Davidoff Brazil Virginia

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 Brazil in particular there is zingy tropical fruit/citrucy taste that lingers. And I could still taste tobacco. 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. The only problem for me is that the taste is not only exuberant, some Lakelands are also exuberant, but that the taste of the casing is a little bit artificial and I think I prefer tobaccos more naturally aromatized. I do not think I would ever buy these tobaccos, but since taste is subjective and quality-wise these blends seem to me to be very good for what they are –i.e. full-fledged aromatics, I will give them three stars. Were I more experienced with true aromatics I might have judged them differently, so take my review with a pinch of salt. Actually for their category they might very possibly merit four stars…