This was a featured cigar at my local brick and mortar at a recent event. I had not tried this particular blend before and had not heard good reviews. I am not one to be influenced by the opinions of other however, so I settle in for the experience. The cigar presents with a bold, nearly black wrapper that has plenty of oils. An inspection reveals that the cigar may be too firm and I am concerned about what that may portend for the draw. The pre light aroma is of earth, but has some very sour tones. The pre light draw shows hints of pepper, but again has some sourness on the palate.
The cigar opens with overwhelming notes of earth that are bitter and sour. At the back of the palate there are some thin tobacco notes, but they are cloaked in a mixture of horrifying bitter flavors. The draw is tight and there is some labor to produce acceptable smoke. The burn is acceptable, but a little lopsided.
The first half of the cigar shows no signs of improvement. The core profile is still bitter and sour and I can't discern any real flavors in the mix. At the back of the palate the sour notes are pervasive and the experience is ugly, it is all I can do to carry on. The draw continues to be tight and the burn is still lopsided, but not deteriorating.
The second half of the smoke shows a core profile of earth and tobacco, but there are still sour notes that befoul the experience. At the back of the palate there are hints of dark wood, but the sour notes are still prevalent. The draw continues to be too tight and the burn is lopsided throughout.
The finish is putrid and has no redeeming value. In the future I will listen to my friends.
Appearance- 90 a nice looking cigar, it was all downhill after the first impression
Taste- 72 one of the worst I have ever smoked
Construction- 80 the draw was way too tight to be enjoyable
Strength- 75 supposedly full, but due to the profile difficult to rate
Overall- 78.25 a must miss
Of course I will have to try one when I see one. But, thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I just caught a bad one...I would expect that anyone would still want to try one, it is part of the fun of being a cigar smoker!
ReplyDelete78/100 ? That's pretty damn good! that's 8/10 or 4/5! Anything above 50/100 something that you'd smoke again, anything below, something you wouldn't. I'm surprised you rated it so high!
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, thanks for the review. In another tab in my browser I'm in the checkout stage of buying a box. (on for $95) - which I'll cancel now.
ReplyDeleteThe way my review system works is that 70 is the lowest score that can be received, so an 85 would be average and anything in the 90-94 rance excellent. I eliminated the lower ranges because my temptation to give things very poor scores would have been much too high. So 70 is rock bottom.
ReplyDelete