Dunhill Ye Olde Signe (Re-release)

I find this one a tough one to describe. The tin note is difficult to describe. It is less pronounced than most tin notes I've experienced. Tin note is mild, but not sweet or the usual hay note you'd associate with Virginia. Rather a dry tin note if that makes sense.

Flavour wise, my first impression is that it has some similarities to a blend like 965, but it is not quite as smooth as 965. This one has a bit more of a kick, and that includes a fairly substantial nic-kick. I also find it somewhat bitter.

Overall I'd say this: if you're after something akin to halfway between 965 and Old Dark Fired.

I ended up giving the rest of the tin away. The bitterness is just not my thing, nor the nic-kick.

Ye Old Sign- This isn't bad. It's got a sweet and sour flavor with more high notes than base. It holds its taste on cold relights and will not bite at any cadence. It's got that easy to work with Dunhill ribbon cut ,but this one doesn't seem to want to overheat or get bitter. Keeps my interest, no dull spots, easy to work with. However,,,,, I'm just not into the flavor, Tea???

I get the "Tea" taste that many talk about, I do get the bready taste and some faint Burley earthiness at times. It does remind me of a milder Royal Yacht without any topping. Now, is this as good as McClelland Virginias ? No, McClelland's Virginias are the best!

The initial few smokes from a fresh tin of Ye Olde Signe were extraordinary. The tin note certainly shouts "strongly fermented rich Virginia tobaccos" with freshly baked bread. There is a semi-complex flavor profile though I taste more bright than red or stoved Virginias. Lots of citrus with some grass and bready notes upfront. Spice, tea, and some sweetness are in the background. The strength is at the low end of medium. This blend has become slightly mundane over a few weeks and is a little too much like a mix of Dunhill Flake, Elizabethan, and Royal Yacht. I think age may create a four star tobacco as the components marry but it is still recommended now.

A newly popped tin of Ye Olde Signe redux is filled with “perfect moisture”, gold to medium-brown ribbons that smell like old, dry yard trimmings and bulk wheat. The marketers claim it also smells like tea, and I guess I get that, too, though it’s not fragrant tea. It handles, loads, and lights OK, then it goes downhill from there, kind of scruffy and stuffy, muddled and blunt, dust bunny dry, with smoldering weed scents and flavors, along with some intermittent spices. For me, it’s dry to the point of parching if I’m not careful, just plain unpleasant, and now I wonder if this is the same VA they use in the newest version of Nightcap. If so, that would explain a lot. Yes, YOS tastes like VA, and YMMV, of course; but by now you can see where I’m going with this. Setting aside the parching, strength is just about medium. Tastes are about medium. Room note is tolerable. Aftertaste is not bad, +/- a generic VA, rather sweeter than the smoke.

I worked with this for some time before I gave up on it. With all the great VAs available today, including the likes of Dunhill’s own Flake, I ‘m stumped by this putative Ye Olde Signe redux. I’ve no desire to smoke it, and no reason to recommend it.

I was lucky to find four Dunhill tobaccos in a Madrid tobacconist in September 2020: Dark Flake, Ye Olde Signe, Royal Yacht and Ready Rubbed, with the added fortune that they are some years old. In this way and being as I am a new pipe smoker, I will not stay without trying some tobacco from the mythical brand. Kind of like being able to drive a Rolls Royce for a car fanatic. On the right day and time I prepared one of my favorite Virginias pipes to smoke and opened a tin of Ye Olde Signe with the childish excitement you can imagine. I accompany it with a coffee without sugar.

The tin is a 2oz screw-tight closure, with a nice drawing of a vintage gentleman smoking a clay pipe. When I open it, I find myself with tight, uniform and thin strands but without becoming a shag cut. The tobacco comes pressed and a bit dry, perhaps I should say, more exactly, a bit lacking in moisture. Brown colors with a predominance of medium and light colors and a typical aroma of other Virginias, of bread and hay a little sweet. Once the pipe is started, as expected, it ignites well and burns even without it taking any effort to keep it lit and without itching the tongue. In the taste it has a certain acidity and is a bitter point, reminiscent of tea (as some user rightly says) but I am surprised that it costs me so much to find the sweet taste that hints of the cold aroma inside the tin. Next time I'll taste it in a corn pipe trying to find that sweetness. During the smoke it maintains its strength and flavor fairly constant. The smoke is quite thick and pleasant.

I feel that in this case one tin has not been enough for a more accurate review. I have another one in the cellar, that when it touches it will be opened and I will be able to complete this review.

Dunhill Ye Old Signe - I like this better than Royal Yacht . It has less casings and you can taste the tobaccos more . It tastes like a red Virginia to me . Some hay and grass but more malty and oatmeal and bread notes . A little citrus and does have the tea like flavor probably from the casings . A little cinnamon spice . A mellow smoke perfect for summer with a big nic hit . No bite or harshness . I hope they bring this back under the Peterson name . 3 1/2 stars for me .

Ok, so this has come and gone again, well I won't shed any years. Not the worst red Virginia I've ever come across, but not the best either, I'm just finishing the one and only tin I bought a couple of Christmasses ago. Had it been a bit stronger in the flavour dept, along with the vitamin N, then I would have stocked up a bit. As things are, I got the one tin, which I don't regret, but neither shall I lament it's passing.

A straight virginia that is earthy, spicy and only slightly sweet. In the tin it smells like tea, a little moldering leaves, and that standard fruity virginia sweetness. It is strong in nicotine. A little spicy on the tongue and very spicy in the nose. Even with three years of age it has not smoothed or mellowed out much. I imagine some would call it a little rough.

The flavor is earthy and tea like with just a touch of sweetness. No breadiness. Full tobacco flavor. Almost definitely has a propylene glycol and sugar casing like all Dunhill blends. Maybe there is an additional flavoring as some have mentioned but I cannot detect anything. Hard to imagine there is no perique given the amount of spiciness, but who knows. Maybe it's just not my style, or maybe it's the quality(or lack there of) of the leaves, but either way this is not a blend I enjoy.

I never tried Ye Old Sign before Dunhill deleted it for the first time, so I can't compare this version with the original.

Dunhill called YOS a dark Virginia blend - my tins have a lot of lemon Virginia in the mix and overall I'd say this is about as "dark" if flavour and mouth feel as Samuel Gawith's Medium Flake/Golden Glow (which are the same thing, just named differently in different markets), which is a pretty light flake.

It also reminds me of Golden Glow in flavour and aroma, except YOS has much less inclination to bite and has a lemon/citrus component the Gawith doesn't. YOS also has a slightly sweet and sour taste and a hint of dry, tea-like tannins. It makes me think of Dunhill's Va cigarettes from many years ago. I can't detect any added flavourings. It's fairly mild in the nicotine department and might make a "light it and forget it" all day blend.

The moisture level in the tin is a little damp, but still fine for smoking it straight away.

Overall it's good but nothing marvellous. Neither Charatan nor Peterson have revived it at the time I write this, I'm curious see if they do. If they don't there are plenty of other Va blends that, if not quite the same, are similar.