Savinelli Armonia

(1.62)
Savinelli's Armonia combines choice Virginias, golden Orientals, and Kentucky leaf with a subtle topping of natural citrus fruit — cut into a mix of ribbon and broken flake for an enjoyable smoke.
Notes: Apparently, the toppings of this blend have recently changed. From the Kohlhase & Kopp website: A mixture of medium strength with a large black cavendish content, rounded off with equal parts of nutty burleys and roasted Kentucky. A good amount of rum and the best chocolate flavor are the icing on the cake that makes this mixture so unique.

Details

Brand Savinelli
Blended By Kohlhase, Kopp & Co.
Manufactured By  
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Burley, Kentucky, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring Cocoa / Chocolate, Fruit / Citrus, Honey, Rum
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams pouch, 50 grams tin
Country Germany
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium to Strong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

1.62 / 4
1

8

5

25

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 39 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 13, 2003 Mild to Medium Extra Strong Overwhelming Extra Strong
Seeing RebelPipesters review of this blend reminded me that I had planned on warning the group about this nasty stuff. I had, unfortunately, sampled a bowl a few months ago and guess I wanted to forget the experience so badly that I forgot to post my review.

I shall keep it short. Upon opening the tin I was repulsed. Why I went ahead and subjected one of my fine briars to this foul weed remains a mystery to me. Well, the fact is I did and it was a huge mistake. Almost every thought expressed by the above reviewers ran through my mind as I puffed on Armonia. Remove the "r" from the name and you've got my impressions of smell and taste of this miserably failed effort at creating a smokable pipe tobacco. (IMHO)
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 27, 2018 Very Mild Extra Strong Medium Overwhelming
Warning: I smoke naturals normally and I like them better than almost any fancy concoction I have been trying from time to time so... consider this a biased review. End of Warning.

Man... I almost quitted pipes as this was the first blend I tried: I had bought my first pipe from Savinelli's shop in Milan, Italy... and I did a big mistake: I asked the seller for some advice regarding what tobacco to buy. He pointed me to this: the fruity hell.

I remember the casing as I was opening it: strong and intoxicating... I remember thinking that it would have made a wonderful room note.

I. Was. Dead. Wrong.

Hot, gurgling, steaming... and that casing... so persistant that I remember I couldn't get it out of my system for a couple days: everything I tasted (food, water, coffee, whiskey) was tainted by the fruity hand of this demon.

In the beginning I was trying to enjoy it, then the fruit smell overwhelmed me like a bad acid trip to a chemical orchard.

And the room note: so strong and sweet it gave me a headache... I couldn't stand it any more. I needed to sleep in another room until the fruit from hell decided to subsede. One bowl and I was done with this infernal stuff and, I thought, with pipe smoking.

Until a day I saw a pipe smoker whose smoke smelled good to me... I asked him what he was smoking: Comune. Been smoking that ever since every time I find it. All the rest, but for Savinelli Armonia, is for when I get bored. Savinelli Armonia will be what they will give me in hell when I get there if I don't behave.

EDIT: I remember that pipe needed quite a few bowls with Comune to forget the experience it had endured... Now I discover Savinelli gave out free samples of this... I am pretty sure they did so that you needed a new pipe as it would have rendered one of yours an instrument of evil.
Pipe Used: Savinelli Bent apple
PurchasedFrom: Generic Tobacconist
Age When Smoked: As soon as I bought it.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 10, 2014 Mild to Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Very Strong
The Virginia is grassy with a little tart and tangy citrus. The burley is a little nutty, woody and earthy, and is slightly more obvious than the Virginia. The spicy, woody, dry, earthy, herbal, vegetative, sour and sweet Oriental/Turkish underscores the experience. The Kentucky offers a little chocolate, wood, earth, and nuts as a condiment. The artificial toppings are vinegary with an unpleasant apricot tanginess. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium. The taste is a rung past the medium threshold. The nic-hit is a couple of slots past the mild mark. Burns a little warm and harsh, but doesn’t bite at a reasonable pace with a very consistent flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Requires an average number of relights. Has a very unpleasant, lingering after taste and room note.

Apparently, the manufacturer has changed the formula since I reviewed it. Now, it has rum and chocolate toppings.

-JimInks
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 12, 2015 Mild to Medium Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Unnoticeable
I approached this tin with even more trepidation than Da Vinci. The reviews for this blend gave me worry, especially the "ammonia" crack, but, I've had a lot worse tobaccos.

The tin nose wasn't too exciting, I could smell something like citrus, and something else that reminded me of a poor vintage wine. The taste was so-so, and it was next to impossible to smell the aroma as I was smoking this on a windy day. Really, this blend wasn't all that bad. Like most aro's it smoked a bit hot, especially towards the bottom. It came very wet out of the tin, so this blend is heavily cased, but, all in all, not the atrocious tobacco that many make it out to be. I'll give it a split right down the middle—2 stars.

Keep on piping!
Pipe Used: Leonessa Capri
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 08, 2020 Mild Strong Mild to Medium Pleasant
Summary: sweet-sour blend with a floral topping, above average for an aromatic.

Virginia-Oriental-Kentucky blends provide a unique sweet-sour flavor which has made them popular in the Netherlands and Norway, as well as to any pipe-smoker blessed with a functional mail system. Most of those use a light floral topping; "Armonia" expands upon that by adding Burley and Cavendish in the middle, making the blend both sweeter and slightly warmer and broader in flavor. I hate aromatics generally, but also hate injustice and failure to notice positive qualities, and it would be a shame to fail to notice the positive aspects of this blend. First, it is not too heavily aromatic; second, the underlying leaf provides a good deal of the flavor in the lower two-thirds of the bowl; finally, it achieves a mellow smoke which is nonetheless piquant and slightly spicy. Like most aromatics, it suffers from the "sugar effect" which makes it burn hotter, so you pretty much have to breath-smoke this one at a CSPAN pace. The topping comes from the "Prince Albert" school of throwing in multiple things, but I taste the floral essence and some kind of fruit topping that could dope out as strawberry or cherry depending on the time of day. I prefer this infinitely to the mainstream cherry aromatics which have left me questioning my life decisions that led up to selecting them off the shelf.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 24, 2017 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
I ordered this on a whim. And because I was intrigued, as a newbie, as to how a 'bad' tobacco was supposed to taste. My 50g tin came to me from those excellent fellows at smokingpipes.com. Upon opening, it was evident that the tin was far from new. Both the paper insert and the cardboard cover were stained with a mottling of tobacco colour, and had leeched out a little moisture from the tobacco itself. The aroma was the first surprise. I had been ready for the chemical nastiness others report on. I found the smell quite acceptable. A little camp fire, a little leaf mound, and the faintest touch of the claimed citrus. The leaf was a good mixture of light brown, dark brown and black. The cut is a little random, but I'm used to the uniformity of Dunhill blends, so I might be just a little over critical there. Tightly packed into its tin, it was perfect moisture level for an immediate bowlfull.

I used my thick-walled Radfords's bent briar, not wanting to risk sullying either the Dunhill or the newly acquired Savinelli with the awfulness I had been promised by other reviewers. It packed nicely, in three springy layers, and lit easily. Not much expansion from the charring light, and producing a thick cloud of white smoke on the main light.

So, what does it taste like?

Very surprisingly pleasant. Cool, smooth smoke. Not 'creamy' smooth, but not in any way harsh or bitter. The citrus flavouring is so mild as to be almost, but not quite unnoticeable. Smokey, with more of that camp fire thing going on. Fresh and grassy on the front, with faint notes of spiced pear(?) maybe. There's a spiciness in general and a warmth that suggests it would pair well with a decent single malt. The room note is not at all unpleasant or acrid, as I had feared it might be. Lightly packed in a good sized (large) bowl, it burned well, and not at all hot, all the way down. No gurgling moisture, and absolutely no tongue-bite.

As I said at the top of the review, I have no idea how old this tin is. Given the terrible reviews here, the boys at smokingpipes.com might have a ton of this stuff that they bought years ago, and can't shift. Some places say 'no longer available' for this blend. I hope that's not the case, because I should be sad to see it go.

Would I order it again? Well, I'm not the 30-plus tobaccos in rotation kind of guy, I'm really searching for two (possibly three) blends to make my own. One for daily use. One for high days and holidays. One for variety. But on the other hand, I might select two regulars (daily use and sabbath) and forage my way through others as a kind of adventure, an epic journey if you will.

Would I recommend this tobacco to a friend? Well, if I had any friends, that smoke a pipe, yes I would. Without hesitation. In a heartbeat. No contest. Yes. But maybe with the caveat 'buy it, store it a few years, THEN smoke it'

Remember, folks: If you don't smoke, and you don't drink, you don't live longer..... it just SEEMS longer!
Pipe Used: Radford's thick-walled bent briar
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: (?) not known
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 15, 2016 Mild Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Tolerable
Savinelli - Armonia. Hmmmm; this has had a bit of a kicking review wise! Because of this, I was expecting a tobacco that I wouldn't insult a bonfire with. "It's not that bad"; that was my first impression. This lasted a VERY SHORT WHILE.

Armonia is best enjoyed un-lit; the tin contains a pleasant smelling, nicely hydrated mixture of dark, coarse ribbons. This is what lead me to my first positive view. But then I lit it; fun over.

I wouldn't go as far as saying the added flavour is too strong, it's just very unpleasant so even a tiny amount of it would be too much. Mind you, what added flavour I do get completely covers any of the natural tobaccos' identities. It's just a big, clumsy, mess.

A new paragraph for the worst points: 1. tongue bite.... ouch. 2. temperature.... scorching hot.

I'll keep this review quite short; it doesn't deserve a long one!

Not recommended.

Into the bin this goes!
Pipe Used: Peder Jeppesen
PurchasedFrom: James Barber
Age When Smoked: New
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 01, 2011 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Upon opening the pouch, I was greeted with a strong aromatic combination of sweet and pungent fruit. If this was in fact made from all “natural” flavors, then something “natural” was rotting. It truly smells of overripe fruit. I was not going to give into the strong desire to quit right there. The appearance of the tobacco is inviting with light and dark ribbons and a little bit of broken flake. Upon lighting, this tobacco smokes very hot, very quickly and the taste is anything but natural. I like the occasional aromatic, but this may be the worst of the many I have tried. I always avoid reviewing a tobacco after just one bowl, but in the interest of saving my mouth and taste buds, one bowl is all I am willing to endure. I am surprised a quality name like Savinelli would allow its name on something this poorly made.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 08, 2007 Mild to Medium Medium Mild Pleasant
Don't know whether it's me or you,but i find many previous reviews unfair.IMHO this is one of the best tobaccos around. Exceptional flavoring, easy and pleasing to smoke,very little bite, unless you're very quick with it. Truly exceptional !
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 17, 2006 Medium Very Strong Overwhelming Overwhelming
In my 30 years of pipe smoking this is one of the most ghastly blends I have ever attempted to smoke.

As others here have commented, Armonia is an extremely heavily cased fruity aromatic; just one whiff and my thoughts turned to the tongue bite that was sure to follow if I were to smoke this stuff. Not one to resist a challenge, I lit up anyway. It had the taste and aroma of hazardous waste combined with rotten fruit. After a few puffs I was done. I could not stand it anymore and wanted to quit before I ruined the pipe. The only thing in Armonia's favor is that tongue bite was not an issue since I wasn't able to smoke it long enough for that to happen.

I received the tobacco as a free sample pack with the purchase of a Savinelli pipe. It is unfortunate that there are probably some people who have purchased a Savinelli as their first pipe because of the free tobacco. If this were the first blend I had smoked, I would have immediately quit pipe smoking.
4 people found this review helpful.
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