This cigar was enjoyed with Four Roses Single Barrel
Pre-Light: 10 Points of 10 Possible
The wrapper aroma is an interesting combination of floral, hay, and I'd say something like nutmeg. The wrapper has a nice Colorado color with some slight veining and it has a very noticeable appearance of dried oil crystallization that sparkles here and there in the sunlight, like it's been in the humidor for a while. The wrapper is soft to the touch, no tooth at all.
The cigar has a shaggy foot that is half open and it has a nice gradual taper at the head with a triple cap. The band is very simple and understated really, a 19th century large sailing ship in black and white and muted blue and gold simple accent stripes on the sides.
There is one slightly soft spot about 2 inches up from the foot, so we'll see if we run into any issues there. The rest of the shaft is firm but not rock hard.
The cold draw is somewhat sour and bready. Not sourdough, more like pumpernickel if you were to name a particular bread, so I guess a touch of rye in there, at least that's what I'd liken it to.
The cap cut clean and gave me no issues the entire smoke.
Lighting and Burn: 13 Points of 15 Possible
The light was easy and even, one of those where you don't have to explicitly ignite the entire section, it easily self-lit the rest of the way once I got about half of it lit.
The burn line was excellent, it was slightly crooked for those first two inches and then straightened out and stayed that way to the end, not a single correction needed. Unfortunately this is one of those that I had to stoke with a couple puffs every time in the first two thirds.
The ash was a light grey with black stripes each puff, was tight, and hung on at 1.5 inch chunks.
Smoke volume was medium at best the first two thirds but really blossomed to full volume in the final third. Burn rate was right down the middle.
Construction: 25 Points of 30 Possible
The draw was a little tighter than ideal but not terrible. If I wasn't reviewing the cigar I probably would've bored the head a bit to free it up. The draw may explain the lower smoke volume and stoking in those first two thirds.
The wrapper and cap performed flawlessly the whole way, no cracking, unraveling, etc.
Flavor and Aroma: 42 Points of 45 Possible
First puffs are more of that bready note on the palate with a little leather. The retro immediately greets me with a combo of sweetness and baking spices. The smoke is very smooth and creamy. The body starts about medium. The retro sweetness builds to something syrupy. About 1.5 inches in the palate develops the faintest touch of red pepper.
Right around the second third I noticed a little cinnamon/clove joining the palate party, a welcome development. The smoke body is medium-full at this point. I can feel the buzz a bit at this point in the cigar, so it's at least medium plus in strength. The retro turns a little less sweet and adds a little more zest/spice and then switches back to the syrupy sweetness.
The final third starts with an uptick in smoke volume, which was medium at best until that point. With the volume increase comes a flavor intensity increase which I'm glad to see, it's getting to where I think the cigar was intended to be. I think boring the head would've helped those first two thirds a lot. Smoke is still velvety smooth and full of sweet and backing spice flavors with just the slightest tick of pepper. The tobacco strength really starts to come through in the retrohale, and the strength makes it to full in this third.
It started getting hot and harsh at about 2 inches left so I called it there, smoking time was just over an hour.
Summary
This is a velvety smooth smoke that builds in strength and flavor as it progresses, featuring a palate core of leather, grains, and some sweetness with a sweet/syrupy retrohale that is balanced by some good baking spices. It's an excellent smoke that I will be looking to add to my collection. Thank you Kerry for sponsoring this one, I really enjoyed it.
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