Savinelli Special Tobacco

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.

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.

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.

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.