I'm not sure why I had it, as I was never a big fan. However, time has been exceedingly kind to this blend. The cigar note that I previously thought overbearing is now extremely mellow, but still noticeable. The virginias definitely took over, although today they are less sugary sweet and more of a burnt sugar. Darker than I remember it when fresh. The taste of this is dark as well - kind of a stoved flavor but heavier. Very tasty stuff! The cigar flavor comes out with each puff but is very subdued. I suppose the blend would be fine without it but it does add some distinction and plays well with the condimental leaf (which I can't quite discern). I would have to say that this one ages beautifully and if you can find a tin that doesn't break the bank, it's well worth a try.

This is ribbon cut. It tastes like a sweet virginia underneath but reved up with cigar leaf. Cool. Dry. Not as heavy or dark as Dominican Glory Maduro but more elegant. Still should be puffed deliberately.

I can't say light due to body of the cigar leaf, which is more than a note in the taste. But the virginia is very smooth and more than supports the cigar ingredient.

If you want heavy, go for Dominican Glory Maduro. This #10 has real cigar flavor floating up from refined virginias. Yes, more refined even than Bankers, another top quality va/cigar leaf blend. Of course, age helps.

I puffed slowly on my back pourch in the mornings on my 25 gm pouch from Christmas to near February '06, just consuming a bowl every day or two in an old Dunhill Crosby dedicated to cigar blends. I thought what must the old timers had thought when they could smoke something this good whenever they wished. I was alone with singular quality such as I have seldom experienced before, realizing, really realizing that we have lost an era.

And I could have bought this easily in the 70's, 80's, etc., had I known what it was. But there was no Serads, Gages, pipe professors, tobaccoreviews, or P&T magazines back then. There were some mags and a good tobbaconist here and there, but there was too much stacked around to know what to ask. #10 after all must have been a special treat. Sigh.

I recommend this as not everyone, nor I, wants cigar leaf in their pipe all of the time. But if you can get a pouch or tin for a not too ungodly price, go for it.

Appearance: A partially broken flake of light brown, reddish brown, and black leaf in equal proportion.

Aroma: Cigar leaf, spice cake, smoke, grilled charred figs, bread crust, honey, fur coat.

Taste: The familiar round sweetness that pervades every mixture by the house of Sobranie rears its head immediately upon lighting, but this sweetness fades rapidly to an echo and remains subdued for the remainder of the smoke. The flavor of Upmann cigar leaf dominates, figs, Virginia tobacco, dry paper, walnut oil. Brooding strength. Smoldering bitterness.

Comparisons: By far the most well-integrated of the cigar leaf blends, inasmuch as it is difficult to pick it apart into its components. It is also rather smokier than the rest, at the expense of the Virginia flavor, somewhat.

Bottom Line: For cigar leaf blend fanciers who seek a dominant presence of smoky flavor and cigar leaf, this is one to try.