Astley's No.99 Royal Tudor Full Latakia Mixture

First review (the original Astley's): great, great, great! Think of a Nightcap but just a little lighter and smoother, almost an all-day smoke, not so loaded with latakia as you might expect and perfectly balanced. A joy for English mixtures lovers.

Second review (the Kolhase&Kopp sold nowadays): dull, dull, dull. Nothing like the original one, the usual K&K blend with a different tin. See my reviews of Comoy's English mixture or Banker's or Robert Lewis 123.

Two stars for the nice quality leaf and for the memory of what it used to be.

AStley's No. 99 is advertised as a "Full Latakia Mixture." I'm not sure "full" really fits but a decent amount of Latakia is evidence from the wonderful tin aroma and from observation. The ribbon cut is somewhat chunky but still burns well, without many relights. The Orientals are there and the toasted Virgina is in the background. In all, a nicely balanced English blend that does not overwhelm with Latakia. I've only smoked the K&K version; I imagine this blend was really something in the Jermyn Street days. In any event, while not a regular in my rotation, No. 99 is a fine English worthy of consideration.

Preface: I have been smoking Dunhill Standard Mixture Medium for near-on 30 years, believing that it has no equal anywhere on earth. But it is gone now, and so I begin a quest for my Holy Grail: A substitute to replace the standard on which all English tobaccos are based:

No.99 is very similar to 1830: Tin aroma is terrific and the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the bowl is very good. But after that both turn a bit harsh, and fail to develop interest and complexity. No. 99 is also packed too dry, and burns too fast, like Solani's 779. With all three, getting to the bottom of the bowl comes with frustration. Too quickly for No. 99 and 779, and all three leaving me unsatisfied, wanting more and feeling disappointed...

Astley's #99 has become a surprise favorite of mine. Usually, I go to Esoterica's Penzance for my evening Latakia cravings, but lately I've been picking up this tin of #99 more and more (and not just in the evenings). I bought a tin on the recommendations on this messageboard, but didn't open it right away. Instead, I popped open a tin of Presbyterian Mixture (bought on the same day) because that was the blend I wanted to like. And I did. But not as much as the Astley's. In fact there is not much I do like more than Astleys #99. It has more taste than the Presby Mixture (and it is a wonderful taste) and doesn't seem prone to tongue bite and smokes at a nice medium pace (not too fast or too slow). It finishes well (no penalty for relights, though there shouldn't be many anyway) and leaves a nice grayish-white ash. The moisture and cut are perfect (to me) and very easy to use. I just get a feeling of absolute highest quality when I handle this stuff.

As I said, I didn't set out to make Astley's my favorite English blend, I just sort of reached for it more and more until I had to admit that if I could only have one tobacco of it's type, it would be the Astley's. That's about the highest compliment I could pay a tobacco blend. Very highly recommended!

This is another stop in the "English" lanscape for me and just as if one was really travelling, you find stops that you DO want to spend more time in. In this blend, you are greeted by a medium ribbon-cut that has a delicious tin aroma, with the fragrance of the virginia in the forefront. Moisture is perfect, packing is easy. Lighting is quick with two relights max. Initial flavor is of sweet virginia with the condimental leaves giving an excellent backbone. This is what a medium "English" blend should be. It is not as full or complex as "Margate" but it has the advantage of not blasting you with nicotine like the medium Dunhill blends(London Mixture, Medium Mixture, 965, Durbar, etc). You can smoke this all day without tiring and your tongue is not the worse for it. About mid-bowl a nice interplay comes in with the "Latakia" and "Turkish" raising their tasty heads. Bottom of the bowl builds to a quick crescendo of flavor and then your done, with a fine,dry, and grey mottled ash left. This is a very good blend just shy of excellent. I definitely recommend it to all you "English" fanciers and I will definitely keep this around. Rating 4 out of 5 Points. Enjoy

I don?t know if I did wrong, but a couple of hours after smoking a bowl of Crown Achievement I went on to smoke a bowl of Astley?s No 99 Full Latakia Mixture. They both are, after all, full Latakia concoctions. But the over all impression after smoking a bowl of each is that Astley?s is really something special and unique. I think it was ?Bear? who argued that after the house of Pease, Astley?s is currently the most consistent blender. I agree. This blend is premium quality and, IMO, one of the best full English blends I have smoked in years!

It is a strong, rich blend, not unlike the Crown, but perhaps smokier and with a better de-fined tobacco structure, probably because there is no Cavendish leaf in it. Easier to light and pack, it has a subtler and more intriguing taste, covering a wider range of flavor registers; where the Crown is almost overwhelmingly mo-notonous (in that sweet rich bitterness that can become rather cloying), Astley?s remained supple, crisp, and elegant. In any case, definitely livelier. It has a pronounced depth?as if you were actually smoking the lower range of notes produced by a cello?but it never ceases to be melodious, producing a grave and severe friendliness. Should this blend carry some Pèrique it could very well stand up to Dunhill?s Nightcap.

The mixture is visually very attractive. Ribbon cut, and rather moist, the jet black strands mark a striking contrast with the light brown and almost golden leaf. Tin aroma is less pun-gent and aggressive than other tobaccos of similar strength and make. Not as powerful as many Balkan type of blends (it does not have that mineral earthliness of Sobranie, Caravan or even London Mixture), it can nevertheless hold its own within the English mixtures range. I would even go as far as to say this is somewhere in between My Mixture 965 (stronger, even richer) and Nightcap. A great English experience, for the evening or as a mid day smoke in those cold wintry days. Highly recommended.

I’ve only smoked one tin of this, but that was enough. My tin from 2015 still says Syrian Latakia, but I suspect it was a mix of Syrian and Cyprian. I don’t really pick up the spices I normally associate with Syrian. Proportions are approximately: 50% Golden Virginia, 30% Latakia, 20% sun-cured Turkish.

Tin note of beef jerky and molasses, with a subtle funky undertone that smells like old Worcestershire sauce. The progression of the bowl is a bit of a roller coaster ride, starting out rather flat and without depth, certainly lacking in any character from the Turkish tobaccos, then mid-bowl develops more depth and spicy overtones, and then the last third gets unpleasantly weird, with salty flavors like scorched butter, the Worcestershire sauce, and finally rather harsh at the very end. Comparisons to the original Balkan Sobranie are always worth a chuckle.

Debated whether this could be rounded up to three stars for “character” - but no, just too weird.

Of the approximately 25 premium lat. blends I have smoked to date this is hands down the worst of it. No way this is full blend. Med. at best. Smokey, a little creamy and sweet at times some musty notes here and there but largely just flat smoke. Then there is a very distinctive plastic taste that over rides most of the flat smokiness and leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. I have tried this in 5 pipes. Cleaned them all smoked other blends in my current rotation which all smoke properly come back to this one and there is that plastic taste with some chemical notes as well. I will say that when I opened the tin the normal cardboard or paper cover was a high gloss paper which might be the issue. So those that smoke it ROTT might not have this issue. Those that want to age it should remove it from the tin and jar it. There is no reason for me to revisit. I am always wishing I loaded the bowl with something else.

This tin was given to me by a friend and it was good but not something I will buy myself probably. Nothing was bad about it but nothing mad it stand out either.