Certain members of the cigar community to which I belong have been raving about this cigar for some time now. They have been pressuring me to smoke one and do a review, because they believe that I will think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I cautioned them, as I always do, that me reviewing their favorite cigars often leads to hurt feelings, anger and the potential for me to be ambushed in the dark recesses of some cigar lounge, thrown in the trunk of some car and transported to a warehouse in El Salvador to be tortured by people that like that particular cigar until I relent and agree that I too liked the cigar. A bit too dramatic you think? I always say that one can never be too careful, I smoke with some distasteful looking characters (you know who you are)!
Anyway, this cigar is from the long and seemingly endless supply of cigars from Viaje. I have reviewed many of their other cigars before and I have not been as highly impressed as some. This cigar presents well. The wrapper is excellent looking, it is supple and deep brown in color. There are very few veins in the wrapper and I am sure that it will smoke nicely. The band work is intricate, but too busy for my taste and some of the script is hard to decipher. The flair on the cigar was saved for the whimsical pigtail cap that adorns the head of this vitola. I am not usually one for unnecessary affectations, but this one seems to make the cigar seem more appealing. The pre light aroma shows some muted spice notes and some nice tobacco notes. The pre light draw was sweet and left some dusty residues on the lips and tongue.
The cigar opens with a profile that could best be described as weird. The flavor here is something in the spice family, but it is tart and has an odd sweetness as well. I am immediately put off with this flavor and I am starting to plot exit strategies from my El Salvadorian warehouse. The back of the palate has some woody flavors, but the odd flavors from the front of the palate are giving me fits in this area as I try to divine something redeeming about the smoke. The draw is, sadly, right on the money. Someone over there really knows how to make a cigar as I can't recall having a Viaje that ever performed poorly. The burn is right in the swim lane as well and I can't see that I will have any issues with performance with this smoke.
The first half of the cigar stays way to one dimensional, and the dimension that we are in is very poor. The core profile continues to have some strange spice characteristics and I still can't put my finger on what this reminds me of. The back of the palate continues to show some wood notes, but there is a mineral like quality starting to show here as well. The lack of development here is really disappointing and it has me wondering about some of the people I smoke with, but to each his or her own goes that old saying. The draw is still spot on and I am saddened that such a solid performance is being wasted on a cigar that is not delivering the goods. The burn is still very solid.
The final half of the cigar stays in the same dimension as the rest. The profile shows no development, complexity or depth. The singular presentation of strange spice is doing nothing for me to this point at all. The back of the palate continues to show wood flavors, but the mineral impressions are coming on strong for me at this point and it really detracts from the experience. The draw stays very solid and I have been very impressed with the construction of this smoke from the word go. The burn catches a slight run in the last third, but I let it correct on it's own.
The finish was short and lingering sweet flavors that had some tartness lingered.
To say that I was disappointed here would be an understatement.
Appearance- 88 a nice looking smoke
Taste- 80 just too one dimensional and that dimension was poor
Construction- 91 a very solid performance here
Strength- 85 a medium that was hard to judge against a poor profile
Overall- 85.75 construction really saves this smoke, I would not buy it again
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