Cigars Daily boasts, “With Steve Saka, you know you are getting a home run, and the StillWell Star line is a game changer!” This was my experience as well! I’m skeptical of any mashup where two titans of industry come together and offer something that is supposed to be the best-of-both-worlds – but Saka and Reeves did not disappoint and the full review is below! Before Lightup: The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper is gorgeous – it actually looks like modeled chocolate. In the hand it was buttery soft with minimal veins and tight seams. This cigar comes with two bands. The foot band identifies the line and cigar which is nice and protects the foot from cracking if dropped. The larger band pairs nicely with the foot band – I love the blue and gold concept – but nowhere distinguishes that this is a DTT cigar. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning. Out of the cello there is a very pungent sweet tobacco aroma, though it is light, and an unidentifiable scent if you’re not familiar with pipe tobacco. If you are, you’ll recognize it as a slight black cavendish. Normally I don’t but this time I smelled closer to the foot (I don’t know of any other industry where that is a good thing!) and was blown away by a fragrant vanilla scent. The pre-light draw immediately gave way to a sweet tip which I did not expect and a very mild sweet tobacco note. I’m not a huge sweet tip fan only because they’re never consistent – going away usually by the 1/3 of a cigar. First Light: The deep V-cut and toasting gave way to a medium body profile that was vanilla forward – almost like vanilla extract – and the sweet tip really drove home a glycerin sweetness which is fine if you’re into that. After a few more puffs, there was a distinct smokiness like you get with latakia which paired nicely with the vanilla notes. The aroma from the foot smoke was very pleasant – what many pipe smokers would call a room note. The draw was tight for my liking and made me lean toward a double puff to get the most flavor from the stick. The retrohale was smooth with a dry vanilla coming through on the palate. First Third: The first third was very similar to the first light experience with the addition of a slight peppery tase (not texture) coming in which kind of made the profile like a good peppermint. The flavors began to mesh together and balance out in a medium to medium-full profile leaving the vanilla, pepper, and smokiness all in perfect harmony. Toward the end of the first third, the profile began to darken and, what I can only assume was the cigar tobacco, began to come forward in the profile. The burn was awesome and the smoke was light, plentiful, and – you guessed it – aromatic! Second Third: The body mellowed back out to a medium with that sweet cigar tobacco beginning to shine. Everything was in perfect balance. There was a bit of a tangy citrus note which appeared – think something like a granny smith apple or cherry, tangy but sweet – along with a woodsy, almost oaky note. I was ashing in 1” increments so as to avoid dropping it and have no complaints with the construction to this point. The bands remove without hardly any effort and there was no strength detected up to this juncture. At this point, the sweet tip was all but gone (hence my gripe about sweet tips from the start). Final Third: Early on in the smoke I noticed the cherry appearing to become hot a good distance from the burn line. At first I thought it was a tunneling issue but the smoke remained cool and eventually this went away altogether. In fact, the smoke and cherry remained cool until there as about an inch and a half left of the cigar. The flavor profile darkened which caused the body to increase slightly, back to a medium to medium-full. Though it darkened, it still remained sweet. The best description I can give is that it held onto the profile of the second third while adding in a dark caramel and robust coffee note as well. It was still peppery and woodsy with everything playing nicely together until the smoke just got too hot – again with about one and a half inches left. Overall smoke time was 1 hour 18 minutes. Overall: I can definitely see why this stick wouldn’t be for everyone, but it was definitely for me! It lost some points for consistency due to the sweet tip and in the area of construction for a tighter-than-normal draw and coolness of the smoke toward the end. But what it lacked in those areas, it more than made up for in the flavor profile! It gained all but 3 points in this area – those 3 were docked in the final third only because the flavors began to wash out as the smoke heated up with well over an inch left to go. Overall the score comes out to a 9.3 out of 10 (93/100) and it lived up to the Saka price point of a $15 stick! This was a mashup that worked and, if you’re looking to find something that is flavorful, smells nice (more for the Mrs. When you come back inside), and different – you can’t go wrong the with Aromatic No. 1.
