Dan Tobacco Da Vinci

I was doing my laundry and a piece of bubble gum was in the dryer with my sox. It was heated,melted and then tinned by Dan Tobacco,and sold as DaVinci. I hope that expresses my sentiments.

I don't smoke aromatics much, but this is one of the few that I really love. I try to keep some around along with the other aromatics I have found to be of excellent quality-- G.L Pease Barbary Coast, Benjamin Hartwell Evening Stroll, Ashton Original Oldchurch and Butera Sweet Cavendish. I thought that Chianti flavoring sounded unusual and being of Italian descent, I had to try it. Unlike a lot of aromatics, this one burns cool and dry for having so much flavoring. The flavoring definitely dominates the tobacco, but hey, that's usually the reason to smoke an aromatic. With the Chianti flavoring, there's not another aromatic around like it. It has a wonderful bouquet both in the tin and while smoking. I find most aromatics too perfumy, wet and hot. (I'm talking tobacco here guys). When looking for the opposite, I end up with something that is too mild. This blend provides full flavor while remaining dry and cool as with the other aforementioned blends.

I do quick draws (tobacco reviewed with less than 5 bowls smoked) for two reasons: 1. It kicks ass, and while needing a few superlatives to complete a decent review, I have enough of the "gist" to recommend it 2. It sucks so bad, I'd go out on a date with Divine before I subjected another bowl to it. This is a number 2.

Ahem! This tobacco promises "..a sweet mild, pleasant smoke and a fragrant aroma..." and, it's "matured under addition of full-bodied red chianti...". If this is Chianti, it is the Chianti of a fevered 7 year olds imagination. Lilting hints of Grape Nehi, formula 44, and cotton candy, dragged kicking and screaming through a coconut grove, saturated my otherwise unsullied Peter Heeschen sail. For weeks I shall have nightmares of Gigantic Norsemen battering my bedroom walls down to exact a terrible revenge upon me for having raped their countryman's masterpiece. The overall smoke had the finesse of Carrot Top playing Iago from Othello, the complex layering of spandex, and the nuance of a pool cue wielded by Guido the loan shark. Seeking a reprieve for this tobacco, hoping that at a minimum, my wife would endorse the room note, I timidly asked her reaction. Without even taking her eye from her book she opined "..smells like a macaroon from the ninth CIRCLE OF HELL!!"

-- Bear Graves

An interesting blend, the tin-nose is great, akin to Potpourri, which I don't mind in the least although some might object.

The blend is surprisingly dry and somewhat natural. Not your typical N. American style goopy aromatics swimming in Propylene Glycol and sugar. Although there may be some limited PG in the base ingredients.

It packs like an English and combusts like one too, zero gurgle, no relights, combusts quickly but never overly hot on my palate and I was puffing along with cadence.

The flavours are not overly complex; decent but not amazing. Considerably, I do like the fact that it does taste like natural tobacco with a mild to medium Nicotine component. The Virginias are not the best quality and taste more like Burley to me, again decent but not great. However, something does have a very slight Oriental taste to it, perhaps the overlapping blend-ingredients.

The casing (or more likely topping) is not over the top. Tuscan Chianti, well maybe . . . it's there, but I could not tell you what it is in a totally blind tasting.

Overall, worth the price of admission although not something I would pack often maybe once or twice over the snowy winter. Therefore a tin ought to last me quite awhile.

Not cellarable for me.

Uno dei primi tabacchi che fumai. I ricordi mi parlano di una mistura di qualità, piacevole, mai stucchevole, al Chianti. Lo riproverò presto. Non richiede una pipa dedicata, pur avendo un aroma caratteristico.

A quality aromatic, without any of the flaws of most aromatic tobaccos I know: this Da Vinci tastes like what it smells and it smells great. Also, smoked with the right cadence, it doesn't attack the tongue. It is highly recommended to smoke from time to time and alternate it with the usual mixtures. It may not be to smoke every day. The brand advertises the flavoring of a Tuscan wine, possibly a Chianti. However, some experts say that it is more similar to the flavor of a hot German wine, with aromas of cloves, cinnamon ...

I give it three and a half stars rounded to three.

Wine flavored tobacco seems intriguing but this blend doesn't really possess an aroma and flavor that I would identify as such. I was expecting tannin notes from a heavy red wine. The open tin smells like the candy Skittles. There is also a slight perfume-lavenderish note underneath that. It smokes very smooth and light with no natural tobacco elements coming through. A very light fruity and gentle sweet taste that fades quickly with that Skittles candy flavor mildly lingering. Just completely misses the mark for me.

As I'm not that much of a Aromatics fan, your best bet is to take this review with a grain of salt. I ordered a sample of this, when I started out smoking the pipe. Back then I mostly smoked and enjoyed aromatics, like many new pipe smokers. Intrigued by a "rum-flavored" aromatic, I figured out this could also be up my alley. Well...I was wrong.

I don't drink, nor like any alcohol, but ever now and then and if well blended I like some Rum or Whiskey in my pipe tobacco. But Da Vinci has a really intense, acidic and fermented and alcohol-ish scent of red-wine. It holds up to the description, yet the flavoring is rather strong. So when I packed a bowl I had mixed feelings.

On first light I was struck by a intense alcohol-ish flavor. The red-wine scent from the unburnt tobacco is also to be found in the taste. Sweet, but not overly with some fermented quality this blend is dominated by the red-wine flavoring. This will most certainly appeal to aromatic lovers and especially those, that like or love (red-)wine as the they managed to get a flavor of real wine into the smoke.

Yet it wasn't for me and I had to dump it after the first half of the bowl. It left me with a aftertaste of red-wine. Really as if I had been drinking a glass of red-wine (which for me is a negative, but a big plus for anyone who likes wine!).

I'll settle for a 2-star rating. Certainly rather a "speciality" for fans of alcoholish pipe tobaccos, and a must try for wine-lovers. Dan Pipes aromatics are either "hate it or love it" imho. Obviously I diddn't love this one, but I see there is a branch of pipe smokers who will like and even love this!

I'm an English-Balkan lover but, in my more than 15 years of pipesmoking, I tried also some aromatic tobaccos. Da Vinci is one my favourites: it is not too sweet, not boring and it has a certain complexity. Highly recommended to any aromatic-adept. 3,5/5 in my personal rating system.