Watch City Cigar Nor'Easter

Just wandered in to Watch City Cigar to check it out and just had to buy some of their pipe tobacco with cigar leaf. As a cigar smoker and pipe newbie, I was thrilled with the concept of the addition of cigar leaf and I was intrigued with Nor'Easter's smoky aroma and oily goodness. I let some dry out a little, about an hour or so, and then packed my pipe. You'll want to smoke it slowly because of its moisture content. It produces good smoke and a wonderful marriage of flavors that finishes like a wonderful maduro cigar, which is exactly what I was looking for in a pipe tobacco. I like the roomnote, too. It's a lot like the Owl Shop's Bancroft Tower, which reminds me of the incense they use at church. I should note that I pulled too much Nor'Easter out to dry and didn't put the remaining bowl-full away. It really dried out, but I smoked it anyway. It was a tad different. The flavor was not as full and the finish was shorter and drier. This is a nice treaure to have on hand and I'm certainly going to try Watch City's similar Churchwarden blend as well.

Ernie Q. has done it again. I am a big fan of Esoterica Penzance and this is similar, but with a bit more spice because of the perique and cigar leaf. I started smoking this, and haven't stopped. It has a great taste without biting and smokes to the bottom of the bowl every time. You can taste this long after a bowl, but in a good way. If you like strong English blends, this is for you.

Latakia and Orientals are front and center in this band, hooting and blatting and generally showing off like a couple of clarinet players, while good ol? burley sits up back, laying down a cool, sweet, earthy back beat groove without which the swinging frontmen would be lost. Okay, maybe not lost, but certainly not as easy to dance to. The constituent parts of this dark, moist, easily rubbed out and easily lit crumble cake work together wonderfully, providing, as I said, a predominantly LatOrient smoke made smooth and rich and vaguely sweet by the burley. I?m sure that the cigar adds to the overall melange one how or another, but I don?t detect it. While this estimable smoke may not turn me completely away from the VAs, Vapers, and VaBurIques that I?ve been seen running around town with lately, it has certainly rekindled a flame for my first true love, Latakia-rich Englishes.

By the by, when I say "unnoticeable" as regards Room Note, I mean "I can't tell you," because I smoke alone most of the time and haven't yet had the chance to ask my Lovely Wife of Many Years, "What's this one smell like?" I'm sure that the Room Note of this tobacco is very noticeable by others; how so I can not say.

I'm smoking my third bowl of Nor'easter, and I'm enjoying it every bit as much as the first, a few days ago. The Orientals and Latakia dominate in both flavor and aroma, but the Burley makes its presence known in a woodsy, nutty way. This is my first foray into Crumble Cake and into Watch City Cigars blends. I'm very pleased on both fronts. Crumble Cake is not only fun, but I think it preserves the moisture of the tobacco and helps the various flavors continue to marry after pressing. Nor'easter packs easily, and I've smoked every bowl so far on a single light. Many reviewers seem to ignore the visual aspect of the smoke. To me, a thick, dark gray smoke adds to the piping experience. This blends satisfies in that arena, too. As far as room note goes, I can't say "pleasant", based on the way my wife's nose curls up when I smoke it. But being a latakia fan, I personlly like the aroma. Great blend! I'll be looking into more from Watch City soon.

Watch City
Nor’easter

Blend notes: “This is similar to our Churchwarden but with a decrease in the cigar leaf and perique, and the addition of some high grade burley for a slightly sweeter, nuttier smoke. Rich and full with round full undertones. Pressed into Crumble Cake!”

Nor’easter is a delicious medium-bodied blend which Tobacco Reviews labels as an ‘American.’ What does this mean? Usually it means the blend is an English with the addition of burley.

The latakia is upfront but does not overpower. The burley brings a nutty, earthy structure that mellows out the latakia. The Virginia brings some citrus and grass but is in a supportive role. The perique is off to one side as a bit of sourness. The cigar leaf adds structure. There is unsweetened Black Cavendish as well as some small amount of Oriental leaf.

My issue with many American blends is that the many ingredients, at times, confuse the overall taste profile. Not so with Nor’easter. There is serious balancing of the parts that simply taste good.

4 out of 4 stars.

This is the sister blend to "The Churchwarden." The differences being:

1. This one has no cigar leaf 2. The Nutty Burley's fill the support role.

A masterfully blended "American" English.

Love this blend and it has become a trusted go-to companion to several of my pipes. Slightly heavier than what an early dawn requires, so this blend seems a perfect evening smoke to complement a meal and an ale.

I really enjoy crumble cakes,Latakia and Burley. Therefore, I love this blend The cake arrived slightly crumbled but in fine shape. It smoked cool and slow with a smokey, nutty and creamy taste. I found it different enough from Churchwarden to make it worthwhile to cellar both. It is a real pleasure and interesting to smoke frequently.

I received a sample of Nor'easter and immediately fired it up. I am a big fan of crumble cake type tobaccos and the ingrediants of Latakia, Orientals and Burely sounded good. As a big fan of full bodied English tobaccos I was expecting a bit more of a punch along the lines of The Churchwarden.

Nor'easter is very smooth but I found the Burley to be the predominate part of this blend. The sweet and woody flavor of the Burley overpowers the Latakia and the subtle nuances of the Orientals.

It burns nicely to the bottom of the bowl. It seems to taste a little better when dried a bit, but smokes well right out of the bag. I tried smoking it in chunks as well as rubbing it out a bit. When smoked in little chunks, the flavor seemed more pronounced.

Since I am not a fan of this type of sweet Burley I can only somewhat recommend this blend. The room note was very nice with the wife commenting on how good it smelled.