I was pleasently surprised it was very smooth and flavorful, Not harsh at all. I was expecting something more like Pirate Kake but this is way better and stronger too. I went back and bought an 8 ounce tin.

I have been smoking it all week and I love this stuff. It is definitley a cooler weather smoke. There is plenty of volume of smoke too.

The Burley plays a nice background part and keeps things interesting. The nicotine will make you sit down after the first few bowls until you build up a little resistance, it packs a punch. I find this stuff makes the best nightcap ever. It just makes you feel so lazy and lethargic. Very relaxing smoke.

I smoke it on the slow side and find it while not overly complex to be dimensional and not boring. The latakia in this stuff is exceptional in flavor and is so smooth.

C&D has a real hit on their hands with this one, At least with the true heavy english smokers out there like me. I planned on buying a bit of this for the cellar. It really is good, I reccomend it to anyone ready for the big one.

DaVinci will not be the one. Primarily I object to the presence of Burley, which to my mind has no place in an English, and whose flavor I do not appreciate. Otherwise it is a quality smoke. Any Burley smokers out there who want to try what we English smokers rave about might want to start here. English absolutists will be disappointed I think.

Mind you,uniformness in taste is not always a bad thing, quite the contrary. When I'm working on things that demand my undivided attention there's hardly anything better to accompany such tasks as absent-mindedly puffing on a bowl of Da Vinci. The same holds true for a smoke to go with a dram or three of a peaty Islay Single Malt that I like a lot.

But one should be aware that, after a bowl of Da Vinci, one will not be able to taste virtually any other tobacco for a while, so either reserve this blend for the last bowl of the day or don't smoke anything else all day long.

This is a great smoky tobacco with zero bite, zero nicotine kick and zero drawbacks. I have finished 100g's of this blend recently and plan to make this my new all day smoke. Da Vinci burns clean and dry. I does not even leave a bad taste in my mouth afterwards (something new for someone smoking Nightcap for years).

Da Vinci does burn rather slow and cool making it a perfect tobacco, like the advert says, to break in a new pipe with. I am new to C&D blends but if they all smoke this good then I look forward to sampling many of their other blends.

If you like a big, white cloud filled smoke with the sweet nutty flavour of burley then give this blend a go.

Tim

After reading most of the preceeding reviews, I have also come to the conclusion that there is a great variance in what greets the palate from tin to tin. I won't personally be pursuing that possibility. One tin of Da Vinci was one tin too many for this cowboy.

A new smoker, I was afraid of this blend. Latakia? 965 was shit -- mixing it now with Devil's Holiday, a pain to smoke and get rid of.

I bought Da Vinci to break in some pipes, and why not? Supposedly good for it, they say. I was expecting a chore. Two half-pipes later I'm hooked -- can someone provide this in bulk?

Wow!

I suspect that Latakia needs to be supported by the musty Orientals to bring out the best flavour in it. This blend contains Burley, which does not seem to add anything. I presume the reason for adding it was to cool the smoke and prevent bite. But Latakia smokes cool and does not bite. Latakia is spice, and without the correct tobaccos to support it, it has no backbone, no body.

I was also dissappointed by the preparation. Moisture content has remained ideal, despite the unusual tin, but the tobacco has crumbled to a very fine consistency. When I first got it, it was cut too wide, and was a pain in the neck to light, and kept going out. However, its now mostly dust, and burns a little too fast..

The tin is like a cat food tin, which was quite a novelty at first, but it's annoying having to watch the sharp edges inside the top of it when taking tobacco out.

However, it is quite a pleasant smoke, and easy to puff away at when I'm at the pub with friends, I'll use it up there, and afterwards, will know better how to appreciate the magnificent Nightcap!

Four and a half of five stars ------------------------------------- Revision - January 30, 2006

Much as I hate to, I'm downgrading. I bought another tin of this and don't like it nearly as much. It's really overpowering and should be taken in small doses. I still enjoy the cut and the burn once you get it lit, which is no small effort. However, it tends to overpower, and all you taste is Latakia. It seems a bit stronger than the first time I tried it. I appreciate it for what it is, but smoke sparingly. It's a real kick in the mouth.

Two and a half of five stars

Meerschaum Man Smoking a CAO Dunhill Man Pasha

In the case of Craig Tarler's "Da Vinci", I have to say that it is everything that it purports to be.

This is, indeed, a Latakia lover's blend. The tin odor is exceedingly Latakia with an earthy, musty, smokey odor that I somehow relate to the smell one first encounters upon stepping into an Army/Navy surplus store. If you know what I mean then you know what I mean. If you've ever camped in a damp canvas tent and warmed yourself by an open fire then this blend will undoubtedly stir those memories.

Da Vinci is blended very consistently and the moisture level is perfect. A couple of charring lights and it burns slow and long. I first smoked this in a new, unseasoned Savanelli Opera #316, which has a relatively shallow bowl. This lasted a full hour and needed only one relight toward the very end. With no cake in this pipe I fully anticipated a wet, troubled smoke but was pleasantly surprised when absolutely no moisture developed. This pipe utilizes Savanelli's balsa filter system which may have had some bearing on this and also seemed to help tame the richness just a bit.

Although the room aroma is barely tolerable to the non-smoker, I found the smoke true to the tin aroma and absolutely intoxicating.

Da Vinci is a fantastic blend and because it is everything that the tin describes, I give it a 10 out of 10. A must try for the Latakia lover.