour, but will develop a fruity sweetness throughout the bowlful; the room note gets a little more brown-sugar-ish and malty throughout.

Addendum 2011-08-09: The more I smoke this blend, the more I think that this is what Murray's Erinmore Mixture should have been. Royal Yacht has the tanginess without the nastiness, the strength without the backlash, and just in every respect is what I believe they intended to do with that famous other blend, but failed to do.

Upon popping the lid on the 50g tin, I get nasal quaffs reminiscent of dried figs and raisins, with a sweet spiciness. The color is an even, uniform dark brown (not black), with very little if any hint of lighter ribbons, as might be detected in other VA/PER blends. Upon charing a strong sweet taste develops, and at mid-bowl, one has comfortaby settled in for a sweet Virginia smoke. No Latakia here.

Although reviewers mention some sort of casing, I detected none, and instead was reminded on simple, pure un-adultered Virginia tobaccos. The Burley is also detectable, brining a "brightness" to the deep sweetness of the Virginias. I do think some fermentation went into this, and although it states flavoring as "Coffee, Brandy and Plum", my take on this is that these are volatiles that are developed during the short fermentation.

In many respects, this tobacco reminds me of Escudo, put out by Peter Stokkebye, although that comes in coin form, and involves Perique as a condiment. The smoke is on the high side regarding nicotine, and as such was a bit much for me. Not that I am a wimp in these matters, but I think its a bit on the edge.

I would rate this 2 out of 4 stars, reserving 3 for Escudo, and 4 for my best English and Balkan blends. I used to love VA/PERs but over the years have started to prefer the inherent complexities of Latakia, that I miss when smoking VA/PERs.

Also, the high N content for me brought it down for me. Nightcap also has a high N content, but Royal Yacht has for me about twice the content. And after a bowl, I am seeing stars!

Lastly, as is the case with so many of these latest Dunhill reincarnations by Orlick, there is a chemical taste that I can't quite place, but it seems to be present in a great many of the Orlick re-issues of Dunhill (only it Early Morning Pipe and London Mixture it seems to be absent). Perhaps its a Burley additive to generate bulk in the blends, or its some sort of anti-fungal or preservative of some sort, but whatever it is, for my palate it is really discernible.

What with all the fine blends available from GL Pease, Russ Oullette of Hearth & Home, not to mention Cornell & Diehl,Gawith Hoggarth & Co., Esoterica, McClelland etc. I simply can not bring myself to allocate 4 stars for these Orlick DK re-issues of the once famed Dunhill brand. Sorry, but that's my two cents. See my review on Dunhill MM 965 for more along these lines.

Anyhoo, happy smoking to one and all.