I found an old Three Castles Tobacco tin.

[docpierce]

It's from a trip I took to the Berkeley Drucker's shop on University Ave. That must have been sometime before 1987. The tin was used by my dad to store little nails and wood screws in it. Wish it was sealed and full of the red/gold stuff. I use to roll it up and smoke the heck out of it. That and Drum. Takes a person back. When I took up the pipe, I looked around for it. I gather they closed years ago. Never got the story of why they went out of business. Never found a tobacco quite like it. Three Sails has been suggested as a substitute. Not quite right to my tastes. Someone said "Kendal virginia something" might work. Kind of a pity.

Anyone know much about the story of the company?

 

[deluxestogie]

W.D. & H.O. Wills - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bob

 

[burge]

I have smoked it. They brought out a new version of it and it was the same taste as the old version according to critics. The replacement that is similar is Kendal Gold. Yhe other that comes close is Three Sails tobacco by D&R tobacco. Dons lemon is in that category of tobacco. I like the premium tobaccos and this is it.

 

[docpierce]

Found this on tobaccoReviews by

Contrarian

2018-02-17

Three Castles may have been the best handrolling tobacco ever produced. Incredibly subtle, it wasn't for every taste. Its exceptional mildness was the result of some kind of esoteric method of water treatment borrowed from the ancient Chinese; I cannot recollect the specifics, but I believe the leaves were soaked before being cured, removing a fair amount of nicotine.


I do still remember the scent of the tobacco, though: hay and brown sugar, a vague whisper of lemon. Room aroma was kith and kin to a classic straight Virginia: something like baking bread, and very acceptable to most non-smokers if rolled in a good quality hemp or rice paper. It was a fairly damp tobacco; Imperial cased it with humectant before tinning.


A knockout smoke, all told. When I started smoking it I'd tried nearly every handrolling tobacco I could find. Three Castles was entirely unique; it burned cool, was easy on the lungs, and had a marvelous flavor. If I ever smell it burning again, I'm going to have one whopper of a Proustian moment.


Nothing like it, before or since. A few come close, though, most notably Auld Kendal Gold, if you can find it in the original fine shag cut. Stokkebye Danish is a solid choice, too, although it's a little more citrus forward. McConnell Special London is the wild card: sometimes it overwhelms with citrus, sometimes it's more even-tempered, like Three Castles.


A brand revival was attempted a few years back. Disaster. If some enterprising person could bribe the original formula out of an old Imperial employee and resume production in the U.S., they'd have a hit on their hands.


Similar Blends: Stokkebye Danish; McConnell Special London Fine Cut..

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

The ancient Chinese way of processing tobacco. That's new.

 

[burge]

Danish was my regular tobacco and still have some left. Not similar at all except for the cut. There is a write up on it ryo magazine and the remake was good that is what I had in the green packaging however it was way too expensive in comparison. Mark Ryan was the guy who worked with HBI to bring it back according to Doug it was successful. Mark Ryan bought up all the perique . The Danish I have now I had before I started smoking whole leaf and wanted the Canadian and the British pure virginia taste. Dons literally has that taste when its fine cut. On exceptional tobacco when cut fine has that soft silk feel to it. The three castles I believe was boiled lightly in water allowed to reabsorb the liquid wetted allowed to re absorb the liquid. Which is why I posted that method on how to mellow out tobacco.