steveH
Cigar: Number 3 – The shocker
Vitola / Wrapper / Binder: 5 ¾” x 52. Very very dark wrapper (Oscuro ?); oily and with some small veins.
Drink / Food: Iced Tea
Outside Factors: HOT (103F)
Construction: Very firm and hefty in the hand
Prelight : Mildly sweet tobacco
Cut: Straight cut using Xikar Xi
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First Third: Cigar lit easily and we settled into a hot summer’s evening. Average smoke production yielded some quality tobacco flavor along with anise and dark fruits…No real sweetness to speak of. Moving more into the first third; the anise became more black licorice in flavor. What was quite astounding was that the cigar even seemed to provide some of the pectin coating. You’d swear you just swallowed a bunch of black jellybeans and still had the coating on your mouth – really really nice. But, it got better as we neared the end of the first third; as the licorice was starting to mingle with an herb sage-like favor which really gave the cigar a slightly medicinal (in the traditional sense) quality .
Draw: Very good ; especially considering how hefty and firm the cigar was.
Burn: Very Good.
Ash/Smoke: Darker grey ash; grey smoke. Average smoke from the cigar when resting. The cigar would hold its ash nearly all the way through each third.
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Second Third: Finally letting the ash depart, we started into the second half. The herbal quality of the cigar picks up and a peppery spice starts to tickle the throat. The anise/licorice fades into the background as heavy pepper comes through. The smoke production also picks up, and about ½ way through the cigar started to burn a little hot. After slowing down a little, some leather and wood began fighting their way through the pepper. These remained through the rest of the second third.
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Final third: Heafty smoke production. What was interesting as we neared the end was the cigar really wasn’t producing much in terms of flavor profiles. After really delivering so much complexity, the cigar was slowly fading into the heat of the night (or perhaps it was just me ?). That said, it burned so well and slow I didn’t find this too disappointing; and surely would not let it persuade my purchase in the future.
Total Smoking Time: 96 mins
Strength: Medium/Strong Flavor: Strong/Complex
Overall Impression: I really, really enjoyed this cigar. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea; those who enjoy maduro’s would really be pleased with what this cigar brings to the table. There were flavors and blends in this cigar that I’ve never experienced before – so it was quite an eye opener.
Construction: 8 10
Prelight: 3 5
First Third: 14 15
Draw: 8 10
Burn: 7 10
Ash / Smoke: 8 10
Second Third: 8 10
Final Third: 6 10
Overall impression: 18 20
Total Score: 81 100
jimbud
Cigar: lou2row’s Cigar No. 3 in 4th (or 5th) Blind Taste Test.
Vitola/Wrapper/Binder: 6 by 50 torpedo; jet black wrapper.
Drink/Food: Ice water; before lunch.
Outside Factors: About 80 degrees; patio.
Price: Unknown.
Cut: Xicar; Lit with cedar matches.
Construction: This is a beautiful cigar. No soft spots and the wrapper is so jet black it looks like a bar of chocolate. I could take a bite of this thing. I’ve had many torpedos, but other than the Perdomo en Silvio, I don’t recall a roll that produced a sharper point. This could put an eye out. The wrapper bears further mention – it appears very thick and there are small bumps thoughout. It is beautiful, but almost feels like sand paper. I wonder if there was any coloring used to make the deep black hues so uniform. Only one pronounced vein. The foot reveals tobacco in various shades of brown. This stick has a nice balance and weight. It does not reveal much to the nose, perhaps some cedar notes or a distant berry taste – nothing else. Looks to be a well-made cigar.
Prelight: Upon clip, the wrapper is tougher than usual. Not surprising. As I suspected, the wrapper is quite substantial. Pre-light draw gives me a distinct raisin flavor.
First Third: Deep, dark black espresso notes. No pepper. Finding deep espresso without pepper is very nice and a nice contrast to many sticks. Clear semi-sweet dark chocolate, almost to the point of bitter chocolate, but I like it. Trying to force myself to smoke this slowly. The aroma is of baking bread. The draw is slightly tight, but to my liking, or I would clip a bit more to open it up. I’m clearly getting dark unsweetened chocolate, rich soil, charcoal, but with an odd underlying creaminess. Still virtually no pepper. Malty; musty; rich soil. Very well-rolled stick. Almost turgid in the hand. Could club a baby seal with this (kidding). Ash is largely white, which is in stark contrast to the oscuro wrapper.
Second Third: Burn needs a slight correction, but not much. The thing I am enjoying about this cigar is the lack of pepper, but the deep notes of burnt coffee and espresso. Reminds me of that chocolate cake you can get that has no sweetness in the actual cake, but relies on the icing. I always enjoyed that cake without the icing. Burn is slightly wavy, but no problems. The retrohale gives more of a milk chocolate flavor – for me, the retrohale always yields a milder version of what I am smoking. Suprisingly, some slightly sweet notes creep in cautiously. Perhaps distant molasses or nougat. But the predominant taste remains unsweetened chocolate, must, malt, charcoal and dark espresso. Smoke continues to smell of baking bread.
Final Third: The cigar holds true to form. Not much change in the flavor profile. If I had to compare these flavors to other sticks I have had, I would say some of the musty, malty notes can be found in the Kinky TJB, while overall, the closest stick I have had to this is the RP OWR. In the final third, I wet the wrapper slightly to see if I can determine whether any dye was used, and I do get some transfer. Not sure if that is natural or not.
Overall: I really liked this cigar. The main feature that differentiates this stick from others is the lack of pepper. To get the espresso, dark chocolate, charcoal, earth notes without a pepper explosion is a treat. I would be lying if I did not admit that the cigar’s beautiful appearance did not influence my opinion of this stick. Burn lasted about an hour and a half and I enjoyed it throughout. Does anyone know if the RP OWR ever came in non-box press format? If pressed, I’d say that is this stick. Overall, I’d give this an 87. I would recommend it to just about everyone and would buy again.
hscmit
Construction: heavy densely packed with a very thick wrapper, also has a couple of big veins
Prelight: slightly sweet and salty
First Third: chocolate, licorice, and coffee flavors
Draw: asy draw
Burn: good burn
Ash/Smoke: good volume of smoke solid ash
Second Third: coffee is gone, sweet and oak flavors
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Final third: definitely an increase in the strength in the final third, sweet flavors persist
Strength:med/ full
Flavor: full
Overall: not something I would reach for with the sweet flavors, but is a quality cigar. I could see a lot of people who like sweet maduros enjoying this one
Scoring
Construction: 9/10
Prelight: 4/5
First Third: 13/15
Draw: 10/10
Burn: 9/10
Ash / Smoke: 9/10
Second Third: 8/10
Final Third: 7/10
Overall impression: 16/20
Total Score: 85/100