I was happy the other week when I bought this tin online as you don't often come across the Ruddell's stuff and they are my favorite baccy house of all times...

...and I was absolutely delighted when it arrived to find that it was full and unopened!

I wasn't expecting such good fortune. The seller had another tin and I promptly went back and bought it as well.

This is the first time that I've smoked an actual Ruddell's-made baccy and it has been one of the best pipesmoking experiences I've ever had. It was perfectly preserved and had aged very well, the flavor was robust and quite akin in taste to the recently discontinued Velvan Plug. I stacked the little curlies one on top of another like many of the oldtimers did, not rubbing it out.

It was divinely sublime.

In one of the photos you can see the crystallization that is often present in well-aged baccy --- they call this "bloom" or "plume".

Long live the mighty House of William Ruddell!