(Description taken from Dunbartoncigars.com website)
Our Master Ligador, Steve Saka, while known for being one of the world’s foremost cigar experts has also been a pipe smoker for over three decades. For many years he has casually crafted handmade cigars incorporating some of his favorite pipe tobaccos into blends for his own personal consumption. While he would typically use “English” style blends, he would also mix it up with a few Aromatics, Orientals and others. While he enjoys his pipe smoking, cigars remain his first love and doing this allowed him to combine the flavors and aromas only a pipe could offer into his beloved puros.
When he told this practice to Jeremy Reeves, the head blender of the famed pipe tobacco maker Cornell & Diehl, who himself is also a cigar smoker, everyone’s wheels began spinning at the possibilities. Earnest work began to create a unique, refined smoking experience combining our shared passions.
StillWell Star is the world’s first luxury pipe tobacco cigar.
Cigars incorporating pipe tobaccos 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. In short, not the type of cigars that Saka smokes.
StillWell Star is a totally different approach.
All of the cigar and pipe tobaccos used are amongst the finest available, no expenses spared. Each of the pipe tobacco recipes is meticulously crafted in small batches by Reeves utilizing only the best tobaccos and techniques. And each of the cigar ligas was carefully tailored by Saka to specifically showcase and enhance the nuances that each of the pipe blends add to the cigar.
The end result is a truly mesmerizing smoking experience. Four unique cigars each with its own personality, deftly blended to afford the smoker the nuances of the flavors and aromas of the pipe blends, yet working in concert with the black cigar tobaccos. Balance, measured, refined and elegant are all hallmarks of StillWell Star.
All 4 cigars come in a 6 x 52 size and boxes of 13.
All 4 cigars look alike with the exception of the band at the foot which designates the blend name.
I received this cigar along with the other 3 in a press packet. Only one cigar of each blend was sent. I do not like reviewing a cigar with only one sample but I decided to do so. It's sort of a quasi blind review. I know nothing about the cigar other than what's on the website. I do not know what to expect. I will review all 4 blends this way.
Today we look at the Aromatic No. 1.
This cigar uses the finest of aromatic Black Cavendish, Golden Virginia and Burley pipe tobaccos added to a mild, Nicaraguan puro.
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto
Filler: Various
The cigar is nice looking and has a very good feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were chocolate mouse, marshmallow cream, brown sugar, nutmeg, and light black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 to 7 1/2. The aroma of the smoke smells like the chocolate mouse. Interesting start.
At the first third (35 minutes) things started changing a little. I still had the chocolate mouse but not the marshmallow cream, cedar, a touch of brown sugar, and oily and somewhat bitter nutmeg, dry cocoa, and black coffee. The finish is black coffee and average lingering black pepper. The cigar is quite different for me. In some ways it's a good different and in some others it's a not so good different. I rated the first third 89.
As I moved through the second third (1 hour 16 minutes) the cigar made a big change. Now I had unsweetened dark chocolate, a hint of cedar, and a lot of earthy black coffee with a little leather. The cigar has gotten quite dark and the sweetness it started with is not there. The finish is still black coffee but improved lingering black pepper. The cigar is medium to full bodied. I rated the second third 85.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 41 minutes. The cigar made a little bounce back in the final third. And the marshmallow cream notes that were at the light up are now back in a very faint way. There are even cedar/citrus notes for the first time. They appeared very late in the cigar. There were also brown sugar notes and black coffee. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish now is nutmeg and black coffee with good lingering black pepper. This has been an interesting cigar but not really my thing. But, the cigar did bounce back so I'm rating the final third 87.
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