Davidoff Royalty

Typical of Davidoff, they have taken the English blend and nailed it. This is the quintisential example of the English blend.

The tin note is smokey and woodsy, as is the room note.

The flavor is refined yet masculine. Nothing is overpowering. The Virginia, Latakia, and Orientals are balanced perfectly and produce a pure tobacco smoke of great enjoyment. Like sitting in front of the fireplace on a cold winter night.

This a mild/middle of the road English (in terms of fullness of taste and nicotine) - my favorite category of pipe tobacco! There is just enough Latakia to provide a HINT of smokiness but not so much that tasting food afterward becomes difficult. The room note is pleasant enough that this could be smoked indoors without complaint. Liked it so much I bought a second tin to age.

It is worth repeating what others have mentioned: smoke it a LITTLE slower than a typical heavy English - there are more Virginias in this one might expect from this type of blend and I got bit of tongue bite this first time I tried it. I brief drying out before smoking helps to keep it lit and lessons the aforementioned bite.

As far as the complaints about high price - yeah it's true, but I would say the quality of this particular product is on par with what GL Pease produces at a similar cost. This is great "every-once-in-a-while" luxury smoke!

Royalty is a great blend if you are on the lesser end of Latakia. I tried this blend which got me into Latakia and then went to Dunhill Nightcap, which is full throttle Latakia. This blend is well rounded and pretty classic. Smoke it on the slower side because it does tend to get hot with constant puffing. Another note is that it does respond well to tight packing, and does "open up" after the false light. Like I stated earlier if you like English, but want a tame Latakia with a light Perique taste than this is it. I haven't purchased a tin in a year or so, but the price wasn't too bad then, around 12 bucks I believe.

Nice tobacco, rich taste...but there are a lot of similiar tobaccos that cost much cheaper, so 2 stars

Hey what do you know, no one has seemed to notice this blend contains Perique! I am pretty sure it does, I can taste its sourness and strength from time to time, I have smoked it in a brand new pipe, A Vauen Oxford so yhis should be a good indicator of its taste. For the rest, it is a high quality, high priced blend that smokes cool and has a full taste, with some harshness sometimes. Recommended!

Yes, this is what I had hoped for from Davidoff english. It packs well, it is a bit to moiste just out of the tin, but with a little drying it burns well, and is bite-free. a reliable all day smoke

How to describe this blend without raising false expectations? It is an english/oriental blend, for there is latakia/oriental present- not much though. But when we hear english we often think of a whole other type of tobacco. We think, EMP, nightcap and 965 and so on. No, royalty is not that. The key to this blend are the virginia's. Sip it like a VA (and forget it's Englishness). Use your VA technique. Notice the roundness, the sweetness and the subtelty. And then BANG you get it! The VA's are complemented with the oriental leaf which give the natural sweetness of the VA a nutty/woody/smoky edge. The oriental smokiness here is not a goal in itself. In fact the components blend into each other so finely, it is hard to say where one ends and the other begins. Royalty is then another way of smoking VA. VA's tend IMHO (and I seem to remember comments of Mr Dunhill stating the same) to be subtle (and in the worst case, well..bland). So sometimes they are topped to give it some extra flavour, this is an alternative where the va is complemented with oriental as condimental leaf for this litte "extra" taste. As for the room note: last time I lit up a bowl of this, my wife came into my smoking den and stayed for quite a while *without* making ANY complaint.

The only real drawback to this blend is that in all its brightness, mildness and roundness, it has not realy enough body to be a good after dinner smoke.

The best of Davidoff pipe tobaccos - or should one say the only one of Davidoff pipe tobaccos worth the bother? Royalty is a very elegant, understated mixture. The virginias and orientals are top quality, and the Latakia is discreetly applied - like rubbing a salad bowl lightly with garlic. I have smoked it with pleasure at all times of the day. The room note is a delight to come back to.

I Have to be honest with you, I expected more from Davidoff here. Their Cigarettes are Fantastic, their Cigars - not bad either, but their pipe mixtures are extremely average.

The tin was mixed poorly, with large clumps of virginia, missing the dark spicy flecks promised, and other patches mixed properly, but the spices were stalky, too dry and almost twig-like in cases. Hmmmm... Not impressed for $50 New Zealand per tin!

Its not that this isnt an enjoyable smoke, or that all of the leaf is of poor quality, its just that this tobacco is sort of, well, ho-hum.

Don't get me wrong, I would probably buy it again, but only if I was strapped for decent English blends at the crunch time.

Lovers of virginia tasting mixtures will be happy here, but I prefer a little more Latakia frankly, and a bit o Perique too Me Hearties! Davidoff Royalty - its no Dorisco, but can be an enjoyable pipe - get EMP or the above over this and you'll feel more satisfied and less scammed!

Come on Davidoff - you can do better!!!!!

3.5 out of 10 without meaning to be harsh!!! Honesty is the best policy in my book!!!