It's beautiful outside today. Upper 60s with little wind. It didn't start so nice since I was belly aching all night due the finace making me go eat a few batches of Hot wings last night... Can't say no when she goes on her "wing dings" tourettes rant until she gets her way. Now I'm imodiumed up and skipping work. Might as well go golf later so in the mean time while I'm waiting for the drugs to work, I decided to light up "Band A" of Strife's Blind Liga No. 9 Robusto review-contest.
The cigars came in with the bands removed. As you can tell the aged band is quite yellow. The differences in wrapper color is also quite significant. Band A is much darker than Band B.
Review:
Prelight: The wrapper is quite dark. Very oily with fine to medium veins. A gritty texture to the wrapper and it is pack filled with tobacco. I smell sweet mint chocolate on the wrapper and some tea notes on the foot. Straight cut with a Xikar and I am only getting musty tobacco from the cold draw.
1st: It took quite a few puffs to get this one going. After about 10 or so the smoke started to bellow out in huge amounts. Very little pepper but the perfect (med) amount of spice on the finish. The finish is long and quite creamy. The smoke is "in your face" sweet. It coats my mouth and it lingers on my lips. A hint of barnyard in the aftertaste but mostly sweet chocolate and earth. Medium in strengh and the ash is firm. The ash did not drop until the 2nd half.
2nd: Moving into the second half the sweetness reduces drastically. More earth, leather and cocoa notes creep in. Slightly more spice. I enjoyed the transition but preferred the 1st half's flavors. Once the ash dropped off, all the sweetness and chocolate came rushing back. I picked up my smoking pace as the cigar hits its stride. No harshness or distractions as the ash reaches the middle of the cigar.
3rd: The profile stays the same moving toward the 3rd segment. Just an increase in strengh and the flavors become a little more muddled. At this point, I couldn't really tell all the little nuances between the flavors. I also realized I distroyed the mouth end of this cigar. Too much resting in my mouth but that is a good sign. It means I didn't want to put it down.
Thoughts: This was good smoke. A solid 89 in my book. Not very complex but what it did deliver, it delivered in spades. I do wish the pepper was amped up a little in this cigar. The sweetness can be overwhelming at times. Almost like a infused cigar. I think it would be a good smoke for beginners trying to move up to more full bodied/flavored cigars. The strengh and flavors will not offend the majority of NC smokers. Thank you Michael, for the chance to smoke and review this cigar. I look forward to smoking "Band B". Be on the lookout for the second review.
The cigars came in with the bands removed. As you can tell the aged band is quite yellow. The differences in wrapper color is also quite significant. Band A is much darker than Band B.
Review:
Prelight: The wrapper is quite dark. Very oily with fine to medium veins. A gritty texture to the wrapper and it is pack filled with tobacco. I smell sweet mint chocolate on the wrapper and some tea notes on the foot. Straight cut with a Xikar and I am only getting musty tobacco from the cold draw.
1st: It took quite a few puffs to get this one going. After about 10 or so the smoke started to bellow out in huge amounts. Very little pepper but the perfect (med) amount of spice on the finish. The finish is long and quite creamy. The smoke is "in your face" sweet. It coats my mouth and it lingers on my lips. A hint of barnyard in the aftertaste but mostly sweet chocolate and earth. Medium in strengh and the ash is firm. The ash did not drop until the 2nd half.
2nd: Moving into the second half the sweetness reduces drastically. More earth, leather and cocoa notes creep in. Slightly more spice. I enjoyed the transition but preferred the 1st half's flavors. Once the ash dropped off, all the sweetness and chocolate came rushing back. I picked up my smoking pace as the cigar hits its stride. No harshness or distractions as the ash reaches the middle of the cigar.
3rd: The profile stays the same moving toward the 3rd segment. Just an increase in strengh and the flavors become a little more muddled. At this point, I couldn't really tell all the little nuances between the flavors. I also realized I distroyed the mouth end of this cigar. Too much resting in my mouth but that is a good sign. It means I didn't want to put it down.
Thoughts: This was good smoke. A solid 89 in my book. Not very complex but what it did deliver, it delivered in spades. I do wish the pepper was amped up a little in this cigar. The sweetness can be overwhelming at times. Almost like a infused cigar. I think it would be a good smoke for beginners trying to move up to more full bodied/flavored cigars. The strengh and flavors will not offend the majority of NC smokers. Thank you Michael, for the chance to smoke and review this cigar. I look forward to smoking "Band B". Be on the lookout for the second review.
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