Dan’s Da Vinci and Torben Dansk Blue Note
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I bought a tin of Blue Note two years ago in Kingsport, Tn at a B&M. I remember it having a sweet, berry & vanilla aroma and no bite. Blue Note is one of the blends I tend to fixate on while I have it and then forget about it when its gone. That being said, I may buy it again but I have plenty of other aromatics in my cellar at the moment.
Haven't tried Fire Dance.
When Drew Estates was making pipe tobacco, there was one that was similar. I think it was Grand Central.
Interesting, if their cigars are any indication, their aromatic pipe tobacco store must of been good.
Blue Note and Firedance are not similar to my tastes. Where Firedance has a prominent blackberry note to it, Blue Note has more of a Bourbon Vanilla profile. I smoked it years ago, but the tin of Blue Note I had was inconsistent to my taste buds. However, I had noob taste buds. I found Da Vinci to be the most enjoyable to me: light vanilla with an effervescent quality on the tongue and burned cleaner (ash) to me than Blue Note (dottle). It almost seemed floral at times, but not at all in a Lakeland way. I've never had Chianti, but that's what some are reporting is in the blend.
All of the Drew Estate blends were good. Meat Pie was one of my favorite English blends when I could get it and Grand Central was one of my favorite aromatics. Both were rated as 4 Stars on tobacco reviews.
There must have been a falling out between Drew Estates and Scandinavian Tobacco who produced the blends.
I think it was low sales and not a falling out. I was/am a fan of Drew Estates Gatsby Luxury Flake. I was fortunate to grab 10 tins when the line was discontinued.
I smoke Dan's DaVinci regularly. Quality tobacco with a light, natural flavoring from the chianti barrels it's aged in. It and Reiner's professional are the only aromatics I smoke. They smoke dry and aren't overly flavored, have a great room note, and are nice for a change of pace from the Va's I usually smoke.
@puff_not_snuff ... I agree with heathandleaf; Dan Tobacco Blue Note and Samuel Gawith Fire Dance are not similar to me at all. I really like all of the Dan Tobacco aromatics that I have had, including Devil's Holiday (my favorite), Sweet Vanilla Honeydew, Blue Note, and Milango. I have not had the Da Vinci. Dan Tobacco Devil's Holiday really made me understand what a good aromatic could be. To me the Dan Tobacco aromatics are all flavorful, taste real, and the added flavors don't overly dominate the underlying tobacco flavors. Specifically, the Blue Note has a nice vanilla flavor with a hint of berry. It's not as intensely flavored as the Devil's Holiday, but it is very enjoyable.
I'd always heard good things about Samuel Gawith Fire Dance and was excited to find some at a tobacconist very early this year while traveling (pre-COVID). I'm wondering if the ounce that I got had just been hanging out in the bulk jar for too many years and lost most of its topping. Its aroma out of my jar is mostly dusty and stale with just a whiff of berry. It's not an enjoyable smoke for me, but it's possible that I previously hadn't been letting it dry enough. It feels pretty dry, but my experience with several Gawith products (especially Full Virginia Flake) is that they burn and taste WAY better with 1-3 days of drying time, and sometimes even that's not enough! If I had to choose between Fire Dance and Blue Note, the latter easily wins.
Thanks for the through run down. Will order some Dan soon, hopefully I have better results with the Fire Dance that’s on the way...
While I enjoy Sweet Vanilla Honeydew on occasion, I found Blue Note to be just off the charts in terms of topping. Too much going on IMHO.
If you find that you like the "blackberry/raspberry" profile, I have a friend who is a berry aromatic fiend and has been compiling a small list of favorites. At the top of his list: Dan's Devil's Holiday. He and I gave it a blind try back in 2013 or 2014. Up to that point, I had only been trying bulk blends. The difference in quality/flavor was immense.
I would be curious to see the list. Is Newminster blackberry on it? I did enjoy that one.
I placed an order for a tin of Da Vinci the other day, very curious to try it.
No, but I had a Danish friend in the early school grades, son of a young employee at the Danish consulate in Chicago, who was named Torben, the kid not his dad.
He did mention Newminster but his favorites were:
- Dan's - Devil's Holiday (top of his list)
- E Stokkebye 4th Generation - 1982 (also topping his list)
- Peterson - Holiday Season 2015 (intensely sweet from beginning to end; cloying, as they say)
- Hiland's - Raspberry Bourbon
- P Stokkebye - Heather Raspberry
- Lane - Black Raspberry
- Cornell & Diehl - Berries and Cream
Boswell’s Raspberry Cream and Berry Cobbler aren’t bad if you’re ok with a traditional Burley & Cavendish aro.
10 tins...you are one lucky bastard. Just thought I'd resurrect this thread after a year of dormancy just to point that out. ?
Yeah, the Newminster BB is not bad if I’m in the mood for something like that.
I think the problem with Drew Estates pipe tobacco is that people probably thought it was a rehash of the flavors they used in their cigar lines. Not that it would be a bad thing if they did that. That might have been bad for them in two ways. One that people expecting that and then smoking something not what they expected could have been a disappointment, and then also people thinking well that is going to ghost the heck out of my pipe and not so much of a must try since I already have had the cigars. That's my theory at least based on nothing but straight up guesswork.