Dunhill A-21000

Forgive the long review here, but there's a lot to say about this one...and some of it has to do with politics and dates and marketing. A friend of mine recommended this while on a trip to San Francisco - so I stopped into the now gone Dunhill's store there and took a whiff - and promptly bought a tin. Even to this old puffer of flakes and strong English blends this is without question the best smelling tobacco in the universe - you literally are tempted to pop a handful into your mouth. I think it must also be given a dose of PG as it stays "moist" in the very large tin for extreme periods. Vanilla...OK, but there's a sort of cocoa undertone too that gives it a deeper note...just wonderful! Smoking characteristics are very easy...a very large bowl fluffs up on the charring light and then greatly diminishes in volume so that a fairly well-packed bowl becomes about a 3/4 load. Agreed that it burns very fast but you don't need to be super careful to enjoy it. Never had any issue with bite. Certainly a mild smoking experience - with one of the VERY few room notes I can get away with anywhere in this tobacco reviling world - this one produces a reaction similar to the old phrase, "men envy me, women want me". Even though the attraction for me is the aroma, it also has a decent tobacco flavor after the topping has burned away somewhat...after all it IS Dunhill's. I haven't noticed that it stinks up a bowl much, but then I'm careful not to smoke it in dedicated briars...it works nicely in a meershaum. Dunhill's has apparently closed most of their US stores (I've heard NYC will stay and that LA might too) but this is worth the effort to track down and secure. Nearly a year ago a BIG cubish tin cost me just $15 (I smoke cigars too, so pipe tobacco costs seem, well, like a joke) and it's well worth that minimal investment if all you did was just open the tin now and then and take a great big whiff! Going to a party or out on the town and don't what to see women go green and men give you the "fisheye" - take this stuff along and women will say," now, that's the kind of tobacco I like (while giving their cigar-smoking dates the elbow) and guys that aren't "allowed" to light up will stare at you wistfully and say, "I always did want to smoke a pipe". And it happens again and again.

Edit in March 2018: still love this stuff...It’s none other than the world renowned Lane Limited 1Q. The best selling tobacco in the world, so they say.