Bloodline O.P.A.

At IPCPR this year I had the unique chance to experience the show from the perspective of a blogger, and being that I have many friends in the industry (I am as shocked as you all are, I actually do have people that say they are my friends...to my face anyway) I scored some interesting cigars that have very little, if any market insertion.  This is the point of IPCPR really, to provide a chance for new and interesting products to be put on the market.  In any case, this cigar is now under the Esteban Carreras umbrella, and my good friend and old co-host is now their National Sales Manager so I had a little bit of an in to try this new smoke.  When he laid this on me there was no preamble or explanation, just a give it a try and tell me what you think.  He is so trusting, it makes me wonder if he has ever actually read my blog.  One interesting tidbit on this cigar, the process for rendering the leaves is one that has been used in a process to create a tobacco based perfume.  I will leave the research of this up to you...

Usually when doing a review I give a vitola name and some indication of size.  In this case I can provide neither because I don't have either one of them.  I am guesstimating that this is something close to a corona, maybe 5.5x46 give or take a bit.  There is a slight box press to this cigar, something about this bothers me, especially since the process for rendering the leaves is called the soft crush.  It is almost like the soft box press is the mimic to the soft crush, it all seems to soft to me.  Speaking of soft, the bunch seems very loose to me near the head of the cigar, and I immediately begin to worry about heat as the cigar moves along.  The band work is kind of cheap looking to me, but we don't smoke bands (all though I have had some friends deep into their cups that have smoked the band, a different story for a different time).  The pre light draw is intensely floral, strange for a Connecticut.  The pre light aroma is also very heavily floral.

The cigar opens with a profile that is very floral and, for lack of a better term, perfume like.  I know what you are all thinking, it is the power of suggestion, the process was used in making perfume so that is what you taste.  My answer to this is two fold.  One, I don't ever listen to other people's ideas about how something tastes, not do I lend any weight to what the manufacturer says about the cigar.  I always make my own judgement. Two,  I did the research after the smoke was done because I thought it was weird how floral it was.  The core profile is so full of floral notes that I can't find anything else to comment on in the initial moments.  The back of the palate and the retrohale show some very odd spice flavors and some very light wood notes.  Sadly, this just doesn't all work for me in any way at all to this point.  The draw is way too loose at this point and it does not bode well for the smoke as it progresses as I am sure there will be heat issues to contend with.  The burn is solid to this point.

The first half of the cigar really becomes like smoking a hookah of pot pourri, it is not pleasant at all.  The core profile is all floral and weird jasmine like spice with some hints of ginger.  It is just not a good combination at all.  The back of the palate loses some wood flavors and adds some very misplaced white pepper that just can't mix well with the overall presentation.  It is all very weird at this point.  The draw continues to be way too loose and the heat is coming in already, I am forced to slow it down and savor the odd flavors even more (not a great development).  The burn is ok, but due to the loose draw the combustion rate is just too fast. 

The final half of the cigar becomes even more floral, if that is possible, almost like a sickly sweet floral that becomes cloying and sticks to the palate like a glue.  The soft crush process should probably be left to perfume production in my opinion.  The back of the palate is still showing some white pepper notes that have no connection to the main profile at all.  The draw does finally impart way too much heat into the process and all the purging in the world won't alleviate it.  The burn was relatively solid, but way too fast throughout.

The finish was sweet and floral lingering longer than I would have liked.

Not what I like in a cigar at all, just a failed attempt at something different in my book.

Appearance- 87 a nice looking smoke
Taste- 72 just really not good at all
Construction- 73 very poor here as well
Strength- 85 a mild/medium that really went nowhere
Overall- 77 I just can't recommend it, but you should try it and see for yourself