Watch City Cigar Nor'Easter

The smoky, woody, earthy, musty, incense-like, sweet Cyprian Latakia is a major player, though the nutty, earthy, woody, molasses sweet burley provides ample support. The nuttiness reminds me of Planters’ peanuts, and the interplay between it and the other components occasionally gives me the feel of an American English mixture. The Virginia offers citrus and grass, primarily acting as a base for the other tobaccos. The black cavendish is a minor addition that adds some creamy smooth brown sugar to tame the Latakia. The Orientals are also lightly present; smoky, woody, mildly floral, herbal, vegetative with a hint of dry and light sourness. The spice from the perique is faint, and when noticeable, seems to be more fruity (raisins, plum and figs) than spicy. The woody, earthy, herbal, vegetative, sweet cigar leaf is about as obvious as the perique, meaning that I don’t always taste it. Fairly complex though some of the flavors are subtle, but mostly consistent to the finish with a little sweetness and some savoriness. No chance of bite or harshness. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is just past the center of mild to medium. Burns a little slow with no dull moments, though it loses just a touch of sweetness in the last quarter. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl. Needs some relights. Has a pleasant, lightly lingering after taste. The room note reminds me of sitting around the camp fire at night. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks

I really like the smell of this cake. I break up the cake in small pieces. It burns slowly with minimal relights. This is a very good tobacco! It's sweet, smoky and bit nutty on the back note, a nice combination of all the tobaccos. I would put this among my top favorites. Easy to smoke and stays lite nicely and didn't burn hot.

Mostly black with some mottling brick that is fairly easy to pull apart and load. Bag aroma was mostly of latakia but with an underlying spice scent. A delicate whiff of cigar, and since cigar aroma is anything but delicate to me, I found this interesting.

Taste-wise, this was about as unique a latakia blend as I've ever encountered, with a plethora of flavors. The latakia was in front but just barely. There was a slight sweetness but it was mostly of the nutty variety - a nut whose taste I could not place but that I've tasted before. But it didn't taste like your run of the mill burley and I'm assuming the addition of orientals, cigar leaf and perique had a lot to do with that. The cigar notes were mostly in the room aroma or when I held the bowl close to my nose, but there was a spice that I've not picked up before from the other components. The perique was very light but noticeable. Yet, I didn't find this terribly complex, as the overall presentation barely changed down the bowl. Adding too many components to a blend often dulls the experience for me, but Ernie has created a recipe here that brings out the best in all the constituent tobaccos and achieved a blend where everything does its part. Not my favorite tasting latakia blend but a 4 star creation nonetheless. Ernie Q has really earned my admiration!

For those that don't live in the northeastern US, a “Nor'Easter” is a storm that spins up the Atlantic bringing a ton of rain or snow along with high winds. The name is fitting for this excellent Krumble Kake as it a “full on” tobacco. As I have said in other reviews, I am miffed at the lack of attention on TR paid to Watch City. They are among the very few local pipe shops that make their own (not renamed blends made elsewhere) kakes and flakes. All of the ones I have smoked thus far have been very good to excellent. Nor'easter is dark and as described, quite rich in flavor. The kake is fairly tight but breaks up easily. There is Cavendish in the kake that adds some underlying sweetness. Smoker's Haven Krumble Kake is my personal standard for top shelve kk's. For points of reference, it's not as complex as Smoker's Haven krumble kake, but as complex as many of the Hermit blends and more complex than Pirate Kake. The heavy dose of Latakia is balanced off by the Cavendish. I enjoy that bit of sweetness, but lovers of Latakia heavy blends may feel differently. Nor'easter, like many tobaccos in its class, can be a little muddled in the latter half of the bowl. This is another winner from Ernie at Watch City. Three and a half stars!

I'm not an experienced reviewer because I know my limits on smell and taste. I have very little of both. However, this particular leaf is excellent. And as others have noted on TRs, why is WatchCity so disregarded. The two blends I've tried, this one & 558 Flake, are both four star numbers for me. They load, burn and smoke well. And this one in particular is the best Latakia combo I think I've smoked. Burns and draws beautifully. Very well done. And Ernie Q's service is as effective, attentive and solid as his blends. People made a lot of noise about McClelland's blends, well, in my opinion, Ernie's stuff is well above those. Perhaps the style may be different, but for me, I am ever indebted to JT in Perth for gifting me the two samples of WC's Nor'easter and 558 Flake. I don't think you could fault either of those two at least. Highly recommended in my opinion.

This is one of the best latakia blends I've ever had the pleasure to smoke. The latakia is predominant at each stage: in the bag, while you smoke, and room note. What makes it unique, for me at least, from other Oriental/latakia blends I've enjoyed is the very subtle, creamy bottom taste from the cavendish and burley. I think it would be going to far too say the smoke is sweet, but as noted there is a very nice and unique "creaminess" to the bottom of your smoke/taste. Interesting.

And I really enjoyed the "krumble kake" style blend.

Update 11/08/10: It's a year later and I'm enjoying a bowl of this during a minin Nor'easter in Boston, Ma. This blend is as good if not better than I remember it so I think I will bump it up to Four (4) stars.

One of my favorite tobacco blends anywhere! This is English, but American. Probably more on the American side. The addition of burley in this blend, along with the Latakia and aromatic makes for an outstanding smoke. No bite, burns cool and without a big mess. The aroma is handsomely wonderful. The only thing I might add: Let this dry a bit.

Home run from Watch City! Easy to rub crumble cake (I love crumble cake, plugs and flakes) with a magical pouch/jar aroma. I am pretty sure the topping is chocolate as the first thing that hit me when I opened my mason jar was...chocolate. I am not 100% sure it is a topping as I have been fooled before (at least the label said I was fooled) with Burley and Cavendish based blends. Sure Cavendish is sweet and Burley has a chocolate like flavor and aroma but this smells like Nestle's Quick may have snuck its way into my jar. There or not it smells great. The first thing I noticed was the sweetness, man when I am in the mood for a blend with Latakia and some sweetness it is hard to find one that is done just right. This one is. This blend has layers of flavor with sweetness in every puff: The Latakia is not the star but it does give the blend creaminess that really assists the other tobacco's. there is: Earthiness from the Cavendish, some sour notes from the Orientals, wood, citrus and nuts. They all seem to be there and come and go as you smoke through the bowl. I think this is much better than Churchwarden, but for transparency, I like my perique with Virginia's. It is rare that I find Perique to help an English or American blend...not that it can't but it can foul up a blend if applied to heavily in my humble opinion. They toned the Perique down plenty in this one and the cigar leaf is also not as noticeable but it is there and adds to the complexity. This is good stuff.

The personal at Watch City Cigars were kind enough to send me a sample of this blend. It is excellent, albeit with that pervasive slightly sweet Cavendish ingredient which I personally don't care too much for.

Now, the other tobaccos seem to me excellent. The Perique indeed is very shy (but its presence is nevertheless there), but the Burley and Latakia combine pretty well. This is the strongest of the previous blends I've tried (Persian Sleeper, Deep Elm and Justice), so I wouldn't recommended it as a first experience with Oriental/Latakias. For the seasoned smoker however, this may present a nice change of pace from the more traditional blends. Its smooth, easy to light and it has a very nice burning rate.

Maybe if they toned down the sweetness of their Cavendish (present in all the very good mixtures I've tried from this house), or used an altogether unsweetend Cavendish (like the ones used in Dunhill's My Mixture 965 or in Fox's Provost Mixture), there wouldn't be---for my taste---such a conflict of flavors.

I'm a newbie, see my profile. Consequently I'm still learning the vocabulary for describing tobacco tastes. At present I'm mostly inclined to be subjective. I like this ... a lot. Nutty and earthy seem descriptive, as does "dark" and tasty. Doesn't seem to bite. If you like burleys you will probably like this.