Watch City Cigar Simply VOriental

(3.71)
Fragrant, herbal Macedonian prilep tobacco spices a bed of red, bright and stoved Virginia tobaccos. The result is a medium to medium full strength smoke and complex flavor with a hint of that Oriental "funk". A limited edition blend to be released yearly at Thanksgiving.
Notes: From blender Ernie Q.: Please note that the description reads a "hint of that Oriental 'funk'." This is NOT an Oriental bomb! The delicate flavored prilep is used to accent the other tobaccos, and not overpower them. If you are looking for an Oriental bomb, this isn't it!

Details

Brand Watch City Cigar
Blended By Ernie Q
Manufactured By Watch City Cigar Co.
Blend Type Oriental
Contents Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium to Strong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.71 / 4
5

2

0

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 31, 2024 Mild to Medium Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
A fabulous tobacco, with a sweet/sour flavor, and floral aftertaste.

Smoking it straight, I get a tingly, red hots candy sensation on the tongue. Which is a little distracting. I like to mix it with a red Virginia at about a ratio of 1:1 so it’s a little easier on my tongue. Some Orientals affect me this way.

This is definitely top notch leaf though.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 02, 2020 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
Full disclosure: I had an advisory hand in the development of this blend, but it is Ernie’s creation. The very floral, fragrant, zesty Macedonian Prilep provides a lot of earth, wood, herbs, vegetation, tingly spices, mild sweetness, a fair amount of dry sourness, and light bitterness and smoke as the lead component. The mature, fermented red Virginias offer tangy ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, sugar, lightly tart and tangy citrus, a few blades of grass, a pinch of spice and a small vinegar note. The stoved Virginia is almost as obvious as the red Va. Its aspects include tangy stewed dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, and sugar. These two Virginias are important supporting players. The bright Virginia possesses tart and tangy citrus, plenty of grass, mildly tart lemon, vegetation, sugar, floralness, toast, a couple drops of honey, and very light acidity. It is a couple of notches ahead of the condiment level. The strength, nic-hit and taste levels are a step past the medium mark. It won’t bite or get harsh, and has few rough edges. The spice content has a little potency, so I suggest a casual puffing cadence at best. I also recommend a wide bowl to fully capture all of the nuances and complexities. Burns clean, and fairly cool at a moderate pace with a very consistent, deeply rich, tart and tangy sweet and sour, floral, spicy, savory flavor that extends to pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is stronger. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is a filling, repeatable experience during your smoking day. Four stars out of four.

-JimInks
15 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 14, 2020 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Very Pleasant
I don't do deep-dive analyses except in legal briefs. The flavor is wonderfully sour. More sour than other VA+Oriental blends in the marketplace. If you love citrus, as I do, this is your huckleberry. Four stars
Pipe Used: Wally Frank "Antique"
PurchasedFrom: Watch City Cigar
Age When Smoked: Newly arrived in the mail
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 09, 2020 Mild Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Tolerable
This review note is based on one bowl from a sample provided by the shop. I would generally agree with JimInks about the overall characteristics of the blend, but I found the Virginia’s playing a more noticeable part than his description.

This is a very complex, well balanced blend, but it is subtle. To my taste, many of the popular VaPers these days are overloaded with Perique, much more so than when it was used as a condiment to bring out the flavor of really good, matured, Virginias. The Oriental is definitely forward, and is a treat given that so many blends have been forced to use blended Turkish instead of varietals, but the end result is not a knock your socks off, one dimensional, flavor bomb like many of the aforementioned VaPers.

It starts off just a tad on the hot side, but settles down quickly and stays lit. It truly can be sipped without worrying about relights, which suits my smoking style. I find it stellar in that regard, especially since I smoked this with less dry time than I usually give blends. I suspect it would burn hotter than the lid on the depot stove if you forced it. The nicotine hit is nonexistent. If I still smoked cigarettes, I would have reached for one after finishing the bowl.

I give this blend 4 stars, but I think it might not be what many are looking for. Very skillfully blended.
PurchasedFrom: Watch City Cigar
Age When Smoked: Fresh
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 28, 2022 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Tolerable
I am 10 bowls in and don't really now where to go with this review...other than to say I really like it. Disclaimer: this is going to make no sense to most people: This tastes like a Julia Childs Pop Tart. I get toast, a vague hint of buttered popcorn, vegetal...not sure how to describe this other than it is like the end of sprints at pee wee American football practice. Grass, a sweet green flavor, woody and dry. The description says there is no perique in this but I get a tingle extraordinaire, like I get from first rate perique...not sure if it is this unknown to me varietal of Turkish, but it is pretty awesome. I am a HUGE Oriental/Turkish fan for my first pipe: Bombay Court, Tashkent, Early Morning Pipe (from ages past), AM PIpe, Arcadia, and of course the original Cravens Mixture. This is not a morning smoke for me. This is a afternoon, weekend with a beer smoke, warm weather or vented room in winter. Relights bring me back to pop tart. Love it.
Pipe Used: Briar's, meerschaum, clay's and cob's
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 29, 2024 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Watch City
Voriental
(bulk)

Blend notes: “Fragrant, herbal Macedonian prilep tobacco spices a bed of red, bright and stoved Virginia tobaccos. The result is a medium to medium full strength smoke and complex flavor. From blender Ernie Q.: Please note that the description reads a "hint of that Oriental 'funk'." This is NOT an Oriental bomb! The delicate flavored Prilep is used to accent the other tobaccos, and not overpower them. If you are looking for an Oriental bomb, this isn't it!”

In fact, I’d argue that this last comment from Ernie Q is spot on. Voriental is a tasty, mild-medium melange of Oriental leaf.

Mountain Valley Seed Company says, of Prilep, the following: “This oriental tobacco was developed in Macedonia during the 1990's at the Department of Genetics and Breeding in the Tobacco Institute-Prilep, with the goal of creating and producing a more productive oriental variety with optimum yields and improved quality. Several varieties of Prilep tobaccos were crossed and bred from 1992 - 2002, with Prilep P66-9/7 emerging as the most promising. In 2004 it was officially recognized as a new variety and by 2010 accounted for 70-80% of Macedonia's Prilep production.”

I adore Oriental tobacco in most any combination, and this blend is really good. It’s mildly sweet with tangy dark fruit. A consistent taste profile. It’s not as good as Samsun & Delilah or Walais, but in the same league as Izmir Turkish, and perhaps Miskatonic Mixture and Oriental Silk (though these two add Perique).

Voriental is a solid 3 out of 4 star blend.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 02, 2023 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
Let me begin by saying that I am not normally one who gravitates toward Oriental tobacco. With that said the description kind of intrigued me so I ordered 4 oz just to try. I'm glad that I did.

The Virginia's definitely seem to predominate, there is a slight note of brightness, I sort of citrus presence that ephemerally flirts in the background. What seems to dominate is notes of roasted wheat, with a slight sweetness.

I do not know if I will get more of this, but I'm certainly glad that I got what I got to try. It made me rethink my attitude toward things with Oriental tobacco.
Pipe Used: A number, including a meer
PurchasedFrom: Watch City
Age When Smoked: Fresh
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