Vitola: Toro- 6” x 52 ring gauge
- ~$15.50
- Sample provided by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Background
Last week I took a look at the first of four new blends from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust that combine Steve Saka’s love of cigars with his love for pipe tobacco. The Aromatic No. 1 was a good blend, combining sweetened and flavored pipe tobacco types with premium cigar tobacco. It wasn’t quite up my alley, but I can see how it would appeal to those that are more into aromatic pipe leaf.
Today I’ll be looking at the second of the four Stillwell Star blends: English No. 27. English pipe blends tend to be more full-bodied, more complex, and more pungent than just about any other easily-found pipe tobacco. This cigar uses Nicaraguan fillers paired with Burley and Turkish leaf, along with a “generous portion of Cypriot Latakia pressed cake.” All of these blends share the same San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto binder and Ecuadorian Habano wrapper leaf.
Dunbarton sent me one sample of each blend, so this is the first time I’ve smoked this one. If your local shop doesn’t carry them, you can find them at Small Batch Cigar, a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor.
Prelight
Nothing to see here…well, nothing new…the appearance of these is exactly the same as the Aromatic No. 1 that I looked at last week. Which is a good thing because the presentation on those is very nice. Saka pays attention to little details like the bands and boxes because he understands that an attractive-looking cigar is going to be an easier sell.
The wrapper looks pretty much the same, too…see my review from last week. It had an aroma combining hay and cedar notes. The foot is where the magic happens, with the smoke-cured Latakia tobacco leading the way with its very specific aroma. There was a little earth and pepper in the mix, as well.
After clipping, I took a test draw and found that the cap on this one was definitely not sweetened (which is in keeping with the character of the English blend). The draw was very good and I got notes of bell pepper, cedar, and earth mixed with a healthy amount of the smoked Latakia.
Flavor
While the Aromatic No 1 struck me from the beginning as a bit “odd” because of the sweetness of the aromatic pipe tobacco in the cigar paradigm, this one seemed perfectly reasonable out of the gate. I got earth and cedar notes up front, with plenty of smoky Latakia flavor right behind; some grassiness and black pepper came in toward the end. The retrohale was woody with plenty of red pepper fire.
As I got into the second third, I was really enjoying the experience of this cigar. It still featured plenty of earth up front, while the cedar notes had diminished a little. There was a little sweetness mixed with the Latakia smokiness.
The last third saw the Latakia smokiness take over the flavor profile, making it almost like just smoking a bowl of a nice English blend. There were notes of cedar and earth in the background, plenty of pepper, and a tiny amount of sweetness.
Construction
I had a great draw, even burn line, and solid ash.
Value
This was a really good blend of pipe and cigar experiences and I would judge it to be worth the price of admission without hesitation.
Conclusions
I was impressed with the Stillwell Star English No. 27. It was a particularly skillful mix of cigar and pipe experiences with the English blend not overpowering anything until close to the end. It was medium-to-full most of the way, until the Latakia took over and drove it into a more full-bodied place. I enjoyed this one and would definitely smoke it on occasion when I was craving the experience of an English blend but wanted something that lasts longer than a 15 or 20 minute bowl in my pipe.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
