Jack Straw
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- Aug 27, 2009
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This is the first full review of a pipe tobacco that I've done. Hopefully you enjoy it.
A friend sent me a tin of Dan's Da Vinci, which looks like it has been sitting in a B&M for a decade. I can literally smell the years of cavendish smoke on the label.
The tin art is made of awesome. The cheeky Mona Lisa is giving an "A-OK" sign, next to the phrase "In Fumo è Verità" which translates to "In smoke is truth." Excellent.
It reads that it is made from "Golden Light Virginia Grades and Soothing Sweet Mild Black Cavendish" which is "Matured Under Addition of Fullbodied Red Chianti Wines from the Growing Area Known as the "Colli Senesi.""
Normally I am not an "aromatic smoker," in the parlance of our times, although I do greatly enjoy strong aromatics such as those offered by the Lakelanders. But the idea of red wine in my tobacco was so intriguing that I just had to open it straight away.
First off, Da Vinci has the best tin aroma ever. And I mean it. I opened it twice in between bowls just to smell it again, and I never do that. It has a slight tartness which I assume comes from the wine, and an amazingly creamy vanilla cavendish smell which dominates. The paper disc was stuck to the tobacco and so permeated with aged tobacco-ness that the ink had been sapped out to make it almost unreadable to the naked eye unless viewed under a strong light.
It rested at what I consider to be more or less perfect smoking moisture (much like the other Dan blend I like, Limerick), and loaded easily. I'm obliged to say those two things just because everyone seems to put those in reviews, even though they don't really say anything about how good a tobacco is.
And now, to the moment of truth. The packed bowl leaps at the opportunity to absorb the flame of the match, and yields a billowing cloud of creamy delight. It is most certainly a mild tobacco, but the yellow virginia is there in such a nicely balanced proportion for this blend; enough to provide what is at first a barely noticeable backbone, but little enough to let the cavendish and flavoring really shine as they were meant to. At the forefront is a sweet vanilla note, in which is expertly mingled a somewhat tangy, tannic red wine aroma that is beautifully subtle yet distinct. I find myself bringing my brows together and sighing every other time I catch a good whiff, like a lovestruck moron.
The bowl continues, and what strikes me is that it is not progressing like a typical, cavendish-based aromatic. The light virginia backbone ramps up just a trifle lending a slight hay-like quality, and the vanilla flavoring subsides but does not disappear, complementing the former perfectly. The surprising thing is that the lovely red wine aroma seems to ramp up as the bowl progresses, or perhaps just becomes more noticeable as the vanilla subsides.
I should confess that at about the halfway point I did get a little virginia ghosting from the two pipes I smoked it in, the second pipe much more so than the first. But I know these pipes well so I feel like I can distinguish it somewhat and attempt to separate it out in my mind.
As the bowl is nears its end, I don't even think about putting it down. Each puff, even through the dregs, brings me yet more red wine tanginess, which has at this point well overpowered the vanilla and sent it into the background. That tanginess is garnished well by the hay-like virginias, which are now more noticable while retaining a certain neutrality, and it is a beautiful thing.
This is a blend I am surely going to buy more of. Recently there have been times when I have just wanted something lighter to smoke, and this fits the bill in spades. I imagine it would do marvelously in company, too, although my girlfriend is not yet home to confirm. I also noticed that the vanilla and wine aromas stuck with me for a few hours, even after a meal, and in a great way.
A friend sent me a tin of Dan's Da Vinci, which looks like it has been sitting in a B&M for a decade. I can literally smell the years of cavendish smoke on the label.
The tin art is made of awesome. The cheeky Mona Lisa is giving an "A-OK" sign, next to the phrase "In Fumo è Verità" which translates to "In smoke is truth." Excellent.
It reads that it is made from "Golden Light Virginia Grades and Soothing Sweet Mild Black Cavendish" which is "Matured Under Addition of Fullbodied Red Chianti Wines from the Growing Area Known as the "Colli Senesi.""
Normally I am not an "aromatic smoker," in the parlance of our times, although I do greatly enjoy strong aromatics such as those offered by the Lakelanders. But the idea of red wine in my tobacco was so intriguing that I just had to open it straight away.
First off, Da Vinci has the best tin aroma ever. And I mean it. I opened it twice in between bowls just to smell it again, and I never do that. It has a slight tartness which I assume comes from the wine, and an amazingly creamy vanilla cavendish smell which dominates. The paper disc was stuck to the tobacco and so permeated with aged tobacco-ness that the ink had been sapped out to make it almost unreadable to the naked eye unless viewed under a strong light.
It rested at what I consider to be more or less perfect smoking moisture (much like the other Dan blend I like, Limerick), and loaded easily. I'm obliged to say those two things just because everyone seems to put those in reviews, even though they don't really say anything about how good a tobacco is.
And now, to the moment of truth. The packed bowl leaps at the opportunity to absorb the flame of the match, and yields a billowing cloud of creamy delight. It is most certainly a mild tobacco, but the yellow virginia is there in such a nicely balanced proportion for this blend; enough to provide what is at first a barely noticeable backbone, but little enough to let the cavendish and flavoring really shine as they were meant to. At the forefront is a sweet vanilla note, in which is expertly mingled a somewhat tangy, tannic red wine aroma that is beautifully subtle yet distinct. I find myself bringing my brows together and sighing every other time I catch a good whiff, like a lovestruck moron.
The bowl continues, and what strikes me is that it is not progressing like a typical, cavendish-based aromatic. The light virginia backbone ramps up just a trifle lending a slight hay-like quality, and the vanilla flavoring subsides but does not disappear, complementing the former perfectly. The surprising thing is that the lovely red wine aroma seems to ramp up as the bowl progresses, or perhaps just becomes more noticeable as the vanilla subsides.
I should confess that at about the halfway point I did get a little virginia ghosting from the two pipes I smoked it in, the second pipe much more so than the first. But I know these pipes well so I feel like I can distinguish it somewhat and attempt to separate it out in my mind.
As the bowl is nears its end, I don't even think about putting it down. Each puff, even through the dregs, brings me yet more red wine tanginess, which has at this point well overpowered the vanilla and sent it into the background. That tanginess is garnished well by the hay-like virginias, which are now more noticable while retaining a certain neutrality, and it is a beautiful thing.
This is a blend I am surely going to buy more of. Recently there have been times when I have just wanted something lighter to smoke, and this fits the bill in spades. I imagine it would do marvelously in company, too, although my girlfriend is not yet home to confirm. I also noticed that the vanilla and wine aromas stuck with me for a few hours, even after a meal, and in a great way.
