Lane Limited Andullo

This is a very good smoke. The topping seems to be sweet anise that mixes with the vanilla from the Black Cav to create a pleasant flavor. It's about mild to medium in strength. The BC also adds a slight toasty note and smoothes the blend out nicely. The Latakia is light but can be noted in the background. The cigar leaf is fairly bold with an earthy and spicy character. Overall flavor is pleasing and should satisfy cigar smokers as well as those that like bold blends. Although listed as an aromatic, the added flavoring doesn't really intrude. It just makes this more palatable.

Medium in body. Flavoring is mild to medium. Taste is medium to full. Burns very well.

Ok this one derailed my opinion of aromatic tobacco's. I've been a cigar smoker for 30 years and a pipe smoker for almost as long. I prefer the tobacco taste of cigars and the same goes for pipes. I'm a English and Balkan fan and hate the chemical taste of flavored tobacco. I purchased this tin because of the description on the back. 20 year old aged cigar leaf with Cavendish how could I go wrong. When I opened the tin the casing was all I could smell. So I my first reaction was, crap this a aromatic, it's going to suck. I invested the money, so I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised, it's got everything I thought didn't exist. It's an aromatic with English qualities. The tobacco flavor is there with a decent nicotine hit, and it smells good to my wife. A tri-fecta, never thought this was possible. I would definitely recommend and purchase again.

This is a blend that intrigued me. Some years ago, I got into pipe smoking because I wanted to transition from smoking cigars to pipes. Great. I don't enjoy smoking cigars anymore but every once in a while, I get the itch remember it. This was a nice option. But at the same time, I didn't want to just have a blend that was going to just toss a full cigar into my pipe. So I liked that this was a nice, balanced blend with an anise topping. Just fine by me. And that's exactly what this blend offered.

Andulo, for me, was a nice, smooth blend. It has the cigar leaf for the starring role. The Latakia and the black cavendish tame it down and smooth it out. What you are left with is a cool, smooth smoke that is creamy with full, white smoke. It is full with tobacco flavor and mixed with the anise and sweetness to make it enjoyable throughout the smoke. If you liked the taste at the beginning, you'll like it at the end as it did not change. Finally, unlike smoking an actual cigar where the taste would coat your tongue for hours afterwards, the aftertaste of Andulo was pleasing and unobtrusive.

The nicotine hit is most definitely there. Just beyond medium in strength and at the end of the bowl, you will indeed notice it. Quite nice.

For those that transitioning from cigar smoking to pipes, this is a nice cross-over. It would satisfy that craving for cigar leaf, but also bring forward the nuances and creaminess a pipe can deliver. I gifted a tin of this to a friend who was doing just that and he enjoyed it very much.

I will say this too: One of the other main reasons I wanted to try out this blend and then stock the cellar with it was because with the promised changes in regulations coming this way shortly, blends like this may not be around. McClellands had some cigar blends in its lineup, but McClellands closed its door and is now gone. GL Pease and Cornell & Diehl each have a few in their lineup too (which I purchased as well), but it's not certain what will happen with those blends. Some were after 2007 and I can't imagine that the sales in any company's cigar based blends would justify trying to keep around them after the regulations kick in. Nevertheless, I purchased those other blends and quite a few of Andulo especially.

I enjoyed this blend and I would recommend it to others when you just want to satisfy that itch of having something just a little different in your pipe or you want to reminisce the days of smoking a cigar without having to smoke a full cigar.

Enjoy!

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.

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.