(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 English no. 27.
A quintessential mix of Burley and Turkish leaf with a generous portion of Cypriot Latakia pressed cake paired with Nicaraguan cigar tobaccos.
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 apricot, citrus peel, and leather. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. This cigar has more "normal" cigar flavors. More traditional.
At the first third (33 minutes) the initial flavors are still in play and now there is some additional sweetness from brown sugar. The leather I reference is the type of leather you smell when you walk into a shoe store. That aroma is the flavor you get. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is apricot with average lingering black pepper. This is not a bad cigar. I rated the first third 91.
Moving through the second third (1 hour 15 minutes) I picked up 2 addition flavors; light toffee and black coffee. The toffee is rather light and mixed in with the apricot and brown sugar. The black coffee follows the leather and acts as a base. The cigar is leaning toward medium to full bodied. The finish is still apricot with good lingering black pepper. The 2 additional flavors did not move the needle for me so I'm holding the second third 91.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 48 minutes. In the final third I had apricot, no more citrus peel but now there is a sweet citrus note, brown sugar, light leather, more pronounced toffee, and black coffee. This cigar is fairly sweet and more in line with a traditional cigar. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish remains apricot and now has very good lingering black pepper. I don't think the cigar made enough improvements to move the score so I'm holding the score of 91. This is a pretty good cigar that I could smoke again.
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