Put That In Your Pipe and Smoke It!

The first thing you notice as you are browsing through the Cigar Longue is the specular label featuring the Lone Star! It grabs you attention and that is a good thing!

It seems, the guys at Stillwell are knowledgeable pipe smokers but devoted cigar smokers. What started as a private project for one of them to combine pipe tobacco with other fillers in their fine cigars evolved into the Stillwell Star Line Stillwell Star is the world’s first luxury pipe tobacco cigar!

According to their web site, “all of the cigar and pipe tobaccos used are amongst the finest available, no expense is spared. Each of the pipe tobacco recipes is meticulously crafted in small batches . . . utilizing only the best tobaccos and techniques.”

They make an Aromatic No. 1, English No. 27, Bayou No. 32 and my personal favorite, Navy No. 1056.

I have not yet located the Aromatic No. 1 and thus have no tasting notes on it. It contains Black Cavendish, Golden Virginia and Burley pipe tobaccos added to mild Nicaraguan puro. It is finished in a cabeza dulce.

The English No. 27 is a mix of Burley and Turkish leaf with generous portion of Cypriot Latakia pressed and paired with Nicaraguan cigar tobaccos. The wrapper is a Ecuadorian Habano with a San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto binder. I smoked it back in October of 2023 when I discovered Stillwell in the Craft Cigar Longue up in Cypress and again in September of 2024 when I rediscovered the line in Nice Ash, down in the Heights area of Houston. [see a separate note on Nice Ash in the Gallery]. My wife got some perfume and floral hints on the nose but I got Dirt and Charcoal, both in a positive way. The first time the stick got a bit stronger in flavor toward the end, but I did not notice that on the second try. As for a repurchase, I say “Perhaps” because it is not as good as the Navy for my taste.

 I also got eh Bayou No. 3 up in Cypress and thought it too was good, but not as good as the Navy. It has Bright and Red Virginai leaf with St. James Parish Perique pipe tobacco combined with the Nicaraguan fillers. Tshe wrapper is again, Ecuadorian Habano and the binder is San Andres Negro Cultivo Tonto. I was not as impressed with the flavor of this stick but concluded that it may deserve a second smoke.

Now for my favorite Stillwell, the Navy No. 1056. It has “a crumbled cake of stoved” Red and Golder Virginia tobacco with a touch of “Naval Rations”, combined with Orientals and Latakia expertly blended with air-cured black cigar leaf.  Must be something about that Virginia tobacco that grabbed me!

Again the wrapper and binder are the same as those stick listed above, testing the theory that the vast majority of the flavors comes from the wrapper. Obviously with the same wrapper and binder on theirs cigars, the differentiation in the flavor is out of the unique combinations of the fillers!

I found the Nose hard to describe, even with my rule that you can at least come up with one word that gives some hint! Finally landed on Barn Floor with some deep backing of cloves!

Really liked the flavor and can’t wait to locate the Navy in another of my favorite lounges. Maybe I need another road trip to Cypress!

They also have a Holiday 2023. It was a limited edition in late 2023 so I doubt that we will find it. However, it did have Ecuadorian CT Shade grown wrapper, so if you come across one, try it and let me know where you found it. Maybe my road trip is further than just Cypress!

Enjoy a good stick tonight!