Black Man Tobacco Company Royal Scot

Notes: The Dougster got his sample from me, and I feel the dessicated state of the sample does not do justice to what the blend is like in a freshly opened tin; perhaps I did him a disservice. This is a blend I had to smoke several tins of before I really began to understand it. At first I saw it simply as a mild and semi-aromatic mixture, but with time I began to appreciate the extremely high quality of the underlying stoved Virginia leaf. It smokes well in all my pipes, but I like it best in my Meerschaum calabash. Of course it is no longer made, not for many, many years. Good luck finding a tin!

Appearance: Dark brown, coarse cut, medium broken/ partially rubbed flake. Mostly a chocolate brown color with reddish streaks and birdseye stems.

Aroma: Subdued, sour-sweet, tamarind, smoke, hay, freshly cut green grass, plums, figs, cardamom, dried fennel seed.

Taste: Mellow, subtle, mouth-filling, full and rich. Effulgent with copious smoke. Christmas bread, burl walnut, brick oven, black tea, kumquat.

Comparisons: Like Murray's Erinmore Flake, but mellow and without the heavy topping. Like Cornell & Diehl's Briar Fox but lacking the complexity, monochromatic. Like Dunhill's Dark Flake but less potent.

Bottom Line: Well it's not made any more, anyway. For those who a seeking a full, stoved Virginia , with a well-integrated structure and a mildly aromatic topping, this might have been the one that got away.