Bali Djanger panatela

[Don Fernando]

Back in January 2006 my flight from the small Bali airport to Jakarta was delayed several hours so to kill the time I visited the only shop and I found a cartboardbox with 10 cigars called Bali Djanger. The box mentions “hand made, pure Sumatra tobacco, made in Indonesia” I bought a box of those cheap cigars, just out of curiosity.

I had a few left when I got back from Indonesia and put them away and forgot about them completely, until a few days ago I was transferring al my cigars from my old humidor to my new big one and I decided to smoke it again, for sentiment’s sake. I could remember that I didn’t like them to much when I smoked them sitting on the porch of a friends house in Jakarta, but to my surprise the cigar was better then I could remember, maybe because it has aged another 15 months.

When I removed the plastic packing I could smell a distinct smell of hay, the cigar had a smooth and easy predraw, was easy to light and the burn was close to perfect. The smoke was rich and full and the ash was quite firm. There is nothing wrong with the construction of this cigar. It is a bit hard to name the flavors because the cigar is light bodied and I usually smoke medium to full bodied cigars, but I could taste a hint of leather and something sweet which at times became bittersweet, and when I reached the middle of the cigar there was a light cacao flavor noticeable.

This cigar isn’t a top class cigar, but it’s not bad at all. Nice to have smoked.

Would I buy this cigar again? If I’m in Indonesia again, I might buy it, just for the sentiment.