This cigar was enjoyed with Havana Club Rum
Pre-Light: 18 Points of 10 Possible
This is one nice looking stick. It has a fairly smooth and dry looking wrapper, but is moist enough to give a little on the squeeze. A few surface veins are scattered about lending it a bit of an antique look. The cap is well rolled and it holds sturdy for the cut. If there was ever an aroma that was reflective of farmland, then this cigar had it in spades. To be more frank, good manure is what comes to mind, and luckily for me, I happen to like the smell of farm manure. I really liked the feel of this cigar; it's full and hefty in the hand and real classy looking too. Unfortunately the band does not work for me. Having smoked a bunch of Cuban Cohibas, the similarity is just too close and does not seem original, even if only by coincidence.
Lighting and Burn: 13 Points of 15 Possible
A perfect light, a perfect burn, and no touch-ups required are a good sign! The sweetened cap tends to be mildly distracting at first, however, just past the half way point it was barely noticable anymore. There's a wide open draw on this baby, and at times I felt it could have been a little tighter. Since I smoked two of these, one last night and one this afternoon, I cut less off the cap on the second one and then the draw was just perfect. Either way, the smoke volume was turned up full blast for the entire smoke and produced clouds equal to a steel factories stacks. The greyish white ash was toothy but held like a champion, breaking off in nice sized chunks only when coaxed.
Construction: 29 Points of 30 Possible
The two cigars I had were superbly constructed, and I quite appreciated the large ring size too. Although the cigars were rolled fully packed to the max, the draw was still amazingly wide open. I like that the torpedo end is long and narrow and gives you a lot of flexibility as to where to make the cut. On the two I smoked there were no construction issues whatsoever and I give full marks for that. Okay, 1 point off for the sweetened tip.
Flavor and Aroma: 10 Points of 45 Possible
With all the good stuff said so far, I have to admit that the flavor was a little tough for me. There was a fair bit of blatant bitterness drifting in and out during the first third, then it was moving in with luggage in the second third, and finally, it was acting like an unwanted house guest in the last third. Too much bitterness spoiled the cigar for me, and it even got to the point that I was starting to detect some amonia or sour grassy taste. It was really too bad because there were a few other subtle notes trying to come through here and there; a touch of sweet hay, a nice bit of saltiness, a pinch of nuttiness, and a hair of licorice. I liked the strength progression from the mild side of medium to the plus side of medium. There seemed to be very little complexity going on, but perhaps the bitterness blocked it out. I am left to wonder what some good humidor time could do for this blend?
Summary
Because I really liked the way this cigar felt and smoked, I found myself wanting to give it a higher score, but I was truly disappointed with the bitterness and therfore could not. Nonetheless, I easily gave top marks in all other categories and hope that some humidor time will help. I am also looking forward to trying the darker wrapper blend. Thanks go out to John Piette from Isabela Cigars for providing us the opportunity to review his cigars.
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(3 Review(s))