Milan Tobacconists House Blend Reviews

[JimInks]

Here are the rest of my Milan reviews from the generous samples @Haebar sent me. Hope I can get in on the next round.

Milan Cherry Velvet
The burley is nutty with some molasses. The toasted cavendish offers a very mild honey. The bright Virginias are grassy with some citrus. You won’t notice them much because the deeply rich and creamy ripe cherry topping fairly much dominates them. The burley and Virginias basically serve to underline the cherry, although they do reveal themselves a little more as you get to the half way point. Even then, the cherry still holds center stage to the finish. Has no chemical or artificialness to the flavor. Has a very mild nic-hit. Burns at a moderate pace and requires few relights. Won’t bite or get harsh. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasant and lingering after taste and room note.

Milan Lucky Leaf One
The golden cavendish is lightly grassy with a drop of honey and citrus. The vanilla topping is mild, and while it does tone down the tobacco, it also acts as a team player to create a smoothly very mild all day smoke that burns well and cool with few relights. Has no harsh spots, and little nicotine. Not a chemical note to be found. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasant after taste and room note. It kind of reminds me of a lighter Captain Black Gold. Made for those who want an very light all day smoke, so it probably wouldn’t have enough strength for the smoker who wants a higher charged aromatic.


Milan Virginia Pride
Why this is called “Virginia Pride” is odd since they don’t mention Virginia in the description. I believe a little is here because I get a very mild grass and citrus note on occasion, so I’ll say this has some Va. The burleys are a little nutty, though they are controlled by the sugary, vanilla black cavendish and rich vanilla topping to a great extent. They do peek out some, and just a little more in the last third of the proceedings. I get a light spice hit which I believe comes from how the fire cured black cavendish is processed. There’s also a very light fruitiness which leads me to suspect a little is added from toppings. No nicotine as you might expect from most highly sweet aromatics. Won’t bite even if pushed, and has no harsh or dull moments. Burns at moderate rate with a cool, clean, very smooth and creamy consistent flavor. Doesn’t need many relights and easily burns to ash. Leaves a little dampness in the bowl, but no dottle. Has a very pleasant after taste and the room note will make you friends with most everybody.

[Cool Breeze]

Name: Milan Appalachian Gold

Blend: Cavendish

Topping: Vanilla, chocolate and nuts

Smoked in: various cobs and a King's Cross briar

The cut is like the others, a coarse ribbon cut. Like the others it behaves as well as you could expect any tobacco to behave. It packs and smokes very well.
The quality of this tobacco is very good.

I find the flavor of this one to be fairly one dimensional. You get mostly vanilla. There are times when a creamy coco flavor is present but it is not at the forefront. There is no tobacco taste to speak of. You pretty much only taste the toppings.

While I found this one to be rather on the boring side when smoked by itself, I did enjoy it when mixed with Prince Albert. I mixed about 2 to 1 PA to Appalachian Gold and found it to be very nice tasting. The nuttiness of the PA with the vanilla sweetness of the Milan blend was how I preferred it.

Great room note. Smells wonderful.

[Haebar]

Milan Tobacconist Black Gold:

This blend has Cavendish, Burley, and black Cavendish. This is quality leaf; there are no stems or midribs to speak of. This tobacco also has some vanilla casing; it takes considerable time to dry it out for smoking. With only 30 minutes air time, my first bowl was good and interesting. Interesting in that the second half of the bowl was better than the first. First lighting is tough, as the blend is moist. First impressions are of the smell of a fruit basket, briefly. The black Cavendish provides the structure and backbone of the flavor; the burley fills out the body with a little nicotine muscle, but not much. Impressive is how dry this and the other Milan house aromatic tobaccos have smoked for me, in spite of feeling damp when loading the bowl. I only had to use one pipe cleaner per bowl smoked in briars and no pipe cleaners with the Missouri Meerschaums.

[Cool Breeze]

Impressive is how dry this and the other Milan house aromatic tobaccos have smoked for me, in spite of feeling damp when loading the bowl. I only had to use one pipe cleaner per bowl smoked in briars and no pipe cleaners with the Missouri Meerschaums.

I have noticed this as well. They seem to smoke much drier than most aros.
I definitely think these are very high quality tobaccos.

[Haebar]

Milan Tobacconists: Virginia Pride

My bag of Virginia Pride is fresh from the store. I aired some of it out overnight and have smoked three bowls so far in two different pipes: a Sunrise Canadian and a Captain Black billiard. My first impression is that this is a Virginia/Cavendish blend rather than the Burley/Cavendish blend that is in the description on TobaccoReviews.com. Checked the Milan Tobacconists website to get more information and couldn't find it listed there; it has apparently been discontinued. Of the five Milan tobaccos that I have smoked in the last two weeks, this was my favorite. There is a vanilla flavoring that is a little sweet to the lips at times. One of the reasons this is my favorite of the five that I have tried is that it has more tobacco flavor. At times, after the initial aromatic effect wore off, I was imagining tasting GLP Sixpence with the added slight sweetness of Amphora Cavendish. Close examination of the tobacco revealed that there were no stems or midrib sections to cull out, it is a quality product. This smoked well; it was relatively easy to light and keep lit. Although I only had to use one pipe cleaner per bowl, there was a little moisture left in the bowl after finishing, as might be expected. Easy enough to dry with a paper towel if you wanted to reload. I enjoyed this tobacco! The part I particularly enjoyed was the middle 2/3rds; there was a good body of tobacco flavor that was not too bold or too wispy, just right. I thought I was tasting mostly red Virginia, Burley and Cavendish.

[Cool Breeze]

Tobias, I haven't forgotten about the other 2 blends. I still have Centennial and Sportsman to review.

Been a rough few days and I haven't gotten around to it. I hope to post the review for the remaining 2 in the next week.

I have gotten some feedback from another Youtuber as well who is interested in the Milan blends. I am going to send him a sample (a few bowls worth) of them and he will mention them in his videos as well, so the word will get out a little more.

Thanks again.

[Bruck]

I'd read your review, but I'm too busy admiring that pipe. What an awesome stem that thing has! Or shank. Whatever.

[Cool Breeze]

Name: Milan Sportsman

Blend: Cavendish, burly and Virginia

Topping: vanilla, butternut, cherry and pineapple

Smoked in: cobs

This tobacco is a nice mellow aromatic that does not overpower you with syrupy sweetness. You get the fruity flavors of the topping without it feeling like there is a syrup coating on your tongue.
The vanilla comes out plainly. The cherry is subtle. Sometimes you get it and sometimes you do not. The butternut is noticeable in the tin/bag note but I cannot distinguish it in the flavor of the smoke. The pineapple is very interesting. It gives the blend a tangy/sour note that is very pleasant. At first I did not think I would like it when I read it in the description but it turns out I certainly did.

At first I thought this blend tasted a lot like Celebration that I had reviewed first, but after packing 2 cobs and smoking them side by side it was not the case. The pineapple really sets this blend part from other aromatics. It really does add a unique twist that I really enjoyed.

Room note is wonderful.

Another solid top quality blend from Milan.

[Cool Breeze]

Milan Centennial

Blend: Virginia and cavendish

Topping: cherry

Smoked in: cobs and a King's Cross briar

This is a nice light mellow blend. While the cherry flavoring is very noticeable, it is not overly sweet. You can taste the Virginia, which is good.
It is not a complicated blend, as unlike the others, it only has the one flavoring.
This was my favorite of the blends I reviewed. It and Sportsman are two that I would purchase.

Tobias, thanks again for doing this amigo.
There is another guy on Youtube who found the blends interesting so I'm sending him a sample of each so that is someone else who will help get the word out about Milan.

[Branzig]

@Cool Breeze

Just finished watching your review on the cherry topped aro. Curious if you have ever tried Devil's Holiday? It is more of a berry topped than straight cherry, but I find it really hits the spot. I too am a fan of Cherry flavored anything, but was never able to find an aro that fit the bill. Most of them are actually dreadful

Firedance Flake from SG is another berry goody that comes to mind.... again, more berry liquor than straight cherry, but still hit the spot better than most anything else cherry aro I have smoked.

Cheers.