Every once in awhile I get a friend that wonders why I don't smoke what they smoke. I usually try to gracefully demure by saying something non-committal and finding my way into less controversial subjects like politics or religion. You see, I don't like smoking and reviewing things that I know my friends love. There are several reasons for this.
1.) I am a self professed cigar snob and I can be a real d-bag when I want to be, I don't mind offending strangers with my acute, and often times razor like reviews, but I have to draw the line at my friends smokes. I want them to enjoy their cigars without the spectre of my opinion hanging over it.
2.) There is pressure in smoking something you know your friends like. I feel the pressure of the friendship pushing me inexorably down as I question their taste, cigar acumen and sometimes why the f they are my friends. I kid, of course, but you get the idea I think. Telling a friend, that in my opinion, his cigar of choice blows goats is a tough thing to do. I'd much rather he, or she, just go on smoking them in blissful ignorance.....errr happiness.
3.) Most cigars suck, and I am likely going to have to say so. I smoke so many cigars that I have come to realize that most of them aren't worth much in my book. OK, so I exaggerate a bit, there are many good smokes out there. However, the bundles you got for nineteen bucks from the Cigar Crap Monthly are not vintage anything, except for a vintage rip off and it makes me believe that my friend might be a vintage stooge. Again, I kid!
The cigar here is one of the cigars that I have described above. I have a friend that loves these, in fact he loves many cigars that I don't. I had told him time and time again that I did not want to smoke and review this, but he is my great friend so I broke down and agreed to smoke and review it. I have smoked these before and I was never a fan, but I am always willing to try. The cigar presents with a mid brown wrapper that is nicely applied to this torpedo vitola. There are few veins, and the color and texture make for a rich looking experience. I detect several soft and firm spots alternating in the body of the bunch and I am worried about performance from the flag drop. The pre light aroma is all tobacco and some light wood. The pre light draw is slightly of pepper, but there are some thin earthy flavors here as well.
The cigar opens with a profile that is one dimensional and mundane. The main flavor is a straight presentation of light tobacco flavors and there is nothing complementary going on here at all. The back of the palate has some weak earthy intonations but, here too, the one dimensional presentation is lackluster at best. The draw is nice, but I can feel a real lack of resistance and I worry about performance later in the smoke. The burn is wonky and will most likely need touching up early on.
The first half of the cigar warms up a bit, but that is much like saying forty degrees is warmer than 30 degrees, it is still damn cold. The core profile has some nice tobacco flavor, but it is still too thin to be a major factor. Some light pepper and wood flavors start to show through here as well, but they are not anything to start a world tour over. The back of the palate shows some earthiness, but there is a tart cedar element here as well and I feel as though it dries the palate. The draw is reflecting the bunch, which is no surprise, when soft the draw is loose and when firm the draw is tight. This is very poorly constructed and I am upset with the performance from the get go. The burn is still off and I begin touching up accordingly.
The final half of the cigar is amongst the most poorly constructed I have ever smoked. The issues in the bunch are cause way too many problems to make this worth much. Constant burn problems are really irritating in the final third and the smoke becomes to scorched to do much of anything with. The profile was still not very subtle or complex and showing one or two lacking flavors does not a winning cigar make.
The finish was acrid and foul.
I love the cigar brother that gave this to me, and I am thrilled he enjoys it, but it really was not for me.
Appearance- 88 this is first, and last, good impression
Taste- 82 some flavor, but no complexity, depth or balance hurt the score
Construction- 73 2/3's of the cigar was smokeable, the rest was a horrific experience
Strength- 83 they are going for full, but I'm not sure they got there
Overall- 79.25 I won't do this again
No comments:
Post a Comment