At this year's I.P.C.P.R. my colleagues and I spent a great deal of time wandering around wondering where all the new smokes were. Sure there were some new brands and blends here and there, but it seemed as though there were many fewer new options this year as opposed to years past.
We happened into the General Cigar area to say hello to Rick Rodriguez, an old friend of ours, and he layed all the new C.A.O. stuff on us. Since Rick has taken the reigns of this frontmark he has hit .666 in my mind. OSA and Concert were both unique and special cigars in their own right, while the Flathead fell flat for me. The two new cigars he presented us with on this day both seemed to hold promise, but General cigars seldom hit the mark for me so I was skeptical. Rick mentioned that the Amazon was a real powerhouse and this got my attention. I am often found to be intrigued by this bold statement of cigar power because of two long standing Czar truisms. One, cigars that claim to be powerhouses usually are not even close. Two, cigars that meet the claim are often strong just for the sake of being strong and lack nuance, flavor and balance. I always endeavor to uncover the one cigar that will defeat this theorem, alas I have not.
On our last night in Vegas my partners and I decided to hit old Vegas and walk the Fremont path to the dingy old casinos of yore, and dingy they are by the way if you haven't been don't go, take my word for it. During our Fremont walk we decided to light these Amazons up and give them a spin. In the interest of full disclosure of my three friends only one is a guy that could handle a powerhouse cigar on a regular basis, the other two (while cigar smoking chaps) prefer a milder sort of fare on the regular. I was interested to see how long this would last amongst the four of us if the cigar did in fact turn out to be the powerhouse as it was billed.
The cigar is huge, it seems much bigger than it's bona fides suggest, but a quick measure in my Cigar Ring App shows that it is as advertised. The band work here is meant to look like a rope of some sort which is pulled off by using a twisted tobacco leaf and adhering it to the cigar (more on this later), it is interesting and while I usually rail against these types of gimmicks, this is not so bad. The construction seems nice, but there are some loose spots in the bunch that have me concerned. The pre light draw is of heavy raising and spice. The pre light draw has some pepper, dark fruit, plum and raisin. This really fires up the palate early on. All four of us are commenting on this profile before we even put flame to leaf.
The cigar opens with a profile that can only be described as a POWERHOUSE, this is exactly as billed, all nicotine and straight tobacco flavors that inundate the palate with blast after blast of power. Clearly the makers want your attention, and now they have mine, which if you have read my blog may not be the best idea. There is no nuance or flavor here, sadly this cigar has all the early hallmarks of being strong for the sake of being strong. My friends are noticing this too and one of them has already set it down and is complaining about the number it has done on his palate. I can't blame him one bit at this point. The draw booms out thick clouds of voluminous smoke. The burn is a touch akimbo, but it is showing signs of evening out.
The first half of the cigar continues to punch the palate with indiscriminate abandon and no subtlety ever develops. The flavors are showing some hints of dark wood, tobacco and spice. However, the overall tenacity of the strength kills any chance of being anything other that a cigar that is trying too hard to be the big boy on the block. The draw continues to be well above average. The burn canoes slightly and requires me to retouch the light, this leads to the docking of points in my world. I look over just in time to see another friend turn green and put the smoke down. Two down, two still trucking.
The final half of the smoke claims the third victim almost immediately and I am left to continue to the struggle, ever the persistent warrior. In this case struggle is accurate. The profile never picks up any of the early promise and the strength just keeps on pounding away. Still showing some hints of wood, tobacco and spice they are never able to breakthrough and show anything outside of all the damn power. The draw stays solid to the end, but the burn requires more attention as I draw near the make shift band. On that note, while the band is visually catchy, it can't be removed so the cigar is done when you get to the band. I tried to smoke through it, but it just burned right under the twisted leaf.
The finish was bitter and short, showing charred notes of tobacco and card board.
Appearance- 92 an interesting cigar to look at
Taste- 78 strong just to be strong, no balance or nuance at all
Construction- 81 burn issues kill the number
Strength- 70 too strong and the strength kills the experience all together
Overall- 80 a miss, however bold, is still a miss
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