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Rafael Gonzales M Lonsdales
Size: 165 x 42 ? Cervantes
Smoke time: 1hour 50mins
Box date: 01 Source: Simon Bolivar.
I?ve decided to start this series of review where they began, with the smoke Simon gave me (for my Lancero reviews).
Appearance: Nicely rolled and slightly box-flattened with a rough textured, ochre wrapper with some raised veins. Discontinued Standard band ?A?.
Construction: A nicely balanced, firmly packed stick with a neatly triple finished cap. The pre-draw was a tad tight and so was the smoking draw. The burn was perfect, starting straight and never altering. The ash was tight and compact and needed little in the way of tapping off. No relights, no corrections.
Flavour: The pre-draw aroma was hay, and heavy too considering this was a 12 year old cigar. The body started exceptionally well, very sweet almost like a Sherbet-dab. (childhood memory). This was quickly supported by the arrival of what I?m going to best describe as a woody/hay/vegetal /fruit undernote. Combined the flavour effect was clean, crisp and pleasantly sweet sour. There was even a little point where I thought I could detect tangerine. Towards the end of the third and the flavour flattened and became very porridge and strawlike, (shades of the vile H. Upmann Half Coronas) however, the original flavours quickly returned and we were back on track. What I?ve described remained the base flavour of the smoke. In his recent review of the Punch Madalla de Oro, SteveGriff described how a cigar which started well became less enchanting as it progressed. The PG Lonsdales didn?t quite do that because although the base flavour, which was very pleasant I must add, decreased exponentially through the following two thirds, these were punctuated by some very interesting add-ons. The second third was a slightly more woody and dryer with the odd biscuit note and something akin to pea puree creeping in. The final third was somewhat stronger with rich tobacco manifest and hints dark chocolate, but I could still taste sweetness on my teeth.
Overall: A good cigar. Good flavour although somewhat impaired by the draw. I would catagorise the flavour as medium and body as being light and mainly due to Simons ageing having removed all vestage of nicotine (which I prefer). A nice afternoon smoke IMHO.
Marks. Now, I don?t have a points system, so I?m going to use the RG Lonsdales as a benchmark and award it a 7. Other cigars will be marked above or below as the series of reviews progress.
Next man up. Fonseca No.1
Size: 165 x 42 ? Cervantes
Smoke time: 1hour 50mins
Box date: 01 Source: Simon Bolivar.
I?ve decided to start this series of review where they began, with the smoke Simon gave me (for my Lancero reviews).
Appearance: Nicely rolled and slightly box-flattened with a rough textured, ochre wrapper with some raised veins. Discontinued Standard band ?A?.
Construction: A nicely balanced, firmly packed stick with a neatly triple finished cap. The pre-draw was a tad tight and so was the smoking draw. The burn was perfect, starting straight and never altering. The ash was tight and compact and needed little in the way of tapping off. No relights, no corrections.
Flavour: The pre-draw aroma was hay, and heavy too considering this was a 12 year old cigar. The body started exceptionally well, very sweet almost like a Sherbet-dab. (childhood memory). This was quickly supported by the arrival of what I?m going to best describe as a woody/hay/vegetal /fruit undernote. Combined the flavour effect was clean, crisp and pleasantly sweet sour. There was even a little point where I thought I could detect tangerine. Towards the end of the third and the flavour flattened and became very porridge and strawlike, (shades of the vile H. Upmann Half Coronas) however, the original flavours quickly returned and we were back on track. What I?ve described remained the base flavour of the smoke. In his recent review of the Punch Madalla de Oro, SteveGriff described how a cigar which started well became less enchanting as it progressed. The PG Lonsdales didn?t quite do that because although the base flavour, which was very pleasant I must add, decreased exponentially through the following two thirds, these were punctuated by some very interesting add-ons. The second third was a slightly more woody and dryer with the odd biscuit note and something akin to pea puree creeping in. The final third was somewhat stronger with rich tobacco manifest and hints dark chocolate, but I could still taste sweetness on my teeth.
Overall: A good cigar. Good flavour although somewhat impaired by the draw. I would catagorise the flavour as medium and body as being light and mainly due to Simons ageing having removed all vestage of nicotine (which I prefer). A nice afternoon smoke IMHO.
Marks. Now, I don?t have a points system, so I?m going to use the RG Lonsdales as a benchmark and award it a 7. Other cigars will be marked above or below as the series of reviews progress.
Next man up. Fonseca No.1
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