Watch City Cigar Santa's Sack

Ernie Q. Created another winner with this one. The base tobacco is a good Virginia/Perique blend that’s about medium in overall strength, maybe a hair towards the mild side. Nicotine is just a little short of medium. The added flavors, which are applied in a way that accentuates the natural tobacco flavors rather than burying them are what takes this to another level and makes this a really enjoyable blend.

I’m having a really difficult time identifying all of the flavor components, which to me is a good thing. There are very light fruity notes and a subtle spice as well, combined with a primary flavor. There is also a nice sweetness that is just right. As I said, the flavors are at just the right level to enhance the tobacco, not cover it up. I’ve enjoyed every Watch City Christmas blend for the last three years, but for me, this one is really fun and more than any of them, one that I wish Ernie Q. would make another batch of so I could grab a few pounds of it.

As a limited bulk offering, Watch City presents a singular seasonal delight encompassing the experience of a standard Virginia-Perique. This one, however, stands distinguished with a prepared series of choice base Virginian strains that have been specially cased with an assortment of fruity and spiced additives. Adding to that base, Ernie Q has processed a stoved varietal lacquered by an “exotic” Indian mystery syrup in combination with a dose of crafty Perique. Smartly mixing this total combination and then progressing its character under pressure for an extended duration, brought the celebrated coming of Santa’s Sack.

Well, nine joyous dips into Father Christmas’s bountiful bag of surprises, I am in a purely satiated position to give you my preliminary impressions. With the attempt to gather some semblance of commonality in observations, I have carefully scrutinized the series of trial notes filling my stocking, looking for meaningful threads. Evidence supports that Santa’s sleigh has landed on a mark of informed conclusion. Ho ho ho, who wouldn’t go then. So, shall we?

First and foremost, this one is fully gift-wrapped with evolved complexity in colorful nuance. In a nutshell what I discovered was a savory medium-full experience centered on a smooth presentation of sweet spiciness. As an exceptionally well-rounded and balanced ensemble, Santa’s Sack endows a celebration that hinges on featuring the extraordinarily augmented flavors of the inclusive native strains. Overall, the textural rendering is harmonious, and the actual melding of the assorted leaves is quite exceptional. Further, there is considerable movement as to not only which varietal, but also which playful accent will jingle its bell the loudest as it keeps you guessing, which I found to be delightfully enjoyable and of course captively stimulating.

Opening this present, you are greeted with a thickly matted ribbon cut wonder. Its general face glows orange golden. It is, however, highly animated and mottled with a warming display of complementing earthtones that run the course from pale yellows to deep russet to lumps of coal black. And it is nicely dry for quick and treasurable smoking.

Sniffing this bulky bag of Santa’s goodies, an immediate wave of sharp vinegary tart amasses on the front edge of the leading air. This barbed essence lords over the principal seating of decided woodiness and bright lofts of seasonable aged grass. What is more, there is an underlying presence of fetid pungency that boils forth, being quite exacting in its influence. And finally, a stand of tired mustiness and the gentle perfumes of mixed sugars join in the collective spirit.

The gifting of lovely Virginian flavor provides a mishmash of variant character. Namely a strong spicey advanced Red woodiness is fancifully cleaved from what tenders as a knotting of cedar and lighter pine. The base stoved note is further decorated with a dance from a sugared plum-like fairy nuance and the dark influences of raised earthen spice.

For the matured Bright, it fantastically delivers a swilling of beautifully toasted aged barn hay colored with gentle salt and a musky suede-like ambience. But wait there is more, weaving within this already eventful remarking is tangy field grass, bitter wisps of lemon-centric citrus, warming caramelized sugar, “breadiness”, and finally a pickled tarty floral. A very elaborate Virginian profile bottom-line.

Regarding the Perique, its buttery nature is fairly matured as well. The strain is purposefully characterized by a darkly seeded prune nature that is fruity and intense in the commenting. Still, a rather buffed peppery spice reverberates with a zinging echo of its force consistently. These prime registerable features combine with the accenting of charred musty soy, a brothy mushroom-umami element, and a pungent tanginess to fill out its appreciable contribution.

The specialized casings applied give the profile a little more of an aromatic edge than your standard Virginia-Perique. Aromatic in the sense that the tobacco is fragrantly flavored and redolent in temperament, not as in your sugary coated 1Qs of the world. Nonetheless, I confirmed that the overall native taste properties did seem to be greatly enhanced by the addition of these sweet-spicey conditioners.
Finally, there is a genteel sugar-fruity undertone in the main middle upper band. In my estimation this is the resulted bundle of occurring sweetness achieved by the constituent tobaccos if anything. On that point, I recorded colorizing tinges of something that remotely borrowed from the impressions of simple vanilla, orange zest, and softer black cherry to be most accurate.

Last, the finished aroma is pleasing to the senses as Santa’s Sack produced pillowy clouds of medium gage smoke plumes. It burnt well as a rule of thumb while offering a medium nicotine residual. Also, it is best to gingerly sip this one to fully enjoy its savor, and because it will agitate the upper palate if smoked too aggressively. So, uplifting a hand of informed opinion, honestly, I do highly recommend that you take a peek at the endowments within Santa’s Sack as they scaled to be quite impressive and definitely astounding. 3.6 Pipes