Yes, it's true, Drew estate has made a <gasp> non- infused cigar!
The local B&M had a 'tasting session' for these Friday evening (6-9pm or something like that), and as a free cigar is a good cigar, I tried this out. Well, for being an unbelievably mild smoke at ~7:30 in the evening, it was "OK". Not bad, but not exactly my idea of an evening smoke, either, especially as I average 2 or 3 Joya de Nicaragua antano's a day - in the morning.
Well, I wanted to be fair, so I picked up a second stick (the freebie was a churchill- like size, the one I bought was a robusto) for a morning/ first-of-the-day smoke. While still not doing it for me, it is a decent morning smoke - it was better than friday's, likely due to the time of day.
Personally (again, I'm a maduro and oscuro smoker through and through, with a palate that can't be developed more -- I burnt it off!), I think they'd be awesome with an Equadorian Sumatra or even Brazilian maduro wrapper, but the connecticut was too bland to wrap the filler with. The flavor was creamy and leathery throughout, with just the slightest hint of pepper towards the last third (and something citrus I *still* can't place, but not that infused sh...tuff) . I also suspect these has a day's age at best, as the end of the smoke had more amonia than a Mr Clean product!
All said and done, it's a decent smoke for $5 a stick or so - eh, 7 or so out of 10. Not bad, but just not my thing -- didn't burn hot, decent construction, even burn, slightly tight draw (possibly humidity of the store vs the vendor's car...), creamy/ mouth- coating yet minimally visible smoke, short 'finish' (after exhalation, it doesn't have lingering flavors), unidimensional/ not complex/ one flavor throughout -- so I'd say a generous 7 to 7.5 (or so) of 10. It's just that it wasn't my bag o' chips in flavor or body, so I feel guilty giving it a rating with those biases.
Just my 2 cents... On a different note, the vendor guy had the La Vieja Havana Brazilian Maduros -- GREAT smoke, in my view, without the overwhelming infused stuff, and when I saw they were under $3 a stick... :drool: Another box bites the dust...
I hope that this isn't THAT bias towards my maduro preferences and is fair, and also hope it helps someone who's curious of these somewhat newer smokes.
ZugbugPete
The local B&M had a 'tasting session' for these Friday evening (6-9pm or something like that), and as a free cigar is a good cigar, I tried this out. Well, for being an unbelievably mild smoke at ~7:30 in the evening, it was "OK". Not bad, but not exactly my idea of an evening smoke, either, especially as I average 2 or 3 Joya de Nicaragua antano's a day - in the morning.
Well, I wanted to be fair, so I picked up a second stick (the freebie was a churchill- like size, the one I bought was a robusto) for a morning/ first-of-the-day smoke. While still not doing it for me, it is a decent morning smoke - it was better than friday's, likely due to the time of day.
Personally (again, I'm a maduro and oscuro smoker through and through, with a palate that can't be developed more -- I burnt it off!), I think they'd be awesome with an Equadorian Sumatra or even Brazilian maduro wrapper, but the connecticut was too bland to wrap the filler with. The flavor was creamy and leathery throughout, with just the slightest hint of pepper towards the last third (and something citrus I *still* can't place, but not that infused sh...tuff) . I also suspect these has a day's age at best, as the end of the smoke had more amonia than a Mr Clean product!
All said and done, it's a decent smoke for $5 a stick or so - eh, 7 or so out of 10. Not bad, but just not my thing -- didn't burn hot, decent construction, even burn, slightly tight draw (possibly humidity of the store vs the vendor's car...), creamy/ mouth- coating yet minimally visible smoke, short 'finish' (after exhalation, it doesn't have lingering flavors), unidimensional/ not complex/ one flavor throughout -- so I'd say a generous 7 to 7.5 (or so) of 10. It's just that it wasn't my bag o' chips in flavor or body, so I feel guilty giving it a rating with those biases.
Just my 2 cents... On a different note, the vendor guy had the La Vieja Havana Brazilian Maduros -- GREAT smoke, in my view, without the overwhelming infused stuff, and when I saw they were under $3 a stick... :drool: Another box bites the dust...
I hope that this isn't THAT bias towards my maduro preferences and is fair, and also hope it helps someone who's curious of these somewhat newer smokes.
ZugbugPete
