At $15 a piece these will be a little bit pricey for me. I enjoy cigars immensely but have never smoked one yet with pipe tobacco in it that I enjoyed. Nor for that matter pipe tobacco that had cigar leaf in it.
StillWell Star. A Pipe Tobacco Cigar
- Thread starter eljimmy
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well I thought the frogs might be what you used to hydrate the box. Also nothing can be every humid possible only one at at time and in very rare cases 2 humids is possible on a quantum level.
Agreed, but not because $15 is more than I'd pay for a cigar. At $15 you're already 3/4 of the way to a Davidoff or similar premium cigar, and in that price range, I'd probably just go straight for the premium cigar and skip the experimental pipe tobacco cigars. Of course if the reviews are great, then that might make me reconsider.
They cost fifteen dollars???
I like cigars and mainly smoke cigars, rather than pipes, in the summer. There are a lot of great cigars in the $7 or $8 range, so $15.00 is starting to get up there, even for a premium cigar, let alone an experimental pipe tobacco cigar. They better be good!
Oof. Hope it works for some people. That's a spicy meatball. As mentioned above, you can get a Davidoff Robusto for that price.They cost fifteen dollars???
nice things about stuff like this is you don't have to buy it unless it sounds right and at the right price. Personally I bet the price is inflated slightly to counter the perception that pipe tobacco cigars are cheap and made with substandard material. Also one of the things that makes cigars so darn expensive is that the leaf has to be in better condition then if you press it or cut it into ribbons. So that might explain the price as well.
Asking for a friend...
Hypothetically if you did put KDF cigars in a humidor, is there anything to do other than remove them ASAP? How long would it take to contaminate the other cigars I (he) wonder(s)? The humidor should be fine for conventional cigar storage thereafter?
Any expertise is appreciated
I can't think of anything to do if you mixed regular cigars with aromatic cigars and your regular now smell and taste like the aromatic. You can't exactly air out the affronted cigars without drying them out and allowing those precious oils to volatilize.
No clue how long it would take for a cigar with KDF to affect nearby cigars. For my buddy, I don't think they sat for longer than a couple weeks before he opened the humidor and discovered his error. I don't remember ever phillying with aromatic or dark fired cigars since taking up cigars in 2005, so I have no practical experience except for this one incident on the part of my friend. I was always dazzled by the natural taste of black tobacco and didn't see a need to experiment.
Humidors are made of porous material - wood. I would expect them to retain some of the essence for quite a while. I once bought a humidor on ebay from the 1950s that had supposedly not been used for 20 years or more. When I received it and opened it up, it smelled faintly of cigars.
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How long have you had those - a couple weeks? It would be interesting to know if the Swamp Things (had to look those up) left any scents behind on their neighbors.I mentioned Mark Ryan's 1881 perique cigars, but there was also Russ Ouellet's Latakia cigars, Spectres. I liked both of these. But, I admit that I never could taste the latakia in the Spectre cigars. I think the Spectre pipe tobacco was way better, but... there's room for more options out there.
But, as pantsBoots mentioned, maybe keep them in a separate humidor. ...as I run over to remove the Cubans he gave me from my humidor full of Swamp Thangs, ha ha.
I have read for years to never mix your regular cigars, with some advice going so far as to say you should separate cigars by country of origin or even brand. I tried it, but eventually discovered that it didn't amount to a hill of beans. I have had fresh, jet black Fuente Añejo (very pungent) sitting right next to 20 year old Hoyo de Monterrey (very mild and nuanced) and they didn't affect each other at all. I do believe DFK and Acid and other aromatic cigars do lend their essence freely. I have not seen it discussed much at all online, since most habitual cigar smokers steer clear of aromatic cigars, so am only going off of this one isolated incident.
I was kidding. I keep my MUWATs in a separate humidor, and my wife’s cherry bombs are in one also stored in a totally separate room.
I would never store such quality cigars in with the rest.
I don’t doubt for a second that dark fires could mess with those delicate flavors.
I’ll prob be ordering just one of each to give them a try. There was another company selling pipe tobacco cigars I’ve tried - Durango Pipe Tobacco Cigars - while I liked them, it didn’t quite satisfy the cigar itch and didn’t fulfill my pipe tobacco itch. Room note on those cigars are quite pleasant though!
Drew Estate makes A LOT of different cigars. Even within the same lines, there is quite a bit of variation. For example, I really liked the Undercrown sungrown, but did not care for the others in the Undercrown line. I just think of Drew Estate as so varied that there is something in their brand for everyone.
The Navy is currently my favorite of the four. I definitely recommend it. It is also the only one of the four that we still have in stock at the moment, as all our initial inventory for the other 3 facings sold out in a little over 2 days. We should be restocking soon.
Also, it sounds like there may be some confusion about what the product is and who is producing it. While it is true that Steve was the CEO of Drew Estate at one time, that was years ago, and DE has no hand whatsoever in the the operation or blending of this or any other Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust product. In fact, I would suggest that if you don't like Drew Estate's lineup, DTT offers a substantial step up in quality, being a small, hands-on, super picky, boutique brand; Drew is a big brand and makes way too many cigars to be so detail oriented. They make good cigars, but they are not able to be hyper-detailed the way that a boutique operation can be. Don't take my word for it, either. I would suggest that anyone doubting the kind of quality to expect here simply read about DTT and about Steve Saka, as well as about C&D and our boutique, hands on approach.
I see some of the comparisons being to other products pipe/cigar products elsewhere in this thread, and I think it's worth noting that there are some dramatic differences between the StillWell Star and other "pipe tobacco" cigars. Of course crossing these two types of products is not a new idea, and no one at all is claiming that it is, but objectively it has never been done this way. For example, Black & Mild is a Capt. Black cigar, machine made, mass market cigar with short filler made of mass market pipe tobacco, heavily aromatic. Half Pipe is a Swedish Match product. another huge company, offering machine made, short filler cigars, heavily aromatic, designed for mass market consumption. The AJ Fernandez Spectre was rumored to contain Latakia, and while that is the closest to this project of the three, by virtue of being a premium cigar, that is still nothing like what has been done here. AJF is still mass market, and adding a unique leaf to the filler of a cigar (allegedly, or otherwise) is fine, but that is not what was done here.
These StillWell Star cigars are handmade, top tier cigars, made with Ecuadoran Habano wrapper, Mexican (San Andreas) binder, and four unique blends of long filler each of which has been spiced with fully formed pipe tobacco blends that I developed for Steve specifically for this project. In two of the four blends, he opted for crumble cake versions, because he preferred the flavor that resulted from the pressing, even though that meant that he was going to have to do a bunch of extra work on his end, in order to integrate those blends into the filler which is over 80% long filler cigar type leaf. Cigar rollers are incredibly skilled, but changing the consistency of 16% of the filler in the bunch, not to mention adding the step of breaking up a bunch of cake a few times a day, is a real interruption to the methodology, efficiency and economy of motion that these rollers have been honing for decades. It is a serious time sink and a huge change to the way that the whole factory needs to operate. Every part of this project, doing things the way that Steve feels the should be done, required a major lift to get right.
So in addition to the use of top tier leaf, which they are curing and fermenting themselves,( aftermarket processes which they do for the tobaccos in all of their cigars in order to ensure exceptional quality) they are also purchasing top tier blended, manufactured, finished tobacco from us, (a substantial added expense compared to buying raw leaf and processing in-house) and blending those cut tobaccos in with the long filler very carefully so as to achieve the proper balance of flavor without sacrificing burn quality (another substantial expense in terms of experimentation, loss of efficiency and developing new protocols for an established cigar operation). AND having to rub out 15- 20 lbs of crumble cake tobaccos by hand intermittently throughout the process of bunching 2 of the blends. Steve went through literally hundreds of variations on each blend before he got what he wanted. The price is based on the real cost of developing and producing a craft quality product like this.
As for whether or not people think that is worth it, that is a different question and everyone has their own view, their own tastes and their own price point where they feel comfortable. But, the fact that Smokingpipes has sold just under 300 boxes of these since the launch on Friday, and the fact that the StillWell Star release event was a huge success with people traveling from as far away as Ohio, in order to attend, it seems there is a plenty of interest, curiosity and excitement surrounding these cigars. I can't wait to begin seeing the reviews, from the release but there are definitely reviews that have been out for a few months, since the lineup was unveiled at PCA and lots of industry and consumer folks got to sample. I definitely recommend checking those out as well as keeping an eye out for reviews over the next few weeks, since the official launch!
Thanks for the response and I feel bad for throwing cold water, apologies. I read that you were involved and knew that this would be a very different product than what Drew Estates was doing 20 years ago. I just never could get onboard with a cigar company using patchouli. lolThe Navy is currently my favorite of the four. I definitely recommend it. It is also the only one of the four that we still have in stock at the moment, as all our initial inventory for the other 3 facings sold out in a little over 2 days. We should be restocking soon.
Also, it sounds like there may be some confusion about what the product is and who is producing it. While it is true that Steve was the CEO of Drew Estate at one time, that was years ago, and DE has no hand whatsoever in the the operation or blending of this or any other Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust product. In fact, I would suggest that if you don't like Drew Estate's lineup, DTT offers a substantial step up in quality, being a small, hands-on, super picky, boutique brand; Drew is a big brand and makes way too many cigars to be so detail oriented. They make good cigars, but they are not able to be hyper-detailed the way that a boutique operation can be. Don't take my word for it, either. I would suggest that anyone doubting the kind of quality to expect here simply read about DTT and about Steve Saka, as well as about C&D and our boutique, hands on approach.
I see some of the comparisons being to other products pipe/cigar products elsewhere in this thread, and I think it's worth noting that there are some dramatic differences between the StillWell Star and other "pipe tobacco" cigars. Of course crossing these two types of products is not a new idea, and no one at all is claiming that it is, but objectively it has never been done this way. For example, Black & Mild is a Capt. Black cigar, machine made, mass market cigar with short filler made of mass market pipe tobacco, heavily aromatic. Half Pipe is a Swedish Match product. another huge company, offering machine made, short filler cigars, heavily aromatic, designed for mass market consumption. The AJ Fernandez Spectre was rumored to contain Latakia, and while that is the closest to this project of the three, by virtue of being a premium cigar, that is still nothing like what has been done here. AJF is still mass market, and adding a unique leaf to the filler of a cigar (allegedly, or otherwise) is fine, but that is not what was done here.
These StillWell Star cigars are handmade, top tier cigars, made with Ecuadoran Habano wrapper, Mexican (San Andreas) binder, and four unique blends of long filler each of which has been spiced with fully formed pipe tobacco blends that I developed for Steve specifically for this project. In two of the four blends, he opted for crumble cake versions, because he preferred the flavor that resulted from the pressing, even though that meant that he was going to have to do a bunch of extra work on his end, in order to integrate those blends into the filler which is over 80% long filler cigar type leaf. Cigar rollers are incredibly skilled, but changing the consistency of 16% of the filler in the bunch, not to mention adding the step of breaking up a bunch of cake a few times a day, is a real interruption to the methodology, efficiency and economy of motion that these rollers have been honing for decades. It is a serious time sink and a huge change to the way that the whole factory needs to operate. Every part of this project, doing things the way that Steve feels the should be done, required a major lift to get right.
So in addition to the use of top tier leaf, which they are curing and fermenting themselves,( aftermarket processes which they do for the tobaccos in all of their cigars in order to ensure exceptional quality) they are also purchasing top tier blended, manufactured, finished tobacco from us, (a substantial added expense compared to buying raw leaf and processing in-house) and blending those cut tobaccos in with the long filler very carefully so as to achieve the proper balance of flavor without sacrificing burn quality (another substantial expense in terms of experimentation, loss of efficiency and developing new protocols for an established cigar operation). AND having to rub out 15- 20 lbs of crumble cake tobaccos by hand intermittently throughout the process of bunching 2 of the blends. Steve went through literally hundreds of variations on each blend before he got what he wanted. The price is based on the real cost of developing and producing a craft quality product like this.
As for whether or not people think that is worth it, that is a different question and everyone has their own view, their own tastes and their own price point where they feel comfortable. But, the fact that Smokingpipes has sold just under 300 boxes of these since the launch on Friday, and the fact that the StillWell Star release event was a huge success with people traveling from as far away as Ohio, in order to attend, it seems there is a plenty of interest, curiosity and excitement surrounding these cigars. I can't wait to begin seeing the reviews, from the release but there are definitely reviews that have been out for a few months, since the lineup was unveiled at PCA and lots of industry and consumer folks got to sample. I definitely recommend checking those out as well as keeping an eye out for reviews over the next few weeks, since the official launch!
Congratulations on your success and I look forward to trying a few Navy's out soon.
I will definitely be trying the English and the Navy offerings and I’m cautiously optimistic. I want to love these.
Thanks! I am pretty excited about these!
No reason to feel bad, at all. Cold water, hot water, whatever you wish to throw.
I just wanted to point out that Drew did not have any involvement with the project and while I was writing, I wanted to clarify some other items that others had mentioned along the way. I hope you try the Navy, hell I hope you try all four! And I look forward to hearing what you think, if you do try them.
Yeah, I'll be trying these for sure. Steve is great, as I've said before. I love the Sobremesa line, they're wonderful in all aspects. I couldn't imagine him creating, and putting his name behind anything that's not spectacular.
Drew Estates has many excellent cigars. I love the Liga Privada #9 amongst many others. For me, the Drew Estate Dirt always had a kind of pipe tobacco feel, not spot on but a familiarity to it.
Drew Estates has many excellent cigars. I love the Liga Privada #9 amongst many others. For me, the Drew Estate Dirt always had a kind of pipe tobacco feel, not spot on but a familiarity to it.