Dunhill Royal London Yacht Mixture

Blasphemy! :twisted:

You guys who feel the need to take perfectly fine blends and rework them... do you take bottles of whiskey and mix them to see if you know better than the masters? That's not meant to be snarky or dismissive. I ask earnestly.

You guys who feel the need to take perfectly fine blends and rework them... do you take bottles of whiskey and mix them to see if you know better than the masters? That's not meant to be snarky or dismissive. I ask earnestly.

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Nah. I just sometimes add some citrus, sugar, and bitters ... ice ... :wink:
Royal Yacht and London Mixture sounds like it has possibilities; I haven't tried this. I have taken the bottom of jarred tins of Royal Yacht and My Mixture 965 and tossed them together to polish off. Roughly 50/50 ... not bad! ::

I'm afraid I had to stop reading when I came to the Latakia bit :nana:
Regards,
Jay.

Actually N8, I find very few blends that cannot be improved by blending with other things. I'm not sure if the improvement is really absolute or if it is just the ever-changing flavors, but I like it.

Blasphemy!

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I agree, both Royal Yacht and London Mixture are fine smokes on their own

I suppose some enjoy finding the right blends to fit their tastes while other would rather make it themselves. If I ever witnessed someone mixing a Macallan 18 with A Macallan 12 in an effort to make Macallan 14, I'm not afraid to admit that I'd likely cry a little.

No harm no foul. That's what blending is for. Trying everything you think might be good. :clap:

Nate that's a horse of a different picture. :?:

You've never smoked a blend that you liked but thought it would be better if it had a little more sweetness? Or Latakia? You can go out there and buy 7 different tins looking for one just like that or you can just add a little sweetness or Lat yourself.
Then there are the blends you don't like at all. You might not like it, but I bet it has at least one quality you like. I've never found one that couldn't be mixed into other things so that its good qualities could be used to assert an otherwise bland tobacco!
Sometimes I just mix different tobaccos to see what the result will be. A lot of times, you don't get the result you expect, flavor AB, but a whole new flavor emerges. Most of the time the results are good, occasionally not so good, but you find adventure and learning in the process.

I can honesty that not even a single time have I felt the desire to alter any tobacco. I've never desired to alter a painting, car, liquor, or pretty much anything that someone else has created. If I don't like it I give it away, sell it, or toss it. I'm likely in the minority and that's okay. Thanks to Tobaccoreviews and wonderful forum members, I've never purchased a blend I didn't like. I find reviewers who seem to appreciate the same blends that I do and follow their path. It's worked out perfectly for me without exception. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with playing blender. I was just curious since I've not felt that particular desire

My pipe is one place where I do not look for adventure. I will try a new blend only if it has the proper credentials. I'm not even looking for replacement blends for the Dunhill's I so enjoyed. I may stumble into one if Jim Inks provides suitable references. Our tastes seem similar.

You guys who feel the need to take perfectly fine blends and rework them... do you take bottles of whiskey and mix them to see if you know better than the masters?

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Yes. Even more, I am prone to go into a kitchen and rework fine ingredients into new creations, some of which exceed the masters.
There is not a linearity to tobacco other than general categories of quality. It is rewarding to tweak and customize, as one -- only fifty years ago! -- was expected to do with most tools and products.
As far as Royal Yacht and London Mixture, it sounds like it would be a fine smoke. I like both of these on their own, but also appreciate them together.

Tried Royal Yacht for the first time today. Sorry, not impressed. It was okay, but nothing I would put into my rotation. Too bad! I really wanted to like this one. On blending, though, I have experimented. I bought some bulk MacBaren's Scottish and Burley and mixed them 50/50. Not bad but still bit a little. So I cut the Burley back by half. Perfect! Scottish was ok on its own, but I wanted a touch more body... fullness, If you will.
Tim

Warren...like this

"A man without a shillelagh is a man without an expedient."

Always have one in my Expedition (car/suv).

DM, I know you're a blender and no offense was intended. I don't look at blends of tobacco as ingredients analogous to cooking. The better analogy would be buying an entree at a fine restaurant, taking it home, and throwing it in the blender while adding other entrees

To each there own. But if every pipeful is not an adventure to me, whether blended by someone else or me then why bother smoking it? I alter most everything. That is to say, I do most things myself if at all possible and buy it prefab/premade when I have to.
Just because I buy a blend I like does not mean I can't like it better. Or that I can't make it better to my liking. I seldom tell myself someone else can do a job better than me! And I will try my best to prove me right even if I fail in the attempt. I've hired contractors who had been doing their craft for 30 years--- and were terrible! I remember one concrete guy been pouring cement all of his life. His work was a disaster. Just because you've done something longer or more often does not mean you are better at it.
Have you never redecorated a room? Never altered a dish? Gone to a restaurant and had a meal you loved? What did you do, keep going back there for more or go home and learn to make it yourself even more to your liking?
I've modified most every car I've owned, rebuilt the engines, added horsepower, put in better sound, tightened the suspension. Or you can go to a mechanic and pay him 4-6X the cost!
To each their own, but I cannot understand someone not even trying to blend here and there. Don't you tire of a blend? What about when you get down near the bottom? Like a food where I add salt or pepper to improve the seasoning, I often smoke a blend and find I might like it better or wonder how it might be if it was sweeter or a bit spicier, etc. Curiosity is the engine of creation! If for no other reason so that if a favorite blend becomes unavailable, rather than fret, I might have an idea how to go about making something similar myself!
Lane or Gawith might have blended tobacco much more and far longer, but if they make a blend I love, it is an ACCIDENT! They have no idea what I like. But if I make a blend myself, no one knows better what tastes good to me better than myself, and whether basic tobacco or pre-existing blends, they are all coming from the same basic constituents. If you blend it yourself, FOR yourself, you are bound to love it because no one knows your tastes better than you.