(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 Navy no. 1056.
A crumble cake of stoved Red and Golden Virginia tobaccos with a touch of “Naval Rations” combined with Orientals and Latakia expertly blended with dark air-cured black cigar leaf.
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto
Filler: Various
The cigar, like the others, has a nice feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. It takes about 5 minutes for the flavors to settle down. The initial flavors at light up were apricot, brown sugar, and light toffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 to 7 1/2. Nice sweet start.
At the first third (31 minutes) the ash was still intact. There is a new flavor emerging; raspberry. It's in a rather small amount but it adds another sweet note to an already sweet cigar. Now there are sweet apricot, brown sugar, toffee, and light raspberry notes. There is some richness and light buttery notes in the cigar. There is also a light black coffee base now. The cigar seems to be more rounded out. The black pepper is also rising. It's a solid 7 1/2 at least. The cigar is very sweet and I like sweet. I rated the first third 94.
As I moved through the second third (1 hour 4 minutes) I still had the apricot, toffee, and brown sugar but the brown sugar is in such an abundance that it overshadows the other two. I don't have the raspberry note any longer. There is a nice black coffee base. There is now some citrus peel in the mix. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is some apricot and a lot of brown sugar with good lingering black pepper. In this segment the cigar is predominantly brown sugar where as the first third was several individual notes working independently. The increased brown sugar makes the cigar feel "normalized". It's not quite as appealing. I rated the second third 92.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 40 minutes. I wouldn't call it a bouceback but the individual flavor notes re-emerged in the final third. I can pick them out now and the brown sugar is not the dominant flavor. So, for that reason the cigar improved. I can now get the apricot, brown sugar, toffee, citrus peel and black coffee individually. There is a very light note of the raspberry or similar berry flavor also. The cigar is medium bodied, leaning toward medium to full. The finish is apricot and browns sugar with good lingering black pepper. The black pepper is good in this cigar and it increases as it goes. The final third made a little improvement so I rated it 93. Of the 4 cigars I would recommend this one to try and possibly buy multiples of.
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