Savinelli Jupiter

The white and dark burleys provide a lot of earth, wood, and nuts, along with a little sharp, sour, savory roughness, light toast and spice with touches of molasses and cocoa as the lead components. The fermented red Virginia offers a lot of tangy ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, vegetation, light vinegar, and a small spice note as a supporting player. The tart and tangy citrusy, bready, mildly toasty, grassy, lightly floral and acidic tart lemony, moderately sugary, sparkly bright Virginia is almost as potent as the red Va. The spicy, woody, earthy, herbal, floral, dryly sour, lightly nutty sweet dark fired Kentucky plays a little above its percentage in the mix as a noticeable condiment. Its effect on the overall flavor can be a tad inconsistent. The rich dark rum is more obvious than the lightly applied molasses topping as they mildly sublimate the tobaccos. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is a step behind that mark. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. There are a few small rough edges, though most of them are tamed by the toppings. The flakes easily break apart to suit your packing preference, and need no dry time. Well balanced, complex and nuanced, it burns cool, clean and lightly slow with a mostly consistent tart and tangy sweet and dryly sour, savory, woody, nutty, spicy flavor that translates to the long lingering, pleasant after taste, and stronger room note. Not an all day smoke, but it’s certainly repeatable. Four stars out of four.

-JimInks

The presentation is short flakes that are easily rubbed out. Pouch note is a little earthy with a slightly heavy sweet note. I have been rubbing it out and then codger scooping from my hand. My sense is that it might benefit from a little air, but it smokes fine straight out of the tin.

It is quite good. There is a little spice from the DFK and some fruit from the Virginias. The DFK gives some nose tickle on the snork. There is a mild sweet topping that is pleasant, but I can't quite identify the flavor. It is supposed to be rum and molasses. Maybe that is it. At any rate it is tasty.

Another random observation is that there is a certain "full" or thick quality to the smoke that is satisfying to me.

Solid three on the scale.

Savinelli - Jupiter.

The tin-note is lightly scented, being rum-sweet but not alcoholic or sharp. The single row of flakes are pressed together and a bowls worth can be pinched away, easily, in the same fashion as with a kake. The dark flakes have a nice quantity of water; a tad damp but that's ok with me.

I get more 'true' rum for the initial quarter. At first the the alcohol is definite but this dissipates and the rum and molasses blend together to form a delicate sweetness. The Burleys are accountable for the leading characteristic from the tobaccos; dry white and nutty dark. The Kentucky is a pleasant addition to the mix, although is quite calm; don't expect a fire-cured cacophony, it lends more of a smoky seasoning. The red Virginia pairs perfectly with the molasses; both being sweet, what's not to love!! I get zero tongue bite, even when forced, and it burns reliably.

Nicotine: easy to notice. Room-note: not great.

Jupiter? The only flaw is the 'note, but I don't care about that; open a window! Easily a four star blend:

Highly recommended.

The flakes fall apart into strands, so no need to rub this out. The main players are the burleys, so if you like medium nutty/woody burley, with a bit of red Virginia spicing things up and a touch of Kentucky for added depth, this might appeal. The rum is a light flavor, not a boozy addition, and it and any molasses just adds a bit of smoothness. Hopefully a little age will add some depth.

I tried Jupiter last in the new three blends from Savinelli.

The description put me back a little bit but after enjoying the other two so much I figured it was worth a shot.

The tin note to me was rum. I love rum as a drink but it has been hard to find a rum tobacco that I really like. The tin was crammed full of broken flakes and the moisture content seems great. It's easy to prepare and fairly easy to get lit.

In the smoke I could taste the rum sweetness and also picked up on the DFK notes adding spice. The Burley seems to come and go through the bowl. The Virginia is in the background especially compared to the other two blends in the series.

I paired it with my favorite Papa's Pilar dark Rum which it compliments perfectly.

After several bowls in different pipes it seems very consistent and I only think it will improve with a little aging. I ordered several more tins to add to the cellar and think it will be a favorite in the rotation.

Summary: a middle of the road Burley-Virginia flake with a rum-molasses topping designed to give it a twist.

Those who like C&D flakes will recognize the loose broken flake immediately as well as the dry Burley used, but here it has been top-flavored with rum and sugars that give it a molasses-ish flavor. Personally, I prefer the fully-pressed flakes, since they achieve a better burn, but these thick slabs of mostly dark Burley do the trick. As the rum melts off and the sugars caramelize, the red and brown Virginia flavor manifests itself; I would have preferred more of this and dark fired Kentucky Burley, and less of the topping, which seems to be a substitute for the "right" level of Virginias. In my view, the rum-Burley interplay here does not quite work. It ends up tasting like an aromatic. These are not bad, and have enough strength to be an all-day blend, but they are not "there" yet either.

It took me awhile to fully grasp how I feel about this blend.. There are a lot of good things going on to my tastes.. but something about it strikes me as rather difficult.. Most likely the way this dry burley interplays with the topping.. but I think it is the topping and the virginia/Kentucky condiments that also save the experience for me.. There is enough going on to sort of cover up and smooth out its weaknesses.. Plenty of flavors ranging from subtle sweet to wisps of rum and the nutty and earthiness you would expect.. but it isn't a complex or deep smoke.. Rather pleasant flavor.. but for me it is oddly muted at times.. just as it seems to be picking up it falls back to a kind of flat dry nearly bland character.. Thankfully the Kentucky kind of wakes it up at times.. it does have a nice satisfying richness and a little strength.. I definitely like it.. just falls a little short of some of the reviews it gets (in my opinion).. Maybe a little age would help.. it does almost develop where I want it to go.. just not quite. I gotta go 3 stars.. that seems slightly generous to me.. but it is better than a 2.

Savinelli’s Jupiter blend presents in the tin as an edge up stack of well-formed, moist but not wet, pre-cut/broken flakes pressed from short ribbons, with colors ranging from golden tan, to light reddish brown, to medium and dark brown. Though the rum and molasses topping is discernible, it is not that proud of the tobacco in the tin note, and the tobacco smells like a fermenting, whole wheat muffin, and time dims this topping. IMO Jupiter is not really an aromatic, and it’s debatable whether it’s so much as a crossover, since the topping is either lightly applied or it integrates very well with the tobaccos. The flakes fall apart when they’re handled, and it’s easy to gather up a bundle of fat, chunky “ribbons” and stuff it vertically into a pipe. It lights with patience and then burns down slowly and evenly to the bottom, making lots of smoke. I’ve tried Jupiter in several briars, and I happen to prefer a medium size bowl because the blend seems more balanced to me that way. It is milder and slightly more “aromatic” from a larger pot, and it is stronger and more bluff from a small bowl. Predominant tastes and, to a lesser degree, scents change somewhat with the pipe used. From my preferred #5 briar, the woody, nutty, fairly tannic Burleys get the jump and keep the lead through the smoke, with the sharp, bitter white Burly ahead, then the dark Burley and the DFK, then the Perique, then the red and yellow VA, following closely. Though the VAs trail in taste, there is dark fruit leather and dry, grassy hay, with a sort of piquant, woody resin I associate with some reds throughout the smoke. The aggregated Burleys are earthy, nutty, and a little bitter and “rustic”, along the lines of Solanni 660. The DFK adds depth and smoky resins.The Perique is more savory spices than fruit, also dry and sour. From a #5 pipe the scents track the varietals, with the dark rum and molasses just a nice, rich background aspect of the smoke. In a given pipe, Jupiter is fairly consistent top to bottom. Overall, the blend is sweet, but this is swamped by bitter and sour during the smoke. Strength as I smoke it is toward strong, including the nicotine. Tastes are pretty full. Room note is tolerable. Aftertaste is a nuttier, smokier trailing off of the best of the smoke.

In another day and time I might give Jupiter 4 stars, and it could well age to that standing. Here and now, with so many great VA/Per/Burs available, I think it’s a “high 3” that reminds me of Solani 660. It’s probably best suited to experienced V/Bur/Per smokers.

3rdguy

Finished a tin of this not long ago. I bought this tin when it first came out and just now got around to it so it had over a year of age to it. Comes in nice flakes that easily rub out. Takes a few relights to get going but then you can put the lighter away. Nice, moderate amount of flavor on the retrohale. Burns down to a lovely white ash. The molasses topping was a bit much for me but I think it would dissipate with age. It is fairly prominent in the first half of a bowl. The rum is fairly prominent as well but did seem to sit a little better with the components. Kind of wish it had less topping and more natural flavor but that is subjective. I would buy more on sale as it has some potential if the topping can fade a bit.

The next entry in this Savinelli series is Jupiter. The tin is interesting, with a depiction of the Roman god Jupiter just like the other tin. When I opened this for the first time, the flakes were really solidly pressed together. I let them dry in the tin for a little while and then jarred them. When I stick my nose in the jar I smell rum, tangy sweetness, breadiness, nuttiness, some spice, and fermented Red Virginia. This blend was smokable right put of the tin, but it's even more so now that I've stored it at the moisture level I like. It is easy to take a few flakes and rub them out and stuff in you pipe. Lighting is no problem and it keeps a light fairly well throughout.

When lit this takes a turn towards the dark Burley. I taste dark Kentucky spice, cocoa, and nuts. The White Burley is close behind that with more nuttiness and earthiness. The Red Virginia is here and it adds herbs, bread and softens out the others. I do taste the rum, it gets more prominent the slower I smoke. I think the molasses just sweetens the whole experience while building on the darker flavors. It pairs well with coffee.

The taste I give a medium. It sits pretty square in the middle of the road for me. For the strength I also give a medium. It doesn't knock you out of your chair, which is good because to me this makes a very nice morning blend. It goes beautifully with a cup of coffee, or a cuppa depending on which you like. The room note is that of a typical Burley and thus can be slightly cigarettish.