Here's yet another review... I was able to get in on the Blind Review for these things...
Fellas, this is gonna be one heck of a cigar.
Here's my official review.
I received this torpedo, weighing in at 5.5 X 50~52 and a beautiful rosado wrapper... It had nice oils to it, and a VERY STRONG tobacco smell when I first opened the well-packaged envelope. My wife said 'phew, that smells!' almost right away when I opened the baggie.
The smell had a very strong fermented tobacco smell to it, almost as if there was some maduro leaves hiding somewhere in the blend... the wrapper was distinctly reddish brown, although the pictures give it more of a brown appearance.
A little flap across the top of the top of the torpedo reminded me a bit of a JFR torp I smoked some time ago...
The foot had a few stems poking out, but nothing to be overly concerned about
Outside lighting gave it a much more reddish appearance, which closely matches how this stick looks in person
A predraw light again gives off the distinct flavor of a maduro stick, and a nice warm spice seems apparent in this stick even before lighting. If I were to smoke this cigar in the dark, I'd bet it would be a maduro 10 times out of 10!
It seems to jump to life rather quickly and emits a thick, rich smoke. The burn is flawless and the draw is fantastic
The spice level in the first inch or so reminds me of a green Opus X, and I'm hoping this stick is not similarly priced.
The first third made me think only one thing... "Darn, I really wanna know what this is so that I can add it to my regular rotation"
Around the second third, the intense spice mellows out a bit and the taste profile becomes more leathery. The cigar has a welcome complexity to it.
The ash holds on for quite a long time, and alternates between dark and light colors. The ash doesn't give much of a hint for the stick's nationality (neither distinctly Nicaraguan white nor Cuban dark).
The finish seems to go a bit bitter at the end, so I would not consider this stick particularly nub-worthy, although the first two thirds were quite welcomed.
Final judgment...
This stick would be a fantastic every day smoke for fans of fuller bodied smokes. I think it could earn up to a $8 price tag USD, but certainly not an uber-premium smoke. The construction and draw were flawless, which helped out my impressions quite a bit. If this was a bundled stick, I'd be floored!
The bitterness may have been attributed to the torpedo shape, which is not one of my go-to vitolas... If the bitterness was due to the saturation of smoke towards the end, I'd gladly reach for one of these sticks in a toro or churchill and let it go with inch and a half left.
Overall, an enjoyable smoke. I did have the opportunity to smoke two, and would pull out my wallet for the opportunity to try one again! The first one was smoked right off the truck, and the second with about a week and a half rest on it. I generally keep my humi at 60~62%, and the stick burned great (not too hot) out of this environment!
Thanks for the opportunity to approach this stick blindly, and I certainly hope to find out what in the heck I just smoked!