Watch City Cigar Deep Elem

The Cyprian Latakia is smoky, earthy, woodsy, musty sweet, and well compliments the other tobaccos without dominating. The Virginias offer tart and tangy citrus, slightly grass notes with a little tangy dark fruit, wood and earth in the background. The burley is earthy, woody, nutty sweet with a hint of toast and oats, and shines more than the Virginias and condimental Carolina cavendish, but doesn't overwhelm them. The Carolina cavendish provides a few citrus, honey, sugar and grass aspects. No chance of bite or harshness. The strength is a couple of steps past the center of mild to medium, while the taste just falls short of the medium mark.The nic-hit is a slot below the strength level. An exceptionally well balanced sweet American English where you taste each component in nearly every puff all the way to the finish. Cool, clean, smooth as silk and very creamy, it does require a few relights as it is a slow burner. Leaves just a little moisture at the bottom, but no dottle. It has a very pleasant, lightly lingering after taste and room note, and could nearly be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Typical English in color, with various browns and blacks and with a pouch aroma of latakia. Smelled like a lat powerhouse. Came much wetter than I'm used to in latakia blends not named Dunhill. I recalled that this was supposed to contain some flavored Cavendish but didn't notice any in the nose, although the loading kind of suggested it. It was moist but really didn't need any drying time. I preferred it moist, not surprising in a lat ribbon.

Another English-aromatic crossover blend, akin to WC's "Stardust" but different. Where Stardust put the aromatic flavoring closer to the forefront, this tasted like an English blend with a faint touch of flavoring. Stardust also felt drier to the touch, but more aromatic, the opposite of this one. The predominant taste was a basic latakia blend with a tad more sweetness. And the room note was pure aromatic! I got lots of compliments on the smell and I often left the room and returned, just to smell that room note. English smokers who get complaints about the smell, this is your solution! This is a crossover blend that I can wrap my tastebuds around, having not the best success with the genre. I would not have guessed burley as the base, but perhaps it's because Watch City has the sweetest tasting burley anywhere! This is one smooth smoke but it has all the latakia flavor that any fan short of a fanatic could want, and a family-friendly room note. This is one for my occasional rotation. Really well done!

This ends my Watch City sampling and I have to say that I'm extremely impressed. Ernie Q leaves most blenders in the dust and joins McClellands and GL Pease as the only blending house whose every offering is something I feel compelled to try (ok... not very interested in McClellands goopy aros but a blender's gotta make a buck!). Several of Ernie's blends have made my rotation. If this guy continues to remain a secret, it may be well-kept, but it's certainly ill-advised.

One of Watch City's top sellers with a reason, darned good stuff! I loved the rich Latakia that was bolstered by a lot of Cavendish that I think was Burley based. The Virginia was solid although I never got its full effect. It was more of a Latakia forward tobacco and at times could be a bit too much, but if smoked slowly, presented itself as a really palate pleasing smoke.

Watchwords from previous Watch City Deep Elem reviews: “home run”; “masterpiece”; "Velvety smooth”; “deep and rich flavor”; “extremely impressed”; “Smooth as silk and very creamy”; “exceptionally well balanced sweet American English”.

According to a duo of reviewers, this blend was inspired by McClelland’s Frog Morton. That makes a lot of sense, for upon activation of burn sequence, the first thing that came to my mind was Frog Morton’s Cellar. Frog Morton’s Cellar was the only one of the Craftsbury Series that I ever sampled – and of the five Frogs, FMC was the highest rated of the bunch. (FMC was one of the very first blends I tried upon picking up the pipe). None of the other four (phenomenal) Watch City blends I've tried -- Deluxe Crumb, Flake #558, Watch City Slices or Nor’Easter – remind me of any other blends currently in my cellar (or memory bank). As the bowl of Deep Elem burned on, I kept thinking that Deep Elem was, in fact, a dead-ringer for FMC. So later in the day I broke out some FMC to compare. I was dead wrong. To appropriate a line from Lochinvar in his evaluation of Russ Oullette's White Knight: Deep Elem not only replicates the original Frog Morton, but surpasses it. What is really interesting is that FMC contains no Burley, no Cavendish. (Add just the right amounts of Burley and Cavendish to FMC and -- voila -- you have Deep Elem)! The FMC was excellent, but the Deep Elem was clearly superior to the FMC. Deep Elem is a finer, sweeter version of FMC. If you loved Frog Morton’s Cellar – or even if you merely liked Frog Morton’s Cellar – or even if you've never tried any of the Craftsbury Frogs, you owe it to yourself to try this velvety, smooth-as-silk, very creamy, and exceptionally well balanced sweet American English masterpiece from Ernie Q. at Watch City Cigar & Pipe. Highly recommended. 4-stars.

Postscript: Until a week ago, I had never heard of Watch City Cigar & Pipe – never heard of Ernie Q – never heard of Deep Elem (2014), Deluxe Crumb (2010), Flake #558 (2014), Watch City Slices (2014), nor of Nor’Easter (2006). As of February, 2019, only 49 people have reviewed those 5 blends (total, combined) on TR. This is difficult for me to grasp on an intellectual level; hard to comprehend on a hypothetical level; irresolvable to get a handle on at the common man, pipe-smoker-in-the-street level. (It only makes sense at the quantum level). I was just speaking with Alex Jones about this, and it makes me wonder if the remaining members of the Merovingian ruling family are indeed colluding with the Bavarian Illuminati from their ECB headquarters in Frankfurt in an alliance of silence to safeguard the secret sanctity of these holy blends from the non-initiated masses. I’m not a big conspiracy theorist, but when it comes to Watch City blends, one has to ask the question: Quis custodiets ipsodes custodes (who will guard the guards)? The truth is out there . . .

Update, October 19, 2019 -- This from Watch City Cigar's website:

Deep Elem was our very first Blend, made with a recipe given to us by Mary McNeil of McClelland Tobacco Co. Sadly, Deep Elem was discontinued due to the closing of McClelland and the loss of thier #805 Cavendish which was a unique and integral ingredient.

Terrapin Station pays homage to Deep Elem. While we could not match the fine cut of McClelland 805 nor the subtle sweet top note, by combining various grades and colors of cavendish we have come very close. Of course the proportions and the condimentals remain the same. Terrapin Station is a worthy homage to "Deep Elem" and an outstanding mild English blend in it's own right.

A bed of natural and lightly sweet cavendish is spiced generously with Latakia and just a bit of Bright Virginia for a cool, mild flavorful and slightly sweet English Blend...with a nod to Grateful Dead Fans!

I got a 2 oz. sample of this from a friend, and I have enjoyed it. The cut is a chopped ribbon with a few larger pieces. Colors are a mix - mostly dark leaf with a few tan bits. The sample was labeled 2014, and it had been jarred.

Smoked, this is a sweet and smokey American "English." I am not getting any Virginia, but the burley delivers some toast, and the cavendish presents as sweet with none of the common black cavendish vanilla. The flavor is good but not especially hearty.

This is a great crossover blend for those who want a little latakia in a room note friendly blend. It is easy to recommend.

An English blend kind of, but with the distinct sweetness it has coming from the Cavendish it might not be wrong to call this an aromatic too. The Latakia is very noticeable with it's distincly campfire like smokiness, but I have to say for me the sweetness of the other components are the major players.

Mild in nicotine and pleasant tasting this is good candidate for an all day smoke. To my mind, with the smokey Latakia and sweet flavor, it's a good cool weather outdoor smoke.

Velvety smooth, cool and relatively mild, this is a mixture that produces abundant smoke clouds and delivers a deep and rich flavour, centred basically on the low registers. Slightly bitter and easy to pack, this finely chopped ribbon cut comes at the right moisture level: neither dry nor goopy. It is a completely tamed mixture in the sense that no matter how hard you puff (something one is inclined to do due to the mildness of the tobacco) it will never bite. The accent is on the Latakia rather than on the Virginias.

In my opinion this excellent tobacco could do with a bit more spice (more Turkish?) and saltiness (a drier form of Latakia?), because it can become a little bit dull and monochromatic. There is a slight Cavendish sweetness at the end of the bowl, and an earthy, almost swampy undertone, which I don't care much for. Though a very good tobacco, I don't think this is in the same league as Dunhill (i.e., Earely Morning), Rattray (Highland Targe) or Astley (No1); nevertheless this blend has far more character than, say, Gawith's Skiff.

Compared to its other siblings (Persian Slipper and Justice Mixture), this is the weakest of the lot. However it is a very nice introduction to Latakia leaf, and I imagine this could work very well for those seeking a Frog Morton type of blend (not as rich, yet sweet enough to make it palatable).

Another home run from Ernie at Watch City. Great all day smoke. What amazes me the most about this blend is the charring light. Literally from the instant the match touched the first ribbon of this masterpiece, I knew it was going to be something special. I've never gotten so much flavor just off a charring light.

Brian mentioned that this was inspired by Frog Morton, and I have to agree. Maybe even a bit better depending on the pipe I use. And you can get it for about half the cost of the Frog. Don't really have to whack me in the face with no frying pan to realize that's quite a find.

Burns fairly cool, even with the burley. Maybe just my own experience, but I find that burley smokes a bit warmer than other tobaccos. But this burns well. I've been at this for a few years, picking up more time with the bowls recently. And this is the very first blend I've been able to smoke to the bottom of the bowl.

Flavor is mild with a great smokey sweetness. Mild, but somehow very present. Some mild smokes you need to smoke very light to find the flavor/sweetness. Very pleasant here. Until I find (if I ever do) something better, this one might just be my go to.

I first tried Deep Elem as part of a sampler from Watch City Cigar Co. on the strength of a recommendation from a friend on ASP. Coincedentally, the friend was suggesting their Persian Slipper and rather than buy only two ounces, I went for their English Sampler instead. Boy, am I glad I decided to do it that way.

I was an aromatic smoker for a long time and was switching to other blends (I now enjoy Va, VaPer, English, English blends with Latakia, Balkans, and aromatics) and was missing some of the sweetness I enjoyed previously in many English blends. However, when I lit up Deep Elem the first time, it did not dissapoint.

It is sweet without being cloying or sloppy-wet. Deep Elem is so balanced in all regards. It has latakia but not too much, nor too little. I can smoke this all day with ease, and enjoy the sweetness, the latakia, the tobacco flavor and rich, voluminous creamy clouds of smoke. The flavor does change as the bowl progresses, gaining in strength of flavor, but not so much as some blends where you seemingly have to chew the smoke instead of puff it.

It is also not a tobacco one has to smoke in complete solitude to contemplate every minute nuance. The bonus to this is that while it is a nice latakia blend, Deep Elem has a very pleasant room note so maybe smoking alone can be avoided altogether. Both my father-in-law and mother-in-law complimented the aroma of Deep Elem the first time they smelled it. My father-in-law went so far as to tell me it smelled "so good". In-laws said this folks!

Finally, this wonderful tobacco doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I can pick it up in bulk, or, if I am feeling rich or too lazy to put this up in mason jars, I can also order it in tins. This way you have the best of both worlds: great price and convenience.

To sum up, this tobacco is a great, all day, sweet, not gloopy, low priced bulk or easy to cellar tins, latakia blend that I suggest to anyone. As a last side note, Ernie Q. who blends this fine weed said he based it on Frog Morton in a personal note to me, so if you like that, give this a try as a low cost alternative. Four stars easy.

I opening the Pouch smells delightfully, and i smoke a bowl full a non biting mixture, the Latakia and sweet golden virginias naturally sweet cavendish and taste delightful.smokey flavor,Fabulous flavor and aroma, I like it's complexity. burn cool all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, if you like lightly Latakia english blend this is the tobacco for you. I well gave it 3 star i love it I'am puting This in my tobacco cellar,