OK, this is my first attempt at a review.
I picked two of these up from my local shop last week on reccommendation of the owner. he usually has good taste, so i figured I'd try one right away, and let the other one sit a while. They were bout $8 each (NJ taxes inflate prices a lot - I figure its a $5 smoke)
The construction was excellent - unusual triangle press shape which I was sort of surprised by (it feels odd in the mouth,) but it has the nice side effect of directing more of my attention to the act of smoking it. Gorgeous dark maduro wrapper, with a great aroma of a strong mocha and maybe a little cinnamon. I had a longish ride home, so I fired the first one up. It opened with a good start - nice draw, good smoke, and a pleasant solid-medium "tobacco" taste - I don't know how else to describe it.
The problem for me was that the second draw, and the entire first 2/3, tasted exactly the same as the first. I was expecting the flavor and the complexity to start in after the first couple of draws, as this is usually my experience with a good maduro. Unfortunately, it never developed anything I could call complex. The whole first 1/3 tasted like a medium maduro with absolutely nothing of note to it. I gave it a good purge before the 1/2 way point, hoping this might change something. It didn't.
Overall, this was a very disappointing smoke for me. It was a quality build, and I could tell there was some quality tobacco in here, but I started to wonder if there was any blending at all involved. It was as though someone gave me that rich, maduro flavor and nothing else. I put it out with about a third left.
So I had a gulp of outstanding sualwesi coffee, lit up a CAO brazilia piranha, and immediately felt much better. This is more like it.
I would give this cigar an 8.5 for construction, but probably a 6 for flavor. Nothing quite wring with it, but it lacked that rightness I love in a good puro. I can think of any number of cigars I would smoke over this one. Maybe the second will be better in a few months.
I picked two of these up from my local shop last week on reccommendation of the owner. he usually has good taste, so i figured I'd try one right away, and let the other one sit a while. They were bout $8 each (NJ taxes inflate prices a lot - I figure its a $5 smoke)
The construction was excellent - unusual triangle press shape which I was sort of surprised by (it feels odd in the mouth,) but it has the nice side effect of directing more of my attention to the act of smoking it. Gorgeous dark maduro wrapper, with a great aroma of a strong mocha and maybe a little cinnamon. I had a longish ride home, so I fired the first one up. It opened with a good start - nice draw, good smoke, and a pleasant solid-medium "tobacco" taste - I don't know how else to describe it.
The problem for me was that the second draw, and the entire first 2/3, tasted exactly the same as the first. I was expecting the flavor and the complexity to start in after the first couple of draws, as this is usually my experience with a good maduro. Unfortunately, it never developed anything I could call complex. The whole first 1/3 tasted like a medium maduro with absolutely nothing of note to it. I gave it a good purge before the 1/2 way point, hoping this might change something. It didn't.
Overall, this was a very disappointing smoke for me. It was a quality build, and I could tell there was some quality tobacco in here, but I started to wonder if there was any blending at all involved. It was as though someone gave me that rich, maduro flavor and nothing else. I put it out with about a third left.
So I had a gulp of outstanding sualwesi coffee, lit up a CAO brazilia piranha, and immediately felt much better. This is more like it.
I would give this cigar an 8.5 for construction, but probably a 6 for flavor. Nothing quite wring with it, but it lacked that rightness I love in a good puro. I can think of any number of cigars I would smoke over this one. Maybe the second will be better in a few months.
