We recently sat down for a round table discussion about Warped's Saint Espresso, making its return on-site now. We cracked into an old tin from the original release from Shane Ireland's cellar and shared our thoughts on the blend and plenty more.

[Andy Wike]: We're back at it again talking about Warped's Saint Espresso in the same format that we kicked off a couple weeks ago with the From Beyond discussion with Jeremy Reeves. Luckily, we have Shane Ireland back in town today, so we're super excited.

[Shane Ireland]: For the folks who may not know, this is a collaboration between Kyle Gellis, the owner, founder, and blender of Warped Cigars, and Jeremy Reeves, our own master blender at Cornell & Diehl. It is a project that started with a really interesting collaboration that the two of those guys worked on back in 2018, and was released in 2019: the original The Haunting blend.

The Original Release of Saint Espresso

[SI]: Today, I brought a tin from the original release of Saint Espresso in 2022 from my personal cellar for the consideration of the round table, which is actually shaped like an octagon, so it's actually an octagon table.

I thought we could crack into it and see how it's coming along. I have not revisited this original release in quite a while, so I'm really curious to see how it's been aging.

Saint Espresso is a really high quality and complex take on an Aromatic. Basically what I mean is that not only was there a lot of care taken into the flavorings themselves, but the base tobaccos here are really a step above what you typically find in Aromatics.

[AW]: Yeah, it's sort of a triad of Cavendish tobaccos. We have Cornell & Diehl's proprietary Carolina Red Virginia Cavendish, One Sucker Cavendish from Kentucky, which is comprised of specific grades of Burley Cavendish, and then there is this lightly sweet Dominican cigar leaf Cavendish. They all really play on each other in super interesting ways.

[SI]: Yes. I also really appreciate it. I like Black Cavendish just fine, especially when it's in a blend, because it is adding a little bit of body and fullness, and is carrying the flavor a little bit. But blends that are predominantly Black Cavendish, historically, for me, have been a bit more of a struggle to keep lit. You make some sacrifices, just like you make sacrifices when you have a blend that's really high in Latakia. Leaves that have been treated, heated, steamed, stoved, or fire cured for a long time tend to be a little more resistant to burning. In terms of performance and burn, this always, to me, has smoked just like a Virginia mixture.

[AW]: I think in terms of complexity, too, if you're looking at a traditional Black Cavendish Aromatic, sometimes that's just what you get, right? From the charring light all the way down to the dottle. It's like a universal flavor but with Saint Espresso, I'm getting bright notes of Virginia bready notes and complex tobacco flavors.

[SI]: If you've watched any of our Mystery Review videos or any of the other videos where we're messing around, doing whatever, overwhelmingly this is a group of guys that smoke Virginias for leisure on their own time.

[Alan Britt]: Even when I personally smoke Aromatics, they're typically not the Black Cavendish-based Aromatics.

[Steve Mawby]: Right. We're also cigar smokers and it's very fitting that there's some cigar leaf Cavendish in here.

[SI]: In Kyle's blends, there's usually a component that's not just straight cigar leaf; it's something interesting. The Criollo from the Dominican, for example.

Kyle & Jeremy's Collaborative Efforts

[SI]: The idea for the Warped pipe-tobacco project, much like a reflection of the Warped Cigar brand, is that they wanted to do something exclusively different and interesting as a collaborative effort, pushing the boundaries of what we think of in terms of traditional pipe tobacco. A lot of these blends have achieved that, with interesting twists. Saint Espresso is certainly one of them. Scarecrow is another example.

[AW]: Yeah, Scarecrow is wild.

[SI]: It's a really interesting crossover Aromatic.

[SM]: Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna like it when I smelled it, but it performs very well.

[AW]: The aroma is very kettle corny.

[AB]: I love it. I remember smoking it as a customer here at Low Country Pipe and Cigar.

[SI]: I think that is true for all the core line stuff. Red Hunt is a really killer Virginia/Perique that has a little bit of an interesting twist compared to what we normally see. I also really like Until the End. Sarto is a fantastic English mixture.

[AB]: King's Stride too.

[SI]: King's Stride is fermented, tangy, punchy, and loamy.

[AB]: We talk about how Perique can be perceived in different ways in different blends, and in King's Stride, it is, for me, one of the most distinct Perique notes as far as that barnyardy, almost blue cheese funk.

[SI]: That's what I'm saying.

[AW]: It's super good.

Saint Espresso Tin Note

[SI]: In honor of the re-release of Saint Espresso, let's open the 26th tin that has ever existed.

[AW]: The aroma is a lot deeper than I remember. The tin note is sweet. I'm still getting some of that mocha but there's also caramelized fruits. It's really deep.

[AB]: Also, outside of the topping, earthy tobacco notes.

[SI]: Yes. That's some of the age poking through there.

[AB]: Yeah, I'm super excited now. I haven't revisited Saint Espresso in probably a year or two.

[SM]: Yeah, it's been a little while for me.

[AB]: When it was first released, I remember how excited I was.

[SM]: This one has definitely aged well.

[AB]: The customer feedback was immediately insanely positive. I feel like the Warped limited editions tend to get a lot of love in general. People love Scarecrow and The Haunting.

[SM]: Absolutely.

[AB]: And Saint Espresso was really no different. It became a favorite of the Customer Service team here at Smokingpipes. We smoked it regularly.

[SI]: I'm sure the non-smoking Customer Service Reps loved it.

[AB]: It's a crazy room note. Unfortunately, a lot of the blends we enjoy, Virginia/Periques or Englishes, there's a sacrifice in that non-smokers aren't gonna like the room note, where Saint Espresso has all of the complexity of a more traditional pipe tobacco or non-Aromatic pipe tobacco with a crazy room note.

[SI]: Yeah. We're in the cooler months now. There's something super comforting about this mélange of flavors.

[AW]: I think it's particularly festive as well. You could smoke this after Thanksgiving dinner.

[SI]: Oh, totally. I think you can get away with smoking inside places.

[AB]: And my mother-in-law wouldn't hate me.

A Unique, Tobacco-Forward Aromatic

[SI]: Man, I'm pumped about this.

[AW]: I would like to try this blend in different ways. You know how, with Navy Mixture from Mac Baren, before it was discontinued, you could stack it in certain ways. You could pull out some of the Cavendish and then pull out the Virginias and then stack it. It would be interesting to do that with this too.

[SI]: Like a little parfait.

[AB]: I don't know which Cavendish it is in here. The dark one has some little curlies. You could make a good curlicue section of the super dark Cavendish.

[SI]: Even the cold draw is nuts. I'm getting notes of dark chocolate, coffee, caramelized sugar, and a little fruitiness.

[AW]: With the charring light, if I could capture what nostalgic pipe tobacco smelled like, that's what I'm getting. It's like I'm walking into my grandfather's study or something and it smells like his pipe tobacco. There is that nostalgic American pipe-tobacco experience.

[AB]: Your grandfather had a study?

[SM]: I was gonna say, my grandfather did not have a study.

[AW]: Mine didn't either. Mine worked on the farm, but I was being aspirational.

[SI]: I hope to one day have a grandfather that had to study. I love inside jokes. I'd love to be a part of one, one day.

[SM]: But this is very much the Aromatic type of blend that people would smoke back in the day that has the very traditional pipe-tobacco scent. And I love it.

[SI]: I feel like the two most ubiquitous flavors in pipe tobacco, when you're talking about Aromatics, are chocolate and vanilla. First of all, there's a lot of parallels between chocolate and coffee flavoring going on here. Without totally divulging what the exact recipe is, it leans toward that side of things.

[AW]: It's called Saint Espresso, so that's definitely an inspiration for this.

[SM]: They did not bury the lead.

[AW]: Yeah, Kyle has always been very interested in artisanal coffee roasting, with how meticulous and precise you need to be and how similar that is to pipe tobacco.

I think that was the inspiration, and there is this mocha-like quality to the smoke. There's a little bit of coffee, espresso, and some parts are slightly sweetened like a ristretto.

[SI]: Oh, yeah, with the intensity, and the body is really concentrated.

I happen to have my Clarin Clay Canadian One today, which is one of my favorite tasting pipes. I'm glad that this is what I went with because I'm getting a crazy experience in the clay. I always thought that when I was smoking Saint Espresso, especially fresh, I was mostly getting the aromatic qualities of it upfront but the solid base of actual tobacco flavors from that trifecta of Cavendishes is so good. I'm getting a lot more of the actual characteristics of the leaf in Cornell & Diehl's Red Virginia Cavendish. It's a toasted Cavendish, and then the cigar leaf Cavendish also has a lot of body, spice, and some of those cigar characteristics still coming through.

At first light and the first bowl here, I'm getting more natural tobacco flavor than the topping, and I think some of that has to do with the age, like I said.

[SM]: I'm getting some of that, too. Maybe not as pronounced as what you're getting in the clay, but there's definitely more tobacco flavor here, like the earthiness and all that than I remember from this blend, when it was fresh.

[AW]: I'm getting baked goods. There's a little bit of spiciness to it and also a little bit of zing.

[AB]: That could be from that cigar leaf Cavendish. There's also a boozy quality.

[SI]: Kinda like when you pull an actual shot of espresso. It's almost like somebody threw some rum in this thing.

[AB]: Yes.

[SM]: I was thinking this could be an Irish coffee.

[SI]: Yeah, exactly.

[AW]: This tin is over three years old, so that could have a lot to do with it.

[SM]: Yeah, this has aged well. It's also very creamy. I'm definitely getting more vanilla and caramel type of vibes. Not overt flavoring, but that kind of vibe. It's like that barrel character that you get from a lot of spirits.

[AB]: Burnt sugar.

[AW]: Burnt sugar's really good.

[SM]: I'm getting toasted almonds.

[SI]: Yeah, this is crazy. It's got so much body. It's so dense on the palate.

[AW]: But the mouthfeel's really silky and velvety, which are two different textures and I realize that might not make sense. It's like a two-sided duvet.

One thing I did want to point out about Saint Espresso, specifically, is that it's forgiving of technique. We mentioned earlier how well it burns, and I think that's really important, particularly for cigar smokers who are just getting into pipe tobacco.

I think that's also true for most of the Warped blends. I can't really think of one that takes a whole lot of finesse. Maybe Sarto but that's only because I have to really take my time with English blends to taste more than Latakia.

Excellent Aging Potential Over Time

[SI]: Saint Espresso has stayed true to the experience of the blend fresh, and that's what I suspected.

There's a lot of talk about how Burley tobacco doesn't really age well. I don't think that's true. In my experience, they age more slowly than Virginia tobacco because of the lack of sugar content. It's similar to cigars, in many ways. It's also why the peak for cigars with Maduro wrappers or Broadleaf tends to be at a different time than Virginias or lighter cigar leaf. Burley ages in the long term, whereas Virginias age faster. When smoking Burleys that are aged, they are noticeably richer after a long time.

I think Saint Espresso has such long legs. After three years, there's a noticeable change in the maturity of the leaf but the flavoring is still complementary.

[AW]: I think the Red Virginia Cavendish is helping with that because there is still a lot of sugar in that leaf, specifically.

[SI]: When you start out with a leaf that's higher in sugar content than your typical cured Cavendish...

[AW]: It's gonna cure faster. Yeah, it's really nice, mellow, and I feel like the flavors are more married than they were fresh but I'm still tasting individual tobacco components and I'm picking up on the spiciness from the Dominican cigar leaf. I'm still getting a bready sweetness from the Red Virginias. What's surprising to me is it's not as sweet as I expected it to be.

[AB]: I'm still mind blown at the spice. I don't recall this spice level.

[SI]: I do think the age here is playing a significant role.

[SM]: I have my own preconceived biases about Aromatics not aging particularly well. I'm rethinking my entire life here.

[AW]: I think Aromatics can age very well.

[SI]: It all depends on the base components.

[AW]: Yeah. With Virginias, you could smoke a 50-year-old tin. An Aromatic might not have that long of legs but like a couple of years could change the game completely.

[SI]: Oh, absolutely. We all packed straight out of the tan and lit up right away, and it's smoking great for me. I've experienced that with other types of tobaccos that I did feel like, fresh, had a moisture content where I would bring it down a little bit before I would smoke it, but after 10 years in the tin, you can pull it right out and you're ready to go right away. I don't know if it's the melding of everything or what but they do perform differently after marrying for so long.

[AB]: This is nuts.

Warped Tobacco Bridging Cigar and Pipe Smokers

[AW]: What's really interesting to me about the entire portfolio of Warped pipe tobaccos is how well they serve as a bridge between pipes and cigars.

If you are a fan of something like StillWell Star, this is gonna be an awesome experience. It's not overly or cloyingly sweet. You're still getting a lot of tobacco flavors and spice. There is a really nice mocha.

[SI]: Jeremy and Kyle have managed to make a bunch of blends that are simultaneously, noticeably unique within the world of smoking, approachable, and are universally appreciated. It's crazy to take such a different approach to blending tobaccos and still come up with something that's not really niche and that has a broad appeal. They've struck gold over and over again in that regard.

[SM]: I think probably the best example of that, to me, is Scarecrow. When you smell that blend and read about what it is, I thought that was gonna be a very polarizing blend. I thought a lot of people would trash it a little bit with preconceptions about Aromatics being too sweet. But I love it. Everybody that I have ever known who smoked it loved it. It is hugely popular. It is an absolute banger of a blend, despite being completely unique and kind of weird.

[SI]: Scarecrow was a little bit of a risk, too, in this current market. Most of the stuff that everybody gets hyped up about are Virginias, Virginia/Periques, and some interesting English mixtures. That's the trend that's been going for the last 10-15 years, whereas before that, we were coming out of a period where all your confirmed pipe smokers were smoking Latakia stuff. Warped pipe tobacco has taken some risks in their line, and the acclaim and the universal appeal is remarkable.

Anecdotally, I think everybody here has had this experience as well as a lot of smokers I'm close to in the community that are hardcore Virginia smokers, vintage tobacco lovers, whatever; we all went deep in the cellar on Saint Espresso, on Scarecrow. If you told me as a consumer 15 years ago that this blend was gonna exist and I'd be all about it, I would've been turning my nose up at it. It's crazy how good it is.

It's very creamy. I'm definitely getting more vanilla and caramel type of vibes. Not overt flavoring, but that kind of vibe. It's like that barrel character that you get from a lot of spirits.

The Haunting was originally designed to also be a crossover between cigar and pipe smoking. It's also super approachable, with a broad appeal, and is also very forgiving.

[AB]: When I had dabbled in pipes as a cigar smoker, The Haunting was the first pipe blend that I was like, okay, I get it. I understand why people smoke pipes. It quite literally crossed me over into the world of pipes. It worked. Good job, Kyle and Jeremy.

[SM]: Yeah, they did a good job.

[SI]: In Saint Espresso, you've got the crossover between cigar smoking and pipe smoking there. You've also got the crossover between those of us who tend to prefer Englishes or Virginias to Aromatics. I really just don't see how you wouldn't like this blend, unless you don't like the flavor of coffee. It's yet another slam dunk in the limited editions that Jeremy and Kyle have blended together. It is available again, which I am excited about. I'm one tin down in the cellar. That won't do, I've gotta replace it with five. That's the rule. One down, five up.

Pipes Smoked

[SI]: What pipes are you guys smoking?

[AW]: I'm smoking a little jaunty Bulldog from Abe Herbaugh.

[AB]: I love that.

[SI]: That pipe is sick. His stem work is awesome.

[AB]: Even the way that Abe turns the horn is so unique.

[AW]: It's super cool. I like the little trumpet.

[AB]: It's recognizably Abe in a style that you could pinpoint the old-school Danish style to a few artisan makers currently.

[SI]: He's my favorite modern lens, at the moment, of the early days of Danish shaping.

[AW]: A hundred percent.

[SI]: That's more like a late '60s, early '70s Danish influence.

[AW]: I've never really gravitated toward Bulldogs or Rhodesians. I have two Abe Herbaugh Bulldogs. I like the little jaunty foot on this one. It reminds me of some old Pipe Dan shapes.

[AB]: It's very old school, like Sixten and Micke. I'm smoking something not quite as cool as that, but pretty cool, a little C141S BriarWorks, "S" for Slick. I love this pipe. It's one of my workhorses and a driving pipe.

[SM]: I have my Micah Redmond sandblasted baby Volcano.

[SI]: Also known as the molehill.

[SM]: The molehill, yeah. I'll make a mountain out of it yet. I just picked this thing up, two, three weeks ago, and I've already smoked it like 10 times. I love this pipe.

[AB]: It's so cool.

[SI]: That was one of your Vegas acquisitions?

[SM]: Yes.

[AW]: Yeah, the grain's crazy on that, there's so much flame and I love the contrast blast.

[SM]: Yeah, I love that.

[SI]: Also scaling down a shape like that is wild.

[AW]: It's really clever.

[AB]: Steve's two Vegas pickups were both silly and small Volcanoes. I've never been more happy to see someone else buy pipes.

[SM]: I just bought them to make you jealous and so that you couldn't have them.

[AB]: Yeah, I went over to buy a pipe from Pete Prevost and he goes, man, Steve just bought that from me like five minutes ago.

[AW]: You really need to act faster.

[SI]: Yeah, don't hesitate at a pipe show.

[AW]: That's a great tip. That's like Pipe Show 101.

[SI]: Absolutely. If you have the feels for something, just get it. I mentioned it earlier but I'm smoking a Clarin Canadian One clay pipe.

[AW]: Those are so cool. I love those.

[SI]: It's the best clay pipe I've ever used. The shape is amazing and they're perfect tasting pipes.

[AB]: At pipe shows, we normally have Clarins laid out where we check out and customers are so intrigued by it, and one of my favorite things to tell them is that pipe makers specifically have really taken a liking to those. Speaking of Pete Prevost again, he bought multiple clays at Muletown this year.

[SI]: Bill Shalosky too, yeah. When I was smoking this around Tom Eltang, when I first got the prototype and before we started carrying them, he was like, whoa. The shape is insane and the quality of the production is very high compared to most old-school molded clay pipes.

[SM]: That's high praise coming from Tom.

[AW]: I've talked with Greg Pease about 'em a lot, too. He really thinks they're awesome.

[SI]: They're super cool. I have every shape, I'm pretty sure, but this is the one I just happened to grab. I love a Canadian shape, in general.

[AW]: How do you feel about the mouthpiece, or the lack thereof?

[SI]: It doesn't bother me. I wouldn't drive with this pipe or mow the lawn. I'm a lip clencher. I don't know if that's a real thing.

[AW]: I think that's how you're supposed to do it.

[SM]: I do that too.

[AW]: I don't do it. I'm a toofer.

[SI]: I clench my vulcanite and acrylic mouthpieces in the teeth on occasion, especially if it's a nice, light pipe. But if I'm just smoking and fiddling with something, I just use my lips.

[SM]: I'm a lip clencher and a tooth hanger. I'll hang it on the inside of my tooth.

Saint Espresso Has Returned On-Site

[SI]: Thank you to Jeremy and Kyle for daring to be exclusively different, continuing to put out products that challenge all of our preconceived notions, and inspire us to explore and have some fun. These experiences and flavors don't exist elsewhere.

[SM]: Thank you for making some great blends.

[SI]: Thanks, everybody. See you next time.