I had this sitting in my humidor for awhile and I decided to give it a go while I watched my beloved hockey team participate in the first game of their playoff series against some game opponents from Nashville, yes Nashville, a hockey mecca to be sure. As the game gets under way, so does the cigar. It is an interesting cigar to look at, but not necessarily in a good way. The wrapper is a bit rugged and is mottled in some spots. There are prominent veins from the foot to the head and I am concerned about the burn. The cigar feels loosely put together and that usually means heat and an overly loose draw. Needless to say after inspection I am not overly optimistic. The pre light aroma has some hints of dark fruit and some light coffee essence that is interesting. The pre light draw tells me little, there are some ideas of wood and some light spice, but there really is not much there.
The cigar opens with blasts of coffee flavors. Now before you get excited and say something like "I like coffee, thus I will like this cigar!", let me caution you that this is not a pleasant coffee flavor. It is more like a coffee flavor that a waitress wearing an apricot colored smock, a dirty apron that was once white and lacy, too much eye shadow and bright red lipstick might offer if you were sitting in an I-10 truck stop at 3 AM in Southern Alabama. You know the kind of coffee you need a knife and fork to drink. The kind of coffee that gets scraped off the bottom of the pot in the dark hours when drunks and loons wander the earth while the rest of us are in bed. I digress, let me just say it was a putrescent coffee flavor that had little redeeming value. At the back of the palate there were some small glimmers of hope as I detect some notes of dark wood, but the is an underlying bitterness that takes away from any positive developments. The draw is far too loose and I am sure it will cause heat problems later in the smoke. The burn is even thus far, but with a draw this loose I anticipate burn issues as well.
The first half of the smoke shows no real development and the only saving grace is that my team is ahead 1-0 at this point and at least I can find some enjoyment in that. The profile maintains the muddy coffee flavors that are charred and bitter. At the back of the palate bitterness still persists. It is at this point that I realize the Cubs are at the Hawks game and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach as the team that as has not won a championship since 1908 has come to root for the team that has not won a championship since 1961, a cosmic turn of events that puts all the tumblers in place for a simply wretched evening. The draw is still too loose, but at least the burn is holding it's own to this point.
The last half of the cigar was as bad as the last half of the game. I watch my team play like idiots and they lose badly in a game they should have easily won. Screw the Cubs and their mojo anyway, I blame them for the loss and for this terrible cigar, it is all their fault. They should tuck their loser tails back between their legs and head back to the north side for all eternity and never befoul any other sporting venue with their presence. Just as this cigar should never foul my humidor again. The profile stays bitter and develops very little in the final half and I can find no redeeming qualities at the end, other than it is done. The burn stayed nice however, but the draw was way too loose throughout.
The finish was bitter and disappointing.
Appearance- 83 a below average looking smoke
Taste- 72 about as bad as it can get
Construction- 85 an average score as the burn stayed sharp
Strength- 80 too medium and it did not compliment anything in the profile
Overall- 79.5 a weak effort from my cigar and my team on this evening
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