Deep, earthy and creamy. A distinguished broken flake of red Virginia tobaccos, small leaf orientals, and a measure of Cyprus Latakia, spiced with velvety cigar wrapper leaf. Key Largo develops throughout the bowl, offering a satisfying and sturdy smoking experience, with beautifully balanced, richly textured layers of cocoa, dark roasted coffee, leather, and a lively, lingering finish.

Photo by Greg Pease

While in Chicago I picked up a sample bag of Key Largo. It is a blend of Red Virginia, Izmir, Cyprus, Latakia, and Cigar leaf. It is a smokey and spicy smelling tobacco in the bag. It is a flake that by the time the airport security was finished with it at Ohare is now broken flake.

I put it to flame and it burned very easily. The smoke was thick and cloudy but tasted good from first light. I can definitely taste the sweetness of the Red Virginia coming out through out the smoke. The Izmir gives an oriental dryness in the mouth (I don't know how to describe it other than that. Kind of like a bit of tartar on the tongue).

The latakia is there and predominant throughout the smoke but tasty and smokey. I am assuming that the latakia is Cyprian. It is a nice smoke. I will have to get some more of this one. The bowl burned clean and dry to the bottom. The ash was a light grey and left no dottle. Very tasty. I smoked in the new Jack Howell Acorn that I picked up there.

Video Review by Eric

Robusto has been getting a lot of my attention lately so I thought I'd focus on it here. To be honest, it was a slow start. My initial bowls seemed kind of muddled, flat, and dirty tasting. I don't usually persevere with blends that don't strike me at first because there are so many that do. McClelland's Dominican Glory Maduro had a more instant appeal and I gravitated towards that blend for a while. Pease notes somewhere that you need to develop a vocabulary to appreciate this blend and that proved true. If you decide to try it yourself, stick with it a while. I'm glad I did.

The blend is from his Original Mixtures Collection - introduced a full five years ago. It consists of Virginias, Maduro cigar leaf, Latakia, and Orientals.

The first thing I love about this stuff is how easy it is on the palate. I can smoke this bowl after bowl with little fatigue and no tongue bite. It may be just a little too rich for me to consider it an all day blend, but if I were stuck with it on the proverbial desert island, I'd be a happy camper.

There is a tangy sweetness that is counterbalanced by a gentle edginess in the cigar leaf. As advertised on the tin description, "the Latakia adds roundness and smoothes the edges." I think it also enhances the sweetness of the Virginias too. As for the Orientals, I can't really pick out where they start and the cigar leaf starts, but I can taste them. It all works together in a very balanced way - I can see this becoming one of my favorites among Greg Pease's blends.

If you have been hesitant to try a pipe tobacco blended with cigar leaf thinking it would be too strong and overpowering - or just too much like a cigar, put that aside and give this blend a try. The cigar leaf works as a condiment, and it works very well.

Don't miss Greg's recent comments on Robusto - he's a lot better with words to describe what makes this blend great.