Cigar of the Month July 2014

[Habana-Habanos]

Ahhhh very good! Makes sense now, as it would hah.. I'm keen to take lead for next months round? I have a good one and won't be over 8 quid delivered.


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[PeeJay]

THE REVEAL

Well done Mo and Marc who were so close, its a Diesel Hair of the Dog, here's the blurb

'An unrelenting, aggressive, thoroughly bold super premium you’re bound to love ... or hate. Either way, it doesn’t matter because Diesel Hair of the Dog cigars will always appeal to the straight shooter, the no-nonsense, strictly business sort of fellow.

Diesel cigars have always been a bit on the wild side. Known for their bold flavors and uncompromising style, Diesel has steadily risen to the ranks of cigar royalty. But where does cigar royalty go from here? It’s the morning after and enthusiasts are thirsting for a new ripple in the ocean of savory Diesel blends. So the only thing to do is get back up, dust yourself off, and grab a little Hair of the Dog. It’s like a friend of mine used to say, “…you gotta bite the dog that bit you.” Challenge accepted.

Hair of the Dog is not for the beginner. In fact, we recommend not even buying the cigar if you’re not a seasoned vet. The blend is strong and lets you know it right up front. The complex recipe of Nicaraguan tobaccos with a pinch of Dominican leaves will awaken your taste buds in an instant. The San Andres binder adds a little extra kick to the already potent blend while the seamless Ecuadorian Habano ligero wrapper just adds insult to injury by way of strong notes of cedar, black pepper, and espresso. And yet, after the first inch of the cigar, you realize you can hang with the big dogs and the true balance of the cigar comes through. When the dust settles, you’ll have realized you just experienced one of the finest blends of one of the most esteemed brands in the business...'

[tommy]

Here goes.
Toothless veiny wrapper, firm but not crispy and light to medium in weight for the size.
Colour is medium brown with some noticeable colour fade from leaf edge to centre. Construction seems good with attention made to the cap which cuts easily and with no mess. Smells of a slightly sweet red berry tea bag with black tea and meadows.
Pre light draw is definitely grassy with a lightness that promises an interesting smoke if more flavours join in later on.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1405939630.623835.jpg
Those that read everything will know that shot was inspired by someone else's beautiful shot yesterday.....
Here goes with some fire.... Ok I'm outside and though its sunny there is wind, the light was difficult and uneven but already I can see it will correct itself. A good burn looks promising. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1405939860.291595.jpg
The first smoke is light and grassy, the previous references to gay are spot in for me, it reminds me of cleaning out Bugsy's hutch as a kid, poor Bugsy, if only I'd fed him he could of had a long life. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1405940039.423362.jpg
Plenty of this blueish grey smoke building, the draw was quite loose and free so I leave the cap cut smallImageUploadedByTapatalk1405940308.129266.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1405940326.630991.jpg
I quite like this cigar, shape bud and size are good for me, draw is good if a tad loose for my preference (not an issue if I had cut less cap off). I feel the hay is being joined by something familiar which I can't put my finger in yet, could it be a fruit leaf? Raspberry leaf tea maybe??? I don't want to get to fantastic with silly flavour descriptions but the cigar has something to it that I'm not familiar with in cigars, I must admit that its pleasant but not my usual marque.
Down to an inch in and the burn is goodImageUploadedByTapatalk1405940596.387192.jpg
I'm not getting much in the way of flavour development yet but a slight Nic hit is beginning to take hold. I think we all agree that this is an NC cigar but my expertise won't allow me to nail the guess, I'll take a punt at NC, maybe Cameroon wrapper. CAO do a Cameroon Belicoso which looks similar, if I'm right it's purely based on my flicking through the CAO lines and guess work rather that cigar Kung foo! I do think CAO is a good guess but it could be anything as I've only tried about 1% of NC's.
A third in and the ash hold wellImageUploadedByTapatalk1405941272.244727.jpg
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I'm going to ditch the ash in the hope if flavour developmentImageUploadedByTapatalk1405941328.282542.jpg
A slight move towards a mineral taste does occur but not a huge change, the smoke is still going well but the nicotine is starting to kick my ass, I don't think I'll be bubbling this one!
I'm getting ready to put this sucker down when the retrohaleing gives the grass an almighty change to wet hay and the minerallyness you get from some bottled water. It's not my cup of tea which is kind of ironic as the black tea it had pre light is starting to re appear with a very slight nip of leather. There are some subtle changes happening but none of the flavours are what I crave today and I find myself wondering if I can go on much farther. I don't want to say its a bad cigar as the burn, build and flavour profile are all good, it's simply that I look for something else in a cigar. That isn't to say that for someone else or even for me on another day it wouldn't be the perfect smoke. The taste leaves me wanting a brandy somehow.
Haft way down and the cigar has a slight nuttiness which is pleasant but the Nic hit is doing me in. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1405941966.953166.jpg
I'm very close to calling it a day, only holding in for the sake of the review. Minerals are everywhere now and I'm sweating so that it fir me. A good cigar but not my bag really, I like a richer sweeter smoke where this is grassy hay with minerals.
I stick with NC CAO based mainly on a guess but don't expect to be right.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1405942152.069104.jpg
And that's where it gets the better of me and I leave it on the garden wall to go out.
Time for a sugar fix.

[PeeJay]

Guys I'm home now but the parcel didn't go through the door so I can get it til tomorrow (Monday). If you reveal I won't be able to take part, can we reveal on Tuesday?

I suppose so Unknown-1.jpeg

[tommy]

Guys I'm home now but the parcel didn't go through the door so I can get it til tomorrow (Monday). If you reveal I won't be able to take part, can we reveal on Tuesday?

[ValeTudoGuy]

Great reviews guys! Sorry, it's my fault for posting the first one in the other thread.

[Budgie Smuggler]

Pleased that we finally got a couple of hours without rain so that I could give this a try.

Nice dark wrapper that felt ever so rough to the touch, almost like a very fine grade sandpaper.

Cut nicely with the Palio and whoever said hay on the pre-light drawer was spot on.

Upon lighting I was a little surprised at how little smoke it produced for such a large stick, or maybe it was just that the smoke was a little on the "thin" side.

Taste was mainly wood with a touch of pepper. I thought that there may have been a slight hint of chocolate but that may well have been the rum & coke I'd paired it with.

Slight nicotine tingle on the lips but nothing major.

Construction was good and I only needed to correct the burn once. The ash held on for well over an inch before tapping.

Considering the size of the sticks and how little we paid for 2 I was actually quite impressed with this, good choice PJ and a nice start [emoji106]



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[Habana-Habanos]

Definitely I smoked it at 2 am and couldn't sleep till 8! I was up working instead


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[Tucky]

If I'd have tried to finish that stick I'm very certain I'd have ended up having a little lie down and a talk with myself.....
Tell you what though when I got to bed last night it was like I'd had 15 red bulls. I was wide awake.

[Habana-Habanos]

I got the woody flavours and pepper (now you say chilli I can relate), but for me the perfecto wasn't too strong? I smoked that on an empty stomach! As for the bigger stick I got a real kick up the arse! And that was after eating dinner


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[PeeJay]

Very good first review Tucky, first of many I hope....thumbs_up.jpeg

[Tucky]

Hey Guys
Finally has the chance to smoke my review stick, first time I've actually written one so here goes.

The wrapper is a lovely chocolate colour with a few veins but very attractive, firmly packed with no soft spots. The nose reminded me of opening a fresh compost bag. Upon cutting the cap the draw was firm but free with a slightly sweet taste.
On lighting the first hit was massive pepper but surprisingly chilli not black pepper, which mellowed out fairly quickly into a more savoury flavour, this showed up when a sip of Havana club 7 tasted really sweet in comparison.
The smoke then began to smooth out making a retro hale possible, this added a sweetness which was possibly vanilla before a little touch to the burn line was required.
At this point I noticed the wrapper leaf was slightly tearing about two inches from the cut,the wrapper was also looking a little dry at this point. This never affected the burn at all so wasn't a problem.
An inch in the earthy woody notes were back and the earlier sweetness was long gone and the ash was looking unstable so time to tap off. Flavours were more dark wood causing me to make a sweet (pj special) coffee to balance it out a bit, also a bit of sugar was going to come in useful later.
It was around now the draw started to become poor, a reclip fixed this making me think it was a tar build up issue (I do like to cut torpedoes slightly long so this is not unheard of). The peppers back again this was a constant theme of coming and going sometimes only for a couple of draws before returning to predominant wood. Three inches to go and the nicotine is really ramping up, certainly put the old heart rate up a bit (around 20 bpm). Relight needed now probably due to a reduction in smoking speed a last blast of pepper and earth before letting it die peacefully the nic hit starting to beat the flavour.
Overall a nice stick but I have to agree with Marc the nicotine was to strong for a stick this size and a smaller vitola would have been better overall.
Thanks to PJ for hosting.
Carl

[Edamski]

No worries, I was being a bit anal at the end of a very long day.

[emoji15]

[PeeJay]

No worries, I was being a bit anal at the end of a very long day.

[Edamski]

I remembered about this thread after I'd already posted it. My apologies