cigar leaf you say? BALDERDASH!

[mike_68]

Until I got my Habana Daydream for my birthday! My second bowl today and all I can say is WOW! I've been hesitant to review a toby as I still don't feel like I know what tastes are atributed to which leaf, but I WILL go on record as saying this "genre" is a nice change. Certainly not what I anticipated but truly excellent.

Now I need some Stormfront and some Key Largo and some Churchill and... :cat:

 

[Simple Man]

...

 

[Jazzman]

Yeah, the cigar blend thing is a curious one. I guess in depends on which road you've travelled. I smoked cigars for 10 years before I picked up the briar and so I fall into the category of "If i wanted to taste cigar leaf, I'd smoke a cigar!" :tongue:

But I did have a brief affair with Key Largo. I still have to say that McCls Dominican Glory Maduro is still sometimes in my rotation. I've found HD and Robusto to be to dry(like a cigar) and burn too fast, but I'm quite a puffer.

But as a Sage pipeman said to me once,"Smoke what you like and like what you smoke."

Peace-Mike :tongue:

 

[Simple Man]

...

 

[mike_68]

Jazzman - as a stogie smoker still(although the pipe more than a cigar now) I sensed the cigar leaf but it didn't taste like a cigar overall. Something held it in check and I think it was the perique since it was a peppery taste that seemed to regulate it.

If that makes any sense at all...

 

[mike_68]

As a side note, this blend does burn faster than others it seems..I guess that's related to the cigar leaf?

 

[smokey422]

It's been over a year since I had a good cigar. Right now the only cigar leaf blends I smoke are Peretti's Cuban Mix (my favorite) and C&D Purple Cow. I'm going to have to get a sample of that Habana Daydream next time I order from C&D, I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Smokey

 

[Tim_Haggerty]

A cigar leak is a nice change of pace. I like the Habana Daydream, Billy Budd, Robusto and Key Largo and usually try to have one available. It's not the same as smoking a cigar, but so what?

 

[tiltjlp]

A cigar leak is a nice change of pace. I like the Habana Daydream, Billy Budd, Robusto and Key Largo and usually try to have one available. It's not the same as smoking a cigar, but so what?

In my blends containing cigar leaf, I use it to add a new dimension to the blend, such as creaminess or as a counterpoint to other tobaccos in the blend, not to make the blend taste like a cigar.

 

[mike_68]

And your Storm Front is high on my list..early Xmas gift to myself I'm thinkin'!

 

[Boxerbuddy]

If you enjoyed your 1st cigar leaf blend, you owe it to yourself to try Storm Front and Peretti's Cuban Mixture. They taste nothing like eachother but are both awesome.

 

[Storm_Crow]

I smoked cigars for 10 years before I picked up the briar and so I fall into the category of "If i wanted to taste cigar leaf, I'd smoke a cigar!" :tongue:

The way I figure it, cigars are superfluous. I expect you could take the components of a good cigar and stuff it into a pipe instead. I'll get a hell of alot more smokes out of it for the money that way.

My own 2 cents, Storm Front is awesome, and IMO no cigar leaf blend list is complete without VA Spice.

 

[Storm_Crow]

I smoked cigars for 10 years before I picked up the briar and so I fall into the category of "If i wanted to taste cigar leaf, I'd smoke a cigar!" :tongue:

The way I figure it, cigars are superfluous. I expect you could take the components of a good cigar and stuff it into a pipe instead. I'll get a hell of alot more smokes out of it for the money that way.

My own 2 cents, Storm Front is awesome, and IMO no cigar leaf blend list is complete without VA Spice.

McClellands Dominican blends, even the maduro, don't seem to have the flavor I'm after.

Most of the others include latakia which I feel buries the cigar flavor, but I'm yet to try either Key Largo or Habana Daydream so this may not be the case with them. I felt the lat was too present in Billy Budd though.

In my blends containing cigar leaf, I use it to add a new dimension to the blend, such as creaminess or as a counterpoint to other tobaccos in the blend, not to make the blend taste like a cigar.

Yea, your Storm Front blend does a nice job adding cigar leaf as a condinent John. Still, I feel it adds more than just creaminess. The cigar flavor does drift in and out of the smoke more distictly at times, adding a nice additional dimension to the otherwise burley dominant blend.

 

[tiltjlp]

In my blends containing cigar leaf, I use it to add a new dimension to the blend, such as creaminess or as a counterpoint to other tobaccos in the blend, not to make the blend taste like a cigar.

Yea, your Storm Front blend does a nice job adding cigar leaf as a condinent John. Still, I feel it adds more than just creaminess. The cigar flavor does drift in and out of the smoke more distictly at times, adding a nice additional dimension to the otherwise burley dominant blend.

That was my intention. I wanted smokers to taste the cigar leaf without it being dominating. The secret with using any tobacco in a blend is balancing them all to create the flavor profile you want. For example, Latakia in small amounts can actually smooth out a rough blend.

 

[LIPIPE]

It would appear to me that there are three distinct variables to this testosterone discussion. I firmly believe that testosterone plays a significant role in a man's taste and his drive for satisfaction in most of his pursuits. Yesterday I smoked a favorite Partagas Black Label Magnifico. It's a 54 ring guage oily dark (Oscuro) maduro wrapped stick that provides an all day delight. I always keep a box of these in my humidor. This morning I'm enjoying a large bowl of Billy Bud in a large Savoy (Dunhill) oom paul before breakfast. A great pipe smoke but a different pleasure. I also always keep ground Partagas Black Label cigar leaf for a condimental addition to C&D Engine 99 blend when I grab a bowl of that blend. Hence, my thesis is that these are three different manly pleasurable smoking experiences to be enjoyed on their own merits. When I want a cigar, I don't grab a pipe and conversely when I want a pipe I don't always load a blend that has cigar nuances. Cigar leaf in pipe tobacco slightly and mildly changes the pipe tobacco flavor pleasure. I don't believe that any pipe tobacco gives the outstanding pleasure and satisfaction of a fine cigar nor do I believe that any pipe tobacco should be "adjusted" to taste like one. They are different smokes for different times and different folks. I also believe that a great pipe blend can be altered to the point of ruining it so I am cognizant of never adding more that scant amounts of cigar leaf to any pipe tobacco blend. When I want a cigar, I smoke one and usually do not smoke a pipe that day. I have more than 33 pipes and I smoke them all. Over all, I am a pipe smoker, however the testosterone in my blood calls for that cold can of Bud and an all day cigar now and then. I'm of the opinion that living large is the epitome of manhood and I revel in it.

 

[Storm_Crow]

I guess my question is this: If you ground up a good cigar and piled the remains into a pipe, would there be any reason to believe the flavor would be any different?

I realize folks, if they want a true cigar, just go buy a cigar...but since cigars cost so much more, I suspect folly!

Now I understand that some may in fact crave a thick hard shaft between their lips so I'm not judging... :lol:

My thesis: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...and if so, you'll save the money and smoke it out of a pipe.

...and sometimes a cigar is a big brown *self-censored* :shock:

(gotta love George Carlin)

 

[LIPIPE]

Storm Crow: The answer to your query comes from the late Edie Adams...

"Pick up a Muriel and smoke it some time." Unfortunately, it won't fit into your pipe. The cost/benefit of any man's pleasure is one only he can determine. My suggestion is to go on down to your favorite B&M, pick up a Partagas Black Label, put your lips around it and see if you can handle it. Then get back to us. Until then brother, enjoy your best pipe as I do.

BTW I too loved George Carlin and I miss his salty humor. He was an American treasure. I especially remember and appreciate his routine on "Stuff".

 

[Storm_Crow]

Storm Crow: The answer to your query comes from the late Edie Adams...

"Pick up a Muriel and smoke it some time." Unfortunately, it won't fit into your pipe. The cost/benefit of any man's pleasure is one only he can determine. My suggestion is to go on down to your favorite B&M, pick up a Partagas Black Label, put your lips around it and see if you can handle it. Then get back to us. Until then brother, enjoy your best pipe as I do.

BTW I too loved George Carlin and I miss his salty humor. He was an American treasure. I especially remember and appreciate his routine on "Stuff".

A place for my stuff? Yea...a house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. :lol:

I see what you're saying as far as testosterone though. I think it comes from our earliest childhood. Media makes the cigar so indivisible with machismo. Don't get me wrong, I feel that too and I will smoke a cigar on rare occasion, however my stronger sense of pragmatism overides it in most cases. If I chose to smoke a cigar for an hour that cost me $30 when the same amount of the same components could provide me with several smokes for the same flavor...I'd just feel more foolish than macho.

I accept that people can spend money on things that are unwise outside of the fact that simply provides pleasure beyond the obviously definable (it tastes good)..something that's personal to them, but its just so contrary to my nature. My brother in law, for instance, is a huge watch guy. He'll spend over a grand on a watch. I raise an eyebrow and point out that my cell phone provides me with the time.

Everything with me is value. I'm willing to pay more for greater enjoyment, but even something for which I am enthusiastic like pipes...would I love to get, for instance, a $360 Le Strade Natural? Well yes, but there are similar pipes for $80. So I ask myself, would the purchase of this pipe be something that I would enjoy 4.5 times more? No. it would be an impulse buy. I would think it was awesome for the first month I owned it and it would quickly become just another pipe in my collection. That's the thing with pleasure purchases...the pleasure they provide is always fleeting. You buy a new car...you think it's so awesome...after a couple years it's just a car.

The pipe is the ultimate expression of the pragmatist...I can stick that (whatever that may be) in my pipe and smoke it!

 

[LIPIPE]

Good conversation and good points. I too watch the buck. My cigar however when purchased by the box costs $4.40. As far as it being a one hour smoke, I beg to differ. A Partagas Black Label Magnifico is good for five or more hours of enjoyment. For me it is an all day smoke. It's a pleasure I enjoy one or two times a month between many hours of pipe smoking. I am just careful to enjoy each pleasure individually as intended by the blender and roller without compromising the quality of either premium product. Sometimes it is best not to mess with success.

 

[Anonymous]

There was, IMHO, one pipe tobacco that defined the genre -- BSVa10. It was my all-day, every-day smoke, for years. Except for the occasional urge to try something different just to try it, it was THE tobacco.

The only other one that ever reached that exceptional quality level, again IMHO, was the original Fox Bankers, which was an English mixture with a cigar component. An aged tin of that was utopian.

Both were made with the legendary cigar tobacco from the forbidden island 90 miles south of the Florida Keys, and Syrian Latakia. (As was 123, but it missed the round, luscious fullness of the great ones that captured that aspect of a fine cigar without trying to taste like one).

As for the others, tastes vary. I privately (and very possibly, ignorantly) suspect that part of the problem is their using Connecticut Wrapper leaf. Which, absent the other components of a good cigar using it, comes across with a dry, bitter Marsh Wheeling stogie edge that (ditto above) doesn't ever meld with the other components.

Dominican Glory Maduro does match the full richness that BSVa10 had, but IMHO (we're seeing that a lot here), it's more than enough too cloyingly sweet to notice and, eventually, be turned off by (this after going through at least a pound or so of it). Wessex Brigade Campaign Dark Flake, (after ten pounds), although rich and full without the cigar note, similarly. Over the long haul, you just don't want to be smoking dessert all the time. (I suspect somebody boosted the candy of it way up -- it wasn't like that at all back when I was wearing it out).

Russ Oeullette's new take on it -- waiting for Monday with keen anticipation here as that's when Sam A's brotherly sample will make the last leg of its journey from the upper midwest -- well, stay tuned

FWIW

:face: