Five years ago this month, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and Steve Saka debuted the StillWell Star line in-person at Low Country Pipe & Cigar in Little River, South Carolina. It marked a partnership between Cornell & Diehl and Dunbarton and a collaboration between Jeremy Reeves and Steve Saka, the first of its kind: A line of luxury cigars that incorporated premium pipe tobacco, a true crossover. Beginning with four distinct blends across 6" x 52 Toros, each featuring C&D tobacco amid the filler, the line catered to pipe and cigar smokers alike with a flavor profile distinct from either pipe tobacco or cigars. After half a decade of success, StillWell Star is receiving an update, refining the available blends and expanding the vitolas.

A Brief History of StillWell Star

StillWell Star's inception began at the 2020 TPE trade show. Saka met with Shane Ireland, Smokingpipes' current VP of Retail, and Tim Vanderpool, then Manager of Laudisi's Low Country Pipe & Cigar and current owner of Nickelby's Tobacconist in Omaha, Nebraska. Saka confessed that he'd secretly been a pipe smoker for decades and had experimented with rolling cigars with pipe tobacco for his personal enjoyment. Moreover, Saka had been a longtime fan of C&D tobaccos. From there, Shane and Tim connected Saka with Jeremy Reeves, Head Blender of C&D, and after hundreds of pipe-tobacco samples and 500 cigar prototypes, Dunbarton released StillWell Star in November 2021.

In its first iteration, StillWell Star comprised four blends: Aromatic No. 1, English No. 27, Bayou No. 32 and Navy No. 1056. Each one was hand-rolled by Joya de Nicaragua, in line with a number of other Dunbarton cigars, and they all featured an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Mexican San Andrés binder in a 6" x 52 Toro. Starting in 2022, a Holiday blend released every Christmas season as a limited-edition offering, substituting a Connecticut Shade wrapper. Apart from the limited Holiday editions, Saka intentionally kept every element of the cigar consistent, varying only the pipe tobaccos to ensure that they remained the focus and differentiating factor between the blends. After five years of sales and feedback, though, Saka has decided to revamp the line.

Saka's Revamp of StillWell Star

While sales started roughly even between the four blends, it eventually became clear that smokers enjoyed the sweeter options: Aromatic No. 1 and the Holiday releases. Saka has used the Aromatic No. 1 as the foundation for the revamped StillWell Star line, with each blend now featuring a sweetened tip, but he reworked the cap to be more natural and less cloying. Each cigar is still hand-rolled by Joya de Nicaragua, but he's further expanded the sizes and wrapper varietals and also kept the English No. 27 blend because it's his personal favorite. However, like the others, it's updated with a sweet cap for more of an Aromatic English presentation.

The streamlined lineup unfortunately means the discontinuation of Bayou No. 32 and Navy No. 1056. Once the current stock of those cigars is exhausted, they will be gone for good.

Meet the New StillWell Star Lineup

The new StillWell Star lineup comprises three distinctive blends, each across a 5" x 48 Petit Robusto and the original 6" x 52 Toro. Furthermore, the branding has been tweaked to distinguish the blends, with each displaying a different color band.

Aromatic Dulce Maduro

Bearing the original cobalt-blue band, and the most straightforward of the three, the Aromatic Dulce Maduro is based on the original Aromatic No. 1, which became the line's best seller in its first five years. It's a tweaked, slightly more aromatic-forward blend, but the components remain unchanged: an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder, and fillers comprising Nicaraguan leaf and Black Cavendish, Golden Virginia, and Burley pipe tobaccos from C&D. If you've yet to try the StillWell Star line, the Aromatic Dulce Maduro is the perfect starting point. It's the flagship and the most popular expression of the line. Also, if you're coming to StillWell Star as a smoker of Aromatic pipe tobaccos, the Aromatic Dulce Maduro is likely a great crossover.

Shop the Aromatic Dulce Maduro: Petit Robusto (5" x 48) | Toro (6" x 52)

Aromatic Dulce Claro

In the powder-blue band, the Aromatic Dulce Claro is a brand-new blend that's essentially a hybrid version of the annual StillWell Star Holiday releases. It features the same Mexican San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan fillers as the Aromatic Dulce Maduro but with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper and Black Cavendish and Golden and Red Virginia pipe tobaccos from C&D. Though similar in sweetness to the Aromatic Dulce Maduro, the Claro version exhibits a slightly different flavor profile that's enhanced by the Connecticut wrapper. If you're already a fan of Connecticut wrappers or the Aromatic Dulce Maduro, the Aromatic Dulce Claro is going to give you a welcome experience that still retains its own singular character. Moreover, if you enjoy Dunbarton's Sobremesa Brûlée and Sobremesa Brûlée Blue lines, the Aromatic Dulce Claro should fit well into your rotation.

Shop the Aromatic Dulce Claro: Petit Robusto (5" x 48) | Toro (6" x 52)

English Dulce Maduro

With the hunter-green band, and arguably the most unique of the trio, the English Dulce Maduro is an updated version of the original StillWell Star English No. 27 blend. Most notably, the English Dulce Maduro features a sweetened cap, likening it more to Aromatic English pipe tobaccos as opposed to true English blends. It retains the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Mexican San Andrés binder, but Saka reworked the Nicaraguan fillers to soften the blend and pull back the Latakia slightly. The pipe tobacco is still Caked Latakia, Turkish, and Burley from C&D. Speaking personally, it's the most singular StillWell Star cigar — unlike any other cigar or pipe tobacco. If you're interested in something one-of-a-kind and exploring a completely distinctive flavor profile, the English Dulce Maduro delivers. It has the sweetness and underlying natural-tobacco presence of the others but with a marked, peat-like smokiness thanks to the Latakia. Naturally, pipe smokers who enjoy English blends would do well to try out the English Dulce Maduro.

Shop the English Dulce Maduro: Petit Robusto (5" x 48) | Toro (6" x 52)

Be Still; Be Well

When Saka founded the StillWell Star line and developed the name, he was inspired by the relaxed, easy-going posture that cigar and pipe smoking encourage. As he said during the initial release in 2021:

Be still; be well. These aren't cigars to be rushed. They're to be smoked and thought about.

That remains steadfastly true even as the line has been streamlined in some respects and expanded in others. Now with a Petit Robusto size available in regular production, it's easier than ever to sample the lineup and see which blend speaks most to you. Saka also recommends a slightly different smoking approach since these cigars contain pipe tobacco: He suggests a full, even light and smoking the first inch slower than usual because pipe tobacco changes how the cigar burns. Whether you're a veteran cigar smoker with a decade's worth of cigars saved, a pipe-smoking connoisseur with a deep cellar, or just now venturing into either hobby, StillWell Star cigars deserve a place in every humidor.