Davidoff Argentina Cavendish

I like Lakelands and scented tobaccos and I also dip, albeit infrequently, in a Danish blend, but generally I regard full-fledged aromatics with trepidation. I would never have bought these new Davidoff products to start with, but I was kindly given a generous sample of each and I did smoke them.

They all smelled exuberantly, Malawi smelled of butterscotch, Brazil of tropical fruit and Argentina like a sweet Christmas pastry.

They all seemed to need some drying time and I obliged without letting them dry out completely. All took to light easily and burned well, fairly dry and cool, without need of relights. None produced any tongue bite to me and all smoked well to the end without becoming harsh or moistening the pipe excessively. So these blends do not seem to consist of inferior tobaccos heavily cased to mask the dullness or harshness of the tobacco, on the contrary these are extremely well crafted aromatics.

Now as far as flavor is concerned I got what I smelled from all three. With Argentina in particular there is a sweet dark cake quality which I cannot better describe. That in combination with the Cavendish taste are the main elements, but there is some nice sharp Virginia taste to prevent the blend from becoming cloying. I also tried it completely dry (still burned cool and did not become harsh) and it did taste even more of tobacco. I actually preferred it completely dry. Because the taste is subtler here than on the other three new Davidoff products, it’s actually as much an added sweetness rather than flavor, I think I prefer Argentina Cavendish to all three.