Dunhill Three Year Matured Virginia

The tin that I am reviewing is a 1994 vintage. Not sure if this will help, given it's age and manufacture (Murry) no longer produces Dunhill blends. However, it might offer some comparison of newer tins.

Needless to say, this 100 gram tin with 16 years age was opened with anticipation reminiscent of opening a rare wine or old scotch. The tobacco was very dark to black in a riff or cigarette cut. It had a nice plum nose of well aged Virginia. It packed well and lit easily, producing a nice volume of sweet and mellow smoke. It did not bite nor was it ever harsh from top to bottom, producing a white ash. The flavors were only a little more subtle in the middle third of the smoke; otherwise it was very consistent from beginning to end. I could not detect any oriental leaf, just nicely aged Virginia leaf. A rare one I will reserve for special occasions

Just smoked a bowl of this now 21 year old blend. Just beautiful. A wonderful VA - sweet, spicy, mellow smoke. Great from to top to bottom. I need to get a tin of the newly minted to compare.

With so many great choices out there, this one just falls flat for me. I really don't get any flavor. Once I got to the bottom of the bowl i detected a slight fruityness with a hint of butter, but it wasn't easy to get that out of it. This is just a bland tobacco especially when there are so many other choices out there like Petersons Sherlock Holmes that have the virginias and oriental with a nice flavor to boot. Just not my cup of tea, might be good for a cigarette smoker that just swapped to pipes?

I am usually a big fan of Dunhill tobacco. I have tried quite a few of their blends and have usually came away glad to have tried it. With Three Year Manured nothing could be further from the truth. It was easy enough to back and light, but almost intolerable. The taste reminded me of a cross between burned popcorn, and the perfume of a cheap French whore!!! The tobacco did not burn badly, but it was all I could do to smoke a half of a bowl. All I have to day, is this blend is in a category reserved for "if this was all that was available I'd QUIT"

This is the only tobacco I have ever smoked that made me vomit. No joke. After just one bowl!

Even I, the defender of bizarre and maligned tobaccos, cannot salvage the reputation of Dunhill's Three Year Matured. Mind ye', this is a weird idea for a blend: take sweet, stoved Virginia and bitter, pungent Orientals and then douse it all with--fruit sauce? It's just not a good idea. This becomes apparent soon after you light the stuff. All of that kooky fruit essence burns right away or sometimes settles near the bottom of the bowl. One is left with some generic dark Virginia and low-end Oriental leaf that do not go together well at all. The overall taste is like that of bad office coffee; uncomfortably warm and bitter in a way that is neither bracing nor pleasing. If your really lucky, that fruit stuff will rear its head again, now all funky and wet tasting, making latter half of the bowl almost nauseating. I kept smoking this stuff for a month, either because I am stubborn, poor, or stupid, but I could only manage to smoke a bowl of it about one day out of the week. By the end, it was tinder-dry. Surprisingly, this was not an improvement.

A very generic VA. Much like cigarette tobacco.

BETTER PICK: MCCLELLAND CHRISTMAS CHEER 05' OR 06

LIGHT FLAKE, DUNHILL- OR GOLDEN SLICES ORLIK

I usually really enjoy the Dunhill blends but there are a couple that are beyond awful,

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and this one is right out there in another galaxy. It produces a unique taste sensation remarkably similar to drinking a glass of grape juice

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after eating a taco. Hmm. I think that's probably all that can safely be said. This is another blend that will infest your pipe and never let go,

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so be warned.

**Revision - Six years later, I had the chance to try some of this again. My tastes have shifted a bit towards some Virginias in the meantime, and since I've become accustomed to the Lake District blends, I thought this might make a better impression. Sadly, not the case. Way too flavorful for me in all the wrong ways. An odd thing, too, as I usually liked the pre-Orlick-shift Dunhill tobaccos.

Three Year Matured is a nice change of pace. The name suggests a Va mix, but it isn't. When I got it, I was told by a friend that it was a lot like Royal Yacht. Well, it has a topping, and it is a Dunhill blend. That's where the similarity ends.

The topping was very strong in the tin, but while airing the tobacco out, it faded to a more reasonable level.

The tobacco packed and lit well, once it was dried to my liking. The topping was a bit much for me at first, but by the time I was a third of the way through the bowl, this stuff was starting to grow on me.

I let some sit in a bag for a few days and I found it to be a much more enjoyable smoke. The topping had faded to where it no longer dominated.

Aromatic smokers who would like to get a bit more quality in their smoke will like this blend. Straight VA type people need to keep an open mind.

***NOTE: This review is based on a Murray's tin. Since the Orlick takeover, all bets are off. Try it at your own risk. (I have not had much luck with the 'new' Dunhill blends)

Here ends my search for an everyday, go-to Virginia. OK, even the tin descripion indicates that it's not a straight VA, but I'll not quibble about that. What I will do is load this very satifying blend into a small bowled Peterson and enjoy a rich, flavorful smoke. This is a dark, heady VA --- not light and sweet like 5100 but not quite as stout as Royal Yacht (my only other Dunhill regular). Some place the casing as berry-like and the tin description on this very site says "mixed fruit" but I myself can't taste anything fruity about it. Thumbs up to Dunhill/Murray on whatever this casing is, because it is pleasant and unique without overtaking the taste of the tobaccos themselves. Doesn't bite. May be a tad too strong for all day and does get a little unwieldy towards the very bottom of the bowl. For me, it's the perfect VA blend --- one or two bowls a day interspersed with my regular burley blends and flakes. The Murray's version of 3 Year Matured recently replaced Royal Yacht as my preferred tinned VA, and this review is based on the Murray's product. Recent reviews of other Orlik-produced Dunhill products have got me discouraged about my prospects for liking the Orlik version of 3 Year Matured. I'll post that review when I have tried some. Till then, 4 stars for 3 YMV!