Cigar of the month September 2014

[mightyred]

received mine delighted cheers

[tommy]

Good stuff fellas. I'm on the mend but nothing yet. May kick off with a toscano cafe tomorrow. They smell like a smoked cafe caramella.

[Budgie Smuggler]

Cigar of the month September 2014

Having looked at this again I think I know what it is, it's just the colour of the wrapper throwing me off as it's a little darker than expected.

I might put this to one side for my birthday smoke as I keep forgetting to order myself something decent and am loathe to pay top whack for something else.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tommy]

Are you in the birthday bomb group? If so I wouldn't worry too much. When's ya birthday Budgie?

[PeeJay]

Are you in the birthday bomb group? If so I wouldn't worry too much. When's ya birthday Budgie?

Not only is he in the group but he's up next!

[tommy]

I'm so crap at remembering this stuff.

[tommy]

Cigar of the month September 2014

Ok lets kick this off, with me.
Its a really nice looking cigar of a different shape to my normal fare, dark wrapper with thin veins standing proud if the surface.
The smell is sweet and fairly rich, pre light draw promises good things with an aged tobacco smell something between sweet molasses and savoury pepper.
. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409901978.340383.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1409901987.990186.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1409902002.593549.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1409902011.975022.jpg
Upon lighting the cigar I'm struck by black pepper and some kind of nutty sweetness. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409902544.057252.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1409902639.199582.jpg
It might be that smoke production is low or the stick may be over-humidified (in the last week my desktop has risen by 2% to 71%?
Its a pleasant cigar if slightly tricky to keep it burning well, this is the burn at one inchImageUploadedByTapatalk1409902919.885735.jpg
Normally I'd let that correct itself fir a review but this needs attention, a snap of ash and a tickle with the triple jet later and were back on trackImageUploadedByTapatalk1409903043.895796.jpg
Looks like we're about one third in, the cigar is smoking better now. The flavour profile hasn't done much TBH, its nice but dominated by pepper with a slight nuttiness in there. If i was pushed fir more i may let leather in but not a lot else. Personally that doesn't make a bad cigar in my book, there may be more to come and my recent cold probably isn't helping much. Off to make some tea...
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409903616.830725.jpg
Back from my tea break, this cigar has a bit if a kick for this time of morning and i have to admit it would be better with a sweet brandy after a spicy dinner than it is first thing AM.
I begin to get a fresh hay taste and aroma nowImageUploadedByTapatalk1409904193.893797.jpg it is something like the smell hay has when it has been lying for a day in the sun and get turned grassy/hay. Its nice to have some development of the profile and i was getting fed up with the pepper. Although it is much improved the burn is by no means perfectImageUploadedByTapatalk1409904408.681678.jpg
Im being hard on this cigar mainly because it is a more expensive stick but also because it was my choice and i feel inclined to lean towards its failings when they show. It is actually a pretty decent smoke which would benefit from a lower humidity. Ill be really interested to know what you gents make of it and what guesses we have. I fully expect some guesses and a correct one or two wouldn't surprise me.

Re light

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409904797.228588.jpg

Wollop! Have some nicotine for breakfast Tommy!! Yeah I've had to grab some juice to counter the nic and pepper ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409905136.140029.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1409905216.032672.jpg
Having not smoked many cigars of this shape I find that i have to take my time with it to avoid a seizing the draw. The hay remains and the pepper dulls, the wrapper which at first burned with a smooth dark grey ash now has lots of tooth dots on it but i cant seem to get them to show in a photo.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409905889.422834.jpg
This last third is richer with a smoother edge maybe brought on by the oils that built up? Its git a leathery rich

[tommy]

Accidentally hit post early, the write up is too long so i cant edit it with 3G. I was going to end by saying that if the cigar had started where it finished and progressed from that point it would have been closer to what I'd like from it.
A good cigar but not great fir my tastes. I look forward to everyone else's thoughts.
Tommy

[mightyred]

I intend to smoke mine this afternoon in my shed..looking forward to it

[EdBlackadder]

Just smoked mine, haven't looked at the band yet (or really read anyone else's thoughts) so went in spoiler free.

Build No complaints here, lovely firm build, easy punch. Draw was tight throughout but a little wok with a paperclip sorted that out. Burn was a little uneven but it never needed a touch up so wasn't much of an issue. Atmospherics are all over the place here at the moment so I suspect that was the major issue.

Flavour Re-light was very light with an almost herbal note to it. Start off quite mild with earthy, herbal notes building. This carried on for the first third with some mild leather coming into the second third. Last third the earth dominated and carried on building. Flavour profile was mild throughout but very pleasant.

Thoughts This was a pleasant smoke and minor draw issues aside this was a lovely, lazy smoke. Nothing too challenging or overpowering and no major nicotine hit. About halfway through I looked up at the blue skies and thought this was a perfect Sunday morning smoke. Lasted a good 90 minutes plus.

Would I smoke again? I'm not sure I'd seek out this exact cigar again but I'd love to try it in a smaller vitola as this sort of profile in a shorter smoke would be great for sitting after breakfast and having a bit of me time.

Absolutely no idea what this is, though!

[tommy]

Nice Ed, I smoked mine early in the morning and had different results but that not surprising really. Glad you enjoyed, no chance if a smaller version i don't think though.

[Budgie Smuggler]

Cigar of the month September 2014

Disclaimer - This cigar was smoked on a clear evening with a spiced rum and coke as the bats were chasing insects in the garden; as I'm a Romantic at heart this may have clouded my judgment somewhat [emoji12]

I also guessed the cigar brand as soon as I unwrapped the parcel, but I don't know the vitola.

Pre-Light

Smell - Nice scents of milk chocolate and honey from the lovely dark wrapper.

Draw - Earthy, with a hint of straw/hay

Appearance - A lovely dark wrapper with some areas showing an oily sheen, while others had a slightly powdery appearance although I've no idea if this is plume or a very slight touch of mould.

The wrapper had a few thin veins and it looked very wall made, with a nice pigtail cap.

First Third

After lighting I was getting woody flavours with shorts bursts of white pepper early on which faded to coffee later.

Burn was perfectly even until the ash dropped after more than an inch.

Second Third

Coffee faded out and the wood took a backseat to a predominant nutty flavour which was to remain to the end.

After the ash dropped I had to keep touching up the burn every inch or so, more because I can get a bit OCD about such things rather than any real issues.

Final Third

At no point did it stray from the nutty tastes, although occasionally it did become more pronounced giving an oily almond flavour. I purged a couple of times but was getting nothing more from it and as I'd been smoking for well over an hour at this point I decided to call it a day.

All in all this stick gave me a couple of surprises, I imagine due to the fact that the wrapper is a lot darker than any I've seen from this particular brand before, which usually has lighter wrappers giving grassier flavours.

A great choice for Cigar of the Month Tommy, nice work [emoji106]

[PeeJay]

Good review Chris images.jpeg

[EdBlackadder]

Nutty, that was the word I was looking for! Great review.

[tommy]

Nice job, some similarities with my experience.