Viaje Green Zombie
Cigar gifted by afranco and thanks!!!
Paired beverage is pure clean tap water.
Cut is a straight cut from my original release Palio that I recently cleaned.
Pre-clip – a wonderful aroma of good fresh tobacco and that nice barnyard manure aroma that tells me this is good Nicaraguan tobacco.
Cold draw – a bit milder then I expected but I get that basic Nicaragua flavor but it's not lit.
First light – oh nice. A very atypical sweetness mixed with wood and some hints of pepper and a lingering acidic tang which I find very pleasant. It's not tannic but more of a pepper bite and tingles my tongue like a wood flavored hot sauce with some chocolate and coffee. Hmmm, Mexican Coffee? I jest but really this is wonderful.
Resting aroma – typical AGANORSA leaf wood and a nice mild resting smoke. Personally this aroma is not too strong and I get sweet smoke that tickles my nose but very pleasant. I do smell that strong burned wood occasionally that reminds me of the remnants of an outdoor fire pit.
I'm just past the nipple and I would say this cigar is in the medium-full range but very smooth with an oily lingering finish of sweet cedar. Time to smoke an inch or so and see how this cigar progresses.
A little over an inch in and the strength ticked down a bit but still medium full. The flavor is a sweet cedar with a sweet tannic pepper bite. The smoke volume is great and the draw perfect. The finish is a sweet tannic tea that covers the mouth lingering for quite a while.
I just read the Half Wheel review on this cigar and I would say we are tracking although I don't get any leather and my ash held on until I asked it at an inch and a half. This cigar appears to be a 2014 release so it's probably better dried out as Viajes in those years were often delivered wet and required some resting time to dry out evenly. This cigar is smoking perfect right now. (
http://halfwheel.com/review-viaje-zombie-green ). He says the blend has Criollo and that explains the peppery cedar but it's a milder Criollo then I tend to taste from Aganorsa farms so it's just part of the blend I would say or the ring gauge is tempering it down a bit.
About half way and I would say the flavors are changing up a bit to become a sweet leather with a mild charred cedar flavor. The tannic bite has become a leather flavor and to me the cigar has become more balanced now as the strength notches back up into the higher side of medium full. There is some vitamin N being detected but I'm not too sensitive to it so it's hard for me to tell but it seems probable as the strength did kick up a bit. This is a a sweet spot for the cigar. Time to ash and try to remove the band without butchering the extraction so it looks pretty.
I'm about where the band was and it's a sweet charred wood with a finish of wood and leather. The strength is now at the top end of medium full and the finish is long.
This is where I will post the review and pictures while I sit and enjoy the last inch. This is a wonderful cigar but I would be careful on the beverage pairing as the flavors would be overpower by an IPA but would probably pair nicely with some Cognac.
