Dan Tobacco Da Vinci

The pouch aroma is sweet and reminds me of fruit and caramel with a background hint of vanilla. Although the blend is infused with Tuscan red wine, I failed to detect it in the pouch. The tobacco lights easily and initially burns cool, providing a sweet smoke with caramel and fruit flavors coming to the foreground. As the smoke progressed hints of wine and spice also came through and I began to detect a flavor not unlike the Green River Black Cavendish tobaccos used in blends like Benjamin Hartwell's Evening Stroll and Backwood's Black and Gold. Like many aromatics Da Vinci has a tendency to get hot and damp toward the end of the bowl and despite slow smoking I did experience a small amount of tongue bite.

A very smooth, luxurious smoke with the famous ?Blue Note? touch in the background. The Tuscan red wine has just the right touch to make this blend very tasty. Bold yet not overpowering. Dan Tobacco has never let me down and the room note is awesome. This blend did not bite but left a velvet-like taste on the tongue. ?Elegantly tasty? describes this blend well. You won?t be disappointed in my opinion. One of my favorites!

Flavor: Disgusting. Not like smoking tobacco at all. Tastes like rotten fruit with sour milk. The casing is too much, so disgustingly sweet it actually gave me a headache. After smoking a bowl I felt like I had just eaten 2 Lbs. of fudge.

Aroma: Think pixie sticks with fruit melange air freshner.

Tin Aroma: Its only saving grace. Interesting and, although overly sweet, pleasant.

Room note: Fruit melange air freshner.

Burning characteristics: burned HOT HOT HOT no matter how I smoked it. It didn't bite much but after a few puffs I had to stop because the pipe was super hot. Left penty of nasty residue at the bottom of the bowl.

Overall: An unpleasant experience. I tried a few bowls and gave the tin away. I don't mind sweet now and then but this stuff was just too sweet. If I was a hookah smoker and wanted to experience flavors other than tobacco I'd probably like this stuff. I'd recommend this to a hookah smoker or people with an extremely high tolerance for pounds of sugar. Not for a more serious pipe smoker.

I got this tobacco to smoke with my Cavicchi pipes. I liked the sound of casing this tobacco with Chianti. This tobacco is a little wet out of the tin, but has a great nose. When lighting this up you need to let it sit for a minute to let it dry out. One you light it up though this tobacco burns cool and sweet. I get hints of cinnamon and cherries. This is good especially after a more potent tobacco like an English blend, which brings out the sweetness and makes it almost dessert like. btw.. Burning hot is usually a sign of the smoker not the tobacco. I have never had this tobacco burn hot and I have had multiple tins.

I had almost put the pipe down altoghether, and then I found this wonderful blend. In a word "Awesome". The Tuscan Cianti fusion creates a magical aroma with a taste to match. Added bonus - the wife absolutely loves the aroma. Everywhere I go, I usually get at least one "Oh my Gosh! What is that?". The taste is a wonderfully smooth red wine overtone with little to no tongue bite. I have found none better, however, I have yet to try Milango (yet to find it).

Now, here's the rub: CAO was bought by Dan Tobacco last January. Dan has decided to discontinue production of the CAO pipe tobacco blends. Supplies are dwindling fast. What is the future of these wonderful blends? Nothing official as of yet. The CAO rep said there wasn't any mention of it at their last sales conference. The word on the street is that Dan sold the formula to one of their manufacturing companies in Sweden, who will rebrand and redistribute the blends in the future.

theThinker

I like this a lot better than Blue Note, actually and have given it one higher star than its cousin. Its tastes like Blue Note + a red wine topping - think of it as port-flavored pipe tobacco. Da Vinci also has a slight spice-note to it that I like a lot.

All the flavor is from casing, though, so do not expect too much true-tobacco taste. That said, it makes a nice dessert smoke and makes the room smell fabulous. Because it is so heavily cased, smoke this in a cob pipe with a small bowl.

In a side note, I found that stored under the same conditions as Blue Note for full year, this blend keeps its casing flavor far better and does not go stale as fast - another plus with me since I don't go through aromatics very quickly.

upon purchasing this tobacco a while back i was very suprised on the smell. it smells amazing! i immedietly thought it would be way to sweet for my liking but to my suprise it wasnt at all. the taste was apparent through the entire smoke but was never overwhelming. i have found i like it the most when given a day or two to dry a little bit. but it comes straight out of the bag dry enough to be enjoyed. (i bought it from my local tobacconist who carries it in bulk so i have not had the chance to try it out of a tin but im assuming the moistness is very close to out of the bag.) i personally love this tobacco and now buy it in the bulk. personally it reminds me of tirimisu for whatever reason it reminds me of it. i find it as a good smoke for the beginning or expirienced pipe smoker. it is a good all day puffer. unfortunatley i dont get to puff away in the mornings as much as id like to. but i do enjoy this tobacco very much so it is an old friend to me and always remains loyal. my favorite expiriences with this tobacco is after dinner sitting in my recliner with my head tilted back puffing away and through the faint but apparent smoke clouds infront of me i cant help but smile.

I love this stuff. It's the first tobacco that I smoked and I still think it's one of the best around. The room note is wonderful. The flavor is not too strong but still tasty. My wife even recognizes when I have this packed. An all round great aromatic. Not too sweet and not too bland. It travels the mid road with me. I love to go back to this from time to time to remember when I first discovered the magic of smoking aromatics in a pipe.

Da Vinci is a classic, luxurious, aromatic smoke. The flavor has wonderful depth, and remains true all the way through the bowl. I taste light red wine, yet I would not characterize this tobacco as terribly sweet. Despite being an aromatic, it burns relatively cool. Don't be put off by the rich tin aroma -- give it a try.

The middle aged man poured himself a brandy and found his favorite chair. His velour smoking jacket echoed the richness of the Da Vinci he puffed in his rusticated Savinelli. Feet up, workday done, he inhaled the aroma of the liquor in his snifter and leaned his head back. The clouds of white smoke billowing from his pipe and toward the open window carried his worries away.