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Cigar Geeks Geek Critique

Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec Claro Robusto
Written by Cigar Geeks Member: Adam (BewareDaPenguin)

71
Cigar Geeks Rating

Welcome to another Member sponsored Geek Critique generously sponsored by our member Beegerply (Byron).  The cigar provided for this round is the Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec Claro Robusto.

Nick Mellilo's love for history comes is re[resented again with Olmec Cigars. The Olmec Civilization was one of the most influential ancient societies of the early Americas, and though its dominance of the Mexican region faded in the last centuries before the Common Era, their impact is still felt today. The Olmecs pre-date the Aztecs and Mayans and are considered the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica. This ancient civilization was one of the first to consume and cultivate tobacco in the same soils that this Mexican San Andres wrapper is gown. The Olmec by Foundation Cigar Co. is available in two wrapper selections but only vary in color. The Olmec Claro and Maduro both use this Tuxtla grown San Andres wrapper and are filled with tobacco from Nicaragua.




Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec Claro Robusto

Brand:
Foundation Cigar Co.
Name:
Olmec Claro Robusto
Length:
5
Ring Gauge:
50
Country of Origin:
Nicaragua
Filler:
Nicaragua
Binder:
Nicaragua
Wrapper:
Mexico
Color:
Claro
Shape:
Robusto
Notes:
https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/pca-roundup
This cigar was enjoyed with Coffee

Pre-Light: 9 Points of 10 Possible

Cigar looked great. It had a nice smooth milk chocolate wrapper, nicely selected. Only 1 small vein that was noticeable. Smelled great, and felt like it was bunched well, had a nice spring to it. Cap was applied nice, cut clean, no flagging. That's one of my big pet peeves.

Lighting and Burn: 10 Points of 15 Possible

This is where I ran into issues, the stick had a horrible tunnel in the 2nd third which really muted the overall experience. The stick toasted up well, and the 1st third was enjoyable, as well as the final third , but unfortunately the 2nd third pulled this stick down. Ash was a nice white color, flaky. Smoke volume again correlated to the burn issue, along with the draw, and some burn.  

Construction: 20 Points of 30 Possible

I'm going to give this 2/3rd"s of the points because 2/3rd"s of the cigar was enjoyable. As mentioned in the burn issues, the 2nd 3rd created issues with a horrible tunnel that bled into other area of cigar performance & enjoyment. The cap was applied nice, the stick again looked great and performed great for 66%.

Flavor and Aroma: 32 Points of 45 Possible

I'm going to be a little more generous here than maybe I should be, but what was enjoyable was pretty good. The stick started off great with a nice full flavor of nuts & and a dough-like after taste, that came I believe from the generous amount of smoke volume that it produced. It would really fill you mouth with a nice little pull, this unfortunately didn't carry into the 2nd third as this is there the issues started. Entering into the 2nd third I noticed the stick was getting hot and harder to draw, I tried a couple of tricks to open it up, but no luck. I finally found the culprit when I was about 1/2 through the stick, a nice hollowed out spot. Once I made it threw that, it was back to smooth sailing in the final third with brought back those nuts & dough flavors I was picking up in the 1st third , with full plumes of smoke barreling out. It was too bad, as I was really enjoying the stick, and interested to see if it transitioned at all for me.

Summary

Thanks again to Byron & Geeks for sponsoring this critique and letting me play! Although I had some construction issues, which led to other issues, when it did perform it did it well. I enjoyed the flavors it was offering and the time was about :45min so a nice morning stick to enjoy with coffee. I'd reach for another one of these to see if I had a better smoking experience as I'm sure I got a one off there with the bad tunnel. Otherwise I'm really enjoying most of what Foundation has been putting out and Olmec is for sure a line I'd recommend picking up if you are at a shop and see some. Thanks again!


   
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