All this aside, after going through a few tins i really like this stuff. I currently live with roommates so i don't smoke anymore because it definitely smells up the whole apartment.

A great tasting Virgina. Lots of flavor. Didn't bite. Burned smooth and cool. Lots of nicotine, beware. Aroma is not pleasing indoors to nonsmokers.

As a side note, a friend told me once that he didn't like Royal Yacht until he tried it at the sea. According to him, it was a totally different smoke. I haven't found the opportunity to try his theory. Maybe one day I will, and I'll be happy to edit this review.

The smoke was very smooth, and I must say there were billows of it! I didn't get any fruit in the smoke like with some cheaper blends, but it there were hints of sweetness. The underlying tobacco was rich and satisfying.

The tin moisture at opening will be a bit drier than most Dunhill varieties, and smoking a bowl from a freshly opened tin is not a soggy experience. No drying time needed here at all in my experience. Packs easily, takes to the match readily after the char and smokes clean and sweet down to the heel. One pipe cleaner used on a bowl fresh from the tin ...completely legitimate IMHO.

The flavor at light up will be deceptively light. That will change as you progress through the first third of the bowl. At midbowl this is a solid medium and stays that way to the end. Nicotine is satisfying without being crippling for the lighter weight smokers in our midst.

Flavors start at the grassy level and progressively get darker with hints of molasses, coffee, yeasty bread fresh from the oven and some dark fruitiness lingering in the background. Hints of chocolate peak through from time to time.

After pushing it a bit I experienced no tongue bite, only a slight bitterness from the fast smoking and a significant loss of flavor. As soon as I slowed down and let the ember cool a bit the most pleasant flavors returned. Smoking 2 tins of this, I have come to really like this tobacco. The first tin had me curious but the seconfd tin is what sold me.

I'm a self described Dunhill fan, and this is solid enjoyment, but this is not among my favorite Dunhill blends. Will I have a few tins put back for the occasional reunion? Yes. I have already stocked a couple dozen tins for future enjoyment at intervals. There are many very vice Virginia tobaccos out there and this one will surely have it's place of honor, but will not be my one and only. I still prefer some perique presence so HOTW, Fillmore, Escudo and others will also take their turns in my rotation. This seemed to do best in tall bowled billiards and poker shapes from England and France.

Cheers!

Orlik I was a bit more refined, more consistent in flavor, and smoother than Murray's version. It took me years and several attempts before I could smoke Murray's RY, it seemed so strong. Orlik I solved that.

A full Virginia, with some flavoring for sure, but cool, smooth, and rich at the same time. Can't identify the flavoring, but it's not very sweet. But it is delicious (red wine-like, rose-like, etc.), if you like it. If you don't like that flavor, move on. Plenty of body. A shag or narrow ribbon cut. Easy to pack.

Orlik II seems the same as I, but maybe more body even. Of course, my Orlik I tins have had a few years to mature or smooth out more, so maybe that's the difference. Still too strong to begin with IMO.

A unique blend that I crave from time to time. I will always keep many tins on hand. Recommended to full Virginia crowd.

Update 28th January 2011 - I bought a 1969 Peterson Silver Sterling today off of a brilliant pipe restorer (and new best friend!) who gave me a 10 year old tin of Royal Yacht as a gift! This is a Murray and Sons blend. The fermented blackcurrant smell upon opening the tin gave me pause to wonder what kind of a smoke I was in for but - I'm puffing it in my Peterson Kildare as I type - it is every bit as delicious as the new tin I bought the other day but with an even smoother chocolatey flavour and more pronounced fig/raisin richness, milder overall taste, steady cool burn. This tin is definitely one for special occasions. In fact so delighted am I with it that I shall be using the ashes from this smoke, with some very fine Acacia honey to recake my restored Silver Sterling!

Update 1 hour later: Still chugging through first bowl of the ten year old RY (see above) and I am completely spaced out. The last thing he told me when he gave me this tin was - you might want to take it easy with this stuff..Heh heh. Hmmm...

To me, the tobacco is a bit too moist upon opening. This is a tobacco that needs open time to breathe and air. I suggest doing this in a remote area. When I tried to air my tin inside the house my wife complained that the stench filling the house was far, far worse that a dozen cat litter boxes. I didn't take my gas mask off long enough to verify her statement, but my dogs running from the room gave indication. Once dried to a more appropriate level, I resealed the tin for a bit.

And then came the loading. The ready-rubbed leaf begins to show a bit of coloration, with some lighter and some darker golds and browns. (Here, I should throw in the warning that it is best to handle Royal Yacht while wearing gloves, kind of like when handling Habernero peppers, though the damage done to bare fingers by Haberneros is nothing as painful as from RY!!!) Thus, gloves protecting my hands I carefully stuffed the tobacco into a favorite Dunhill bulldog (which, as it happens, is the only bulldog to ever bite my hand for loading it!).

With the false light came some pretty amazing flavor! I was immediately drawn back into a deep, long-forgotten memory of my childhood. As a boy, I spent summers in Northeast Iowa on my cousins' farm. They raised cows, hogs, sheep and chicken, and the amazing draw of flavors of pigsty and sheep intestine rolled through my pipe and took me back to those now lost days. I could almost see my "Uncle" (really a cousin, but the age of my mother so I called him "Uncle") sitting on that old Ford tractor, the wheels dripping with pig shit, staring down at me as I hauled a bucket of slop to feed the sows, and remember how he used to laugh and say, "So, how's the feedin' comin', City Boy?"

But this is not a tobacco to just sip, as I do with most Virginias. Rather, to appreciate the full experience of Royal Yacht it is necessary to inhale. I mean take draws like you did on that bong 30 years ago in college kind of inhale. Draw the smoke into your lungs like an almost drowned man finally getting his first gasp of fresh air after crawling out of a sinking submarine whose hull ruptured 300 feet below the surface! And then, after exhaling, it happens:

My first vision was of Satan. He was sitting in a bright red seat of flames, somehow now where, moments before, had been the television, laughing his low, gutteral laugh, and telling me that my soul was now his. "NO!", I screamed, as I drew in another puff of this notorious weed. He smiled, and almost immediately was replaced in my vision by 70 dancing, naked virgins. Yet the flesh was not for me - these hags were 80 year-old virgins, having attained their chaste status through years of overeating, not washing, farting, and being just plain hiddeous! I set the pipe aside, walked to the living room, and poured a double shot of bourbon in hopes of driving the witches away.

Oh, those bitches left all right. And this, sadly, encouraged me to again lift and light the pipe. Once more, the relatively cool stream of smoke drew through the airway and invaded my mouth. Though not hot or acidic, the smoke still somehow burned away about 2 layers of tissue on my tongue. I would liken the experience to drinking a freshly opened bottle of lye, though at least the lye has an acceptable flavor. And with this draw the witches were replaced by diahrettic flying gorillas circling my head, propelled in their flight by the jet propulsion caused by their condition. I watched them circle over me, faster and faster, until they suddenly began hitting me in the head. Their fists were hard as rocks. My head shook. My neck flopped like a broken rubberband. Finally, I was overcome with pain and fear and passed out.

When I awakened, the tobacco, my pipe, and the table on which I had set the pipe, had all burned to a fine, gray ash. I found no dottle at all, though I was a bit troubled by having to clean up the charred hag and gorilla bones.

Highly recommended for Haggis fans, Masochists, and Pipestud.

Royal Yacht was a very different Virginia experience for me, and one that I didn't care much for. It had very little sweetness, was harsh, and way too strong in the nicotene department - just not enjoyable. I am a fan of Burley and Kentucky when done right, and I feel there may be some Burley or Kentucky leaf blended in with this mix which added to the overall stoutness of the blend - but in a harsh way. I even let this one dry out over time and it did nothing to improve the smoke. It is now dry as tinder and still has no redeeming qualities for me.