Vitola: Toro- 6” x 52 ring gauge
- ~$15.50
- Sample provided by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
Background
The spec sheet for the StillWell Star line notes that “Cigars incorporating pipe tobacco into their mix is not new, but almost universally they are unbearably sweet, utilize marginal pipe and cigar tobaccos and are rather simple, heavy handed blends that afford the smoker little sophistication or balance.” Steve Saka, owner and chief blender of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, and Jeremy Reeves, head blender of Cornell & Diehl, approached this project with the approach that the finest tobaccos should be used and crafted into blends that really showcase the pipe tobaccos featured in each blend and how they can interact with great cigar leaf.
Today I’m looking at the final of four StillWell Star blends, Navy No. 1056. Like the others it uses a High Priming Grade A Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Mexican San Andres Negro binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. The pipe side uses a “crumble cake of stoved Red and Golden Virginas with a touch of ‘Naval Rations’ combined with Orientals and Latakia.”
As before, I got a single sample of each StillWell Star blend from Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and this is the first time I’ve smoked this blend. If your local shop doesn’t carry them, you should check out Small Batch Cigar, a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor.
Prelight
I’ve already complimented the packaging for the StillWell Star line…I’m afraid affording it any additional praise would just make Steve Saka’s head swell more than it already does after getting named to year-end best-of lists every year since he started Dunbarton. <snicker> Seriously, though, typical of Dunbarton products, this has a definite “high end classy” look.
The wrapper had the same medium brown milk chocolate color as the other blends and the same earth and hay aroma, with a touch of leather to it. The foot had notes of Latakia leaf smokiness, but not nearly as powerful and pungent as the English blend version of StillWell. There was earth and sweet hay in the mix, as well.
After clipping the end, I got an excellent pre-light draw that was, again, a lighter Latakia note than the English version, but that was still the predominant flavor I picked up on. There was a little hay, earth, and natural tobacco behind that.
Flavor
When I fired up the StillWell Star Navy No 1056, I didn’t get the smoky Latakia as the dominant driving flavor note. It was definitely there, but there was an upfront presence of sweet natural tobacco, hay, and citrus, followed up by earth and that smokiness that came through so prominently on the prelight. The balance of the flavor profile proved to be a delight as I made my way through the first third.
As I got into the second, I got more hay and natural tobacco up front, while the citrus faded a bit. There was the smoky Latakia following that, along with a good amount of white and black pepper on the palate. The retrohale was nutty and smoky.
The last third saw some introduction of cinnamon zing into the proceedings along with the smoky woodiness, while the grassiness and natural tobacco notes kept taking on the majority of the workload. Pepper stayed steady.
Construction
I had an excellent draw, very even burn line, and solid ash for half an inch or more.
Value
Very well blended cigar that was more than worth the price of admission.
Conclusions
I apparently saved the best for last in the StillWell Star lineup. The Navy No 1056 had plenty of the Latakia of the English blend without it being so dominant and overwhelming. It had a slight sweetness for a while without the overly sweet notes that the Aromatic blend pushed out. It was interesting and complex without ever falling flat, which I found the Bayou No 32 did on my palate. This is the one that I would buy a box of if I could right now. It was medium-plus in body with a very pleasant blend of cigar and pipe leaf sure to delight enthusiasts of either medium.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
