BlackIrish
05-04-2009, 10:50 AM
The cigar: Isabela Miami Torpedo
Nutritional information:
Vitola: 6.5 x 56 torpedo
Origin: Miami, USA
Wrapper: CTS
Binder: ?
Filler: Honduras, Dominican Republic
The marketing:
From the Isabela website (http://www.isabelacigarcompany.com/about/index.shtml): Handcrafted in Miami by legendary Cuban Master Vicente Ortiz, Isabela Cigars are produced in small batches for extremely limited distribution. Vicente Ortiz utilizes tobaccos from several countries, in various grades, to create the blend, flavor and personality that gives Isabela its' unique identity. All tobaccos are aged for a minimum of one year before they are released, and the Isabelas come in four sizes and two colors, natural and medium grade.
From its inception, Isabela has been and continues to be one of the most sought after cigars in the world!
The website also states that Smoke magazine gave the cigars four stars, and that they were named the Best of Miami 2008.
There's more information about the manufacturer at Keepers of the Flame (http://cigarfan.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/isabela-miami/).
Pre-light: This is a hefty torpedo, wrapped in a velvety cafe-au-lait leaf. The wrapper has a few noticeable veins, and there's a sloppy seam about an inch from the foot, but otherwise it looks pretty nice. The head of this torpedo comes to a nice long point that slices cleanly and stays firm. The cigar itself feels hefty, albeit a little softer to the touch than I expected.
When I examine the foot, I see good bunching but not much ligero. It doesn't give up much aroma. Cold draw is on the easy side, and if I hadn't heard about it from others, I'd have been surprised to discover that the head was sweetened.
While I'm on the subject of visuals, I'll mention that I am not a fan of the label. I understand that Mr. Ortiz apparently played a role in the creation of the Cohiba, but I can't help but feel that the obvious similarities to the well-known Cuban Cohiba label make me feel like I'm smoking a knockoff. I don't usually follow the European custom of taking off the band when smoking, but this time I do.
Burn/Construction: I had no trouble at all lighting up with my torch. It starts out with a somewhat wobbly burn, runs a little when it hits the above-mentioned sloppy seam, but then evens itself out nicely and burns dead straight to the end. Nice. I don't even need to think about re-lighting.
The ash is quite white (except for a dark black streak where it ran along the seam). It's firm and drops off only with help into a nice little biscuit, leaving a well-formed ligero cone.
I get a lot of smoke with each draw, which I like, and the smoke itself is sweet and aromatic. It pumps out quite a bit of smoke while resting, too. The burn seems a bit fast: I would have expected to get a good 90 mins from this hefty torpedo, but it lasted only about an hour.
Overall the construction of this cigar was quite good. The wrapper seems to be of high quality, and the cap was very well done. The bunching looked good, although the easy draw and fast burn suggest that it was perhaps a bit underfilled, something I wouldn't have guessed from the heft. On balance, I'd say that the build of this cigar is one of its strengths.
Flavor: In order of appearance:
1. The sweetened tip. I keep an open mind, but I'm not a fan. I don't enjoy flavored cigars, and while I appreciate the Cuban heritage of the cane-sweetened tip, it doesn't belong on premium cigar, IMHO. I smoke cigars because I like the taste of tobacco, and artificially sweetening the leaf detracts from the experience.
2. Overall flavor. The executive summary here: a smooth, mild-medium smoke with some toasty and creamy flavor notes and late-developing spice, but not very complex or interesting.
a. First third. At lighting, I got mostly straightforward tobacco, generally pretty mild although I detected a touch of warm spice on the nasal exhale. The finish is relatively clean and short.
b. Second third. The flavor started to build and round out at the start of the middle third. I got a bit more depth, with cream, toast, nuts -- the kind of flavors I expect from a CTS wrapped smoke -- but still fairly muted. The spice picked up a bit, too, but nothing too powerful and pretty well balanced. The finish grew longer, coating my tongue and palate with more creaminess than at the start.
c. Third third. The same flavors that I occasionally found in the middle -- tobacco, toast, cream, nuts -- stayed around for the last third. They grew in intensity only a little, and there wasn't much in the way of transition or complexity. The warm spice picked up as I neared the and I even felt a little bit of a burn on the tip of my tongue (probably because the torpedo head focused the smoke, and because the smoke was starting to heat up), but I never felt like the spice was out of balance or overpowering.
3. Aroma. The aroma of the smoke deserves special mention because it was particularly sweet and aromatic.
Summary: A well-built cigar, mild enough for inexperienced smokers, but with some good flavors. It doesn't have the complexity, strength, or delicacy to make it stand out, however. It was a pleasant enough smoke, but I don't see myself going out to get another.
Nutritional information:
Vitola: 6.5 x 56 torpedo
Origin: Miami, USA
Wrapper: CTS
Binder: ?
Filler: Honduras, Dominican Republic
The marketing:
From the Isabela website (http://www.isabelacigarcompany.com/about/index.shtml): Handcrafted in Miami by legendary Cuban Master Vicente Ortiz, Isabela Cigars are produced in small batches for extremely limited distribution. Vicente Ortiz utilizes tobaccos from several countries, in various grades, to create the blend, flavor and personality that gives Isabela its' unique identity. All tobaccos are aged for a minimum of one year before they are released, and the Isabelas come in four sizes and two colors, natural and medium grade.
From its inception, Isabela has been and continues to be one of the most sought after cigars in the world!
The website also states that Smoke magazine gave the cigars four stars, and that they were named the Best of Miami 2008.
There's more information about the manufacturer at Keepers of the Flame (http://cigarfan.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/isabela-miami/).
Pre-light: This is a hefty torpedo, wrapped in a velvety cafe-au-lait leaf. The wrapper has a few noticeable veins, and there's a sloppy seam about an inch from the foot, but otherwise it looks pretty nice. The head of this torpedo comes to a nice long point that slices cleanly and stays firm. The cigar itself feels hefty, albeit a little softer to the touch than I expected.
When I examine the foot, I see good bunching but not much ligero. It doesn't give up much aroma. Cold draw is on the easy side, and if I hadn't heard about it from others, I'd have been surprised to discover that the head was sweetened.
While I'm on the subject of visuals, I'll mention that I am not a fan of the label. I understand that Mr. Ortiz apparently played a role in the creation of the Cohiba, but I can't help but feel that the obvious similarities to the well-known Cuban Cohiba label make me feel like I'm smoking a knockoff. I don't usually follow the European custom of taking off the band when smoking, but this time I do.
Burn/Construction: I had no trouble at all lighting up with my torch. It starts out with a somewhat wobbly burn, runs a little when it hits the above-mentioned sloppy seam, but then evens itself out nicely and burns dead straight to the end. Nice. I don't even need to think about re-lighting.
The ash is quite white (except for a dark black streak where it ran along the seam). It's firm and drops off only with help into a nice little biscuit, leaving a well-formed ligero cone.
I get a lot of smoke with each draw, which I like, and the smoke itself is sweet and aromatic. It pumps out quite a bit of smoke while resting, too. The burn seems a bit fast: I would have expected to get a good 90 mins from this hefty torpedo, but it lasted only about an hour.
Overall the construction of this cigar was quite good. The wrapper seems to be of high quality, and the cap was very well done. The bunching looked good, although the easy draw and fast burn suggest that it was perhaps a bit underfilled, something I wouldn't have guessed from the heft. On balance, I'd say that the build of this cigar is one of its strengths.
Flavor: In order of appearance:
1. The sweetened tip. I keep an open mind, but I'm not a fan. I don't enjoy flavored cigars, and while I appreciate the Cuban heritage of the cane-sweetened tip, it doesn't belong on premium cigar, IMHO. I smoke cigars because I like the taste of tobacco, and artificially sweetening the leaf detracts from the experience.
2. Overall flavor. The executive summary here: a smooth, mild-medium smoke with some toasty and creamy flavor notes and late-developing spice, but not very complex or interesting.
a. First third. At lighting, I got mostly straightforward tobacco, generally pretty mild although I detected a touch of warm spice on the nasal exhale. The finish is relatively clean and short.
b. Second third. The flavor started to build and round out at the start of the middle third. I got a bit more depth, with cream, toast, nuts -- the kind of flavors I expect from a CTS wrapped smoke -- but still fairly muted. The spice picked up a bit, too, but nothing too powerful and pretty well balanced. The finish grew longer, coating my tongue and palate with more creaminess than at the start.
c. Third third. The same flavors that I occasionally found in the middle -- tobacco, toast, cream, nuts -- stayed around for the last third. They grew in intensity only a little, and there wasn't much in the way of transition or complexity. The warm spice picked up as I neared the and I even felt a little bit of a burn on the tip of my tongue (probably because the torpedo head focused the smoke, and because the smoke was starting to heat up), but I never felt like the spice was out of balance or overpowering.
3. Aroma. The aroma of the smoke deserves special mention because it was particularly sweet and aromatic.
Summary: A well-built cigar, mild enough for inexperienced smokers, but with some good flavors. It doesn't have the complexity, strength, or delicacy to make it stand out, however. It was a pleasant enough smoke, but I don't see myself going out to get another.