Lane Limited Andullo

I bought this tobacco because I was intrigued by the cigar leaf base. My first bowl was a disappointment for me, but it wasn't a good time to smoke. I was experiencing a health issue that affected my smoking. I am stubborn and I wasn't giving up on this tobacco due to my poor timing so when feeling better I gave it another shot. Oh, it was better and with succeeding bowl it got even better. It smells great in the tin and sweet in the bowl. This is a very good smoke. It tastes sweet and smokey. I tasted no vanilla, but the licorice taste was noted. It has a pleasant lingering aftertaste. It smokes without bite and at a leisurely pace. I like it more with each new bowl I light. Give it a try. (7/29/17) My opinion of this tobacco blend improves with each new smoking experience. It could eventually earn four stars from me.

I really wanted to like this blend. As a cigar smoker I'm always interested when blends contain cigar leaf. That being said, I found the licorice/anise topping on this tobacco to be a poor choice paired with the stronger cigar leaf and latakia. The end result came out to a rather acrid smoke with the anise being a big turn off for me.

Let's start with this: It's pronounced Anduyo, not Andulo. Now to the review.

Tin note of chocolate and licorice.

The two main flavors that I get are the cigar leaf and the toppings, with the Latakia giving some leather/smoke background noise. The topping itself reminds me too much of medicine and candy and is too strong for me in this combination. I love the idea of this blend and the bold decision to produce something led by this unique Dominican cigar leaf, but I think I'd like it much better either without the toppings or with a much lower amount of toppings.

It comes in a sort of ribbon sort of cube cut, very dark color, perfect moisture level. The flavor doesn't change much throughout the bowl. Easy to pack and smoke, smokes slow and cool with a couple of relights. Can be an easy going all-day blend for those who happen to enjoy this flavor but for me this has been a once-in-a-week smoke more or less. Honestly, I was waiting to finish it and probably won't buy it again.

A bit higher than mild in strength, medium body. Not a very complex blend, but not one-dimensional either. I like the balance between the black Cavendish, the Latakia, and the cigar leaf. I think that the topping is what bothering me here.

As I wrote above, I praise Lane Limited for the idea itself. It's unique and I hope that more blenders will think out of the box as LL did. But the topping is just too much for me here.

To a very great extent, my review will vary from other reviews of this blend from slightly to opposition. On opening my tin of Andullo and shoving it under my nose, I did not perceive licorice, nor anisette nor vanilla. What I sensed was an English blend containing Latakia and cigar leaf blended with some other tobacco(s). As I suspicioned, that other tobacco turned out to be a black Cavendish that may have contained an aromatic element(s). This is a strange formula for an English blend and you can sense that sentiment in the other reviews. This unusualness is compounded by the use of fermented cigar leaf for the cigar leaf component. Now, with all of this complexity, a pipe smoker might light up thinking that this will be a whiz-bang out of sight experience. Actually, I found Andullo to be a relatively tame and middle of the road smoke. The cigar leaf effect was most prominent in the top third of the bowl and this is true for the Latakia as well. I enjoyed the top third smoke and was happy with the blend due to the rather sharp-edged cigar leaf aroma married with the modest amount of Latakia embedded in the Cavendish richness. Then we went south; both literally and figuratively, into the middle third of the smoke. Here things began to flatten-out and the warm and interesting notes from the Latakia and cigar leaf receded into the background leaving a rather ordinary smoke. In the bottom third this trend continued until I lost all interest in relighting the blend as it just didn't have anything to offer. Now that I was contemplating a two star rating, I decided to use it in micro blending and, surprise, it performed better than as a stand alone blend and I was happy with that. So, I've rated this blend as three stars - barely.