The construction of this cigar is absolutely impeccable. This mid-sized sedan has a pretty corojo-look paint job with no tooth to speak of, a mild box-press and a clean conical head. Draw was stunningly great across the entire smoke and the burn line stayed almost perfect, as well. I'd never ask for more from a cigar's construction and I'd never get it, anyway.
The sniff-test on the exterior says bittersweet dark chocolate and that's about all. There's no hint of the heady almost-alcoholic quality I sometimes pick up on blends with a chocolate-dominated wrapper (frequently found on
Honduran product). The pre-light draw was basically the same.
After an easy light, the first quarter-inch of this stick frightened me. All I got was kind of a hollow take on your classic middle-of-the-road, nothing-to-write-blind-reviews-about generic 'tobacco' flavor. Do I have to radically lower my expectations here? Is this stick going nowhere?
No. Double no. No, sir.
Once past that opening subterfuge, this cigar took the blindfold off and displayed before me a smorgasbord of subtle sequential flavors. First up, perhaps predictably, was a dark chocolate spine which would remain present, in varying degrees, from first puff to last. Quick on its heels was a curious imaginary baked good, somewhere between a white cupcake and some nachos. Cornbread, perhaps?
Toward the end of the first third, I caught an undercurrent of white pepper which lasted about halfway into the second third. Meanwhile, more flavors were ready to parade on the front of my tongue. How about milk caramel?
At this point, it was time to grab a snork. A maltier take on the cocoa bean grabbed me back: ovaltine.
Working into the second third, the weight picked up a little, but not a whole lot. The nicotine whack on this stick was in the medium range.
Next, I whiffed some amaretto, but that quickly dried out and became a nice blue cheese.
Over the final third, the drying trend continued (as did the cocoa presence). The next flavor I noted was popcorn. Snorks in this section gave me a back-of-my-mouth taste in the fennel/celery family and then that dried out, as well, and became something from the rutabaga/turnip family.
I was thrilled by this astonishing run of subtle flavors and nubbed the stick to the bitter (but not at all bitter-tasting) end. What an absolute treat!
As I enjoyed the gingery dominant aftertaste, I contemplated the entire smoke and decided that the only component it really could have used a bit more of is flavor coherence- it was all over the map. This cigar was not a Chicken Vindaloo dinner, it was not even surf & turf; it was 10-course central Italian.
Incidentally, this stogie shared my palate with a bottle of Saranac Black Forest. This was a quite complementary pairing in flavor and performance. The nicotine in the mystery missile was just enough to keep me from feeling the beer-o'clock alcohol-on-an-empty-stomach doldrums. Also, through no conscious intention, I finished the beer at exactly the same time I finished the cigar. Perfect!
I suspect this guy would also live very well with a double espresso or maybe a Turkish coffee, but that's another test...
So, what on Earth did I smoke?!
