Dunhill Ready Rubbed

Found an old tin of this in my cellar. Such is always welcome.

Unfortunately, I can't really recall what this tasted like fresh, so I can't compare it to this 12 year old tin. I'm not sure if it dumbed down excessively with age, but the word "characterless" that was used by another reviewer is very apt. The topping was very faint and mildly sweet. The color was of the darker brown variety. No taste of the typical orientals here - just a mildly sweet virginia with good body from the various tobaccos. I could not discern any particular flavors with this one. It was mild and cool smoking with no hint of heat or bite. This would be a good one for someone that just wanted to smoke a pipe and didn't much care what went into it. I can certainly understand why this blend didn't make a comeback with many of the other Dunhill blends. Aside from the gross omission of Elizabethan, the new producer did a good job of burying the dead ones.

If you come across a tin of this and it's cheap and you're curious, by all means satisfy your curiousity. If the seller feels they have an aged classic and charges accordinly, take a pass.

The smell in the tin was sort of a honey/licorice combination, but at the match, I could detect very little casing and a mostly "tobacco" taste, which I appreciated. The blend smoked very cool, and I detected what I sure thought to be the taste of cigar leaf mixed in there with the virginias.

The cut of the blend was ribbon, but each strand was chunkier than many rubbed out virginias.

For a change of pace, or, just something a little different, you might like this blend. It did have a nice nicotine level, and again, a true tobacco taste.

Some years ago I picked up five tins of Ready Rubbed from the duty-free shop in Dubai airport. I had never seen this particular Dunhill before, and the tin description piqued my curiosity: was this going to be a Dunhill rival to Samuel Gawith products? I am afraid the smoke was disappointing. There was neither the Dunhill strength nor the Dunhill taste. Utterly unmemorable, so much so that every two to three years I would open a tin just to try and remember what it was like. The last tin was opened recently and did nothing to change my opinion of the mixture. There is nothing obnoxious about the tobacco, but if I was to choose one word to describe it, the word would be `characterless`.

Mature, flue cured leaf from the USA, Brazil and Africa is blended with sun cured and smokey fired tobaccos from Indonesia and India. Pressed with Cavendish to produce a rich smoke. This is what the Dunhill description says, and some comments on ASP were rather positive: since this tobacco isn't available in Italy anymore and a local tobacconist still carried 5 tins of it, I decided I might give it a try before it was too late. I must say this is my first disappointment with Dunhill. The moisture content in the tin was OK in spite of it being rather old (that's why I prefer tins to pouches), and some leaves had little crystals of sugar: I expected a nice aged and mellowed blend! Mellow it is, but it is also almost non-existant! This stuff has very little taste, and what little it has comes in a very monochromatic way. It may remind me a bit of some of my favorite Virginia flakes (but this one is fully rubbed out), but it has 100 times less flavor and sweetness in comparison. It is an extremely mild, cool, and slow smoke: I can't make this stuff smoke hot and nasty, neither make it bite the tongue and the throat. It burns rather wet, though. It is supposed to be slightly aromatic, but the flavoring (rather soapy - also the tin smell is like scented soap - but almost imperceptible) is as light and subtle as the taste of the tobacco itself. A positive note is that the room aroma is very light and pleasant, too. If you like hot air, or if you are too wimpy to try some real man's stuff, this might be your tobacco. For me, it's a complete waste of time and money!

I bought this from a collectors estate and was lucky enough to secure 3 tins of it! It had been sat in unopened tons for at least 5 years and I've kept one tin untouched for future enjoyment and am halfway through the first tin and am very much enjoying the mix of tobaccos in it. There doesn't seem to be any casing of any sort and this allows for a straight forward, enjoyable and immensely satisfying smoke. If you can find some, then maybe you can buy the A Team of uncomplicated tobaccos!

This an underrated blend that truly deserves much better recognition from the pipe smokers community. It is easily among the best Virginia-based blends, and is even not far from being equal to Dunhill Flake in quality. The addition of Burley and Oriental leaves along with the slight addition of honey flavoring adds beauty to this wonderful blend.

When aged, Ready Rubbed would rank among the top Virginia-based blends in the market, and the fact that it can be smoked all day makes it a must-have for Virginia lovers.

Tin Aroma: I don?t know how to describe this. It is without question a tobacco aroma, but there is also a top note here. It is a sweetish, berry/citrus aroma. It is an aroma I associate with Danish tobacco blends.

Appearance: Dark tobaccos, mostly medium cuts, but some long ribbons here as well. It needs a little drying out before smoking. The Cavendish is the most obvious component.

Initial flavor: The first thing I tasted when the flame touched the leaf was a Virginia-type astringent sweetness, but that was quickly followed by the dark, rich taste of the other tobaccos. The topping enhances this dark flavor without being overwhelming. Overall, this is a mild but very interesting mixture.

Mid bowl: I wish I could be more specific about just what the taste is here. It has many Virginia-style qualities, including an obvious need to smoke slowly, but there is also something more here. I can only assume that it comes from the smoke curing of some of the tobaccos included in the mix. Oddly enough, there is nothing that I would call ?smoky? about the flavor. The tobacco flavor becomes richer as the bowl burns down. The topping plays a part, but is not intrusive. This is a very slow burning tobacco. I have had to re-light several times.

Finish: Toward the bottom of the bowl, the flavor of the topping disappears almost completely, leaving a definite Virginia-and-Cavendish flavor. The dark notes are still very evident as this bowl winds down. There is some sizzling at the bottom of the bowl. I probably didn?t let this dry out enough. The tobacco burns down to a small amount of dark gray ash, and leaves a pleasant after-taste.

Summary: This is a mild-but-flavorful tobacco. The nicotine content seems to be in the medium-to-high range. Unlike most aromatics, the tobacco flavor is full throughout the bowl. I had to re-light several times in the first half, but I finally got a good burn going. I enjoy a small bowl of this occasionally, and would recommend it to beginners and to die-hard Virginia smokers as a change-of-pace.

Edit: This is actually a review for the re-release, didn't realize there was two separate entries until I had already typed all this hot air. Also, after completing the tin, I think I'll bump this up a star. Pretty good tobacco, IMO.

I was recently recommended a tin of this by my tobacconist at one of the local B&Ms in my town. Knowing I enjoyed virginias and Virginia/Periques, and that I have tried many heavier Oriental blends, he thought that this would be a great blend to introduce me to the "other side" of the spectrum. I would have to agree. This blend has a classic tobacco taste that doesn't sway to far from the main component. Sweet Virginia with just enough condiment tobacco to make it interesting in a different way than I am used to with my Va/Pers. It's not a multi layered blend that revels the hidden secrets of the universe, but is a great everyday, regular old pipe tobacco you don't have to think about too much. Just sit back and enjoy a bowl while fiddling with whatever. There may be other, better tobaccos of this type. I would still recommend this.

This tobacco has no tin note and no taste . Once lit it gives the smoker simply smoke with no flavor that I can detect . I wonder what the blender was trying to do here . I used my can as a mixer to make my very moist Samuel Gawith dry enough to smoke .

Dunhill "Ready Rubbed" provides what Virginia smokers crave, which is a slow-burning blend that delivers the sweetness of Virginia without the bite and strength of its rawer forms, accented by condimental Turkish tobaccos to give it a slightly vinegar, sweet-sour flavor. A light topping of citrus crests the blend.

For those who look toward an all-day smoke on the more confectionary side of the burning leaf, the Virginia-Oriental mix in this blend bestows constant piquant sweetness with enough variety to provide intrigue in a mild blend, both in flavor and its light dose of nicotine. Like other Virginia-based sweet tobaccos, such as Orlik "Golden Sliced," Villiger "After Dinner" or even Dunhill "Flake," this blend rewards small sips which melt into a buttery hay and honey flavor as fine Virginias of this type tend to do. It is like General Joe's Chicken at your local Chinese restaurant: sweet, sour and tangy, but essentially candied meat.

As most smokers know, all of us have some types of tobacco that we enjoy and others that are less intriguing. I have enjoyed this quality blend, but this general flavor family -- sweet without corresponding notes of fullness -- is not for me. This family of blends aims to be pleasantly as close to invisible as possible, without jagged edges to interrupt its mild character, and there this thoughtful and high quality attempt succeeds.