Tobaccos Savinelli - Special Tobacco

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3049)	2015-04-23		Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

The Virginias are a little grassy with some earth and citrus. The burley is sort of molasses sweet with a little nuttiness. The java/cigar leaf is very mild, and isn't always a factor. I can't ID the topping, but it's a little sweet. The Virginias and burley do fight for attention at times, producing a little inconsistency in taste. has a mild nic-hit. Burns well and a little warm, and should be smoked at a slow to moderate rate at best, though I did not experience any bite. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Two and half stars.

-JimInks

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	½ bowl (103)	2017-06-03		Mild to Medium	Mild	Full	Unnoticeable

As you open the tin a wonderful buttery tobacco aroma emerges to arouse the appetite. It's the sort of tin note you want to linger on, inhaling deeply and insatiably. You realize this is your only chance to savor the splendid organics as they dissipate and are forever lost to the angels. It is at once boozy, woodsy, and a little brandy-like (raisin-peach, I'd say). And there's a hint of spice -- perhaps some oils of clove and bergamot. In a way, it is redolent of the resins and esters released by a fresh cut of cedar. You consciously weight the pleasures of this olfactory ambrosia against your desire to begin smoking it. It is a difficult choice.

The blend is a mix of honey and brown tone ribbons, 3-4mm wide, and square cuts of something a little darker. It is a bit on the dry side, but supple and springy, and optimum for immediate smoking. It is easy to pack, light and burn; and it produces a dry, cool, high-density smoke. Small diameter chambers will muffle the flavor of this blend, but it will really sing in a large diameter pipe (15/16"). This blend needs to smoke at full throttle.

The Virginia has a bright, soft, fruity sweetness (as opposed to sugar, caramel, etc.) that works very well with the toasted Burley. It has a spicy background taste and a peppery sensation through the first half of the bowl. The taste of cigar leaf is quite unmistakable throughout, although I have no idea how that's achieved. It is by-and-large a very natural tasting blend. I think it is an ideal after dinner smoke, especially while relaxing before the fireplace during winter weather. Smoking this on a hot, humid day will produce a thin, washed-out flavor and overly moist smoke stream.

This is a smooth, medium strength, full flavored smoke with full body and good balance. Cigar lovers should enjoy this one without reservation; others might want to try this for the amazing tin note if nothing else.

Similar Blends: Very much reminiscent of Hearth & Home's L J Heart Burley for its expansive Burley flavor and cigar-like finish.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Appalachian Scholar (34)	2014-08-30		Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant to Tolerable

The Java flavor was so light that I couldn't even tell it was there. Imagine a blend with perfect ingredients for making an aromatic but without any flavor. Savinelli makes excellent pipes, but I am not impressed with their tobaccos so far.

Age When Smoked: New

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2012-05-28		Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant

This is the first review if am writing...and I am new to pipe smoking. I tried my first pipe about a year ago but my senses are not new to this sort of thing.

This tobacco does have a noticeable bite and although just a little it's still noticeable.

It is I would agree, with some of the others, rather bland and not exciting at all.

I do find the earthy taste there along with a slight hint, only just though, of orange. The flavour very mild as it may be, lingers for quite a while. I guess that is a bonus?

You could recommend this, I guess to a beginner but one that is new to any sort of smoking altogether. An introductory blend i would say.

It needs to be puffed slowly.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Art Pagano (6)	2012-03-04		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Overwhelming

I tried this blend several times and each bowl was very unpleasant. It has a noticeable bite and unpleasant taste and aroma.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dubinthedam (133)	2010-03-10		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

An interesting aromatic, soft on casing, a bit campfire in taste, but it does miss the spot somewhat. I blended the last half of the tin...says it all really.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	stephenspring (13)	2010-01-31		Mild	None Detected	Mild	Pleasant

Having returned to pipes, I've also returned to smoking pipes with various teas. Tonight tried a bowl of Savinelli's Special Tobacco which is described as carefully selected Virginia, toasted burley and a bit of java. In addition, Savinelli says it's "well balanced combination of differnt cuts deliver flavor, softness, freshness and a cool smooth burning smoke with no bite." Judging by my experience, I will listen to Savinelli. Once lighted, it burned consistently. I even tried a few aggressive puffs to see if it would bite - it did not. This tobacco is a very, very pleasant smoke and I could taste the differing flavors of the Virginia and burley at various times. I enjoyed the richness of the Virginia tobacco selected. Very very nice is the best way I can describe it. Cool smoking, nice flavor, very relaxing. Mr. Savinelli, obviously you and your blenders know your stuff.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30194)	2009-12-14		Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Great blend... I'm a beginner with English blends, so I suppose you should take my review with a grain of salt, but I thought that this tobacco was great. Good flavor, very cool burning, no bite... Pleasant earthy taste.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	huffnpuff (53)	2009-11-21		Very Mild	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Unnoticeable

Special tobacco very nice looking tin and thats where it stops. Very wet no taste no aroma. really have to sniff for the scent on this blend to find something

huffnpuff

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kilmarnock Piper (251)	2009-10-14		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant

Yes, tobacco is grown in Java. This blend was very good, though I would call it a ribbon (mostly) rather than a broken flake. Nice full and rich taste, no flavorings that I could sense, a light casing perhaps. I paid too much for it. Wasn't "special," but a solid quality blend.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Warwick (37)	2008-11-21		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Think of the aroma and ambience of a wood fire: not alot of nuances, subtleties, sweetness or or high notes. This is how this tobacco comes across to me. Earthy, woody, slightly smoky. (Not a Latakia smokiness - I detect Latweed neither in the tin or the bowl.) There is not alot of variety here that I can detect as one proceeds down the bowl - there are no delicate interplays, surprising crescendos, etc. If there are any orientals hiding in here, they are very subtle. This is not one that needs to be "studied". But, that is not at all bad.

The flavors, which seems to start off on the weak side, tend to linger in the mouth, so that as the bowl continues there is a building of layers of flavor over time so that the second half of the smoke is quite satisfying and I am left savoring this long after the bowl is done. That makes it very enjoyable as an evening or after-meal smoke. The room note is moderate and is akin to a wood fire, which I find enjoyable, but may or may not please others in the room.

I assume that "Java" in the description refers to coffee....I'm not familiar with any "Java" tobacco leaf. (Is there such a thing?) Do I taste coffee here? Not overtly...my guess is if its there it is contributing to the lingering earthiness, which does comes across as a touch acidic.

Moisture content is just about right (no PG goopiness), requiring only a slight drying for optimal burn, which is steady and easy. I get bitten by ALOT of tobaccos, so I was pleasantly surprised that this blend was so kind to me, and only with excessive puffing could I sense a little bite. Nico level seems to be mild to moderate. I feel this one definitely benefits from a dedicated pipe: give it a half-dozen bowls in a single pipe and it will feel like an old friend.

My up-front expectation was like most of my other ventures into unusual blends: I would load up the first pipeful, scorch my tongue, and/or then spend an hour trying to get the awful taste out of my mouth and hoping that I could salvage the pipe. Especially since this one has zero reviews on tobaccoreviews.com - which is usually not a good sign! But, for someone who usually prefers the likes of 1792, GH Dark Flake, ropes and such, I found this a surprisingly enjoyable blend. I plan to add it to the stockpile for aging.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rob73 (77)	2016-11-01		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

An aromatic (not too sweet, I must say) blend with the add of cigar leaf... That couldn't be further from my taste, in theory, but I must admit that someone can find it pleasant. 2,5/5 in my personal rating system.

Purchased From: Bollito, Torino (Italy)

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	bigterr (21)	2017-08-02		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

This was an attractive blend out of the can and olfactory notes of sweet raisin with hints of citrus. Was just right for smoking with no drying time required. After the charring light it stayed lit throughout the bowl and burned to a mostly white ash with no gooey residue at the end of the bowl. Flavor wise the virginias were pleasantly sweet and even a moderately enthusiastic puffing did not result in tongue bite. This could be a consequence of the judicious use of cigar leaf that seems to hover ever present in the background. This is a good all day smoke with a light nicotine load that can be enriched by exhaling nasally. This is assuredly better than other Savinelli blends I have tried in the past and I would recommend it as a good place to start with a blend using cigar leaf as it is less harsh than Spectre (which seems to make me cough unless blended with some form of Cavendish - e.g., Sail in the yellow pouch). I would purchase this again.

Pipe Used: Comoy rockroot billiard, Brigaham Canadian

Age When Smoked: 5 years

Purchased From: Was a gift from a friend from Italy

Similar Blends: Spectre but milder.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	hockey01 (29)	2010-10-20		Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is definitely not what I would call an "English" tobacco blend. I read a few of the other reviews and I don't get the "campfire" aroma either, more like just plain old Virginia tobacco aroma only lighter. The taste is very mild, grassy, almost flavorless but with no tongue bite at all and burns to a fine grey ash in the bowl.

As with other reviewers, the smoking experience left me wondering what's so "special" about this particular blend. It's not unpleasant at all, but I'm sort of with the reviewer who suggested throwing a bit of Latakia into the mix and creating a very mild English blend out of it. I think you might really have something then.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Newbie2010 (18)	2010-02-12		Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant

UPDATE: I have since had a few of more bowls and slowed down as much as possible when smoking this and I still get tongue bite, which has now become annoying. I think what's most annoying is that the blender says "with no bite." And to that I say, HORSE HOCKEY! I have yet to experience tongue bite with any other tobaccos that I have tried. The tin aroma is great. The room note and mild flavor, once past the tongue bite, are sweet, floral and fruity, but not enough for me to solidly recommend it. So I'm scaling back my prior recommendation...

2/12/10: New to pipe smoking and really enjoying it. Because I'm a cigar smoker, I prefer a fuller, stronger taste. I favor the English blends, Latakia over aromatics. I bought a Savinelli pipe (Baronet Bruyere 320EX) and got this tobacco as an added bonus. Its aroma from the tin is great and reminds me of sweet licorice. I've smoked a couple of bowls and I've had some tongue bite, and I haven't experienced that with other tobaccos. I'm just going to attribute it to being new to the sport. While I prefer more robust tobaccos, I do like the mild flavor and the room note. A very nice addition to a growing collection.

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