Dunhill Virginia Ready Rubbed

This is a sweet smoke, with a kind of gum resin under-taste, probably due to the natural sugars in the leaf and the way it's processed and matured. Was never really into it, but I did smoke it a number of times. Mild to medium in strength, it lacks, in my view, the deeper notes of Light Flake, and it's definitely a far cry from Royal Yatch.

If anything it's very similar to Three Year Mature. Funky sweet and comfortably tacky.

My tin was stored for about 20 years, and its seal was intact: so, I was greeted by nicely aged tobacco, in the same cut of many Dunhill Mixtures, and at the perfect moisture level! Was I eager to try it? Well, not completely: I have never been a fan of Dunhill's non-Latakia mixtures, to be honest. But, hey, why not? The tin aroma is very similar to Light Flake, but more intense. You can smell mature, sweet virginias, but also some sort of flavoring which can be described as apple-like, a bit floral in the English way. After firing the tobacco, you are welcomed by a very smooth smoke: this definitely is a sweet but not nauseating virginia, perhaps a bit monochromatic but not bad. My personal problem with it is that the flavoring, which could be appreciated by some, is a bit too evident and artificial from the beginning to the end of the bowl. It's not "bad", just "weird". With some approximation, I could say that the taste can be compared by a hybrid between a more flavored version of Light Flake and the other Dunhill classic that is Royal Yacht. Luckily the nicotine content is not as high as in Royal Yacht, making this blend much more tolerable. Tonguebite is completely absent, in spite of a very pronounced but still delicate sweet taste that can be enhanced by slow smoking. An offbeat virginia, not as pleasant and "straight" like some of my favorites (McClelland, for example), but interesting.