Picking a Nat Sherman

As with any piece of art, things can change once you really get into the work. I started off carving the basic Nat Sherman label. For a long while, the labels for the different Nat Sherman blends used the same basic designs but with different color schemes. Pictured here are four of the different blends available and their color schemes. It should be noted that there have since been a few different label designs to come out of this New York City based cigar company for new lines (Omerta and Suave), but the original lines have not changed.

My original plan for the Nat Sherman carving was to paint it like the Metropolitan Maduro Selection (Orange and Red on Gold). This is probably my favorite blend by Nat. It is medium to full-bodied but still light enough for a casual smoke. The color scheme is also very eye-catching. I love using orange when I can. It is such a vibrant color and it seemed to work well in the Opus X label.

After partially painting the Nat label, I realized I just wasn't pleased. Unfortunately, the red and orange seemed to compete instead of pop and wound up overwhelming the carving itself. I decided to scratch the Metropolitan Maduro label and decided to give the regular Metropolitan line a shot (Blue and Red on Gold). The Metropolitan color scheme popped like I hoped the Maduro would. The blue and red really played off of the gold, as well as against each other.

This post is really just an example of how life takes on a form of its own sometimes. What may look great on a 1" x 3" strip of paper may not look quite the same on a 30" wood carving.