Paul 88 – Medium brown mottled wrapper, minimal veins, several soft spots, sloppy cap, glue spots, several stems at the foot, mild tobacco aroma on the wrapper, dark fruit on the very good draw. First 1/3: Malt, coffee, smooth, medium amount of thin smoke, mild strength, light body and medium finish, medium gray ash. Second 1/3: Toasted tobacco, malt, leather, medium strength, body and finish, scalloped burn, flaky ash. Last 1/3: No flavor changes, remains very smooth. An easy smoking morning cigar.
Rob 89 – This is a beautiful maduro churchill cigar. There are tight invisible seams with tight invisible seams. Virtually no veins. It has a very nicely applied double cap. It is very firm with a heavy weight to its fill. Very easy light up, with mild output from the cigar. One inch in yields a very smooth smoke, with reasonable smoke output, but not tons of flavor. Draw is too snug, but does not require any repairs. At 1/3, body has ramped up to a medium. Draw is still too tight, but is generating a perfect burn. At the half way point, the flavor has gotten ‘meaty;’ almost like smoking a different cigar. As the smoking of the cigar wraps up it is still a medium body. There has been no spice or pepper, just a basic tobacco flavor. Burn was very good the entire smoke.
Jim 92 – A very nice looking and long size cigar with a medium to dark brown wrapper. When I look into the unlit foot, I can see a mixture of light and very dark leaves used in the construction of this interesting looking cigar. Just smelling the tobacco of this unlit cigar reminds me of the rich smells I have encountered in the aging rooms in some of the cigar factories. Now I hope this cigar lives up to my first impressions. As soon as I light up this cigar the flavors are immediately hitting my palate. Dark unsweetened chocolate, cinnamon, leather and a slight earthy finish…. BAM right on this initial first few draws! This cigar has a lot of body and is starting out pretty strong. Burn is almost perfect and the ash is interestingly someone where between firm and flakey. That unsweetened dark chocolatey maduro flavor is very strong and really hangs on the palate a long time. Flavors are more savory than sweet. I’m dying to pour a bourbon with this but I am holding back. The strength of this cigar continued to intensify so I was concerned until around the halfway point were it mellowed a bit and balanced nicely. I truly liked this cigar a lot. It has the characteristics of a strong full bodied cigar that I like and seem to search out!
Artie 89 – This is a densely packed churchill that feels heavy in the hand. Its colorado wrapper is smooth, but the roller seems to have used the leaf’s underside exposed on the outside of the cigar. There is a large, rough vein that runs the entire length of the stick. Other than that, the cigar looks well constructed, albeit with a slightly firm draw. The filler has both very dark and light tobaccos in the blend. Should be an interesting smoke. Once lit the smoke output is better than expected with such a tight draw. One half inch in I’m getting a nice “stack ‘o dimes” ash cylinder, and in this case the diameter of the cigar is just about that of a stack of dimes. Now that I’m well underway, I’m starting to pick up some Indian spices and a touch of black pepper. As I approach the mid way point, the pepper intensifies. It would seem that the dark filler I noticed is Esteli ligero. At the nub I’m getting a strong, black coffee vibe and a nice giddy nicotine feeling. This is a nice, peppery Nic stick.
Will 86 – This stick was a 7x 50 churchill with a nice colorado wrapper, triple capped, tight visible seams and firm to the touch. The cold nose was toast, dried fruit, apricot maybe and light red pepper. 1 sneeze, the cold draw was nutty and toasty. Upon ignition the draw was way too firm so I put a second V cut to create a star pattern, this helped a bit. I got toasty tobacco with hints of gold currents and black walnut. At the 5 minute mark the draw was still way too tight so I got out my homemade cigar awl and ran it through the stick from head to foot. This helped quite a bit and I continued smoking. The flavors were pretty consistent throughout but not very complex. It was a solid smoke and would be great for the golf course, flavorful enough to enjoy but not break your concentration. I smoked it for about 90 minutes until it began burning hot.
