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| Origin: | Cuba | Manufactured: Hand Made | |
| Gauge: | Thin | Length: | 121 |
| Format: | Carolina | Ring: | 26 |
| Weight: | 2,94 gr. | ||
I hesitated to review this budget cigar, not thinking it worthy of such analysis, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Appearance - 3 out of 5
Certainly petite and lacking in impact, very much a 'break-time' cigar, but the band is attractive enough.
Aroma - 3 out of 5
Surprisingly subtle, I took a deep draw over it before lighting but only caught the tail-end of a sweet scent, rich and woody when lit.
Burn - 15 out of 20
Even burn and, despite being a thin cigar, wasn't hurried when I left it to its own devices. Ash was nearly an inch at the longest point, so quality was pretty obvious. Easy to draw with thin smoke, didn't go out once, casual without being lax.
Taste - 50 out of 70
Difficult one to qualify. My limited palette must be considered, I know that during the start of the first third I was tasting the same woody smoothness as a dozen cigars I had smoked before, and starting to think 'well, this is going to be a short review'. Maybe it was my new concentration but other flavours came through shortly after; first an overwhelming sweetness which popped and fizzed on the tastebuds, reminded me of lemon above all else. This eased back into a taste of tea for much of the second third, which was oddly agreeable, then the lemon returned with notes of apple and it was like a tangy iced tea - candy almost, I never knew a cigar could taste like this.
Unfortunatly it all seemed to unravel in the last third, harshness overrode the light flavours but I got a sense of something behind the overwhelming bitterness, a taste which might be revealed with more ageing perhaps.
All things considered I really enjoyed this, the final third did dissapoint but until then my eyes had been opened to new possibilities ( I always read 'sweet notes' in cigar reviews and suspected exagerration or fanciful projection but no more ), it also showed me just how much a cigar can affect the drink you couple it with - I returned to a Peroni lager afterwards and it tasted like white beer, so sweet from the Margarita that I was very surprised.
Would I buy more? I think so, not only because it was light and refreshing but because this is far from what I expected of a cigar, and I would like those I know to share that experience too.
Total: 74
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