StillWell Star English No. 27 by Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Cigar Review
WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Habano
BINDER: San Andreas Negro
FILLER: Burley, Turkish, Latakia (Cypriot), various
FORMAT: Toro (652)
ORIGIN: Joya de Nicaragua SA
INTENSITY: Medium-full
NOTES:
Dark chocolate | Black walnut | Anise
Does the inclusion of Burley make this more an American/English blend? I don't taste it much really, other than a bit of pale nuttiness on the far-end. Perhaps it's less condimental and more to do with performance, say to aid the burn. Nevertheless, it grows on the palate via progression, and candies some. Smoky Latakia is still out-ahead and lovely as ever. Here, it's reminiscent of a cuppa lapsang souchong. I sense savory vegetal and fungal tidings. Pinewood. Latakia grips my tongue hostage and call me Stockholm because I like it. Salty.
Does the inclusion of Burley make this more an American/English blend? I don't taste it much really, other than a bit of pale nuttiness on the far-end. Perhaps it's less condimental and more to do with performance, say to aid the burn. Nevertheless, it grows on the palate via progression, and candies some. Smoky Latakia is still out-ahead and lovely as ever. Here, it's reminiscent of a cuppa lapsang souchong. I sense savory vegetal and fungal tidings. Pinewood. Latakia grips my tongue hostage and call me Stockholm because I like it. Salty.
Sweet & sour spices. Duck sauce remembrances FTW. The Orientals (Turkish) drive the profile from its middlings. That aforementioned sweet nuttiness is definitely coming up from there & quite aromatically, for lack of a better word. Subtley spicy, warmly and well-rounded. Leathery/gamey. Heavy & toasted grains. Roasted oranges. Cloves. Ginger. Calendula. Short. Exciting. Sentences. I'm having a blast. Here. I can see the cigar 'baccy clearly, too--its own darker more bitter spices counter-balancing well. Dark chocolate, black walnut. Black pepper. Licorice. Slightly charred pumpkin pie.
Performance-wise, the thing is a winner, with a slight ding as it airs toward smoking a half-tick moist. Regardless, dead-even burn, razor-thin line. Dense af ash that clings like something quite clingy. Draw is extra fine although, again, some damp. Assemblage holds fast. Zero hard/soft spots and only ::: very ::: minimal softening. Oily in the hand and mouth. Viscous, each. There's so much--a bit like watching all three rings of a circus, all at once. Smoke out-put is BIG in every way and the room-note is not for the faint of heart, nor the non-smoker.
Becomes a bit muddled at the end. It does beat hard, the Latakia drum, this ought to separate out the Latakia likers from lovers. Haters need not apply. I pack mostly English blends in my own pipes, and man, keep beating that drum. Also, the Orientals really do drive, lift, and (mainly) separate.
TASTE: A-
DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: A
FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59
@kaplowitzmedia
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DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: A
FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59
@kaplowitzmedia
Instagram | Twitter
::: very :::